Don Baylor 1949-2017

Don Baylor, longtime AL player and later an NL manager, has passed away at the age of 68. Baylor played over 2000 games, all in the AL, in a career spanning 19 years that included an MVP selection in 1979 and appearances in 7 post-seasons and 3 World Series. After his playing days, Baylor was the first manager of the expansion Colorado Rockies, guiding them to a post-season appearance in only their third season. More on Baylor after the jump.

After cups of coffee in 1970 and 1971, Baylor joined the powerhouse Orioles to stay in 1972, becoming their regular left-fielder for the following three seasons. In his time in Baltimore, Baylor posted a solid 125 OPS+ while twice leading the junior circuit in HPB, a talent he would perfect later in his career. Baylor’s power game blossomed with 25 bombs in his last season on the Chesapeake, becoming the first Brown or Oriole in more than 50 years with a season of 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases.

With Charlie Finley following Connie Mack in the A’s tradition of housecleaning after a run of championship seasons, Baltimore offered up Baylor to pry prize catch Reggie Jackson from Oakland in a package deal that also saw pitchers Mike Torrez and Ken Holtzman swap teams. Baylor and Jackson would both play just one season for their new teams (Jackson followed Baylor with a 25 HR, 25 SB campaign that has yet to be matched by another Oriole) before both hit the free agent market and made good in extended stays with their new clubs.

For Baylor, greener pastures lay in Anaheim where he turned in a career best 5.2 oWAR in his 1979 MVP season, leading the junior circuit in Runs (120) and RBI (139) while belting 36 home runs and 33 doubles. That was the first 120 run/120 RBI season by an Angel, a feat matched since only by Vladimir Guerrero in 2004. Baylor’s heroics in 1979 helped the Angels to their first post-season appearance, falling to the Orioles in the ALCS. Three years later, Reggie Jackson swapped coasts to join Baylor as a free agent signee in Anaheim; together, they helped a veteran Angel ballclub to its second post-season appearance (unfortunately a painful one as they dropped three straight in Milwaukee, after taking a 2-0 ALCS lead at home).

In his 6 years in Anaheim, Baylor split time between the outfield and DH in the first four seasons before becoming an everyday DH in the final two campaigns. Baylor’s glove was a liability for any team, so the move to being a full-time DH was certainly overdue. Following the 1982 season, Baylor signed as a free agent with the Yankees where he turned in three solid, if unspectacular, seasons as the everyday DH, posting 20 HR and 80 RBI each time. More than 30 years later, Baylor remains the only Yankee DH to post those totals more than once.

Following the 1985 season, New York dealt the 36 year-old Baylor to the Red Sox for Mike Easler. In his last big season, Baylor’s 31 home runs and 94 RBI helped the Red Sox to the 1986 AL pennant, before falling in the World Series in 7 games (as Boston had also done in 1946, 1967 and 1975). The next year, Boston dealt Baylor in a deadline deal to the Twins who went on to that franchise’s first World Series title in more than 60 years. Down 5-3 in the game and trailing 3-2 in the series, Baylor’s two run homer tied game 6 as the upstart Minnesotans came back from the brink to best the Cardinals. For his final season, Baylor returned to Oakland (following Reggie’s farewell campaign there the year before) and again saw action in the World Series. Quiz: which other player appeared in three consecutive World Series for three different teams?

Baylor’s career totals include more than 2000 hits, 1200 runs, 1200 RBI, 300 home runs and 300 doubles. He recorded 200 hits, 100 runs and 100 RBI for five different teams, and saw post-season action for each of those franchises. Baylor posted 0.750 career OPS in both the LCS and World Series, one of 20 players to do so in 10+ games in each of those playoff rounds. Among players with more than half their career games at DH, Baylor ranks 4th in Games, Runs, HR and RBI, and 5th in Hits and WAR. Baylor led the AL in HPB on eight different occasions; his career total of 267 is an AL record, and ranks second only to Craig Biggio‘s MLB mark of 285.

For those looking for a more challenging Baylor quiz, try this one under the Player Stats Quiz pages of the site.

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Jeff Harris
Jeff Harris
6 years ago

Can we talk about that terrible 1979 MVP voting….?

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Harris

Of course. Who do you think would have been a better choice?

Lynn and Brett certainly seemed to have superior seasons to Baylor. Think those two would have been my top two picks. Nobody knew it then but Baylor was 11th in oWAR and 25th in WAR.

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Harris

That was a bad year all around for award winners. Mike Flannagan won the AL Cy Young even though he wasn’t in the top ten in AL pitching WAR. Stargell and his 2.5 WAR tied with Keith Hernandez (a decent selection) for the NL MVP. Sutter wasn’t a terribe choice for NL Cy Young but he was behind Niekro, Reuschel, and J.R Richard in WAR.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Harris

It wasn’t a totally irrational choice, using the criteria people did in that day. Baylor led the league in both runs scored and RBI, when RBI was considered an important stat. The Angels made it to the post season, and Baylor’s July .349/.409/.735 11HR/34 RBI helped prop them up.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Mike L: I don’t think you mean exactly what you wrote about RBIs, or were you possibly being ironic? Let me pose the subject in a question: how important are RBIs? Well, to a team that has trouble moving runners across the plate, they’re very important. Runner on third and nobody out? What baseball person, statistically inclined or otherwise, wouldn’t say that if he’s stranded there by the next three batters, there’s been an RBI failure? Being wise isn’t being cynical. We all are aware by now that RBIs are related to having runners in scoring position, but anyone who… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

I wasn’t trying for irony, but maybe I could have been more precise in my language. I do think RBI are important, but I think that 40 years ago they were considered even more important. . And I’m on the older side, so I can recall when an RBI-guy was considered really important–Tony Perez, Joe Carter. I took a quick look at the AL MVP votes, and from 1967 to 2016, in 41 of those 50 years, the MVP had 100+ RBI. Five other seasons pitchers won. And anecdotally, Baylor’s first two months he had 51 RBI in 51 games–it… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

nsb, I think Mike is trying to distinguish between a decision that’s wrong and one that’s irrational. Stargell’s award in the NL in ’79 was irrational, based on sentiment and, undoubtedly, postseason drama. Baylor’s award was rational but wrong, because RBIs are not a very good indicator of value, as we now agree. But rational people didn’t agree that was true then (as I’m sure you remember as clearly as anyone here, of a certain age).

howard
howard
6 years ago

MVP voting takes place before the post-season. Was it different in 1979?

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  howard

My error, howard. I thought the voting took place later, but was not supposed to take the post-season into consideration. I see that you are not only correct for the present time, but that this has always been the case. I remembered that the discussion at the time of Stargell’s award included talk of his postseason heroics, and must have mistakenly connected that with the odd nature of the vote. The other factors I recall were Stargell’s several earlier MVP near misses, and his clubhouse role in ’79, which connected his promotion of the team’s “We Are Family” theme song… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago

PA with RISP:

Baylor: 258
Brett: 211
Lynn: 166

Triple Slash with RISP:

Baylor: .330/.395/.586
Brett: .343/.424/.618
Lynn: .348/.440/.748

Baylor was quite good with RISP. But he was a little worse than Brett and a lot worse than Lynn. But he drove in more runs than them because he had more opportunities.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

For people like me who like to pay attention to RBIs, I have calculated % of runners driven in (RDI) after I remove all PA in which a player receives a walk with runners on base except for the bases loaded situation. I did it for all AL players with 107+ RBI.

ROB……….RDI……..%RDI……….HR…………Player
326…………83……….25.5………..39………….Fred Lynn
401…………92……….22.9………..20………….Darrell Porter
374………….84………22.5………..23………….George Brett
471………..103………21.9………..36………….Don Baylor
359………….76………21.1………..35………….Ken Singleton
439………….91………20.7………..39………….Jim Rice
405………….78………19.3………..45………….Gorman Thomas

Interesting contrast between Lynn and Rice. Lynn batted third in 1979 and Rice batted fourth.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Rice had the more “feared” RBI. Seriously, I always thought Lynn the more gifted player, but he had trouble staying healthy.

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Kirby Puckett: 7831 PAs, triple slash .318/.360/.477, 50.9 WAR, 37.5 WAA, 10 All-star games
Fred Lynn: 7923 PAs, triple slash: .283/.360/.484. 50.0 WAR, 38.2 WAA, 9 All-star games

Puckett made the HOF on his first ballot. Lynn fell of on his second. But really what’s the differene? Higher batting average? More consistency? Puckett being given extra credit because of his eye injury?

Granted most people don’t believe that Puckett should be in the HOF. But I don’t see how one can be included and not the other. This is why the HOF will never make sense in my opinion.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

No question in my mind that Puckett’s cause was aided by the abrupt end of his career. But in some respects, you can see why he would have had a leg up on Lynn–Lynn declined through the second half of his career. Puckett was still very effective at the time he was forcibly retired. His last season: .314/.370/.559, OPS+ of 130, 3.6 bWAR. It’s not unreasonable to think he could have had three more good quality seasons. Empirically, Lynn’s cumulative stats are not Hall-worthy–a good but not great player.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug, I’m curious as to your take on something. From 2005 through 2010 Albert had never less than 92 BB in any season. He dropped to 61 in his age 31 season, and has never been above 52 since then.
What do you attribute that to, and are there any players of anywhere near his magnitude with similarities at that age?

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

For 2011, the league was probably responding to the big season that Matt Holliday had the year before hitting behind Pujols. With someone almost as dangerous hitting behind him, Pujols was bound to get better pitches. Before Holliday joined the Cards late in 2009, Ryan Ludwick was hitting behind Pujols. Ludwick was a decent player, but not in the same class as Holliday. In LA, part of it is having Mike Trout hitting ahead of him. If you’re being careful with Trout, you can’t be quite so careful with the next guy; ergo, you’ve got to try to get somebody… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

The lowest walk rate after 30 of the entire group is stunning. He’s starting to look like a slightly better version of a late career Ruben Sierra

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Harris

The problem with picking a replacement here is a common one, but I ‘ll weigh in on the side of the writers to an extent: Baylor led the league in both runs and runs batted in and also in runs accounted for after subtracting home runs. He did it for a division leader. Lynn and Brett had great seasons, nearly identical in terms of traditional statistics, and yet their team finished third in the east, 11 games back. Brett and Porter had excellent seasons for the Royals, but the Royals lost out to the Angels in the division. It was… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Harris

What really struck me about this vote when I revisited it was the scale of Baylor’s dominance: 71% of first-place ballots, when the top five contenders have offensive records that – to the eye fixed on traditional metrics – closely resemble one another (Brett a little less than the others). Baylor was, of course, on a division winner, but so was Singleton, and Boston’s W-L record was superior to the Angels’ at a time when the schedule was “balanced,” meaning that W-L records weren’t impacted by divisional strength. For that matter, Brett’s KC team was just behind California. It’s not… Read more »

alz9794
alz9794
6 years ago

If we look at things from a historical perspective, in 1977 the Angels finished 74-88, in 5th place. Baylor had zero MVP love. In 1978 the Angels finished 87-75, in 2nd place. It was their highest finish and winning percentage in their history up to that point in time. Baylor got a little love, with his .255 AVG., 34 HRs, and 99 RBI. In 1979, the Angels win their first ever division title. Baylor jumps to .296, 36, 139. Baylor, more than any of the other players mentioned (Singleton, Brett, Lynn, Rice) really had not had a season like the… Read more »

alz9794
alz9794
6 years ago
Reply to  alz9794

I should say the list of players who led their league in runs scored and RBI is from 1930-1978. I know MVP voting had some quirks to it earlier than 1930.

Bryan O\'Connor
Bryan O\'Connor
6 years ago

Eric Hinske played for the 2007 Red Sox, 2008 Rays, and 2009 Yankees.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago

Got it. Hinske was a pinch-runner for the Red Sox and pinch-hitter for the Rays and Yankees, for a grand total of 4 World Series PA. He made the post-season for a fourth straight year in 2010 while playing for, yes, a fourth different team (the Braves).

Hinske’s two pinch home runs in the post-season is tied with four others for the most ever. Only Hinske hit both in a losing cause (for the game).

Joey59
Joey59
6 years ago

Hinske had a pinch-hit appearance in the ’07 Series for the Sox against Colorado. He pinch-hit for, of all people, David Ortiz.

The score was 13-1 Sox at the time of his appearance though.

David P
David P
6 years ago

Don Baylor was on both the ’95 and ’96 HOF ballots. But I’m not sure why. He received only 2.6% of the vote. Also carrying over from ’95 to ’96 were Vida Blue (3.1%) and George Foster (3.5%). Meanwhie, Ted Simmons (3.7%) was one and done.

Was there some sort of special disposition for past MVP winners? I’ve never heard of such a thing but that’s the only thing I can think of that ties Baylor, Blue, and Foster together, while excluding Simmons.

alz9794
alz9794
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Pure speculation on my part, but this time period was the time period of Pete Rose’s initial HOF case. I believe all of Rose’s votes were write-in votes, so perhaps voters wrote in Baylor, Blue, and Foster? Neither Foster nor Baylor received 5% in 1995, so both were “dropped” from the ballot. Blue, on the other hand, received 5.7% in 1995, more than Lolich, Guidry, and Staub. However, Blue doesn’t show up anywhere on the 1996 ballot, while Lolich, Guidry, and Staub do. Even the players with 0 votes in 1996 (Johnny Ray, Claudell Washington, Bob Knepper, and Jeffrey Leonard)… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  alz9794

Yeah, Blue falling off after receiving 5.7% of the vote makes no sense at all.

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago

IIRC, Bill James, argued that Baylor’s season was virtually indistinguishable from Singleton’s. And, the Orioles won the division (and pennant) as well. I can’t recall if the basis of his argument was ‘offensive winning percentage” or Win Shares ( I believe the former). I believe it was in one of those “annuals” he used to do (as opposed to BJHBA). I believe offensive winning percentage formed the majority of his early opinions as opposed to win shares in the later years. Like everybody else back then, his fielding analysis wasn’t as developed as what we have today. But, Baylor couldn’t… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago

The other day I mentioned the rarity of the double-play/sac-fly, and now we just had another one. Red Sox trailing the Yankees 5-3 in the top of the ninth. They load the bases with none out against Chapman. Benintendi hits a sac fly to left, with Nunez being thrown out at third. So instead of 5-4 wth runners on 1st and 2nd and one out, they have a runner on second with two out. And from there, they lose the game….

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

Focussing on Don Baylor’s 1979 season, I gradually became aware that one of his teammates was Nolan Ryan having a typical Nolan Ryan year, meaning he won a fair number of games but lost almost as many, struck out a lot of batters without managing to have a very good ERA+, and wasn’t the best pitcher on the team by several measures, including WAR. While he was active Ryan never impressed me, I’ll admit, except with his durability and longevity. Having looked at his record more closely now, I can’t say that my opinion has changed. Yes, he played on… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago

I think for most of his career, you would have been laughed at for suggesting that Ryan was HOFer. But then came the strikeouts, the no-hitters, and 300+ wins and it became inevitable. But I remain shocked that he made it in with 98.8% of the vote. He’s 24th all-time in WAR, right ahead of Glavine and right behind Mussina. But it took him a LOT more innings to reach that same WAR total. He threw 1,000 more innings than Glavine and 1,800 more than Mussina. And remember, both Glavine and Mussia were seen more as compilers than as great… Read more »

oneblankspace
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

If Ryan had stuck around for one more year, he could have joined Pud Galvin and Cy Young as the only 300-game losers.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

I’d chime in with agreement, nsb, but I think I’ve already used up my lifetime quota of bytes allotted to the subject of why Ryan was not a great pitcher, despite being perhaps the most talented pitcher ever. But I do recall someone writing (perhaps it was James, perhaps not) that, despite his mediocre results, MLB players were in awe of Ryan because of how difficult it was to do what he did, and I suppose there is a HoF case for someone who could do that for a 27-season career.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

Why do you think he was the most talented pitcher ever, epm? It took him to the age of 37 to figure out how to walk fewer than half the batters he KOd. Koufax did the same much more quickly; Walter Johnson and Pete Alexander never suffered the ailment after they got their bearings; the better pitchers from Cy Young and Kid Nichols to Greg Maddox and Clayton Kershaw seem to me more talented. Back to Ford for a moment. Ford didn’t have the raw gift of a Ryan, but he did everything possible physically and mentally to hone what… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

Ok, “gifted,” rather than talented. If he only had a hammer, he had the top-grade Craftsman-lifetime-guarantee hammer. I don’t think we are actually in disagreement. And I meant “perhaps,” just as in, “perhaps Feller was faster than Johnson.” I don’t know: you’d have to line ’em up.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Thinking back, many fans looked at him for most of his career as basically a freak of nature–almost like an exciting innings-eater. There was also some controversy about his usage during some of his time in Houston. Ryan needed 4 days of rest between starts, exactly 4 days, and the rest of the staff had to work around him.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

That subordination of the others on the pitching staff seems to me resonant with the effect that Ryan’s pitching style may have had on the position players behind him. I have always thought that some of Ryan’s indifferent success had to do with the pressures put on teammates who had to endure long innings and long games while Ryan pursued the “true outcomes” of strikeouts and bases on balls. As an isolated example, I compared Ryan’s fine 1977 season – his best in WAR (7.9) – with his teammate Frank Tanana’s season (Tanana had 8.3 WAR, the last of his… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago

I looked up through 1979 and it seems like there might be some evidence for your theory. In almost every season, Ryan received below average run support, compared to the team’s average runs per game. Of course, it’s hard to say anything definitive without controlling for qualitiy of opposition pitchers.

BTW, for those who think that Ryan’s 83.9 WAR is too high…Fangraphs has him with 106.7 and Baseball Prospectus with 119.1 (!!!).

T-Bone
T-Bone
6 years ago

See Bill James recent articles on whether Wins and Losses are a good indicator of how good a pitcher is/was and what part luck has to do with their record. It’s a series of articles that are free on his website and Ryan is spoken about as being a better pitcher than his record due to luck. Ryan aside, it’s another well written piece(s) by Bill James. Ryan is in the article as only a small part. Lots of other really good analysis.

oneblankspace
6 years ago

’82 Angels took their 2-0 lead in California before they went to Milwaukee.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  oneblankspace

Thanks for the correction (you’d think I would have gotten that right as I attended those games in Anaheim).

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Joey Gallo is now batting .208 !
So, maybe he will not slug .500 while stroking under the Mendoza Line.

However, his Slugging percentage is now .559
He is still in a class of his own.

Lowest batting average, with a SLG over .550.
Minimum 300 PA:

.208 … Gallo (current)
.253 … Mike Schmidt
.253 … Jason Giambi
.258 … Harmon the Killer
.259 … Todd Hundley
.260 … Jose Bautista

.262 … Jay Buhner
.262 … Barry Bonds
.262 … Curtis Granderson
.262 … Chris Davis

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Interesting, Zoomo. I could have sworn that Dave Kingman would make this list, but he actually only had one season where he slugged above .550 (1980 – .613), and batted .288 that year.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

I’m rather late to the discussion of Fred Lynn vs. Kirby Puckett so I’m making this a fresh comment. I think there was a great deal of difference between Lynn and Puckett besides the facts that Puckett grew up in a housing project, was black, short, and had a funny looking build, while Lynn came from a well-off suburban background, was white, tall, and slender. The first and most important difference between the two as players is simply consistency. Kirby was consistent and Lynn wasn’t—except for hitting 23 HRs four years running. Even early on in his career Lynn had… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago

Was looking at a prior thread and there was some back and forth (NSB and Voomo) about the Angels going 9-11 in the prior 20 games before Trout’s return from the DL. In the last 16, the Angels have manged to go 12-4, are now a wild card contender (actually, 5th best record in the AL), and Trout has gone .393/.541/.661. Pro rata over 162 games, that’s about 375 total bases and 183 BB’s….just another small sample size, microcosm of a long season. But, I don’t know how they could make the playoffs with Pujols batting in the top half… Read more »

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

Paul E:

I just noticed their recent streak, too. Glad to be wrong, if I am, about Trout’s impact since that post.

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago

Well, right or wrong, I can’t believe they’re contending, with or without Trout. But, it’s still ‘early’.
If you go on baseball-reference, Andrelton Simmons leads the team in WAR and a good portion of that is derived from fielding – which has always been debated on this site. I don’t disagree with the fact that fielding has an impact on the outcome of MLB games, I just don’t know the extent of that impact nor trust how it’s measured.
But, it also looks like Simmons has figured out how to hit ML pitching

mosc
mosc
6 years ago

Haven’t been on here enough, I apologize. Thought of a random stat question. Chad Green (yes I’m a Yankees fan sorry) is doing this ~2IP out of the pen routine fairly regularly now. It strikes me as extreme uncommon. He hasn’t even thrown 50 innings in relief this season but he’s spent time in the minors. Since his 2 inning spot start he’s been used 19 times for 32 innings which on pace would be 69 appearances and… the number that’s curious… 115 IP. I feel like there are scant examples of guys throwing 100 innings in relief. They either… Read more »

mosc
mosc
6 years ago
Reply to  mosc

So I forgot all the bigtime 80s relievers pitched more than I thought they did. AGAIN.

Willie Hernandez was over 100 inning last in 1985, as was Dan Quisenberry. Sutter and Gossage ticked the box for the last time in ’84 but Mark Eichhorn did it as recently as ’87. I miss anybody else?

Anybody post 1987?

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  mosc

Hey Mosc! Welcome back!

The PI shows 53 seasons since 1988 with 100+ IP and all innings in relief. Though the last to pull it off was Scott Proctor in 2006 with the Yankees. And the last to do it while averaging 2+ innings per relief appearance was Steve Sparks in 2003 (split between the Tigers and A’s).

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

We’ll see what they do with Green next year. If he develops a 3rd, 4th pitch he’s certainly starter material.
But that high heat!
Only Kimbrel is creating more swings and misses with the 4-seamer:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pitchfx/leaderboards/index.php?hand=&reportType=pfx&prp=RP&month=&year=2017&pitch=FA&ds=ws&lim=200

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  mosc

Jim Acker (1989) is the last pitcher with 50 relief appearances of more than an one inning. The most such appearances since 1990 are 44 by Jeremy Hernandez (1993) and Scot Shields (2004). The most since Shields are 37 by Scott Proctor (2006) and Anthony Swarzak (2013). Next is 35 by 3 pitchers, including Dellin Betances (2014) and Erasmo Ramirez (2016). The most such appearances for a team is 201 by the 1985 Braves. The most in the last 10 years in 161 by the 2012 Rockies. Necessity was a major factor for both teams which lost 96 and 98… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago

Jose Altuve currently has a .807 OPS at home, and 1.169 on the road (.991 ovearll). Someone with a PI subscription will need to check his exact placement but that would definitely be one of the 10 greatest road seasons ever (relative to overall performance). Chris Carter’s 2013 season is at #10 with a +.155 difference between Road and overall OPS. Altuve is +.178.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

The largest such difference is by Johnny Logan with .192 in 1957 followed by Steve Finley with .186 in 1997 (502 PA min.) Then comes Altuve.

David P
David P
6 years ago

Thanks as always Richard!!!

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Joey Votto has reached base at least twice in 19 straight games.
Bonds did 20.
Ted Williams has the record at 21.

Here’s their slashes during those streaks:

.450 / .612 / .767 / 1.378
.383 / .667 / .766 / 1.433
.486 / .635 / .851 / 1.486

Williams played in 4 doubleheaders during his streak.

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

3 walks last night makes it 20

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Votto’s streak ends at 20 games, after a 1 for 4 and no walks in a 7-6 walk-off loss to the Cubs. Votto was due to lead off the top of the 10th if the Reds could have held the Cubs at bay in the 9th. They couldn’t.

David P
David P
6 years ago

In streaky strikeout news, Aaron Judge has now struck out in 32 straight games, trying Adam Dunn’s single season record.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland indians have struck out 10+ batters for 12 straight games, a MLB record.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Make it 33, and a new record for His Honor.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

That is the record for a position player. Dunn struck out in the first 32 games of 2012 and also in the last 4 games of the 2011 season for a total of 36 games.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Nick Markakis has quietly put together a notable career.
He just passed 2000 hits at age 33.
And his 1742 games in RF is 16th all-time.
However, he is less than 2 full seasons from the top 5, and a bit more than 3 seasons from topping Clemente for 1st.

In his 12 year career he has missed time in only one season, 2012, but to a couple of freak broken-bone-in-hand injuries.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Interesting career. Peaked in 2008 at age 24 with 7.4 bWAR. Played is virtually every game since then except for the broken hand and in those nearly nine years has never had a season over 2.9. His career WAA since then is a cumulative -3.7.

David P
David P
6 years ago

Indians’ pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts today, giving them 11 games this season of 15+ Ks in games of 9 innings of less. That appears to be a new MLB record. They also extended their MLB record to 13 straight games with 10+ Ks. Soft throwing Ryan Merritt starts game two of today’s doubleheader, so that streak is in definite jeopardy.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

After weekend play, Cleveland pitchers now have four straight games with fewer than 10 strikeouts. One more game will tie their longest streak of the season.

David P
David P
6 years ago

One streak ended and one streak continued today.

Yankees lost for the first time all season in a game in which Brett Gardner hit a home run.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge struck out for his 37th straight game, a new record for position players.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

It’s an old-fashioned remedy, but Judge needs to be benched for a few games. He’s obviously pressing, and his plate appearances are becoming something on the order of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the past, again, a player going through this kind of slump would be staying late and blistering his hands swinging at the kinds of pitches he’s being fooled by. Maybe he’s already doing this, I don’t know, but, as I pointed out someplace in a different comment, either he’ll adapt or he won’t. If he doesn’t, he’ll be remembered as one of the great flash in the pan… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Even great hitters get out of sync, and Judge isn’t a great hitter.

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

I have zero credibility where Judge is concerned since I thought he’d be a complete bust. And that was before his awful debut last year. He’s already put up more WAR in half a season than I thought he’d put up in his whole career. But since I love giving my opinion…I now think Judge will settle in to being Adam Dunn with better defense. Which is still really good. At his peak from 2001-2010 Dunn put up a triple slash line of .250/.381/.521. Most teams would be ecstatic with a hitter who had a 10 year peak like that.… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

A good fielding reasonably athletic Adam Dunn who stays healthy isn’t the worst result.

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Dunn had a 133 OPS+ for those 1445 games as well as 32 oWAR. Coupled with adequate defense, Judge should put up close to/~ 35 – 40 WAR over the next 8 years…..from my lips to God’s ears

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

And, our long national nightmare is over (this one). August 22, 2017, Aaron Judge goes 1/1 with 3 BB and 2 Runs scored. Pulled for a pinch hitter in a blow out game.

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Time for a new streak!!! 🙂

Seriously, when I find intersting is that even during the streak, he was still drawing lots of walks. Seems that teams are still afraid of going right after him, even when he’s struggling.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

I’ve been playing around with crossword puzzle software.
Just made a baseball-themed puzzle that you might enjoy. Or you might not. Here it is:

file:///C:/Users/Tony%20Camarda/Documents/Base.html

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Voomo: I was unable to open it. About a year ago I also created a baseball-themed puzzle.

David P
David P
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Looks like the link is to a file on your computer.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Drat. I see that the file address is weird, but the software says that it should be an interactive web page. I dunno. I’ve contacted their tech support.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

I’m sure that most people here saw the details of the highly unusual Pirates-Dodgers tilt last night. Rich Hill retired 24 straight hitters to begin the game, suffered a fielding error from his third baseman in the 9th, and then continued to set down batters until Josh Harrison led off the 10th with a walk-off homer, the first no-hit bid ever broken up by that type of event. Hill’s Game Score was 93, so I was curious to see what other pitchers (if any) took the hard-luck loss with such a high mark. The Play Index shows just one game… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago

His pitching line? 22 IP, 20 H, 4 R (3 ER), 9 BB, 5 SO

It’s a shame we don’t have pitch count information for that game….Had to be close to 200 pitches?

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

If so, that would only be 9 pitches per inning…highly unlikely, considering the 32 base runners (at least) that Johnson allowed. My guess? Somewhere between 400 and 450; makes me sore just thinking about it.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Sorry…that should be Bob SMITH, and 31 base runners. The Cubs laid down 9 sacrifice bunts that day, and Smith was finally (and mercifully) pinch-hit for in the bottom of the 22nd, after giving up the go-ahead run in the top half of the inning.

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago

Right – 89 batters faced at 3.33 pitches per plate appearance is 295 and that’s probably light. With all the swinging and missing nowadays, it’s at 3.89 pitches/PA. They did make better contact back then and put more balls in play but, on the other hand, they probably did foul off a lot more pitches to stay alive with far greater skill than nowadays.

David P
David P
6 years ago

Bob Osborn deserves a mention as well. He threw a record 14 innings of shutout relief in that game, And he did it while striking out only one batter.

BTW, the record for most innings pitched with 0 strikeouts is Red Ruffing with 16 innings on June 7th, 1936 against the Indians. Just two years earlier Ruffing led the AL in K/9.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Nice shout-out, David; Osborn’s line also jumped out at me.

Joe Posnanski has written a lengthy, but worthwhile article about other 90+ Game Score outings that resulted in losses. You can find it here: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/250371330/rich-hill-ranked-among-best-pitched-losses/

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago

Small correction: The Houston pitcher who lost the no-hit game to the Reds on April 23, 1964, was Ken Johnson.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  Kahuna Tuna

Looks like I couldn’t read any last names properly on Thursday morning. 😐 Thanks, Tuna.

David P
David P
6 years ago

Last night, Indians’ rookie Yandy Diaz had three extra base hits after having only one in his first 78 carerr PAs.

Meanwhile Chris Sale left after 3 innings, tied for his shortest start ever. In his last 3 starts against the Indians he’s given up 6, 7, and 7 runs. pushing his career ERA against them up to 4.87.

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago

Games in the searchable era where a team’s pitchers hit five or more opposing batters: 6 batters hit: June 20, 1913, Senators vs. Yankees (Gallia 3, Engel 2, Hughes) 5 batters hit: • May 30, 1956, Indians vs. White Sox (Houtteman 2, Narleski, Daley 2) • August 11, 1965, Athletics vs. Tigers (Sheldon 3, Aker 2) • July 2, 1969, Reds vs. Braves (Arrigo 2, Ramos 3) • September 3, 1989, Rangers vs. Royals (Brown 2, Hall 2, McMurtry) • April 19, 2000, Dodgers vs. Astros (Hershiser 4, Herges) • June 7, 2001, Angels vs. Athletics (Schoeneweis 4, Holtz) •… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Kahuna Tuna

KT, do you think it’s interesting, with all the warnings, etc, that they let Chacin stay in the game?
And I hadn’t realized how terrible Hershiser was in his last season in just 24.2 IP (10 G, 6 starts) 42H, 36ER!, 14BB, 11HBP. Bumped his lifetime ERA up by .007. Managed -1.8 BWAR in just those games. Gasp

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

No one had any thoughts that Chacín was head-hunting. He’d jammed his pitching hand during an at-bat in the fifth inning and couldn’t grip his fastball. The Padres’ radio guys, not realizing this, were speculating that Chacín might have lost his release point. His pitches were all over the place. The umps and the Cardinals could tell he’d just lost command of his stuff.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Kahuna Tuna

Thanks

Ken
Ken
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Removing Mariano Rivera’s first season of 5.51 ERA in 67 IP reduces his lifetime ERA from 2.21 to 2.03, and increases his ERA+ from 205 to 223.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Ken

Yes, and I guess we could do this exercise with a lot of players. But Hershiser had 2000+IP more than Rivera, and I thought it was interesting that he went from a comparatively useful innings-eater at 40 to a disaster at 41. I wonder what they might have seen in Spring Training–but he was a sunk cost by that time, so maybe it just made sense to throw him out there. Hershiser’s career is interesting. Emerged at 25, peaked by 30, with four top 4 CY Young votes in five years, then out for almost a year with an injury,… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

According to the B/R Play Index, Byron Buxton’s effort last night was the 18th time a player had 3 HR and 1 SB The last was Yoenis in 2015. Before that: 2011 … Corey Hart 2010 … Alex Rod 2008 … Votto 1998 … Jose Valentin 1997 … Larry Walker 1994 … Bonds 1991 … Larkin 1989 … Joe Carter 1987 … Eric Davis 1986 … Eric Davis 1980 … Claudell Washington 1973 … Leroy Stanton 1968 … Willie Stargell (one of 17 career steals) 1958 … Roman Mejias 1954 … Dusty Rhodes (one of 3 career steals) 1930 …… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

None of Rhodes’s three career stolen bases was straight up. Two, including the one in ’54, were back-ends of a double steal – the other was the middle of a triple steal. But Rhodes in ’54 was something else. At the end of that season, I understood that Rhodes was baseball’s greatest hitter and Karl Spooner its greatest pitcher.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

He was the batting star of the World Series as well, going 4 for 6, 2 home runs and seven RBIs. His .341 season BA, however, despite his part-time play and high values all around, comes with two caveats: he was a platoon lefty used mainly against RH pitchers and he was not much of a fielder. That BA sounds pretty good, regardless, but it was outdone by two full-timers, Mays at .345 and Mueller at .342. Looking at the Giant roster that year it’s hard to believe they won just 97 games. The pitching staff, led by Antonelli, had… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Dusty Rhodes was one of my favorite Strato-Matic cards….they didn’t have such wonky things like platood advantages and lousy fielding.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

NSB: Re: “. . . he was not much of a fielder.”

Durocher in Nice Guys Finish Last: “I had a standing rule with Willie Mays. ‘Any time a ball goes up in the air, don’t let him get tangled up with it. Go around him if you have to, but you catch it.'”

Doug
Doug
6 years ago

The Giants were right on their Pythag. But, I guess the surprise is allowing as many runs as they did with 132 ERA+ pitching. The defense may have been the issue as three of their starters (Antonelli, Gomez, Hearn) allowed 15% or more unearned runs, and the staff as a whole was over 13%.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

The Buxton game was just the second 9-inning contest with a team recording 14+ hits and 17+ strikeouts. Despite whiffing those 17 Twins, none of Toronto’s pitchers had more than four K’s.

David P
David P
6 years ago

Josh Tomlin is in uncharted territory. He currently has a 5.38 ERA and a 7.17 SO/W ratio. That would be by far the worst ERA ever for a pitcher with a SO/W ratio of 7+ (minimum 100 IP). The current worst was Michael Pineda in 2015 with a 4.37 ERA, a full run lower than Tomlin. If you drop the SO/W ratio down to 6+, Tomlin would still be the worst, breaking his own record of 4.76 ERA in 2014. In fact, you have to go all the way down to a 3.73 SO/W ratio to find a pitcher with… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Joe Nathan just retired with a steeak of two consecutive seasons without giving up a run.
And he did it with 3 teams.

(yes, it was only 6.2 IP, but…)

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

is it just my impression, or has there been a unusually high turnover in performance among top players from 2016 to 2017? I’ve just compared league WAR leaderboards for the two years in offense and pitching, and find only 9 repeats, 4 among position players and 5 among pitchers, out of 40 possibles.

Also, again it’s an impression, but a strong one, but haven’t there been an unusually high number of serious injuries in 2017, putting key players and pitchers out of action for long stretches, not just Kershaw and Trout, but any number of others?

Just asking.

David P
David P
6 years ago

I count 11: Altuve, Betts, Trout, Kluber, Sale, Verlander, Kershaw, Scherzer, Bryant, Arenado, and Seager.

Anyway, it does seem low but I also imagine with so many teams, it’s hard to repeat. And I suspect a good portion of the 11 above are future HOFers whereas those who didn’t repeat are less likely to be future HOFers.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Somehow I missed Bryant and Arenado. Pursuing the subject a little further, I found 12 carryovers from 2015 to 2016, although given my track record I may have missed others. 1997-98 I found 15, if McGuire gets credit for both leagues in ’97. 1955-56: 20 out of 40, including 13 of 20 position players, 11 of the 13 HOFers. Just 16 teams then, of course.

David P
David P
6 years ago

In a Three True Outcome World, Indians pitcher Ryan Merritt is a definite throwback.

Including today’s game against the Yankees and last season’s playoffs, Merritt has now done the following:

36 IP
4 BB
16 K
0 HRs
1.50 ERA

Yes, he’s been babied a bit, generally pitching 4-5 innings at a time. Still, I’m surprised more teams aren’t willing to put a soft tosser in their rotation, to mix things up and keep hitters off balance. Merritt’s fastest pitch today was only 87.8 MPH.

Would love to see more Merritt types get a chance at the major league level.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Mike Trout had himself quite an unusual outing at the plate in last night’s game: 2 singles, a triple, a home run, a walk, and 4 runs scored. That appears to be just the 13th game since at least 1940 to meet such criteria, and the first since Josh Hamilton did it on May 16th, 2008. Looks like his stiff neck is getting better. 🙂

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Ah, I found two more similar games that match; it all depends on how you conduct the P-I search. There are two additional players who drew a pair of walks during their big nights: Charlie Jamieson in 1921, and Jimmie Foxx in 1935.

Turns out that Hamilton actually hit TWO home runs that game, which no else has duplicated. So, that means Trout is the 12th player with the exact numbers listed above, and the last to do it was the Royals’ Angel Berroa on September 9th, 2004.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

I wanted to wait until a new thread to post an Alcides Escobar/Royals update, but this will have to suffice. Escobar currently has a .573 OPS with an OPS+ of 51 in 526 plate appearances, while teammate Alex Gordon is at .569 and a 52 OPS+ in 446 PA. The Royals could become just the fifth team since 1901 with two players at or below a 52 OPS+ and 450 or more plate appearances, and only the third if Gordon makes it to 500 PA. Meanwhile, Gordon currently has -27 Batting Runs and Escobar is at -34. Only 14 other… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Gordon has 32.6 lifetime bWAR and a career OPS+ of 105. It’s not like he he’s never been able to hit, although he’s never been particularly outstanding with the bat, and he was -11 Batting Runs last year. Crusher of a contract for a team like KC

Ken
Ken
6 years ago

Orioles are just 1 1/2 games behind the 2nd wild card spot despite a 5.54 ERA by their starters, worst in the AL. Highest starting pitching ERA for a playoff team since 1950:

Rangers 1999 5.49
Orioles 1996 5.47
Rangers 1998 5.46

David P
David P
6 years ago

The Yanks have a Tyler Austin and an Austin Romine. Wonder how many other teams have had players whose first and last names matched? (have we discussed this before?)

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Low hanging fruit perhaps, but Tommy John and John Buzhardt for the 1965-67 White Sox.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

On Twitter I follow a woman named Diane Firstman and she recently posted a list of such names but right now I can’t think of any.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

Giancarlo Stanton. Excellent chance for over 60 dingers in a year when no one is challenging him. He has 51 now, but only 110 RBIs. With his HRs he’s driven in only 22 baserunners, and it’s not like he’s breaking any records for walks or IBBs. Don’t have time to track down the other 50+ Hr seasons, so I’ll ask ask: is this (so far) the worst high HR season vis-a-vis driving in men on base?

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

This is what he is doing with runners on base:

.296 / .384 / .653 / 1.037

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Voomo:

What I’m getting at is this: Stanton has come to bat 216 times with men on base, 285 men total, and has driven in 59 of them, but only 22 on home runs. Forty-six of his homers have come with the bases empty (31) or with one baserunner (15). He’s batting fairly well with runners on, yes, but his RBI total, all things considered, seems kind of low considering the 51 home runs. Batting in the second spot 2/3 of the time may have something to do with it, but again, I don’t know.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

Sorry‚ that’s actually 250 times with men on base and 332 runners total.

David P
David P
6 years ago

OPS with RISP, 50+ homeruns: (not all seaons are in the baseball-reference PI)

Stanton: 924
Greg Vaughn .782
Brady Anderson: .734
Andruw Jones: .721

Stanton also seems to have a lot fewer PAs with RISP (or men on base) than the others who hit 50+ home runs. Likely due to him batting second (Marlins’ pitchers have a dreadful .202 OPS).

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  David P

Here’s an old post of mine showing runners on base per batting order position. This is for 2015.

BOP…….ROB
1……….331
2……….392
3……….431
4……….468
5……….440
6……….402
7……….389
8……….382
9……….373

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

In 1997, McGwire hit 58 HR and drove in 123. In 1996 is was 52 and 113.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

McGwire’ 1996 season looks similar, but actually, not only did McGwire walk far more times—25% of the time when he came up with runners on vs. 12% for Stanton thus far —but he drove in far more runners (35) with home runs.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Stanton’s season would be just the 15th with 40+ home runs and an RBI ratio of 2.2 or less. Quite a recent phenomenon, as it only happened twice before 1996: Harmon Killebrew in ’63 and Willie Mays in ’65.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I suppose that’s because whenever anyone was on base, the opposition almost always issued Bonds one of his 177 free passes to first base.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

Here’s a list of runners driven in (RDI) with HR only. It goes back to 1956. HR …. RDI …. Year …. Player 70 …. 48 …. 1998 …. Mark McGwire 54 …. 47 …. 2007 …. Alex Rodriguez 65 …. 44 …. 1999 …. Mark McGwire 57 …. 42 …. 2001 …. Luis Gonzalez 66 …. 42 …. 1998 …. Sammy Sosa 58 …. 40 …. 2006 …. Ryan Howard 54 …. 39 …. 2010 …. Jose Bautista 50 …. 39 …. 2000 …. Sammy Sosa 54 …. 38 …. 1961 …. Mickey Mantle 61 …. 37 …. 1961… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

35 of Anderson’s HR were from the number 1 BOP and 15 from number 2.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

I’m surprised David P hasn’t already posted this factoid: The Indians have just played two consecutive double headers and won all four games. Day off in between sets, true, but how long has it been since either of these things happened, a team playing two consecutive twin bills, and one winning both ends of each?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

I checked the Yankees for consecutive DH sweeps. If I have done my work correctly the last time they did it was on 9-22-64 and 9-23-64, both against the Indians.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

My comment comes as the thread is winding down, but I’ll make it anyway. Those 4 games were essential to the Yankees’ 1964 pennant drive with the Orioles and White Sox right on their tails. An interesting fact that I totally missed while it was happening—being in college then with an overloaded schedule and a student job—was that in early September the Yankees acquired Pedro Ramos, the quirky Cuban indelibly associated with the 1950s Senators, and used him as the team’s closer for the rest of that month. One win, 1.25 ERA, and 8 saves, including 3 in those double… Read more »

David P
David P
6 years ago

Good one NSB! Completely missed that. So how’s this…yesterday’s Indians became the first team since 1930 to do the following: 14+ hits 0 Walks 4 or fewer Ks 2 Triples 2 HBP Granted it’s a bit of a quirky combitation but I thought the 0 home runs (despite 14 hits), 4 or fewer Ks, and 0 walks was a bit odd given that we’re living in the Three True Outcome era. Throw in 2 HBP (despite 0 walks) and 2 triples (in an era of low triples) and voila! Last team to do that was the 1930 Indians on April… Read more »