Well, Doug posted a quiz about sluggers; here’s one where you won’t find any of those. What career accomplishment do these Live Ball era players have in common? (I hope I caught them all, but I’m not 100% sure, so I make no promises!)
Lou Brock
Bert Campaneris
Brett Butler
Michael Bourn
Tony Womack
Dave Collins
Maybe this is a start. These players, plus George Case, are the only players since 1920 with 5000 PA careers and:
– SB at least 90% of RBI
– 3B at least 90% of HR
– 2B at least 45% of SB
That’s more criteria than I used. My search basically revolved around your first line. I’ll see if you can figure it out…
Adding a minimum 30 HR removes Case.
Another formulation achieving the same result is 5000 PA plus:
– SB at least 90% of RBI
– SB at least 5 times HR
– BB at least 80% of SB
– 30 career HR
I see the issue now; I said “Live Ball Era” in the post, but I actually only searched the Integrated Era. That’s why Case is eliminated, which really would’ve made your search a lot easier, if I had labeled things correctly.
The actual SB/RBI formula was RBI and SB within 10% of one another, either direction. And I used a 3,000 PA minimum. So there you have it:
Integrated Era, 3000+ PA, SB & RBI within 10% of one another. I say that’s good enough for a “solved” marker. Good job, Doug!
FWIW, I came across this because I was on Bert Campaneris’ page and saw those 646 RBI right next to the 649 SB, and I thought, “I wonder how many guys have a career line like that? The answer is, not many.
I also came up with Rajai Davis, Gary Redus, Scott Podsednik, Davey Lopes, Gene Richards, Brian Hunter and Ben Revere.
recalling the career of the legendary Ben Revere, how many major leaguers had a season like his 2014 with 184 hits and only 13 BB’s…you know >184 hits and less than 12 BB’s? I had to look twice to make the BB number wasn’t CS?
“make” sure….
And the answer is … none. Revere is one of four players with 184+ hits and only 13 walks. Mickey Rivers matched Revere’s numbers for the 1976 Yankees, and two players from way back had 13 BB and more than 184 hits: Hi Myers (196 hits in 1922) and Hal Chase (193 hits in 1906). Myers’ season is the lowest ratio of BB to H in any 175 hit season since 1893.
Thanks, Doug
I ran the query for integration era, 5000 PA, and SB between 0.9 and 1.1 times RBI. Our six players and Dave Lopes is the result (Lopes had 557 SB and 614 RBI, so he was just inside the ropes).
If I change it to RBI between 0.9 and 1.1 times SB, then I get only these six. But, with only a 3000 PA minimum, the six additional players Richard identified are included.