Which players had the best games of the 2013 season batting from a certain lineup spot? That idle thought crossed my mind, so I thought I’d find out, and then see what kind of a team I could put together with just those players.
More on these All-Stars for a day after the jump.
Tiger shortstop Jose Iglesias was the AL RoY runner-up, turning in a .300 hitting campaign to go with solid defense (0.989 fielding). That by itself would be an unusual rookie campaign for a shortstop, but a mid-season trade from the Red Sox to Detroit made Iglesias’ season more unusual still.
I was curious how often a rookie who had established himself as the “regular” shortstop (i.e. not necessarily an “everyday” player, but the player used at his position more frequently than any other) had been traded to another team to became its regular shortstop. I figured it was probably unusual, but I wouldn’t have guessed it had happened only once before in the live ball era.
After the jump, more on rookies who establish themselves only to get traded mid-season.
One of the best kept secrets of the 2013 season was this – among only a handful of previous occasions, this season ended with two players having current 13 year or longer streaks of 20 or more stolen bases. Those players were Ichiro Suzuki and Juan Pierre. And, if not for an injury-plagued 2010 season that held him to just 17 thefts, Jimmy Rollins would have been a 3rd player with that distinction.
More after the jump on players who maintain stolen base proficiency throughout their careers.
Nolan Ryan was recently inducted into the HHS Circle of Greats and is one of these pitching greats with a career accomplishment unique among pitchers active since 1901. What is this unusual career feat?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mordecai Brown |
| 2 | Sandy Koufax |
| 3 | Nolan Ryan |
| 4 | Eddie Plank |
| 5 | Eppa Rixey |
| 6 | Red Faber |
| 7 | Carl Hubbell |
| 8 | Jack Chesbro |
| 9 | Ted Lyons |
Congratulations to Artie Z! He correctly identified our quiz players as the only Hall of Fame pitchers active since 1901 who hit no more than 5 career home runs but did hit one off another Hall of Fame pitcher. More on this vanishing occurrence after the jump.
In a recent quiz, I happened to stumble upon a tiny subset of hitters, namely those represented by the yellow area in the extreme upper right-hand corner of the chart below. In that post, I noted the recent increase in the number of such hitters and speculated on what might be causing this uptick.
More on batters with a high XBH to SLG ratio after the jump.
Baseball-Reference.com
Pro football HOFer Ace Parker died Wednesday in his hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia. Parker played professionally in baseball and football in the 1930s and 1940s, continuing in pro baseball into the early 1950s. At his death, Parker was the oldest living US-born major-leaguer.
More on Ace after the jump.
For 101 major league seasons (1901-2001), the players below were the only hitters to achieve a certain seasonal batting feat. In 2002, three more players achieved this distinction and, since 2002, 5 more players have done this a total of 7 times.
What is this batting feat peculiar to modern day hitters?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Medwick |
| 2 | Zoilo Versalles |
| 3 | Hal McRae |
Hint: Versalles’ season is the one you’re thinking of.
Don’t know whether I stumped you or just no interest. Anyway, the solution is that these players and the others from the current century all have a low slugging percentage relative to extra-base hits. In particular, they are the only players since 1901 having a season with an extra-base hit total of over 160 times slugging percentage. The seasons are after the jump.
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The off-season is upon us (sigh). Yeah, I know. It’s a letdown.
For some distraction, here’s a quirky bit of trivia. The players below have the only seasons since 1901 with a particular batting feat. And, if you look closely, only one of these players has had such a season in the expansion era. What is this feat that has become so rare?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nap Lajoie |
| 2 | Heinie Zimmerman |
| 3 | Babe Ruth |
| 4 | Tris Speaker |
| 5 | Ty Cobb |
| 6 | Zack Wheat |
| 7 | Bob Fothergill |
| 8 | Paul Waner |
| 9 | Mickey Vernon |
| 10 | Enos Slaughter |
| 11 | Keith Hernandez |
Hint: each of these players accomplished this feat only once
Congratulations to Christopher Kamka! He correctly identified that these are the only players having a qualifying .300/.400/.500 season with an equal number of HRs and triples. Those seasons are after the jump.
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The Red Sox go for all the marbles tonight. But to do it, they’ll have to find an answer to young Michael Wacha. In game 2, Wacha became the 16th pitcher to start and win 4 games in a single post-season. With another W tonight, Wacha can become the first starter to reach 5 (Randy Johnson won 5 games in 2001, one of them in relief; before recording the first decision of his regular season career, the Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez won 5 post-season games in 2002, all in relief). Wacha would also become the first starter with more career wins in the post-season than in the regular season.
For the Cardinals, it’s a bigger hill to climb. They will be trying to come back from 3-2 down, on the road. No team has done that since the 1979 Pirates (who came back from 3-1 down).
More after the jump.
The top WPA performance so far in the 2013 Series goes to David Ortiz, with a 0.386 score in a losing cause for the Red Sox in game 2. That mark just misses making the table below for the top WPA games by players on the winning and losing teams in each game of the World Series.
| Game | Winning Team | Date | WPA | Losing Team | WPA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirk Gibson | 1988-10-15 | 0.870 | Larry Walker | 2004-10-23 | 0.600 |
| 2 | Ed Sprague | 1992-10-18 | 0.669 | Eddie Murray | 1979-10-11 | 0.392 |
| 3 | Scott Brosius | 1998-10-20 | 0.624 | Home Run Baker | 1914-10-12 | 0.370 |
| 4 | Charlie Keller | 1941-10-05 | 0.829 | Bobby Tolan | 1972-10-19 | 0.538 |
| 5 | Harry Hooper | 1915-10-13 | 0.617 | Tom Tresh | 1964-10-12 | 0.410 |
| 6 | David Freese | 2011-10-27 | 0.964 | Josh Hamilton | 2011-10-27 | 0.547 |
| 7 | Hal Smith | 1960-10-13 | 0.636 | Yogi Berra | 1960-10-13 | 0.383 |
| Deciding | Hal Smith | 1960-10-13 | 0.636 | Fred Schulte | 1933-10-07 | 0.404 |
| Home Team | David Freese | 2011-10-27 | 0.964 | Pedro Feliz | 2009-11-01 | 0.484 |
| Visiting Team | Charlie Keller | 1941-10-05 | 0.829 | Larry Walker | 2004-10-23 | 0.600 |
A look back at some memorable Series games after the jump.