How is your favorite veteran ballplayer doing? He may have passed a notable career milestone and you missed it. To find out, or if you just have a fascination for round numbers, here’s a review of this year’s milestone moments and a look ahead to those still to come.
Here is an oddball assortment of pitchers, including a HOFer and an All-Star caliber pitcher, but mainly journeymen and the truly obscure. Yet, all of them share a common career accomplishment. What is the peculiar career feat that only these live-ball era (since 1920) pitchers can boast of?
| Player |
|---|
| Eddie Rommel |
| Dave Koslo |
| Bill Swift |
| Elam Vangilder |
| Paul Hartzell |
| Vito Tamulis |
| Dizzy Dean |
| Ralph Birkofer |
| Rosy Ryan |
To tell you something you already know, the youngster in Baltimore, that kid named Machado, is a pretty fine ballplayer. Had a very creditable run at the all-time doubles mark before slowing down in the dog days. And, a very steady job at 3rd base – silky smooth hands and footwork, an effortless gun for an arm, and a particular highlight reel play that I, for one, will not soon forget. Mind-boggling to think that he just turned 21.
But, there’s another young 3rd baseman who has received very little ink indeed. Name of Nolan Arenado, a 22 year-old rookie in Colorado. Hasn’t yet shown much of a bat, but take a look at his defensive totals, currently showing 3.4 dWAR in just 109 games (Nolan didn’t get called up until the end of April).
Here’s the kicker: barring injury, Machado and Arenado will post the two best defensive third base seasons ever, as measured by WAR Fielding Runs.
More after the jump.
The players in this quiz share a single game accomplishment since 1961 that no other player has matched. What is this feat?
| Player | Notes |
|---|---|
| Jose Lopez | Ichiro was the only player to appear in this game and the Edgar Martinez game |
| Edgar Martinez | A player who appeared in the George Bell game had 5 RBI in this game |
| Juan Gonzalez | Gonzalez’s team had 15 hits and lost, despite 4 runs by the starting 3rd baseman in the Edgar Martinez game |
| Chad Kreuter | Krueter was one of 7 starters with a hit, a run and an RBI, roughing up the starting pitcher in the Don Mattingly game |
| George Bell | Toronto had a grand slam in this game. But, not by Bell. Two players on the losing side would later manage that team. |
| Candy Maldonado | Three Mets grounded into double plays in this game. One Met who didn’t go GIDP played in the Vince Coleman game. |
| Don Mattingly | This game was two days after the Coleman game. Yankees roughed up a rookie starter with a higher BB/9 than H/9. |
| Vince Coleman | A teammate had 3 steals and 3 runs, but Coleman still lost to a club with two former Yankee WS champions |
| Russ Nixon | The starting catcher opposing Nixon was a future manager of Nixon’s team |
| Ernie Banks | An All-Star infielder had 3 hits for the winners, a team that player would later manage |
Congratulations to William J. He correctly identified that the quiz players each had 3 sacrifice flies in a game, the only players to do so since sacrifice flies were first counted officially in 1954. Those games and the clue explanations are after the jump. Continue reading
HHS reader Jacob identified that Zack Cozart is currently leading the NL in both sacrifice hits (i.e. sacrifice bunts) and sacrifice flies. Should Cozart still have the same standing at the end of the season, he would become the first player since the sac fly was first officially recorded in 1954 to lead his league in both categories in the same season. Not only that, he would become just the fifth player to lead in both categories at any point in a career.
More on sacrifice hitting after the jump.
They teased us last year, but this time it’s finally going to happen. Yes, barring an almost complete collapse, the Pittsburgh Pirates will indeed break the longest streak of futility in the history of the majors. Twenty seasons of losing baseball are coming to an end in the Steel City, and it could be official as early as Labor Day.
The last Pirates team to win more than it lost was back in 1992. How long ago was that? Consider:
More on the end of an era after the jump.
The players in this quiz are the only outfielders with a particular season accomplishment since 1961. What is this unusual feat?
| Player |
|---|
| Carl Yastrzemski |
| Barry Bonds |
| Ken Griffey |
| Dave Parker |
| Lenny Dykstra |
| Al Kaline |
| Darin Erstad |
| Brian Jordan |
| Rickey Henderson |
| Ichiro Suzuki |
| Andruw Jones |
Hint #1: none of these players accomplished this feat more than once.
Congratulations to bstar! He correctly identified these players as the only outfielders since 1961 with both 25 WAR Batting Runs and 25 WAR Fielding Runs (using B-R WAR). In fact, these are the only outfielders since 1901 to meet both criteria.
The Brewers’ Carlos Gomez has a chance to join this group. He’s already at 27 WAR Fielding Runs and is sitting on 17 WAR Batting Runs, so he’ll need to get healthy and get really hot with the bat the rest of the way. Even if he doesn’t make this group, he stands an even better chance at joining even more exclusive company – becoming just the 8th player at any position with a season since 1901 of 8 WAR from fewer than 25 WAR batting runs (maybe I should have made that the quiz). The 25/25 seasons for our quiz players, and the exclusive group Gomez seems destined to join are after the jump.
A quickie version of Thursday’s action from your substitute reporter. The real thing will return soon.
The 3-way NL Central race heated up with the Cardinals and Reds both gaining ground on the front-running Pirates, who saw their lead shrink to just two games. The AL East and AL West races also tightened with the closest pursuers in each division both gaining ground on the front-runners. In the AL Central, Detroit hosted Kansas City to begin a 5-game set that could be a make-or-break series for the upstart Royals and tell us if they really are for real.
Alfonso Soriano has been in the news this week with his stellar play in his return to pinstripes. Appropriate then that he is included in this list of recent power hitters.
Really simple quiz. What is the career accomplishment shared by only these players over the past 25 seasons (since 1989)? Note for players active before 1989 that, to be included in this list, they must have achieved this career accomplishment only within the the 1989 to 2013 period.
| Player |
|---|
| Jeff Bagwell |
| Barry Bonds |
| Carlos Delgado |
| Chipper Jones |
| David Ortiz |
| Rafael Palmeiro |
| Albert Pujols |
| Manny Ramirez |
| Alex Rodriguez |
| Alfonso Soriano |
| Sammy Sosa |
Since I hit you with such a nasty quiz yesterday, here’s one I think will be easier.
Below are the 1982 season lines for 3 players. They are the only players from that season with a particular season batting accomplishment that can be described by (some of) the common batting totals shown. What is this seasonal batting feat?
| Player | Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS | SH | SF | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Bernazard | 1982 | CHW | 137 | 630 | 540 | 90 | 138 | 25 | 9 | 11 | 56 | 67 | 88 | 11 | 0 | 16 | 5 | .256 | .337 | .396 |
| Rafael Ramirez | 1982 | ATL | 157 | 669 | 609 | 74 | 169 | 24 | 4 | 10 | 52 | 36 | 49 | 27 | 14 | 16 | 5 | .278 | .319 | .379 |
| Bob Boone | 1982 | CAL | 143 | 539 | 472 | 42 | 121 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 58 | 39 | 34 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 5 | .256 | .310 | .337 |
Hint: among expansion-era players (seasons since 1961), the same feat was accomplished only 3 times before 1982, and also only 3 times after 1982, all by different players.
Congratulations to Bix! He identified the players in the quiz as those with a lot of sacrifice bunts, despite having a bit of pop in their bats – a rare combination indeed in the modern game. It wasn’t always thus – more after the jump.