These are all speedy players (at least 130 career stolen bases, and 25 or more at least twice), And, they have a bit of pop in their bats (at least 90 career HR, and double digits at least twice). But, these are the only players since 1901 with a particular season batting feat.

What is this unusual batting accomplishment?

Congratulations to bells! He identified that these are the only players with a season of more than 60 extra-base hits, but at least 10 fewer RBI (alternatively, a season of 50+ RBI and at least 10 more XBH produces the same result).

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A follow-up to the Batters’ edition post from last week, here are the pitchers who have reached significant career milestones this season.

Some you will know, but there will be some surprises too. More after the jump.

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Here’s a seemingly random assortment of batters. Yet, these are the only players with a post-war season (since 1946) achieving a particular batting feat. What is it?

Hint: the fact that these players were all outfielders is not germane to the answer.

Congratulations to Richard Chester and Gary Bateman! They teamed up to identify that these are the only players to qualify for the league batting title in their rookies seasons, while batting .300 with 150 or fewer hits and 10 or more home runs.

More on precocious batters after the jump.

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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.

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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?

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.

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The players in this quiz share a single game accomplishment since 1961 that no other player has matched. What is this feat?

• Hint #1: the players are listed in chronological order of the games in which this feat was achieved, starting with the most recent
• Hint #2: no players accomplished this feat in the twenty seasons from 1966 to 1985
• Hint #3: except as noted above, all these players were on the winning team

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.

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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:

• Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke were manning the Pirate outfield
• Miguel Batista debuted for Pittsburgh (he is the only player to appear that season who is still “active”)
• there were only two divisions in each league (and nary a wildcard to be found)
• the World Series had never been played outside the USA (although that was about to change)
• ballparks weren’t named after corporations
• Nationals, Rockies, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Rays (deviled or plain)? Never heard of ’em.
• 11 players would strike out at least 125 times (more have already done so in 2013)

More on the end of an era after the jump.

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The players in this quiz are the only outfielders with a particular season accomplishment since 1961. What is this unusual feat?

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.

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