In a Grapefruit League game today, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Anthony Gose stole 2nd, 3rd and home in top of the 8th inning, scoring the eventual winning run as Toronto beat Boston to continue its torrid spring training winning spree.

This, of course, is a pretty unusual feat. I’ve found references to these previous times that this has been done.

• Pete Rose, May 11, 1980, at the age of 39!!!
• Jayson Werth, May 12, 2009

What is special about Gose today was that he was the only baserunner of the inning. The two games above both involved a double steal in one of the 3 stolen bases.

Does anyone know of other games where this has happened?

How often have Juan Pierre and Jimmy Rollins had outs in a season totalling 75% of their PAs? You might be surprised to know that neither of them has ever done this, though a number of other players have, some more than once. As PAs are, aside from pinch-running, a prerequisite to making an out, let’s see who the players are who do this most frequently.

Continue reading →

The last player to appear in a major league game before his 19th birthday was Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod debuted for the Mariners on July 8, 1994, 19 days before turning 19. Since then, just a handful of 19 year-olds have appeared, including such notables as Andruw Jones, Edgar Renteria, Adrian Beltre and Felix Hernandez. The Upton brothers, Justin and B.J., also both debuted just prior to turning 20 (does anyone know if any other brothers have debuted as teenagers?)

But, teenagers weren’t always so scarce. During World War II, and in the bonus baby days of the 1950s and 1960s, there was a relative abundance of teenagers in the majors, with some teams sporting several on their rosters. And, it wasn’t just 19 year-olds – Joe Nuxhall famously debuted as a 15 year-old and a number of 16, 17 and 18 year-old players have also had major league playing time.

With that preamble, I’m following up an earlier post on the oldest batter vs. pitcher matchups with this post, highlighting the youngest such matchups.

Continue reading →

In the final installment of WAR leaders by position since 1961, we look at pitchers and catchers. As with the earlier posts, the methodology is to identify the leader in cumulative bWAR over 5-year periods for players appearing in a designated position for at least 75% of their games. For pitchers, this means that a pitcher must appear in either a starting or relieving role for 75% of their games to be included on the leader board.

Continue reading →

Mel Parnell passed away a few days ago at the age of 89. Parnell was a mainstay in the Red Sox rotation in the late 40s and early 50s. During his 10-year career from 1947 to 1956, all with Boston, the Red Sox compiled a .554 winning percentage. When Parnell started, that shot up to a .647 clip.  

Parnell was among the top major league pitchers during his career, placing 8th in ERA+, 10th in WAR and W-L %, and 3rd in lowest HR/9 for the 1947 to 1956 period. 

Continue reading →

In the second installment of 5-year WAR leaders since 1961, this post looks at players in outfield and DH positions. The methodology is to determine bWAR leaders for each year based on cumulative 5-year bWAR ending in that year. To qualify for the leader board, players must play 75% of their games in the period at the indicated position.

Continue reading →

Birtelcom’s recent post on dynastic succession by teams got me to thinking about succession in terms of players. In particular, does the best player at a position remain the best player for an extended period, or does that honor tend to shift around among the better players during any particular time?

To answer this question, I looked at cumulative bWAR measured over 5 year periods, for every such period since 1961. Since I was focusing on individual positions, I set a high threshold of at least 75% of games played at that position during the period. This approach will exclude players who split time among positions, or around the time of a mid-career position switch. But, I believe those are precisely the reasons why this approach is preferable when evaluating players by position.

Continue reading →

A St. Patrick’s Day Tribute to players born in the Emerald Isle.

Here’s the All-Ireland All-Star team

Continue reading →

Here’s an unusual collection of pitchers. There are starters and relievers. Their careers ranged from two seasons to more than twenty. They pitched in ten decades, from the 1910s to the 2000s. There are players you probably have never heard of – and there’s a HOFer.

But these pitchers, and only these pitchers, have accomplished a feat no other pitcher has achieved. What common thread unites this group?

The quiz has been solved. Congratulations to the team of Richard Chester and Nadig!

Continue reading →

Which starting pitchers have been shelled most often? I’m not talking about guys with careers of only a handful of starts. No, I’m thinking more about established pitchers. Which of those pitchers have most frequently had a tough day at the office?

Continue reading →