1978 O-Pee-Chee #78 Dave Winfield - I love this card. All the yellow, oranges, and browns look great, and the retro uniform and font are great.

Here’s a bit of history about the Padres. In their first season in 1969, they lost a whopping 110 games. They finished last in the NL West every year for their first 6 seasons until finally finishing 4th in 1975.  Over the next 8 seasons, they moved around from 4th to 6th. Then, all of a sudden, in 1984, they vaulted to 1st place and made it to the World Series. The following year, they put up their first 3rd-place finish, but didn’t finally put up a 2nd-place finish until 1989 in their 21st season.

Anyway…let’s take a look at the best players this team has ever had. Continue reading →

David Ortiz / Presswire

In the 2009 season, David Ortiz went homerless all the way up until 3 years ago today, of May 20th. Up until that game, for the season he was hitting .203/.317/.293. Yikes.

Lots of people, including me, said that he was D-U-N done. He certainly looked done.

Since May 20th 2009, though, Ortiz has been anything but done. In 446 games and 1847 plate appearances (3 full seasons over 3 full calendar years) he’s hit .285/.375/.543 with 98 HR and 311 RBI.

Over the 3 full seasons 2009, 2010, and 2011, two other players–Adrian Gonzalez and Paul Konerko–have exactly 98 homers themselves. Only 6 players (Albert, Prince, Tex, Ryan Howard, Miggy, and Gonzalez) have at least 98 homers and 311 over that same period.

Apparently, rumors of Ortiz’s demise were greatly exaggerated.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to do a Saturday recap, so just for the hell of it, here’s the rest of Friday’s action:

@Phillies 6, Red Sox 4: Carlos Ruiz (.371) is now batting higher than any qualified catcher ever has for a season, and his 1.036 OPS is within hailing distance of Mike Piazza’s record (1.070). His 2-run single in the 1st (the biggest Win Probability event of the game) lifted him to .400 with RISP and 4 for 9 with the bases loaded (10 RBI).

• Cole Hamels (6-1, 2.48, 5.8 SO/BB) should be able to expand his library of old-school baseball histories after he signs his next contract.

Continue reading →

In this quiz, we have two lists of players. 

• Each player on the first list is related to exactly one player on the second list.
• Each player on the second list is related to exactly one player on the first list.
• A particular feat connects each pair of players. It is the same feat for all pairs.
• No other pairs of players have accomplished this feat.

Congratulation to Tristram12 who identified that in the pairs of players below (the lists are matched up now) each player homered in his first WS game, and both in the same game. Those games are here.

1976 Topps #441 Gary Carter All-Star Rookie

OK, we roll back the clock to 1969 and the bunch of teams that all came into existence that year. One of them, the Montreal Expos, is just a memory at this point. Let’s identify the franchise’s marquis players. Washington Nationals can also be considered, but I don’t think there’s anybody from the modern era even close enough. Continue reading →

@Tigers 6, Pirates 0: Conditions were good for a Verlander no-hit bid — he was at home, where his opponents have a .226 career BA (.240 away); Pittsburgh came in hitting .221; and just like last year’s May no-no, Detroit was scuffling along a couple of games under .500. He could smell it in the 8th, when he whiffed the side with a some 99-mph readings. But with 2 outs to go and a 1-2 count, Josh Harrison — the Pirate least likely to strike out this year — broke it up with a fine defensive swing.

• Continue reading →

I was leafing through the ol’ Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract recently, when one of the “historical” reprints spoke to me in a way that it never had before. This passage about Wildfire Schulte is from a 1910 book co-authored by Johnny Evers:

Schulte proved to be … one of the rarest baseball treasures, a “third batter.” The third batter in any team is the most important. He must hit long flies, hit hard, bunt and run, because ahead of him in a well constructed team are two batters who are on the team for their ability to “get on,” and the third man must be able either to move them up or hit them home. — Johnny Evers with Hugh Fullerton, Baseball in the Big Leagues (Reilly and Britton, 1910). (emphasis added)

Continue reading →

Jose Bautista / Presswire

Time for 1977’s other expansion team to get the Rushmore treatment.

Let’s get started.

First of all, can you guess which batter has the most career WAR for the Blue Jays? I bet you get it wrong. Continue reading →

It is a logical assumption that it’s tougher to hit in the post-season than in the regular season, with back-of-the-rotation starting pitchers disappearing from view and the workloads of the very best pitchers being rationed less carefully.  No longer are the top arms being saved for more important occasions — those post-season games are the most important occasions.  The numbers back up the logical assumption, as you can see after the jump. Continue reading →

@Indians 6, Mariners 5: A 2-out, 3-run Jake-jack by Jose Lopez tied it in the 8th, and a walk-fueled rally off Brandon League in the 11th culminated in Carlos Santana’s payoff/walk-off that produced Cleveland’s 4th straight win and a 4-game lead in the AL Central.

• League gave just 10 passes in 61 IP last year and hadn’t walked 3 in a game in over 4 years.
• Walks played a key role in all 3 scoring frames for the Indians, who drew 8 in all and are MLB’s runaway leaders in that category, averaging 4.6 per game; San Diego is 2nd at 3.8.
• Enjoy it while it lasts: The Tribe are 9-1 in one-run games, a big reason they’re in 1st place despite being outscored.

Continue reading →