“Arriba” was Roberto Clemente‘s nickname and an apt one it was. TheFreeDictionary.com defines the idiom as “an expression of pleasure, approval or elation”, a sentiment that Clemente inspired in most who saw him play.

I only saw Clemente at the tail end of his career, but his skill and passion for the game were still plainly evident. I have quite vivid memories of the 1971 post-season when Clemente, with an 18-hit barrage good for a .383/.420/.596 slash, carried his team to a World Series championship, capped by a game 7 home run off Mike Cuellar that stood until the 8th inning as the only run of a taut pitchers’ duel ultimately decided by a 2-1 score.

Even among the pantheon of all-time greats who graced baseball’s stage in the 1960s, Clemente holds an honored place. Indeed, a compelling case can be made that he was among the two or three most dominant players of his time.

More on Clemente after the jump.

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Some players have career years in which they far exceed their previous best performance and, as it turns out, any subsequent performance. Using FanGraphs leaderboards, I’ve identified the record-holders of this type.

This post takes a quick look at the players who had the largest difference between their best and second-best seasons in a variety of different statistical categories. Thanks to HHS reader Richard Chester for the idea for this post.

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Recently a NFL writer at bleacher report named Bryn Swartz has taken on a project to select the 100 most memorable  NFL moments of the last decade. As a matter of fact I was helping him pick some of them just last night. I felt like this was a fun, albeit time consuming, project. I have decided to piggyback onto his idea, and do the same for MLB. This will be a pure celebration of baseball. There will be no off-field incidents on this list. The only thing that matters is the game that we love. It will be made up of events that happened between the 2004 and 2013 season. I will start unveiling the list next Monday, and hope to release 2 a day. At that rate we will be finishing up right around opening day, and hopefully get everybody gung-ho for baseball. If you would like to leave a comment with some of your favorite baseball moments from the last 10 years that would be greatly appreciated.

A chance observation led to an unusual search of the Play Index, which produced these four pitchers:

• Elmer Ponder
• Roy Parmelee
• Steve Blass
• Sam McDowell

These are the only pitchers since 1916 with an extraordinary relationship among three adjacent items in their seasonal pitching lines. What might seem an error actually reflects a bizarre game feat. The pitchers are listed in order of the years in which this occurred.

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These players in this quiz have the distinction of being the only pitchers since 1916 with an unusual (and very unexpected) game accomplishment. What is it?

Hint: this feat has been accomplished only by starting pitchers. None of these players has done it twice.

No fooling quiz solver extraordinaire Richard Chester. He correctly identified these players as the only pitchers to be credited with a win when surrendering 5 or more home runs. More on winning when you shouldn’t after the jump.

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This one’s a bit dry, but Andy fed me a good lead-in, so here goes.…

What happened to the plate appearances once taken by the 14th and 15th hitters on a roster, now that those spots have gone to relievers? Have they been spread evenly among regulars and remaining bench players, or what?

That question arose when I noticed that only 140 players qualified for the batting title last year, the lowest full-season total since 1992. That surprised me. Yes, the number of qualifiers tends to fall when scoring does, but I thought that would be offset by the roster shift: Surely some of the 200+ PAs from the 14th and 15th hitters would have gone to regulars.

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The players in this quiz had an unusual game accomplishment, made more unusual in the context of their careers. What is the quirky game and career feat achieved by no other retired players since 1916?

Hint: figuring out what HOOT means may help you solve this quiz.

Congratulations to John Autin! He correctly identified that some of these players hit for the cycle in their only 4-hit game (ergo, it Happened Only One Time). The others hit for the cycle and had a namesake with only one 4-hit game. See the comments for my mea culpa.

Here’s a simple plot showing, by year, the percentage of all plate appearances given each year to any non-starter, as well as the percentage given to pinch-hitters specifically.

The pinch-hitter data goes back only to 1945 (the limit of full play-by-play availability) and happens to coincide with a dramatic increase in the use of the pinch-hitter in baseball. From 1945 until 1960, nearly 3% more of all plate appearances went to pinch-hitters, singlehandedly accounting for the same increase among all non-starters.

Since that time, pinch-hitter use has tapered off slowly, falling about 1 percentage point over the 50 or so intervening years, while overall non-starter plate appearances have dropped by more than double that amount. The reason is likely a drop in defensive substitutions. It’s clear that defense is better now than ever and fewer teams carry defensive specialists, instead opting in most cases to keep good reserve bats on the bench. The effect may also be due to the overall emphasis on offense, with teams seemingly more likely to keep a good player in the game because of his bat, rather than removing him for a better glove man.

This post is for voting and discussion in the 45th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round completes the group of players born in 1934.  Rules and lists are after the jump.

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Henry Aaron won the voting this round by a significant margin, despite competing against several other great stars. Sort of the way he took over the career home run title with his steadily great performance from the 1950s through the 1970s, passing by other renowned stars of his era.  Hank becomes the 44th player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats.  More on Aaron and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →