This season marks only the fifth time in major league history that three active players have had three or more seasons with a particular batting accomplishment. The players involved on those occasions are shown below. What is this unusual batting feat?

Congratulations to Richard Chester! With some help from others, he correctly identified that only in the years indicated were there three active players who had then compiled  3 seasons of 6 WAR, 35 home runs and 100 walks. Three such seasons is quite rare, with only two players achieving that feat in addition to those above. At no time have more than 3 active players concurrently achieved that distinction. More after the jump.

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This post is for voting and discussion in the 73rd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round completes the addition to the eligible list, begun in the previous round, of those players born in 1913. Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Before this round, Craig Biggio had been eligible for our votes in each of the last 68 rounds of balloting. In last week’s round, he tied for 6th in the voting. But this round he received some strong early support, which seemed to encourage others to jump on a bandwagon that Biggio rode to triumph. Craig becomes the 72nd inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on Biggio and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →

The Giants and Pirates franchises are among the oldest in the majors. One link they have is Barry Bonds, who accumulated 50.1 Wins Above Replacement (“WAR”, baseball-reference version) for the Bucs and 112.3 WAR for San Francisco. That 50.1 WAR is not the highest career WAR total accumulated for a team that was not the player’s highest-WAR team. Some bigger numbers are after the jump Continue reading →

With Kansas City playing the A’s in a wild card showdown, it’s worth remembering that for thirteen seasons “Kansas City” and “the A’s” referred to the same team. The years 1955 to 1967 did not comprise the most distinguished era of Athletics franchise history, but:

—Joe Gordon and Lou Boudreau are not only both Hall of Famers who have been battling for position in recent Circle of Greats voting here at High Heat Stats, they were also both managers of the Kansas City A’s.
–Three of the more productive players for the Kansas City A’s (and the word “productive” in this context is a highly relative term) were Dick Williams, who managed the A’s to two World Series championships, Dick Howser, who managed Kansas City to a World Championship, and Whitey Herzog, who managed Kansas City and managed the cross-state Cardinals to a World Series championship.

Wins Above Replacement (baseball-reference version) might suggest something like the following for an All-Kansas City A’s team, such as it is: Continue reading →

Jordan Zimmerman notched his first career no-hitter on Sunday thanks to a great catch (5:00 mark) by left-fielder Steven Souza to end the game.

With boxscores courtesy of baseball-reference.com and video from mlb.com, here’s a sampling of other stellar plays on the final out of a no-hitter.

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The playoff spots are almost locked up, if not the slots, but we’ll let that play out. Meanwhile … Monday’s six shutouts made 340 this year — one more than 1968, and second-most in the live-ball era (1972, 357). But there are many more teams now. This year’s shutout rate as a percentage of all games is 7.3%, ranking 22nd out of 95 live-ball seasons; 1968 and ’72 rank one-two at 10.4% and 9.6%. There really is no basis for likening this season (4.08 runs per team-game) to 1968 (3.42) or even ’72 (3.69). Just don’t try telling that to those who’ve watched the Pirates and Padres of late….

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This post is for voting and discussion in the 72nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This round begins to add to the ballot those players born in 1913. Rules and lists are after the jump. Continue reading →

Joe DiMaggio did not appear on 56 consecutive ballots cast, but did enjoy overwhelming support, becoming the 71st inductee into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. More on the Yankee Clipper, and the voting, after the jump. Continue reading →

(Answers to the “betcha” challenges are at the bottom.)

Games of Sunday, 9/21

@PIT 1, MIL 0 — Crucial gaffes in the late innings put Milwaukee’s postseason hopes on life support. A passed ball and a wild pitch in the 7th set up Russell Martin’s RBI hit, scoring Andrew McCutchen with the only run. Carlos Gomez singled to start the 9th, but he was caught straying from second with no outs after an infield hit. Vance Worley blanked the Brewers on four singles over eight stanzas, leaving for a pinch-hitter after just 82 pitches.

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