31 Responses to “Best & Worst Of Bats & Throws Right 1B”

1. JohnBoy Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 1:38 am

   Ernie Banks is noticeably missing due to the 75% criteria. Roughly 45% of his games were at SS, before an injury forced him to 1B in 1961 (7 games). He remained there until his retirement in 1971, roughly 49% of his games, amassing 1259 games.

   With an overall OPS+ of 122, he would tie for 13th with Ed Konetchy. Using the same 75% criteria during the 1259 games of the 1961-1971 time frame and his OPS+ is 107, basically equating him to Eric Karros.

   Clearly, he was a far more productive player before the 61 injury (which also marked his 30th birthday). That having been said, he played 10 more seasons, finishing in the Top Ten for HRs 4 times as a first baseman.

2. Mr. Dave Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 1:42 am

   This also shows exactly how mediocre High Pockets Kelly was and further undermines his questionable Hall of Fame entry.

3. Alex Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 3:08 am

   May I make a list request? Who are all the pitchers who have saves against every major league team?

4. BSK Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 7:38 am

   As a SS, I always preferred a lefty-throwing 1B. Just the way they were positioned to take a throw seemed to give a better target. Maybe it was all psychological, but it made a difference for me.

5. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 8:46 am

   Two other "noticably missing" Hall of Famers for this list are Tony Perez {who barely missed the 75% cut off because of his early days as a third baseman} and Harmon Killebrew.

6. steven Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 8:58 am

   Tom Jones? Well, maybe "It's Not Unusual."

7. Fourfriends Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 9:07 am

   @2 - I didn't realize Highpockets HAD a HoF case! LOL

8. Breck Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 10:05 am

   Any chance of seeing the best and worst of lefty, lefty first basemen?

9. Jon S C Says:
   March 5th, 2011 at 10:21 am

   @3 Alex - Tom Henke to start the list...

10. DavidRF Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 10:50 am

    Frank Thomas misses the list because his time at 1B. I don't think R-R guys at 1B are *that* uncommon. They just have more options when they are younger and more agile. A left-handed fielder can't play 2B-SS-3B and for some reason they never catch either.

11. Malcolm Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 11:51 am

    I know a lot of you guys think OPS+ is the ultimate assessor of offensive value, but do you think you could include percentage stats as well? They're pretty to look at.

12. DavidRF Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 12:31 pm

    The percentage stats are on the far right (need to scroll the table).

13. Malcolm Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    Ah, didn't see the scroll bar way down there. Thank you; my aesthetic sensibilities are now satisfied.

14. Neal Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Lee May just misses the 75% cut-off, too. The Orioles used him too much at DH.

15. JohnBoy Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 4:37 pm

    @DavidRF - #10:

    Well said sir; as is evident by Banks, Perez, Killebrew & Thomas.

16. Gerry Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    "You don't see that many "Bats Right" and "Throws Right" first basemen have very long major league careers."

    Well, you don't see that many ballplayers of any kind who have very long major league careers. Are there significantly fewer BRTR 1st basemen (Played 75% of games at 1B, requiring At least 1000 games) than there are of any other particular batting-throwing-fielding combination (with the same requirements)?

17. John Autin Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 6:45 pm

    I love Steve's lists. But in this case, I can't agree with the premise, i.e., "You don't see that many 'Bats Right' and 'Throws Right' first basemen have very long major league careers."

    I found a total of 111 first basemen who meet Steve's criteria in the years 1901-2010 (75% of games played at 1B, min. 1,000 games played). The raw numbers (and percentages) break down as follows:
    -- 38 (34%) bats right / throws right (i.e., Steve's list).
    -- 47 (42%) bats left / throws left.
    -- 17 (15%) bats left / throws right.
    -- 1 (1%) bats right / throws left. (The notorious Hal Chase.)
    -- 3 bats both / throws right.
    -- 5 bats both / throws left.

    I would not describe a subset comprising 34% of the total as "not very many" -- especially when you consider that (a) 1B and OF are the only positions truly open to lefty-throwing hitters, and (b) there has been at least a slight preference for a 1B to be left-handed, throughout MLB history.

    I also think the 75%-at-1B requirement is too strict; several posts have noted particular 1Bs who did not meet that requirement. I'll try to post a "bats / throws" breakdown based on a 50% requirement.

18. John Autin Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    (Oops -- I forgot to include the % for the last 2 items on my list @17 -- but you knew that they were 3% and 5%, respectively.)

19. John Autin Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 7:07 pm

    There are 137 first basemen with at least 1,000 games played and at least 50% of games played at 1B. The breakdown, by numbers (and %):

    -- 44 (32%) bats right / throws right
    -- 59 (43%) bats left / throws left
    -- 25 (18%) bats left / throws right
    -- 1 (1%) bats right / throws left
    -- 3 (2%) bats both / throws right
    -- 5 (4%) bats both / throws left

    Not much difference from my first list. About 1/3 of long-career 1Bs are bats-right/throws-right.

20. John Autin Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 7:32 pm

    Using 50%-at-1B as the standard, here are the combined WAR totals of the top 3 and the top 5 for the three meaningful groups (omitting switch-hitters and the Hal Chase "group"):

    -- BR-TR: Top 3 = 258 / Top 5 = 378.
    -- BL-TL: Top 3 = 249 / Top 5 = 368.
    -- BL-TR: Top 3 = 167 / Top 5 = 247.

    Regardless of the total count of players in each such group, the very best BR-TR first basemen are at least as good as the BL-TL elite, and clearly better than the BL-TR elite. This is true even though Lou Gehrig, the head-and-shoulders best 1B by WAR, belongs to the BL-TL group.

    Here are the top 5 in each group:
    -- BR-TR: Foxx 94.1, Pujols 83.8, Bagwell 79.9, McGwire 63.1, Greenberg 56.8.
    -- BL-TL: Gehrig 118.4, Palmeiro 66.0, McCovey 65.1, Hernandez 61.0, Helton 57.9.
    -- BL-TR: Mize 70.2, Giambi 52.8, Delgado 44.2, Fournier 40.5, Boog Powell 39.7.

21. John Autin Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 7:56 pm

    On a tangent: Of the long-career switch-hitters, relatively few have been regular first basemen.

    Of the switch-hitters who played at least 1,000 games, here are the number who played at least 500 games at each position:
    -- C, 10 (7%)
    -- 1B, 10 (7%)
    -- 2B, 34 (25%)
    -- SS, 30 (22%)
    -- 3B, 12 (9%)
    -- OF, 42 (30%)

    Theories on why this is so?

    1. Learning to switch-hit requires skills which also generally correlate to playing a more challenging defensive position than 1B.

    2. One reason for a natural RHB to become a switch-hitter is to take advantage of speed, and players with speed are unlikely to play 1B.

    Others?

22. DD Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    @ JA, Possible for 3: Middle infielders historically have been among the worst overall hitters, compensating by capably handling defensive duties at the most demanding positions (you could even include CF as well). They become switch hitters to maximize their hitting contributions by attempting to eliminate platoon advantages. I'm a little suprised the C numbers are so low, though most catchers who play 1000 games at the position likely are pretty talented players and don't need the boost as much.

23. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    Being a Morgan Burkhart {now, there's an obscure player if ever there was one, but I am an old Richmond Roosters fan} follower, I am wondering how manyu switch-hitting first basemebn make this type of list; and how many are {a la Wes Parker} right handed throwers.

24. kds Says:
    March 5th, 2011 at 11:23 pm

    21 and 22, Don't a lot of middle infield switch hitters do so because they are very poor against same hand pitchers and not so great even with platoon advantage, so that they switch hit in the hope that they would be above replacement level.

25. Richard Chester Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 12:05 am

    #10

    I am not sure but I think that there are no left-handed throwing catchers because they would have difficulty throwing out runners attempting to steal third base, especially with a right-handed hitting batter at the plate. If I am wrong maybe someone out there could correct me.

26. Albert7 Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 12:38 am

    Normally an idea this bad is one of Andy's.

27. John Autin Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 2:04 am

    Boo hoo.

28. Joe Garrison Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 8:30 am

    Another record for Steve Garvey... most hits, NL first-baseman, who batted and threw right-handed.

29. Morten Jonsson Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 12:02 pm

    @21

    I have an explanation for why there are relatively few switch-hitting first basemen. Most switch-hitters start as natural right-handed hitters (and throwers), since they have more to gain than natural left-handed hitters do--a lefthander who can't hit righties will still get a lot of at-bats compared to a righthander who can't hit lefties. So since first basemen tend to be left-handed to start with, it makes sense that not many of them will be switch-hitters.

30. kds Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    @25

    Some (a lot?) of it may be that lefty's who can throw well will be tried as pitchers until they have proven they cannot pitch but can hit. Which hand the glove is on may have some asymetric effects, as it does for first basemen. It would not suprise me if the inefficiency of a lefthanded throwing catcher was quite small, but since it has long since become a part of baseball's conventional wisdom no LHT's are tried as catchers, even if they could hit like Piazza and defend like I-Rod.

31. DoubleDiamond Says:
    March 6th, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    @23 Wes Parker was a switch-hitting lefthanded thrower. I remember this because he was the first switch-hitting lefthanded throwing position player of whom I was aware.

    I was not familiar with Morgan Burkhart, but I see that he was also a lefthanded throwing switch hitter.

    I see that Lu Blue, a player I had heard of but didn't know much about until just now (when I did my own query of switch-hitting first baseman), was also a lefthanded throwing switch-hitter. I'm guessing that switch-hitting southpaw pitchers are even rarer than lefty throwing switch-hitting position players (with most of them probably being ex-outfielders who moved to the mound, such as the Phillies' J.C. Romero), but this piece of trivia is something that both Lu Blue and Vida Blue share in addition to their last name.

    All three of the switch-hitting lefthanded throwing position players who have been active in the majors in the past two seasons have spent at least part of that time with the Yankees: Melky Cabrera, Nick Swisher, and Lance Berkman.