22 Responses to “Fewest career regular-season homers for a player with at least 3 post-season homers”

1. zuke Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 7:53 am

   Can you include a column that displays the number of post-season HRs they've hit?

2. Marc Glucksman Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 8:01 am

   Where is Adam Kennedy? 75 career/4 postseason?

3. Andy Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 8:18 am

   Just realized I accidentally posted fewest career HR for players with at least 3 post-season games with a homer. Does Kennedy have two 2-HR games? If so that's why he doesn't show up. I'll fix it later today.

4. Pete R Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 8:39 am

   Correct me if I'm wrong, but after Larry Gardner (fewest HR by a player with 3+ postseason homers, the next record-holders are:

   4 postseason HR: Carlos Ruiz, 32
   5 postseason HR: Mike Lamb, 69
   6 postseason HR: BJ Upton, 73

   A couple of queries about play-index: is there any way to generate, say, a listing of players with the most career postseason home runs (as can easily be done for the regular season)?

   And, why does the postseason game finder default to "1903 to 1903"?

5. Larry R. Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 9:23 am

   Only 6 on the list pre-1969. Those extra rounds sure help.

   And Billy Martin was a beast in the postseason. .333/.371/.566 in 105 PAs. He was clutch. I also noticed he's buried in the same cemetery as the Babe. I wonder if he requested that...he died up around Binghamton.

6. Andy Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 10:44 am

   OK. There are a number of players I missed from my original search. There are a bunch of guys who have homered in fewer than 3 post-season games but have at least 3 post-season homers.

   They are:

   Adam Kennedy (2 games with homers, 4 total homers), Eric Karros (2, 4), Willie Aikens (2, 4), Magglio Ordonez (2, 3), Troy O'Leary (2, 3), Ted Kluszewski (2, 3), Shawn Green (2, 3), Greg Vaughn (2, 3), Alan Trammell (2, 3), Frank Thomas (2, 3), Chris Sabo (2, 3), Rico Petrocelli (2, 3).

   So Kennedy with 75 career homers should have been on my original list.

   The guys with the next-fewest homers are Aikens, Sabo, and O'Leary, but none of them cracks the top 25 on my original list.

   Thanks to Marc at #2 for catching my mistake.

7. John Autin Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 10:45 am

   We should have a poll to find out what percentage of readers saw the headline and immediately thought of Adam Kennedy. 🙂

   Andy -- Adam Kennedy hit 3 HRs in the 5th and last game of the 2002 ALCS. Two of them were big WPA events -- a go-ahead solo shot in the 5th, and a go-ahead-from-2-runs-down 3-run blast in the bottom of the 7th, the latter off Johan Santana.

8. John Autin Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 10:46 am

   (My timing, as always, is impeccable....)

9. oneblankspace Says:
   May 19th, 2011 at 11:33 am

   I wonder where Scott Podsednik would appear on the list if you dropped it down to 2 postseason HR.

10. John Q Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 12:06 pm

    This list brings back memories of the 1973 series with Garrett and Campaneris, especially game 3. The Mets were so close to winning game 3 which would have changed the whole dynamic of that series. And then the Mets were up 3-2 and Berra decided to use Seaver on short rest instead of holding him for game 7.

    Garrett leads off the game with a solo HR against Hunter and the Mets end up scoring another run to lead 2-0 after the top of first with Tom Seaver on the mound.

    In the top of the 8th, Campaneris hits a single and steals second and then scores on Rudi's single to tie the game.

    In the top of the 11th Kubiak hits and single and then advances to second on a passed ball. He later scores on a Bert Campaneris single.

    In game 7 in the fourth inning of a 0-0 game, Ken Holtzman hits a double and the Campaneris hits a HR. Talk about improbable!! What are the odds that a pitcher would hit a double followed by a Campaneris HR? Matlack most have been so flustered that he gave up a single to Rudi and HR to Reggie Jackson a few batters later.

    And then Campaneris' walk-off HR in the bottom of the 11th in game 3 of the ALCS was a huge HR that's never talked about.

11. Doug Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    I see that Campaneris played every position, plus DH, at some point in his career.

    That might be an interesting blog topic - who are the best candidates for the Mr. Versatility award.

12. Bastaducci Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    I was suprised Bellhorn did not hit more homeruns.

    Doug, Biggio would be my choice as he played a fine catcher,2b and oufielder.

13. fredsbank Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    shane spencer!
    how often does the Home Run Dispencer appear on a list of offensive utility, good to see him, the only member of the late 90s yankees on there, no?

14. Larry R. Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    @11

    Including every position in a single game in 1964, I believe.

15. Hartvig Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    I expected a few more players who played the majority of their careers in the dead ball era but the expanded playoffs was more than enough to offset the small number that actually ever played in a World Series game in those days.

    "That might be an interesting blog topic - who are the best candidates for the Mr. Versatility award.'

    My votes would go to Jackie Robinson, Gil McDougald, Cesar Tovar & Junior Gilliam, in that order. Tovar was far and away the most flexible of the bunch and regularly played all over the field but Robinson & McDougald were gold glove caliber players at multiple defensive positions.

16. Thomas Court Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    @5

    I knew that Billy Martin was good in the post-season. I didn't know that he was that good.

    I have always wondered why Bill James did not include him in the top 100 second baseman in his Historical Baseball Abstract. Martin was no Craig Biggio for sure, but he had to be one of the top 100 at his position. He doesn't even get mentioned in the top 125 listed at the end of that section. I know James was/is a huge Royals fan and I wonder if that plays into his omission at all. The HBA also does not mention anything about the intense Yankees/Royals rivalry from the 70s-80s. No mention of the Pine Tar game. Am I missing something here or did Martin have a run in with Bill James family at one of those games at Royal's Stadium?

17. art kyriazis Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    its interesting to see that both Bake McBride and Shane Victorino, key elements of World Series champions in two different Phillies era teams (the 76-83 and 2006-11 current version) are on this list.

    Bake McBride came up huge in the 1980 WS v KC with key HRs, and Victorino famously hit a grand slam v. CC Sabathia in just the 2d inning of the NLDS or NLCS to break a pitching duel wide open. These were guys known for their speed, defense and hitting for average, not their HR power, but in the playoffs and WS, they knew how to jack it into the seats when necessary.

    Bill James and others have noted that guys like Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Rod Carew, George Brett or Wade Boggs, who hit for average, could hit for the seats when they wanted and it counted.

    That's what you have with this list--guys who know their career isn't built on HRs, but they know how to swing for the fences when a game is on the line.

    --AK, philly

18. art kyriazis Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    I neglected to mention Carlos Ruiz on the prior comment, who really has been a great post-season hitter. He always seems to get the bat on the ball and hit it up the middle or jack the ball over the short porch in left at the Bank.

    I think if you check, Bob Boone, known more for his glove than his bat, also was a good hitter in the post-season, both in Philly and later for the Angels. He certainly hit some key hits down the stretch in a close division race with a very talented Montreal Expo team that had Andre Dawson and Gary Carter among others on it.

    Also, all the above comments are really right on the money--guys like Billy Martin, Junior Jim Gilliam et al. could really play. All they did was win.

    AK philly

19. Travis Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    Re: Carlos Ruiz

    He seems to have a 55PA/HR career average and 154 postseason PAs. You'd expect him to have 3 postseason homers and 4 certainly shouldn't surprise anyone.

20. Hartvig Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    Thomas Court @ 16 Martin was really only a full-time regular in 2 seasons and in those seasons he was maybe the 4th or 5th best 2nd baseman in an 8 team league. In some others, he didn't rank better than 7th or even 8th. He did hit well in 3 of his 4 world series appearances and that should count for something but I don't think it's enough to put him in the top 100.

    Put a 22 year old Jerry Remy (James's #100) and a 22 year old Martin in front of me & I'll pick Remy every time. Or compare Martin to a contemporary of his Billy Gardner- pretty much identical players, similar peaks & career lengths, both went on to manage the Minnesota Twins & Gardner didn't crack the top 125 either.

21. Richard Chester Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    @11, @14

    On Sept. 8, 1965 Campaneris played one inning at each position. The game went into extra innings but he played only the first nine.

22. John Q Says:
    May 19th, 2011 at 10:22 pm

    @17 Art K,

    Excellent point about Bake Mcbride. I've never really understood why Mcbride hasn't received credit for what he did for the 1980 Phillies. His name rarely comes up when discussing that team.

    He hit: .309/.342/.453 during the season and was the second best position player after Schmidt. and then he hit .304/.360/.478 in the WS.