8-8 on 8/8
Posted by John Autin on August 8, 2011
[Submitted by faithful contributor and fellow box-score treasure-diver, Kahuna Tuna, who must know that I'm a sucker for numerical alliteration ... or whatever it's called.]
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In honor of the highly symmetrical date of 8/8, which happens to be my birthday, here are the box scores (where available) and a few comments edited from Baseball Library about the 27 games since 1901 that have ended in an 8-8 tie.
1. August 13, 1910 (2nd game): Pirates 8, Superbas 8. Starters: Howie Camnitz and Nap Rucker. Comment: The Pirates and Superbas each had 8 runs‚ 13 hits‚ 38 at bats‚ 5 strikeouts‚ 3 walks‚ 1 hit batter‚ 1 passed ball‚ 13 assists‚ 27 putouts‚ 2 errors‚ and used 2 pitchers. Darkness ended the game.
2. August 26, 1912: Naps 8, Highlanders 8. Starters: Fred Blanding and Ray Caldwell.
3. August 27, 1912: White Sox 8, Red Sox 8 (12 innings). Starters: Eddie Cicotte and Hugh Bedient. Comment: White Sox infielders Morrie Rath and Buck Weaverwere thrown out of the game‚ and coach Kid Gleason took over at 2B. The 45-year-old last appeared in a game in 1908. Gleason made no errors and went 1-for-2 at the plate; with this appearance‚ he had played in four different decades.
4. July 25, 1913: Browns 8, Senators 8 (15 innings). Starters: George Baumgardner and Joe Engel.
5. July 10, 1914: Tigers 8, A’s 8. Starters: Pug Cavet and Herb Pennock. Comment: The Tigers’ Billy Purtell and Marty Kavanagh played the hidden-ball trick on Eddie Collins in the 9th inning.
6. September 11, 1914: Red Sox 8, A’s 8. Starters: Smoky Joe Wood and Herb Pennock.
7. September 21, 1914: Red Sox 8, Tigers 8. Starters: Eddie Foster and Hooks Dauss.
8. August 31, 1917: Cubs 8, Reds 8. Starters: Phil Douglas and Pete Schneider.
9. June 13, 1918: Cardinals 8, Phillies 8 (19 innings). Comment: The Phils blew a six-run lead. Rogers Hornsby made 4 errors in 21 chances‚ and Cliff Heathcote hit for the cycle‚ though it took him 9 at bats.
10. August 31, 1920: A’s 8, Tigers 8 (15 innings).
11. August 3, 1929: Browns 8, A’s 8 (8 innings).
12. June 29, 1934: Cubs 8, Pirates 8.
13. September 22, 1936: White Sox 8, Indians 8 (12 innings).
14. June 13, 1937 (2nd game): Yankees 8, Browns 8 (11 innings). Comment: Joe DiMaggio’s third homer of the game, off starter Julio Bonetti, tied the score with two out in the ninth. The Yankees won the opener, 16-9. [Editor's note: 11 years would pass before Joe D's 2nd 3-HR game, driving in all 6 runs in a 1-run win over Bob Feller.]
15. May 13, 1940: Cardinals 8, Reds 8 (14 innings). Comment: Replay of 4/23/40 game. Since the NL didn’t have the chance to assign umpires for the game, Reds coach Jimmy Wilson and Cardinals pitcher Lon Warneke served as umpires before umpire Larry Goetz‚ home in Cincinnati on a day off‚ arrived to perform umpiring duties. (Warneke later became a full-time umpire.) The Cards’ Johnny Mize hit three HRs‚ and the Reds’ Bill Werber had five hits including four consecutive doubles. [Ed. note: Mize had 6 career 3-HR games, tied with Sammy Sosa for the most since 1919, at least. Both Mize and Sosa had exactly 18 hits in those games, and 30 RBI. Werber and Albert Belle are the only players since 1919 with a pair of 4-double games.]
16. June 4, 1944 (2nd game): Cubs 8, Dodgers 8 (10 innings).
17. September 4, 1945: Pirates 8, Cardinals 8 (12 innings).
18. June 5, 1946: Browns 8, Red Sox 8 (12 innings).
19. June 18, 1950 (2nd game): Pirates 8, Braves 8. Comment: The Retrosheet box score does not explain why the game did not go into extra innings.
20. July 2, 1950 (2nd game): Dodgers 8, Phillies 8 (10 innings). [Ed.: The Phils blew an 8-0 lead over the last 3 innings of regulation, as PeeWee Reese hit a 2-out, 2-run HR to force extras. Philly lost the make-up game, one reason that they had to use Robin Roberts on the final day of the season to secure the pennant from Brooklyn, messing up their WS rotation.]
21. July 19, 1953 (2nd game): A’s 8, Tigers 8 (11 innings). [Ed.: Featuring the 7th MLB appearance of 18-year-old Al Kaline, as a pinch-runner. Kaline would play in 25 games -- with 13 AB -- before his first start. Not uncommon for "bonus babies," though.]
22. August 9, 1953 (2nd game): Tigers 8, A’s 8 (10 innings). [Ed.: This time, Kaline was a defensive replacement.]
23. June 13, 1956: Indians 8, Red Sox 8 (10 innings).
24. August 22, 1962: Senators 8, Twins 8 (10 innings).
25. June 22, 1964: Indians 8, Twins 8 (10½ innings).
26. May 26, 1968: Pirates 8, Reds 8 (7 innings).
27. April 6, 1994: Cardinals 8, Reds 8 (5½ innings).
Some other comments:
More 8-8 ties were played on Sunday (seven) than on any other day.
No one who played, coached, managed or umpired in any of these 8-8 ties was born on August 8. [Ed.: That's an amazing non-coincidence.] Two pitchers with August 8 birthdays may have witnessed the A's-Tigers 8-8 tie on 8/31/1920. Charlie (Buzz) Eckert, born 8/8/97, who made two appearances for the A's in May 1920, probably was toiling for Suffolk in the Class B Virginia League, where he went 9-20 with a 1.96 ERA. However, lefthander John Slappey, born 8/8/98, who had last pitched in a 15-3 loss to Cleveland on August 27 and would start the Athletics' season finale on October 2 against Washington, probably was in uniform on August 31.
The one man who endured more of these games than any other was Jimmy Dykes, who started at second base for the A's in the 8/31/20 game; watched the 8/3/29 game as a reserve infielder for the A's; managed the White Sox on 9/22/36; and managed the A's in their two games against the Tigers in 1953. Six men were involved with four of these games apiece: Chief Bender (two as player, two as coach); Connie Mack (four as manager); Del Baker (two as player, two as coach); George Strickland (two games as player, one as coach, one as manager); Honus Wagner (one as player, three as coach); and Wally Schang (three as player, one as coach).
-- "Kahuna Tuna"
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[Ed.: Happy Birthday, Kahuna Tuna!]
August 8th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Bravo.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
I think you have the note for #3 on #2, as #2 features what we would call the Yankees and Indians.
On 8/8/1985, I saw the Sox and Sox split a doubleheader.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Congratulations for correctly spelling Superbas.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:52 pm
Best wishes, Kahuna.
Kahuna, were these mostly curfew-abbreviated games, darkness-shortened ones or weather-postponed ones?
August 8th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
@3
Superbas, Superbas, Superbas ...... (X100)! 🙂 So there, Richard.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:02 am
@2, OBS -- Thanks for the correction. I've moved the comment.
Cool about that doubleheader. I see that in the 1st game, the game-winning run was scored by a rookie SS by the name of Ozzie Guillen, handing Bruce Kison the 88th and final loss of his career....
August 9th, 2011 at 12:06 am
Superbas backwards is sabrepus.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:23 am
On August 8, 1961, the Dodgers and Braves hooked up for what I believe is the first time 6 members of the 200 HR club appeared in the same game. Those players and their career HR marks on that date were:
- DODGERS: Hodges (359), Snider (376)
- BRAVES: Thomas (215), Adcock (228), Aaron (248), Mathews (360)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN196108080.shtml
August 9th, 2011 at 12:54 am
The June 18, 1950 game in Boston (Pirates vs. Braves) was called because of darkness. State law did not allow ballpark lights to be used on Sunday. The newspaper article I found said that the June 19 game was a playoff of the June 18 tie, restrating at inning 1. Chambers for the Pirates was the starter for both games, not getting an out on June 18 and pitching a complete game shutout with 4 hits on June 19. That game was a 1-0 victory over Warren Spahn. I checked the Pirates record, they played 23 games vs the Braves, 7 wins, 15 losses, 1 tie, 207.2 innings pitched. So the tie game was never completed. An additiona full game was added to the schedule.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:02 am
On 6-12-1957 Andy Pafko and Bobby Thomson started the game for the Braves. Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider started the game for the Dodgers. All 5 had more than 200 homers. In the bottom of the eighth, Pafko was removed in a double switch for the pitcher since he was the last batter in the top of the eighth. In the top of the ninth Mathews hit #200. Pafko did not play the next day vs the Dodgers and on June 15, Thomson was traded to the Giants.
August 9th, 2011 at 8:04 am
Wasn't 8-8-88 the first Cubs night game at Wrigley field? Or rather, an attempt at the first Cubs night game?
If I remember correctly they were playing the Phillies, and it got rained out.
August 9th, 2011 at 8:33 am
For some reason I will always remember a Mets game on August 8, 1988. I remember the announcers repeatedly mentioning 8-8-88 and also Gary Carter. Maybe because he was #8. I seem to have misremember that he hit a home run on that date but I don't think he did, perhaps he was just looking for his 300th and the announcers were speculating about #8 hitting #300 on 8-8-88.
August 9th, 2011 at 8:48 am
Kahuna, please reassure me that there isn't a fully-automated way to search for tied games in the Play Index.
There is a no-decision button for pitching events, but I can see no way to search for the same number of runs scored as runs allowed in the same game since they are unrelated events in the play index.
It's amazing, in one sense, that they called so many games at 8-8, in honor of Kahuna. 🙂
Actually, I tend to forget in the era of doubleheaders and unlit parks how many tied games there probably were.
August 9th, 2011 at 9:41 am
There's two ways I've used. In Game Finder Set Starter with CG and no decision and it will pull up tie games if at least 1 starter had a CG. You can set runs = 0 to get scoreless ties. But this won't give all the games. You can go to the streak finder and in the two boxes set wins =0 and losses = 0. It will give a list having both teams in the tie. In theory, with effort, you should be able to get all the ties within the limits of how many returns the software allows. If you want shutout ties you can set w=0 and runs =0. I don't have a subscription so I get very limited returns when I do it so I would never attempt to get all the games. I don't know how efficient it would be for someone with a subscription.
August 9th, 2011 at 9:45 am
Five of the 27 are Red Sox games...
Considering the Red Sox' general team traits, historically, this doesn't register much shock with me.
August 9th, 2011 at 9:46 am
When I said CG, no decision in game finder, it said there were 315 matches. Some of those would have been two pitchers in the same game and there are also many ties. This would not return any hits where both teams had relief pitchers.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:08 am
I was hoping the "Superbras" typo would make a return appearance in honor of "88."
August 9th, 2011 at 10:23 am
That 8-8-88 game at Wrigley. I think Phil Bradley hit the first night-game homer that no longer exists due to the rainout.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:23 am
Oh, and Happy belated Birthday.
August 9th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Splint, couple of follow up items on your "crazy 8s" post:
A. Mets ended up playing first night game at Wrigley after previous night's game (would have been 8/8/88) between Cubs and Phils was rained out as previously stated. Cubs won on 8/9 by score of 6-4.
B. Carter (finally) hit #300 two days later. Mets would win that game on a 9th inning grand slam by McReynolds off Goose with two out, 9-6.
C. The "Kid" and I share the same birthday (not the same year)-April 8.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Good morning, blogothetes! John, I'm grateful to you for posting this and adding the links. Thanks, all, for your birthday wishes.
John, here's another numerical symmetry for you to lick your chops over. The number of games in which runs scored for each team is 8 (2³) works out to 27 (3³). If you like, take a whiff of the coffee beans and then savor it again.
Some responses to existing posts:
#2 I'm jealous! #3 I note with appreciation, sir, that you are a smart aleck. The fish anagram of "Superbas" is "pure bass." #7 Participe passé, masculin pluriel? (-;þ
##11 and 18 You're correct. Phil Bradley homered to lead off the top of the first for the Phillies, but then the rains came.
#15 Don't despair. The Red Sox have played only as many 8-8 ties as the Tigers and Pirates, and one fewer than the A's.
Neil and Charles, I knew the scores of the tie games I was looking for, so I just went to Game Result Search Tools, Situational Records, set Margin of Victory = 0 and Total Runs Scored = 16, and got my list of years and teams.
To get links to box scores of all tie games, use the Streak Finder, Team Pitching, and set Wins to 0 and Losses to 0. That will get you results only back to 1919, of course; to get pre-1919 lists for number of games tied, go to Game Result Search Tools, click on Situational Records, select years 1901 to 1918, and set Margin of Victory = 0. Use your resulting list to search the Retrosheet game logs. It's kind of cumbersome, but it’s the best you can do right now.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Thanks. I never tried the situational tool.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
@21, Kahuna -- "Blogothetes" is an excellent coinage.
Also, thanks for clueing me in to the Game Results Search Tools, which (don't laugh) I had never even noticed.
Re: how to find games tied at score N back to 1919, I find it quicker to do a Batting Game Finder, set Runs = N, and choose "Find Number of Teams Matching Criteria in a Game." All results with "# Matching" = 2 are the tie games at that score.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
@10.
Great stuff. Thanks for the find, Charles.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
were these mostly curfew-abbreviated games, darkness-shortened ones or weather-postponed ones?
Neil, I was too lazy to investigate this question thoroughly. I'd guess that darkness was to blame for most of these ties. (Eight-eight games probably run longer than most games with lower scores, though here again I don't have any hard data to back up this assertion.) Seven of the 27 games were second games of doubleheaders. PBP data is missing for most of the pre-1950 games. I filched from Baseball Library what few descriptive accounts I could. Research like what Charles has done in #9 will fill in many of the gaps.
Comments from post-1950 Retrosheet box scores regarding why the game was called:
• July 19, 1953 (second game): rain.
• June 13, 1956: rain.
• August 22, 1962: curfew.
• June 22, 1964: rain.
• May 26, 1968: rain ("In the top of the 8th, Stargell doubled and scored on Clemente's single; Nolan entered the game, pitching and batting sixth; Ruiz entered in the 9th slot, playing 3B; Clemente steals second, but with a 2-2 count on Clendenon, rain halts play and the game is called after 54 minutes, wiping out the results of the partial inning").
• April 6, 1994: rain.
August 9th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
[Johnny] Mize had 6 career 3-HR games, tied with Sammy Sosa for the most since 1919, at least.
A player who hits 3+ home runs in a game can feel pretty confident that his team is going to win. Happens more than 80% of the time. On the other hand, Johnny Mize's teams' records in his three-HR games? One win, four losses, one tie.
Mize . . . had exactly 18 hits in those games.
So you're saying he could have done more? (-;þ Seriously, for many years I had trouble distinguishing between Johnny Mize and Ralph Kiner. With Mize's 1-4-1 factlet in mind, it wouldn't be hard to imagine Branch Rickey telling Mize, "We could have finished last without you."
August 9th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
I'll echo Doug's #24. Your post #10 is definitely box-score treasure, Charles. And I'm guessing it was at least partially inspired by Doug's 12:23 a.m. post.
My four-year-old is in the other room watching "Sesame Street." Wonder whether today's episode, like this blog entry, is brought to us by the number "8."
August 9th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Y'know, the Reds might have won that 5/26/68 game if they'd still had Art Shamsky.
August 9th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
To my mind, five straight posts is enough. Here's the fifth.
I found eleven 8-8 ties during the 1892-1900 monopoly National League.
• 7/15/1892 Pittsburgh-New York
• 9/13/1893 (2) Boston-Chicago
• 9/18/1893 Philadelphia-St. Louis
• 7/14/1894 Brooklyn-Chicago
• 4/26/1897 Boston-Philadelphia
• 8/31/1897 Chicago-Boston
• 9/13/1897 New York-Brooklyn
• 9/17/1898 Pittsburgh-Brooklyn
• 5/1/1899 Philadelphia-New York
• 9/14/1899 Chicago-New York
• 9/28/1899 Washington-Boston
Special mention must be made of the Beaneaters-Spiders game of 8/8/1899, which ended 18-8 (in Boston’s favor, of course; the Spiders would win only three more games the rest of the season).
August 9th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Looks like 3 of these in 1 year was the most.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
#30 Yes. I think the season I like the best is 1914, when the A's, Tigers and Red Sox played their round-robin knot-off.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Sox fans remember game 20 all to well. A-Rod getting a face full of 'Tek's glove. On a more historical level, the Red Sox with the win gets them tied for the wild-card spot after the Twins lost that day, go 45-20 the rest of the regular season, and make the most historic playoff comeback in baseball history.
August 9th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
#32, I can say with confidence that Mariano Rivera has never pitched as a major leaguer in a game that ended in an 8-8 tie. (-;þ
August 9th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
@ 10. A lot of things came to gether to get this to happen - Matthews getting a 5th plate appearance in the 9th in a loss; Pafko with 201 homers was in the game and hadn't played in a week; and playing Brooklyn right before Thomson was traded. Pafko only played in this game in the 4 game Series and was in the game because the Dodgers starter was Podres and Bill Bruton did not hit well vs lefties that year (0.231 vs 0.285 for righties). Pafko was in the 0.270s that year vs both. Bruton started the other 3 games in the series vs right handed starters, going 7 for 14,
There may be an earlier game. I did not do a complete search. If anyone wanted to give it a shot you only have to deal with people with 200 career homers by the end of the 1957 season - 45 players and 1932 was the year the 6th major leaguer reached the 200 level. Your'e looking for at least 6 players with at least 200 HRs by the end of the season dispersed between two teams in the same league.
August 9th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
@34.
The first 7 x 200 HR game (again, I think) also needed a lot of things to fall into place. Here it is:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197107020.shtml
PIRATES: Stargell (224), Clemente (225)
CUBS: Pepitone (203), Callison (210), Santo (294), Williams (307), Banks (510)
Only Santo and Williams played everyday for the Cubs. Pepitone and Callison were semi-regulars and Banks hardly played in his last season. In this game, Callison and Banks pinch-hit in the game. Banks only appeared because J.C. Martin prolonged the game in the 9th with a 2-out double. Also interesting is 4 of these 7 guys were future HOFers, as were two other starters (Jenkins, Mazeroski).
August 9th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Ryno lost a homer on 8-8-88 because of that rainout too. 🙁
August 9th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
@25
Kahuna Tuna, if you're lazy in BR, then I'm positively indolent. You pack more research into a single post than I do in a dozen.
@21
"I knew the scores of the tie games I was looking for, so I just went to Game Result Search Tools, Situational Records, set Margin of Victory = 0 and Total Runs Scored = 16, and got my list of years and teams"
Clever. Thanks for the details, Kahuna, to enlighten mere mortals like myself. That's why I called you the master of the PI in a previous blog, no word of a lie.
August 9th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
I am intrigued how in the modern era (#27, Reds-Cardinals, 4/6/94, rained out) a game would have been left as a tie. I thought the rule was that if the game was tied, but beyond 5 innings, it could be completed later. Being played the first week of the season, surely there was enough time to re-schedule the rest of the game later in the season, especially between teams in the same division. I also think I remember that an unplayed or incomplete game does not HAVE to be played if it has no effect on the final standings. But it still seems there would have been ample time during the season to finish the game long before it eventually became obvious late in the season that the game was not needed, assuming that was the scenario involved.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
You're correct, but that was 1994 when the season ended early because of the strike.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
Thanks, Charles! I forgot all about that. It would take something off the wall like that to make a game meaningless today.
August 9th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
@39 @40
1981 and 1994 screwed up some, not all, baseball statistics.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:35 am
Pitchers since 1919 who got either a win or loss on August 8 to even their record at 8-8:
1919: Claude Hendrix, Cubs, win
1920: Elmer Ponder, Pirates, loss
1924: Fred Heimach, Athletics, win
1930: Waite Hoyt, Tigers, loss
1932: Jumbo Elliott, Phillies, loss
1941: Phil Marchildon, Athletics, win
1945: Stubby Overmire, Tigers, win
1957: Duke Maas, Tigers, loss
1962: Bob Hendley, Braves, loss
1964: Gaylord Perry, Giants, win
1968: Jim Kaat, Twins, loss; Rick Wise, Phillies, win
1971: Steve Dunning, Indians, win
1977: Don Stanhouse, Expos, win
1980: Larry McWilliams, Braves, win
1982: Brad Havens, Twins, loss
1983: Jim Beattie, Mariners, loss
1990: John Smoltz, Braves, win; Dennis Martínez, Expos, win
1992: Scott Erickson, Twins, loss
1995: Tyler Green, Phillies, loss
1999: LaTroy Hawkins, Twins, win
2000: Andy Ashby, Braves, win
2002: Aaron Sele, Angels, loss
2003: Jesse Foppert, Giants, win
2004: Dontrelle Willis, Marlins, loss
2008: Kevin Slowey, Twins, win; Jake Peavy, Padres, loss
2011: Wandy Rodríguez, Astros, win
August 10th, 2011 at 2:37 am
Batters since 1919 who hit their eighth home run of the season on August 8:
1923: Barney Friberg, Cubs
1924: Jim Bottomley, Cardinals, 7th and 8th homers
1927: Harry Heilmann, Tigers
1928: Les Bell, Braves
1930: Shanty Hogan, Giants
1936: Babe Herman, Reds, 7th and 8th homers
1941: Joe Cronin, Red Sox
1946: Jim Tabor, Phillies
1949: Whitey Lockman, Giants
1951: Mickey Vernon, Senators, 7th and 8th homers
1955: Gene Baker, Cubs, only run of the game in the only game of the day
1956: Sherm Lollar, Indians, won the game in the bottom of the 14th inning
1957: Bob Skinner, Pirates
1959: Frank Thomas the Elder, Reds; Gary Geiger, Red Sox, won the game in the bottom of the 10th inning
1961: Duke Snider, Dodgers; Tony González, Phillies
1962: Charlie Maxwell, White Sox
1963: Tommy Harper, Reds
1964: Bob Bailey, Pirates
1965: Jesús Alou, Giants
1966: Ron Fairly, Dodgers, 7th and 8th homers; Tommy Helms, Reds
1968: Curt Motton, Orioles
1969: Tom Tresh, Tigers
1971: John Bateman, Expos; Ed Herrmann, White Sox
1974: Darrell Porter, Brewers
1975: Dave Duncan, Orioles; Oscar Gamble, Indians, two-run homer breaking a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth of a game the Indians would win 4-3
1977: Steve Henderson, Mets
1979: Phil Garner, Pirates, three-run homer breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th inning; Terry Puhl, Astros; Eric Soderholm, Rangers, 7th and 8th homers
1980: Cliff Johnson, Cubs; Ruppert Jones, Yankees; Amos Otis, Royals
1982: Larry Parrish, Rangers, two-run homer breaking a 4-4 tie in the top of the eighth of a game the Rangers would win 6-4; Jay Johnstone, Cubs, 7th and 8th homers
1983: Barry Bonnell, Blue Jays; Garry Hancock, A’s
1984: Ernie Whitt, Blue Jays; Dale Berra, Pirates
1985: Andre Thornton, Indians
1986: Buddy Bell, Reds
1987: Gerald Perry, Braves
1990: Darren Daulton, Phillies
1993: John Jaha, Brewers; Mariano Duncan, Phillies
1996: Paul Molitor, Twins; Darryl Strawberry, Yankees, 7th and 8th homers
1997: Chuck Knoblauch, Twins
1998: Edgardo Alfonzo, Mets; Bobby Abreu, Phillies; Sean Berry, Astros; Darren Bragg, Red Sox, 7th and 8th homers
1999: Chad Allen, Twins; Paul Sorrento, Devil Rays
2001: Darrin Fletcher, Blue Jays
2004: Dmitri Young, Tigers; Justin Morneau, Twins, two-run homer in the bottom of the 18th inning of a game the Twins trailed 6-3
2005: Corey Koskie, Blue Jays; Austin Kearns, Reds
2007: Craig Biggio, Astros
2009: Kelly Johnson, Braves, two-run homer breaking a 0-0 tie in the top of the 10th inning of a game the Braves would win 2-1
2010: Chris Denorfia, Padres; Mike Morse, Nationals
August 10th, 2011 at 2:38 am
Pitchers since 1919 who got their eighth save of the season on August 8:
1951: Jim Konstanty, Phillies
1962: Jim Brosnan, Reds; Ryne Duren, Angels
1969: Pat Dobson, Tigers
1971: Joe Hoerner, Phillies
1980: Enrique Romo, Pirates
1982: Woodie Fryman, Expos
1984: Ron Reed, White Sox
1985: Bob Gibson, Brewers
1988: Mike Schooler, Mariners
1997: Kelvim Escobar, Blue Jays
2004: Francisco Rodríguez, Angels
2007: Brett Myers, Phillies
August 10th, 2011 at 11:54 am
Kahuna challenge -- Tell me why I posted the games below. Each has at least 3 related "eights"; none are date-related.
(1) http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN195509210.shtml
(2) http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN200709200.shtml
(3) http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU197105200.shtml
August 10th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
-- The only player with 2 seasons of 8.8 Wins Above Replacement? Ol' number 44, Henry Aaron.
-- Vida Blue, 1971: 8.8 WAR, 24-8 record, 8 shutouts, 88 walks.
August 10th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Time to parse some box scores, huh? Cool. Okay, John, here's what I came up with:
(1) 9/21/55: The Reds’ Gus Bell had 8 RBI and 8 total bases; the losing Braves had 8 hits; and Braves pitchers walked 8 batters.
(2) 9/20/07: The Astros’ J.R. Towles had 8 RBI out of the eighth spot in the batting order; the Astros’ Josh Anderson finished the game with 8 RBI for the season; the losing Cardinals had 8 hits; the Cards’ Rick Ankiel hit his 8th double of the season; the Cards’ Brendan Ryan committed his 8th error of the season; and Cards starting pitcher Braden Looper batted eighth in the order.
(3) 5/20/71: The winning Padres had 8 hits and left 8 runners on base; the Padres’ Ollie Brown and Nate Colbert each hit their 8th double of the season; and Padres starter Clay Kirby pitched 8 innings, gave up 8 hits, walked 8, struck out 8, and made his 7th and 8th wild pitches of the season.
How'd I do?
August 10th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
@47.
Pretty good, Kahuna.
How do you think you'd do if someone just tossed you a random box score? I imagine you could probably find a few tidbits in most cases.
August 10th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Henry Aaron . . . Vida Blue . . . 8.8 WAR
Some other pretty patterns:
Jimmy Ring, 1921 Phillies, 88 batters walked and 88 batters struck out
Luke Hamlin, 1941 Dodgers, 8 wins, 8 losses and an 88 ERA+
Darryl Kile, 1999 Rockies, 888 batters faced and an 88 ERA+
Edd Roush, 1923 Reds, 88 runs scored and 88 RBI
Chet Laabs, 1942 Browns, 88 walks and 88 strikeouts
Carl Furillo, 1947 Dodgers, and Elmer Flick, 1901 Phillies, 8 home runs and 88 RBI
August 10th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Also, one batter had exactly eight seasons of 8+ doubles, 8+ triples and 8+ homers: Willie Davis.
A center fielder.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
@47, Kahuna -- Well done, even though you missed two of the points I wanted:
-- Gus Bell's 8 RBI and 8 Total Bases (nice catch there!) came while playing CF, i.e., "8"; and
-- J.R. Towles has 8 letters in his name.
But the latter was pretty obscure, and you threw in enough extra credit to earn an A+ for the course.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Thanks for giving me the quiz, John — I enjoyed it!
How do you think you'd do if someone just tossed you a random box score? I imagine you could probably find a few tidbits in most cases.
I'd like to think I could find something interesting. Every box score has a story to tell, things worth noticing.
Jimmy Ring, 1921 Phillies, 88 batters walked and 88 batters struck out
And, I'll add, 88 career wild pitches.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
You didn't notice Wandy Rodriguez throwing 88 pitches in 8 innings and his name in posting #42.
August 10th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
@52, Kahuna -- I think you and I tend to treat any box score as if someone had tossed it at us for a random quiz.
August 10th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Only player with 88 career WAR (rounded to whole number) -- Christy Mathewson. As a Giant, he allowed 88 HRs had 188 losses. Twice won over 20 games with an 88 ERA+ (and allowed 88 ER in one of those years). Born in August 1880.
Too bad he was known as Big Six.
August 10th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
You didn't notice Wandy Rodriguez throwing 88 pitches in 8 innings and his name in posting #42.
[*splutters*] Will you let me choose my own level of obsessiveness, please?
Kahuna -- I think you and I tend to treat any box score as if someone had tossed it at us for a random quiz.
. . . and this is the level of obsessiveness that I choose.
Too bad he was known as Big Six.
This made me laugh. Instead of Matty, let's adopt a guy whose nickname isn't at cross-purposes with our theme: big and not notably successful lefthander Dave Otto. Big Dave lost eight games in 1991, made eight career starts and had eight career decisions in the NL (3-5), was born in 1964, debuted on 9/8/87, and pitched in his final big-league game 17 years ago today. Four letters in his first name, four in his last name (which is also the Italian word for "eight") — he's got to be our man.
August 10th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
. . . and this is the level of obsessiveness that I choose.
[can't stop chuckling]