Fastest to a 5-hit game
Posted by John Autin on August 11, 2011
In his 16th career game tonight, Cleveland 2B Jason Kipnis went 5 for 5, with a double and a HR (his 6th in 61 ABs) in Cleveland's 10-3 rout of Detroit.
Here are the other 25 players since 1919 to have a 5-hit game by their 16th career game.
Spot the surprise name (and I don't mean Mark Reynolds), and check out the career of the lone repeater:
| Rk | Gcar | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | ROE | GDP | SB | CS | WPA | RE24 | BOP | Pos. Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Josh Anderson | 2007-09-16 | HOU | PIT | W 15-3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.114 | 3.136 | .297 | 2 | CF |
| 2 | 10 | Mark Reynolds | 2007-05-25 | ARI | HOU | W 13-3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.186 | 4.917 | .766 | 4 | 3B |
| 3 | 16 | Fred Lewis | 2007-05-13 | SFG | COL | W 15-2 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.274 | 4.608 | .879 | 1 | CF |
| 4 | 14 | Andre Ethier | 2006-05-19 | LAD | LAA | W 16-3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.116 | 2.986 | .582 | 7 | LF |
| 5 | 13 | Matt Kata | 2003-06-30 | ARI | COL | W 8-7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.468 | 2.553 | 1.653 | 1 | 2B |
| 6 | 10 | Junior Spivey | 2001-06-21 | ARI | COL | W 14-5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.157 | 3.741 | .552 | 2 | 2B |
| 7 | 10 | Shane Spencer | 1998-08-07 (2) | NYY | KCR | W 14-2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.196 | 5.347 | .696 | 7 | RF |
| 8 | 8 | Brant Brown | 1996-06-22 | CHC | SDP | W 9-6 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.308 | 1.305 | 1.931 | 2 | 1B |
| 9 | 5 | Mike Lansing | 1993-04-11 | MON | COL | W 19-9 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.124 | 2.360 | .656 | 2 | 2B |
| 10 | 6 | Alex Arias | 1992-09-07 | CHC | PIT | W 6-5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.284 | 2.240 | 1.478 | 8 | SS |
| 11 | 5 | John Wehner | 1991-07-23 | PIT | ATL | W 12-3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.126 | 2.138 | .642 | 6 | 3B |
| 12 | 10 | Tim Teufel | 1983-09-16 | MIN | TOR | W 11-4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.148 | 3.395 | .382 | 1 | 2B |
| 13 | 12 | Dave Collins | 1975-06-20 | CAL | TEX | W 12-11 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.955 | 3.836 | 2.596 | 9 | LF |
| 14 | 12 | Mel Stottlemyre | 1964-09-26 | NYY | WSA | W 7-0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.067 | 2.200 | .256 | 9 | P |
| 15 | 9 | Hank Aaron | 1954-04-25 | MLN | STL | L 6-7 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.389 | 2.678 | 1.610 | 6 | RF |
| 16 | 8 | Wally Moon | 1954-04-23 | STL | MLN | L 5-7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.526 | 2.260 | 1.439 | 2 | CF |
| 17 | 13 | Jim Fridley | 1952-04-29 | CLE | PHA | W 21-9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.082 | 2.647 | .203 | 6 | RF LF |
| 18 | 12 | Joe Tipton | 1948-06-06 (2) | CLE | PHA | W 11-1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 8 | C | |||
| 19 | 13 | Dick Whitman | 1946-05-01 | BRO | CHC | W 5-1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 7 | CF | |||
| 20 | 14 | Marv Rickert | 1946-04-25 | CHC | CIN | L 5-7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 5 | CF | |||
| 21 | 14 | Leo Norris | 1936-04-28 | PHI | PIT | W 9-7 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 6 | SS | |||
| 22 | 1 | Cecil Travis | 1933-05-16 | WSH | CLE | W 11-10 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 6 | 3B | ||||
| 23 | 12 | Joe Vosmik | 1931-04-18 | CLE | CHW | W 11-2 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 6 | LF | ||||
| 24 | 16 | Maurice Archdeacon | 1923-10-02 | CHW | DET | L 5-7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 1 | CF | ||||
| 25 | 7 | Maurice Archdeacon | 1923-09-22 (2) | CHW | PHA | W 6-2 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 1 | CF |
Those who did it an extra-inning game: Aaron, Arias, Brown, Collins, Kata, Moon and Travis. (Not necessarily saying that they needed extra innings to get to 5 hits.)
August 11th, 2011 at 12:24 am
Is the surprise Mel Stottlemyre, since he was a P?
August 11th, 2011 at 12:24 am
dick "the mad man" whitman!
August 11th, 2011 at 12:29 am
ooh mel stottlemyre is definitely more surprising than a guy who has the same name as a fictional character.
August 11th, 2011 at 12:33 am
Sure, Stottlemyre was the intended "surprise" (not that there couldn't be others). Did you check out his all-around game? -- a 2-hit shutout (first hit was by Don Zimmer!), and 5 for 5 with 2 RBI.
Stottlemyre had just one other 3-hit game in his career.
August 11th, 2011 at 12:43 am
Interesting list, John.
As usual with these early career lists, there's not of staying power on the list. Although, I must say that this one does pack a fair share of power.
Here is the list sorted by career hits (through 8/9/11). Although he had the lowest career BA by far, Mel Stottlemyre did not have the fewest career hits.
Generated 8/11/2011.
August 11th, 2011 at 2:03 am
Really? A person has the name Archdeacon?
August 11th, 2011 at 2:11 am
So it happened 11 times from '91 - '07 & just 14 times from '19 - '90?
Roids again!
August 11th, 2011 at 2:11 am
One thing that's clear looking at that list is getting a five-hit game early in a career doesn't mean much. Hank Aaron and Mel Stottlemyre are probably the two best players on the list, and one was a pitcher!
August 11th, 2011 at 2:14 am
Brant Brown is a good name for today with the Santo statue thing going on. Chicago guys will know that connection haha
August 11th, 2011 at 2:30 am
Funny. If you click on Dick Whitman's page, his nickname is actually Don Draper.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:20 am
Mark Reynolds.
I would've expected him to have a 5 strikeout game, not a 5 hit game.
August 11th, 2011 at 5:08 am
Lansing is the fastest to do it from the start of his career and the start of the season (game #5)
August 11th, 2011 at 6:47 am
So Cecil Travis got five hits in his first game, played eight more games in May (at which time he was hitting .310), and then didn't play again until mid-September?
August 11th, 2011 at 7:34 am
Cecil Travis was filling in for the injured Ossie Bluege in May.
Maurice Archdeacon held the world record at the time for fastest time in circling the bases. He was sold to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for the rights to pick any player off their roster. Jack Dunn, owner of the Orioles, thought they would pick Joe Boley. Instead they picked Alphonse Thomas, their 32 game winner that year (105 games in 5 years) who Dunn felt was worth up to 100K.
August 11th, 2011 at 8:28 am
So what happened to Archdeacon in '25?
August 11th, 2011 at 8:28 am
Oh, and a shout-out to over-achiever Big Jim Fridley who delivered 6 hits!
August 11th, 2011 at 8:56 am
He was sent to the Orioles in June, 1925 as described in post @14. Minor leagues at that time were independent. The Orioles held on to their best players and eventually might sell them to a major league team for cash. It was not uncommon for players, especially pitchers, to spend years in the minors. Lefty Grove won 111 games in the minors before his major league debut at the age of 25 because he was under contract with the Orioles. The deal with the Orioles for the White Sox to get to pick one player from the Orioles in exchange for Archdeacon was considered a very shrewd deal for the White Sox when they picked Thomas. Archdeacon played well for the Orioles.
His role in 1924 was the fourth outfielder. It looks like the White Sox saw him as being more valuable in using him to get a player from the Orioles.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:15 am
When I first saw this post I thought it said S-hit and not 5-hit, and that perhaps JA wrote that to avoid putting a swear word in the title...
August 11th, 2011 at 9:19 am
@9 - Here's the audio:
http://www.northtonorth.com/pages/soundclips/santoohno.mp3
And the archive page:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL199809230.shtml
As you look at the win probability chart, you can actually hear Ron Santo's "OOOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOOO!!!" at the point of that precipitous drop (literally and graphically) to end the game.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:35 am
Aaron and Moon did it in the same series...strange indeed!
And, if memory serves, Lansing also had his cycle in Denver. He should have demanded a trade to the Rockies.
August 11th, 2011 at 10:02 am
The four lost games among the teams with a kid 5-hitter ended in scores of 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, and 6-7. I love weird stuff like that.
August 11th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Charles -- Good explanation of Maurice Archdeacon's career.
I'd add that he came along at a bad time for high-average, no-power outfielders. The entire starting OF for the '24 White Sox batted at least .325 with OBPs over .400; Archdeacon hit similarly as the 4th wheel, but with just .053 isolated power. He never did hit a big-league HR, and hit just 26 HRs in a 12-year minor-league career (.313 BA).
August 11th, 2011 at 10:21 am
Also featured in that Braves/Cards series -
Aaron's first career home run, off of Vic Raschi, in Moon's 5-hit game;
Moon picked off first by Warren Spahn, after a walk, in Hank's 5-hit game;
The Cards using Harvey Haddix as a pinch-runner;
Two spots later, using the much-less-famous Joe Frazier as a pinch-hitter;
Joe Adcock, who would end Haddix' most famous game five years later on a homer-turned-double (and there's one for Rule 10.06!);
Stan the Man, Eddie Mathews, Red Schoendienst, and Lew Burdette.
Fun little series.
August 11th, 2011 at 10:37 am
Jim Fridley is one of 6 players since 1919 with an all-singles 6-hit game in regulation ... last done by Raul Ibanez in 2004:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA200409220.shtml
August 11th, 2011 at 10:40 am
Looking at career games played (thanks, Raphy, for the list including hitting statistics) I agree with Robmer @8 and Raphy that it is surprising how little longevity there is for players accomplishng this.
Getting a five-hit game this early in your career seems to correlate weakly with being a reasonable average hitter, but not much else, not even a long stay in the bigs.
So what percentage of having a game like Jason Kipnis's this early in your career a function of:
1. randomness/luck?
2. a good batting eye?
3. opposition pitchers being unfamiliar with you?
Both Johnny Giavotella and Brett Lawrie will be hard-pressed to match his .295/.358/.656 after 67 plate appearances. Kipnis's body of work, as shown in his slashes, combined with the five-hit game, may suggest a long and productive career. It may say he more is like a Dave Collins than a Matt Kata.
August 11th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Interesting that Fred Lewis was the only one to hit for the cycle on JA's list, including Kipnis last night. John Wehner the only one to make the list with all singles.
I also found it interesting the number of players on the list who had a triple as part of their five-hit game. The ratio of triples to doubles, 7 to 18, is way higher than for all major-league at-bats. The difference there is too high to be noise, I think, but I'm not sure what it tells us.
And, finally, Jimbo's post @11 made me think more closely about Mark Reynolds' presence on John's list.
First off, his and Tim Tuefel's SLG were insane, 1.800. It looks as if Mark Reynolds may have had the game of his career already. But with what we know now about Mark's penchant for non-contact, his 10th career game is surprising. I wonder how he evolved into the hitter he is today?
August 11th, 2011 at 11:19 am
@26, Neil: Travis, Rickert and Fridley had all singles too.
I was about to post about the only cycle when I saw your post.
August 11th, 2011 at 11:39 am
if memory serves, Lansing also had his cycle in Denver. He should have demanded a trade to the Rockies.
Memory serves, Larry. (-;þ The Expos won that game, 19-9. I can just imagine the entire Expos team crowding around former teammate Andrés Galarraga after the game, congratulating him on his upcoming Triple Crown.
I knew that the Denver Bears used to be the AAA affiliate of the Expos, so I wondered whether 1993 rookie Lansing had played there the season before. No — turns out the Montreal-Denver affiliation ended after 1981, and the renamed Zephyrs had been the Brewers' AAA team for the last few pre-Rockies seasons. Lansing played in Harrisburg in 1992.
Here's something interesting I found when looking at the 1981 Denver Bears page. One of the team's best starting pitchers was lefthander Norm Angelini, a 33-year-old career minor leaguer who pitched 19⅔ innings for the 1972-73 Royals. That's all the time he got in the big leagues, yet he was still pitching — effectively — in the high minors eight years later. Talk about playing for the love of the game!
August 11th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Thanks for the correction @27, BJSG, you are absolutely right.
August 11th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
@24
Also, totally missed your post about singles, JA, when writing #26. Duhh! 🙁
August 11th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
@30, Neil: You're supposed to be paying attention to the guy with the white shirt in CF! Get with it, man! 🙂
August 11th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
#18 on John's chart, Joe Tipton, whose claim to fame is that he was later traded even up for future HOFer Nellie Fox, also makes the (very long) list of players with at least one three-RBI game in their first five games in the majors.
Twenty players in the PI Era registered two three-RBI games in their first five major-league games: Hank Arft, John Bowker, Joe Cunningham, Pete Fox, Tommy Henrich, Sam Horn, Mike Jacobs, Rocky Jordan, Dave Kingman, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Hal Lanier (!), Willard Marshall, Jack Merson, Walter Mueller, Dave Nilsson, Arquímedez Pozo (!!), Albert Pujols, Ed Sanicki, Enos Slaughter, and Dick Stuart.
Hank Arft and John Bowker. Woof.
August 11th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Archdeacon batting average in the minors:
.310 in 1925
.328 in 1926
.338 in 1927
August 11th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
also... Archdeacon had 2 MORE 5 hit games in 1925!
August 11th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
@31
BJSG, if you check my off-topic post about Brett Lawrie in the last blog, you'll see I called the ESPN, The Magazine article "a crock".
Peter King was hard-pressed on Prime Time Sports yesterday, when questioned by Bob McCowan to defend the article although he fell back on the statistics. He admitted the four players who were "sources" for the article were from the same team although he wouldn't say which one.
You and I know, rumour says it is the Chicago White Sox who have some grudge against Toronto to begin with.
I loved Alex Anthopoulos's "rebuttal" of the article yesterday in his press conference.
August 11th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
@35, Neil:
I listened to Peter Keating's interview on PTS as well as AA's press conference, too.
I'm going to Friday's game. I'm going to wear a white shirt, instead of my usual blue shirt, and make fake binoculars with a couple of Starbuck's "vente" cups, similar to what Janssen did yesterday in the bullpen. I wanted to get one of the "Spydome" t-shirts
http://www.bluejayhunter.com/2011/08/spydome-t-shirts-now-on-sale.html
but there's no way it would arrive before the game.
BTW, I'm going to welcome back Vernon Wells with a big cheer. He may have turned into a lousy ball player, but he's a class act.
August 11th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
This post was very interesting, especially that Maurice Archdeacon guy.
This question has nothing to do with the post but i noticed that the August 6th game between Toronto and Baltimore to be intriguing, given the fact Baltimore left no one on but still managed to score six runs. Is that the first time a team scored more than 5 runs and left no one on?
August 11th, 2011 at 6:01 pm
the August 6th game between Toronto and Baltimore . . . Is that the first time a team scored more than 5 runs and left no one on?
No, the August 6 Orioles-Blue Jays game was the 37th since 1919 in which a team scoring 6+ runs left no one on base. I hope this link will let you see the full list.
August 11th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
thanks kahina tuna
August 11th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
Just an aside to this: John Wehner's father, Frank, is the co-holder of the most total bases in a game for the Carolina League (15 with 3 HR and a triple).
August 11th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Ted, I touched on that Baltimore 0-LOB game in my Saturday evening post (ha-ha). But now that you've been served box scores by Kahuna Tuna, you won't need another meal for a while.
August 11th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
@40, Ottoc -- Thanks for the Fran Wehner note; I didn't know John's dad was a ballplayer. I see that he had the misfortune to be an OF in the Yankees' system for most of the '50s; not many job openings at the top of that ladder. He led the Carolina League in slugging in 1955. But he never seemed to play a full season.
He was also near the top of the Piedmont League in slugging in '53, but was overshadowed by teammate Jerry Lynch, who led in BA, SLG, 2B, 3B (33 2B / 22 3B / 21 HR), and wound up with a pretty good career with the Pirates & Reds.
August 11th, 2011 at 11:15 pm
Here's another interesting claim-to-fame for Mike Lansing.
Over the years, there have been independent, non-affiliated minor league teams in the National Association minor leagues - that is, the minor leagues in which the affiliated farm teams play, as opposed to the minor leagues known as the independent minor leagues. I don't think there have been any in recent years.
During years when there were independent teams in the National Association, they were permitted to participate in the baseball amateur draft, choosing players like the major league teams. Mike Lansing was one such player who was drafted this way. Here's what it says on his player page here:
"Drafted by Miami (Florida State) in the 6th round of the 1990 amateur draft."
I recall reading somewhere that he was either the only player drafted by such a team to make the majors or the most notable player drafted by such a team.
August 12th, 2011 at 5:07 am
So does anyone know what happened to Archdeacon? So much promise and then just fizzles and disappears.
August 12th, 2011 at 8:33 am
@38 The 7/7/1919 game makes no sense 44 PA with 27 outs and 9 runs. What happened to the other 8 batters? I found the newspaper article and it says LOB 8 and for Pittsburgh 3. I also noticed in the stats that they used the term "First base on balls" rather than "Base on balls". All the other games on that page said "Base on balls"
August 12th, 2011 at 8:34 am
@44 Check out post 14 and 17.
August 12th, 2011 at 10:07 am
@43, DoubleDiamond -- Nice find on Lansing's draft. I did not know that independent NA teams had participated in the draft.
August 12th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
The 7/7/1919 game makes no sense 44 PA with 27 outs and 9 runs. What happened to the other 8 batters?
I agree with you on this one, Charles. I calculate 8 theoretical LOB for the Cardinals. The game shouldn't be on the zero-LOB list.
The Retrosheet box score also shows zero LOB for the Cardinals.
Do you want to report the bug to Sean, or shall I? (-;þ
I found the newspaper article and it says LOB 8 and for Pittsburgh 3.
Now that the initial wave of intimidation has passed, I'll ask: Did you find the article on line, or did you go back into the microfiche files? That's really doing the research.