The Face of a Franchise – Most PA’s for 1 Franchise
Posted by Raphy on September 7, 2009
As Derek Jeter approaches Lou Gehrig's record for hits as a Yankee, I can't help but notice the sheer number of plate appearances that Jeter has accumulated for the team. Jeter, who leads all Yankees ever in AB and is second in PA, has more PA for the Yankees than any other active player has for any other franchise. Here are the current leaders in plate appearance for a franchise among active players:
Derek Jeter* New York Yankees 9707 Chipper Jones* Atlanta Braves 9185 Garret Anderson Angels 8480 Todd Helton* Colorado Rockies 7662 Andruw Jones Atlanta Braves 7276 Ken Griffey Jr.* Seattle Mariners 7070 * active with the team listedIn baseball history only 22 players have had at least 10,000 PA for a franchise. Here are the top ten:
Carl Yastrzemski Red Sox 13,991 Hank Aaron Braves 13,089 Cal Ripken Orioles 12,883 Stan Musial Cardinals 12,712 Craig Biggio Astros 12,503 Pete Rose Reds 12,325 Robin Yount Brewers 12,249 Ty Cobb Tigers 12,105 Willie Mays Giants 12,012 Brooks Robinson Orioles 11,782
September 7th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Cool article, thanks.
FWIW, probably not much, the top 5 becomes Yaz-Aaron-Musial-Ripken-Cobb if you correct for shorter seasons before 1963 (I used 154 games although obviously there was more variance than that).
Of course, Cal and Biggio missed PA's during strikes, but since those were voluntary, I usually don't correct for them in my stats 🙂 (although I love both players).
Also, should just point out that Musial missed the entire 1945 season due to WWII -- expected PA's, 687, based on +- 2 year averages). So had he not missed that season, he almost certainly would have been 2nd on the list, without adjustment, or first with adjustments.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Not surprisingly, six of the top 10 listed played their entire careers for one franchise. Two of the other four (Aaron and Mays) had brief "homecoming tours" at the end of their careers in the original cities their franchises left. Only Rose had more than 1000 plate appearances (3536, mostly with the Phillies) with another club; and he, too, ended his career with two-plus seasons back in Cincinnati (though in his case those 879 PA count toward his franchise total). Ty Cobb ended his career with two seasons (967 PA) with the Philadelphia A's.
September 8th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Those '27-'28 A's are interesting teams. In '27, in addition to Cobb, they also had Eddie Collins and Zack Wheat playing out the string, a very young Jimmie Foxx, and then Mickey Cochrane and Lefty Grove in their primes. The following season, Wheat had retired, but Tris Speaker came over for his final season. Seven no-doubt HOFers on each team, but they still couldn't get past the Yankees until '29, when Foxx finally got a full-time job, and the only remaining old-timer was Collins with 9 PA.
September 8th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Oops, forgot to list Al Simmons, also in his prime.