Having some fun with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Post-Season Batting Event Finder...looking at Sacrifice Bunts in Postseason.

Did you know that there have been 1,179 Sac-Bunts in the Post-Season?  Three players are tied for the most, with eight each: Derek Jeter, Scott Brosius, and Rafael Belliard.  Betcha Jeter owns this record someday.

Here's a fun slice - there have only been ten times in World Series history where a pinch-hitter laid down a Sac-Bunt.  Here's the list:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       soP eoI BO Df Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+ 

     1   1 1969-10-15    WS     4 J.C. Martin       NYM  BAL Pete Richert      tied   1-1    0     9  11 RoE    b10 12-   0   -       0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw to 1B)/Sacrifice Bunt; Gaspar Scores/unER/No RBI; Weis to 2B; Martin to 1B  

     2   1 1970-10-11    WS     2 Angel Bravo       CIN  BAL Moe Drabowsky     down   5-6   -1     9  11 Out    b 7 1--   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice; Cline to 2B  

     3   1 1971-10-17    WS     7 Tom Shopay        BAL  PIT Steve Blass       down   0-2   -2     9  11 Out    b 8 12-   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: P-2B/Sacrifice; Hendricks to 3B; Belanger to 2B  

     4   1 1972-10-19    WS     4 Julian Javier     CIN @OAK Ken Holtzman      down   0-1   -1     9  11 Out    t 8 1--   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-1B/Sacrifice; Concepcion to 2B  

     5   1 1975-10-15    WS     4 Ed Armbrister     CIN  BOS Luis Tiant        down   4-5   -1     9  11 Out    b 9 1--   0 0-1   2   0 Bunt Groundout: P-2B/Sacrifice; Geronimo to 2B  

     6   1 1980-10-17    WS     3 Greg Gross        PHI @KCR Dan Quisenberry   tied   3-3    0     1  11 Out    t10 1--   0 1-0   2   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B unassisted/Sacrifice; Boone to 2B  

     7   1 1981-10-21    WS     2 Bobby Murcer      NYY  LAD Terry Forster     ahead  1-0    1     9  11 Out    b 7 12-   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: P-1B/Sacrifice; Cerone to 3B; Randolph to 2B  

     8   1 1987-10-20    WS     3 Terry Pendleton   STL  MIN Juan Berenguer    down   0-1   -1     9  11 Out    b 7 12-   0 2-0   3   0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-1B/Sacrifice; Oquendo to 3B; Pena to 2B  

     9   1 1991-10-22    WS     3 Jeff Treadway     ATL  MIN Carl Willis       tied   4-4    0     9  11 Out    b 9 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice (Weak 1B); Belliard to 2B  

    10   1 2006-10-26    WS     4 So Taguchi        STL  DET Fernando Rodney   down   2-3   -1     2  11 RoE    b 7 -2-   0 0-0   1   0 Reached on E1/Sacrifice Bunt; Eckstein Scores/No RBI/unER; Taguchi to 2B

There's a trivia question for you:  Who is the only batter in baseball history to have a pinch-hit Sac-Bunt in a World Series game when his team was leading the game at the time of the pinch At-Bat?  The answer:  Bobby Murcer in 1981.

Here's another fun list -  Sacrifice Bunts in Post-Season, made during innings 7 or later, when the score was tied, by a Designated Hitter:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       soP eoI BO Df Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.  

+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+  

     1   1 1980-10-19    WS     5 Keith Moreland    PHI @KCR Dan Quisenberry   tied   3-3    0     5  10 Out    t 9 -2-   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B unassisted/Sacrifice; Unser to 3B  

     2   1 1981-10-07    ALDS   2 Cliff Johnson     OAK @KCR Mike Jones        tied   1-1    0     3  10 Out    t 8 1--   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-1B/Sacrifice; Murphy to 2B  

     3   1 1984-10-03    ALCS   2 Johnny Grubb      DET @KCR Dan Quisenberry   tied   3-3    0     7  10 Out    t 9 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: P unassisted/Sacrifice; Jones to 2B  

     4   1 1985-10-11    ALCS   3 Hal McRae         KCR  TOR Jim Clancy        tied   5-5    0     4  10 Out    b 8 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: P-2B/Sacrifice; Brett to 2B  

     5   1 1990-10-06    ALCS   1 Harold Baines     OAK @BOS Tom Bolton        tied   1-1    0     4  10 Out    t 8 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-2B/Sacrifice (Short 3B Line); Canseco to 2B  

     6   1 1991-10-20    WS     2 Lonnie Smith      ATL @MIN Kevin Tapani      tied   2-2    0     1  10 Out    t 8 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice (Weak 1B); Belliard to 2B  

     7   1 1992-10-20    WS     3 Dave Winfield     TOR  ATL Mark Wohlers      tied   2-2    0     4  10 Out    b 9 12-   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice (Weak 2B-1B); Alomar to 3B; Carter to 2B

Wow.  We saw that happen 3 years in a row, from 1990 to 1992 - and not again since that time.  Then again, it does take a lot for a big bat guy to square around in a big spot in a big game.  Give credit to these seven guys for doing what had to be done and checking their ego at the door.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 7:49 pm and is filed under Event Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.