Throughout the history of baseball, there have been post season stars. Usually these players grabbed hold of the spotlight with a single huge play, a historically big game, or a series of really good games. However, it occurred to me that there could be another type of star, a player  who  consistently produces when his team wins. How many World Series winning players have scored a run, had a hit or drove in a run in all of their team's postseason wins?  Obviously, the more postseason wins needed, the more difficult this becomes, so we will have to look at this data in stages.

11 Wins for the Championship (1995-2008)

Since the start of divisional play in 1995, a team has needed to win 11 postseason games to be crowned champion. During that period no player has scored a run in all 11 of his team's wins. The closest was Johnny Damon in 2004, who scored in 10 out of the Red Sox 11 wins, with game 6 of the ALCS being the lone exception. Similarly, there has never been a player who has driven in a run in all 11 of his team wins.  Scott Spiezio in 2002 and Mike Lowell in 2007 came the closest with 9 each. However,  there have been five players who have recorded a hit in all 11 of their teams wins:

 Manny Ramirez     2004    11 Ind. Games
 Derek Jeter       1999    11 Ind. Games
 Marquis Grissom   1995    11 Ind. Games
 Darin Erstad      2002    11 Ind. Games
 Scott Brosius     1998    11 Ind. Games

This season Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins still have a chance. Rodriguez has a hit and an RBI  in all of the Yankees post-season wins to date and Rollins has a hit in each of the Phillies' victories.

10 Wins for the Championship (1981)

In 1981 no Dodger managed to get a hit in all 10 of their wins. The closest was Steve Garvey who hit in 9  of the wins. Garvey was also the closest with a run scored in 8 wins. No one had an RBI in more than 6 of the games.

8 Wins for the Championship (1985-1993)

The last 9 seasons before the installation of the Division Series featured 2 rounds of best of 7 series. A team needed 8 post season wins to be crowned world champion. During that time period there were no players who drove in a run in each of their team's eight wins. However, there was 1 player who scored a run in all 8 of his team wins:

                   Year Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+
 Dave Henderson    1989     8 Ind. Games

and five players who recorded a hit in all 8 wins:

                   Year Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+
 Lonnie Smith      1985     8 Ind. Games
 Steve Sax         1988     8 Ind. Games
 Paul Molitor      1993     8 Ind. Games
 Joe Carter        1993     8 Ind. Games
 Pat Borders       1992     8 Ind. Games

7 Wins for the Championship (1969-1980, 1982-1984)

Prior to 1985 the LCSs were a best of 5. With the exception of 1981, every year from 1969-1984 required the world series winner to win 7 post-season games. Still, no player succeeded at driving in a run in all 7 of his team's wins.  Once again there was only 1 player who scored a run in all 7.:

 Roy White         1978     7 Ind. Games

There were also 11 players who hit in each of their team's 7 wins, including Thurman Munson, who did it 2 years in a row.:

 Roy White         1978     7 Ind. Games
  Joe Rudi          1973     7 Ind. Games
 Pete Rose         1975     7 Ind. Games
 Brooks Robinson   1970     7 Ind. Games
 Thurman Munson    1978     7 Ind. Games
 Thurman Munson    1977     7 Ind. Games                
 Phil Garner       1979     7 Ind. Games
 Roberto Clemente  1971     7 Ind. Games
 Larry Bowa        1980     7 Ind. Games
 Johnny Bench      1976     7 Ind. Games

5 Wins for the Championship (1903, 1919-1921)

Four World Series were best of 9 series. In those years the Word Series Winner had to win five postseason games. Still, no player drove in a run in all 5 of his team's wins. Similarly, nobody scored a run in each of his team's 5 wins. However,  Jimmy Collins had hits in all 5 of the 1903 Boston American's World Series Victories. The 1921 Giants also had 3 players who had hits in all 5 of their wins:

 Ross Youngs       1921     5 Ind. Games
 Irish Meusel      1921     5 Ind. Games
 George Burns      1921     5 Ind. Games                

4 Wins for the Championship (1905-1918, 1922-1968)

Most World Series Champions only had to win 4 postseason games.  During those years, 16 players drove in a run , 32 scored a run and  109 players had a hit each of their teams post season wins. However, there were only 4 times when a player was able to record all 3 - a  hit, run  and a rbi in all 4 of his team's wins:

                   Year Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+
 Danny Murphy      1910     4 Ind. Games
 Lou Gehrig        1932     4 Ind. Games
 Lou Gehrig        1936     4 Ind. Games
 Frank Baker       1911     4 Ind. Games

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 5:58 am and is filed under Game Finders, Postseason. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.