This is our old blog. It hasn't been active since 2011. Please see the link above for our current blog or click the logo above to see all of the great data and content on this site.

World Series Starters from the Same State

Posted by Sean Forman on November 3, 2009

It was noted by an Arkansan on SABR-L that Lee and Burnett were both from Arkansas and were born within a year of each other, Burnett from North Little Rock and Lee from Benton. This was the 38th time that the two WS starters from the same state in the Union. The most recent was Kevin Appier and Russ Ortiz, both from California, faced each other twice in the 2002 World Series.

Surprisingly, at least to me, no foreign country has boasted two native sons starting in a World Series game.

Full List after the jump

Here is the full list.

+------------+--------------+-------------------------------+------------------------------+-----------+-----+
| where_from | game_id      | group_concat(name_common)     | cities                       | bYears    | SPs |
+------------+--------------+-------------------------------+------------------------------+-----------+-----+
| USA-OH     | PIT190310070 | Brickyard Kennedy,Cy Young    | Bellaire,Gilmore             | 1867,1867 |   2 |
| USA-PA     | PHA190510090 | Christy Mathewson,Eddie Plank | Factoryville,Gettysburg      | 1880,1875 |   2 |
| USA-OH     | CHN190710090 | George Mullin,Jack Pfiester   | Toledo,Cincinnati            | 1880,1878 |   2 |
| USA-OH     | CHN190810120 | George Mullin,Jack Pfiester   | Toledo,Cincinnati            | 1880,1878 |   2 |
| USA-IN     | DET190810130 | Mordecai Brown,Ed Summers     | Nyesville,Ladoga             | 1876,1884 |   2 |
| USA-IN     | PIT190910130 | Babe Adams,Ed Summers         | Tipton,Ladoga                | 1882,1884 |   2 |
| USA-MO     | NY1191210080 | Jeff Tesreau,Joe Wood         | Ironton,Kansas City          | 1888,1889 |   2 |
| USA-MO     | NY1191210110 | Jeff Tesreau,Joe Wood         | Ironton,Kansas City          | 1888,1889 |   2 |
| USA-MO     | BOS191210150 | Jeff Tesreau,Joe Wood         | Ironton,Kansas City          | 1888,1889 |   2 |
| USA-PA     | PHA191310080 | Christy Mathewson,Eddie Plank | Factoryville,Gettysburg      | 1880,1875 |   2 |
| USA-PA     | NY1191310110 | Christy Mathewson,Eddie Plank | Factoryville,Gettysburg      | 1880,1875 |   2 |
| USA-OH     | BRO191610110 | Dutch Leonard,Rube Marquard   | Birmingham,Cleveland         | 1892,1886 |   2 |
| USA-PA     | NYA192610020 | Herb Pennock,Bill Sherdel     | Kennett Square,McSherrystown | 1894,1896 |   2 |
| USA-PA     | SLN192610070 | Herb Pennock,Bill Sherdel     | Kennett Square,McSherrystown | 1894,1896 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | PHA193010080 | George Earnshaw,Bill Hallahan | New York,Binghamton          | 1900,1902 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | SLN193110020 | George Earnshaw,Bill Hallahan | New York,Binghamton          | 1900,1902 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | PHA193110070 | Bill Hallahan,Waite Hoyt      | Binghamton,Brooklyn          | 1902,1899 |   2 |
| USA-TN     | DET194010040 | Jim Turner,Tommy Bridges      | Antioch,Gordonsville         | 1903,1906 |   2 |
| USA-GA     | NYA194110020 | Spud Chandler,Whit Wyatt      | Commerce,Kensington          | 1907,1907 |   2 |
| USA-TX     | BOS194610100 | Tex Hughson,Red Munger        | Buda,Houston                 | 1916,1918 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | BRO195310030 | Whitey Ford,Billy Loes        | New York,Long Island City    | 1928,1929 |   2 |
| USA-IN     | BRO195510010 | Don Larsen,Carl Erskine       | Michigan City,Anderson       | 1929,1926 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | NYA195510030 | Whitey Ford,Karl Spooner      | New York,Oriskany Falls      | 1928,1931 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | BRO195610030 | Whitey Ford,Sal Maglie        | New York,Niagara Falls       | 1928,1917 |   2 |
| USA-NJ     | BRO195610100 | Johnny Kucks,Don Newcombe     | Hoboken,Madison              | 1933,1926 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | NYA195710020 | Warren Spahn,Whitey Ford      | Buffalo,New York             | 1921,1928 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | MLN195810010 | Whitey Ford,Warren Spahn      | New York,Buffalo             | 1928,1921 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | NYA195810050 | Whitey Ford,Warren Spahn      | New York,Buffalo             | 1928,1921 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | MLN195810080 | Whitey Ford,Warren Spahn      | New York,Buffalo             | 1928,1921 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | CHA195910020 | Johnny Podres,Bob Shaw        | Witherbee,Bronx              | 1932,1933 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | LAN195910060 | Bob Shaw,Sandy Koufax         | Bronx,Brooklyn               | 1933,1935 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | NYA196310020 | Whitey Ford,Sandy Koufax      | New York,Brooklyn            | 1928,1935 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | LAN196310060 | Whitey Ford,Sandy Koufax      | New York,Brooklyn            | 1928,1935 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | LAN196610060 | Sandy Koufax,Jim Palmer       | Brooklyn,New York            | 1935,1945 |   2 |
| USA-NY     | BAL197910160 | John Candelaria,Jim Palmer    | New York,New York            | 1953,1945 |   2 |
| USA-CA     | ANA200210200 | Kevin Appier,Russ Ortiz       | Lancaster,Encino             | 1967,1974 |   2 |
| USA-CA     | ANA200210260 | Kevin Appier,Russ Ortiz       | Lancaster,Encino             | 1967,1974 |   2 |
| USA-AR     | PHI200911020 | A.J. Burnett,Cliff Lee        | North Little Rock,Benton     | 1977,1978 |   2 |
+------------+--------------+-------------------------------+------------------------------+-----------+-----+

4 Responses to “World Series Starters from the Same State”

  1. Djibouti Says:

    California has overwhelmingly produced the most pitchers (878, 275 more than Pennsylvania) yet only one set makes this list. Not surprisingly, Pennsylvania (2nd, 603), New York (3rd, 515), and Ohio (4th, 493) are well represented. My question on this list is what happened in 1966 that made this become so rare? Happened at least 3 times per decade from the aughts to the '60s. Then only once in the '70s, and none again until 2002. Has the influx of foreign-born players been large enough to explain this? I would expect the occurrences to drop as the number of probable places of birth rises, but only happening once in 35 years? Seems low especially considering the '00s are back on pace with 3 occurrences.

    By the way, I love how the 13 year gap from '66 to '79 is linked by Jim Palmer.

  2. DoubleDiamond Says:

    I had also noticed the Arkansas connection and also noted that both Lee and Burnett wear #34. In fact, if California natives Cole Hamels and CC Sabathia had faced each other, it would probably have not stood out in my mind, since California produces far more ballplayers than Arkansas. In fact, two Arkansas natives who were the first overall picks in the draft - Rick Monday in the very first one in 1965 and Pat Burrell in 1998 - were California residents by the time they were baseball prospects.

  3. nutbunnies Says:

    "My question on this list is what happened in 1966 that made this become so rare?"

    3 things.

    1. Yankees stopped appearing in the World Series
    2. Yankees' stranglehold on hoarding NY area talent ended
    3. NY talent stopped being so elite

  4. JohnnyTwisto Says:

    Yeah...while I think random variation is likely a big part of it, the institution of the draft probably had some effect.