Trivia time: what do these players have in common?
Posted by Andy on January 25, 2008
This is a pretty tough trivia question, and you don't need the PI to solve it (although you do need it to generate the original list):
Following is the complete list of players since 1901 to ever do what in a particular season?
Cnt Player Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Albert Pujols 2001 21 STL NL 161 676 590 112 194 47 4 37 130 69 6 93 9 1 7 21 1 3 .329 .403 .610 1.013 5379/D 2 Dmitri Young 2001 27 CIN NL 142 586 540 68 163 28 3 21 69 37 10 77 5 1 3 22 8 5 .302 .350 .481 .831 *735/9 3 Jason Giambi 1996 25 OAK AL 140 598 536 84 156 40 1 20 79 51 3 95 5 1 5 15 0 1 .291 .355 .481 .836 375D/9 4 Russ McGinnis 1995 32 KCR AL 3 6 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .167 .000 .167 /375 5 Pat Tabler 1984 26 CLE AL 144 528 473 66 137 21 3 10 68 47 2 62 3 0 5 16 3 1 .290 .354 .410 .764 375/4D 6 Danny Cater 1967 27 KCA AL 142 573 529 55 143 17 4 4 46 34 9 56 4 2 4 14 4 5 .270 .317 .340 .657 573 7 Augie Galan 1945 33 BRO NL 152 696 576 114 177 36 7 9 92 114 0 27 2 4 0 10 13 0 .307 .423 .441 .864 375
Here's another set of players that are from a similar (but not the same) set of criteria, and are the only players to do it since 1901:
Cnt Player Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Jay Payton 2006 33 OAK AL 142 588 557 78 165 32 3 10 59 22 1 52 4 0 5 12 8 4 .296 .325 .418 .743 789/D 2 Ryan Sweeney 2006 21 CHW AL 18 35 35 1 8 0 0 0 5 0 0 7 0 0 0 1 0 0 .229 .229 .229 .458 /879 3 So Taguchi 2005 35 STL NL 143 424 396 45 114 21 2 8 53 20 2 62 2 2 4 11 11 2 .288 .322 .412 .734 978 4 Mark Little 2004 31 CLE AL 11 23 20 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 7 2 0 1 0 0 0 .200 .261 .200 .461 /879 5 Jeffrey Hammonds 2003 32 TOT NL 46 149 132 22 32 12 0 4 13 16 0 28 1 0 0 3 1 0 .242 .329 .424 .753 789 6 Bobby Kielty 2001 24 MIN AL 37 118 104 8 26 8 0 2 14 8 2 25 1 0 5 2 3 0 .250 .297 .385 .682 987/D 7 Tsuyoshi Shinjo 2001 29 NYM NL 123 438 400 46 107 23 1 10 56 25 3 70 7 4 2 8 4 5 .268 .320 .405 .725 879 8 Johnny Damon 1997 23 KCR AL 146 524 472 70 130 12 8 8 48 42 2 70 3 6 1 3 16 10 .275 .338 .386 .724 879 9 Darren Bragg 1996 26 TOT AL 127 499 417 74 109 26 2 10 47 69 6 74 4 2 7 5 14 9 .261 .366 .405 .771 789 10 Eric Fox 1992 28 OAK AL 51 163 143 24 34 5 2 3 13 13 0 29 0 6 1 1 3 4 .238 .299 .364 .663 789/D 11 Juan Beniquez 1983 33 CAL AL 92 341 315 44 96 15 0 3 34 15 0 29 4 6 1 10 4 2 .305 .343 .381 .724 798/D 12 Ralph Garr 1976 30 CHW AL 136 558 527 63 158 22 6 4 36 17 2 41 2 8 4 6 14 5 .300 .322 .387 .709 978/D 13 Jim Northrup 1972 32 DET AL 134 469 426 40 111 15 2 8 42 38 6 47 2 3 0 16 4 7 .261 .324 .362 .686 *978/3 14 Woodie Held 1965 33 WSA AL 122 390 332 46 82 16 2 16 54 49 1 74 3 2 4 9 0 0 .247 .345 .452 .797 798/546 15 Ken Berry 1962 21 CHW AL 3 6 6 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .666 /879 16 Gene Stephens 1961 28 TOT AL 94 275 241 26 49 8 1 4 28 30 0 34 2 2 0 2 4 3 .203 .297 .295 .592 879 17 Gino Cimoli 1959 29 STL NL 143 569 519 61 145 40 7 8 72 37 2 83 2 7 4 19 7 0 .279 .327 .430 .757 987 18 Pat Seerey 1946 23 CLE AL 117 476 404 57 91 17 2 26 62 65 0 101 1 6 0 12 2 3 .225 .334 .470 .804 987 19 Max West 1939 22 BSN NL 130 513 449 67 128 26 6 19 82 51 0 55 5 8 0 9 1 0 .285 .364 .497 .861 987 20 Alex Metzler 1928 25 CHW AL 139 567 464 71 141 18 14 3 55 77 0 30 6 20 0 0 16 8 .304 .410 .422 .832 798 21 Les Mann 1926 33 BSN NL 50 141 129 23 39 8 2 1 20 9 0 9 0 3 0 0 5 0 .302 .348 .419 .767 879 22 Tony Murray 1923 19 CHC NL 2 5 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250 .400 .250 .650 /*8*7*9 23 Herbie Moran 1908 24 TOT ML 27 102 88 7 17 0 0 0 6 8 0 0 3 3 0 0 2 0 .193 .283 .193 .476 8/97
Can you figure out what we're looking at here?
And Raphy, you can't guess, because it's directly related to what we were talking about yesterday.
January 25th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Is the first one every player to play first, third, and left in the same season? And is the second list every player to play all three outfield positions in the same season?
If I'm right, then I'm really surprised that the second list is as short as it is.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
You're on the right track but it's more specific than that.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Can't figure it out, but yeah the positions thing jumps out at you.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Well it IS based on positions. Just look at the seasons in question and you should be able to get it.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Played at least 25% of their games at 1b, at 3b, and somewhere in the outfield. Pujols makes the list at left-field only if you lower the percentage to 24%, but that brings in other players as well. And Pujols also played 24% of his games in right-field, if I'm reading his fielding distribution correctly!
January 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I guess it has something to do with the distribution of the games played at each position, since they seem to be spread pretty evenly. I can't get any more specific than that, because the Dmitri Young season is throwing me off a bit.
January 25th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Pujols was an all-world rookie in 2001! Not only did he have an ops of over 1.000, he played 24% of his games in left, 24% of his games in right, 27 % of his games at first, and 34% of his games at third. That's over 1.000, too! (Lol.)
January 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Woodie Held was no Bert Campaneris, Cookie Rojas, or Cesar Tovar in the field. Nor did he win any Gold Gloves. However, he is unique on the second list above -- and in all of baseball history -- for his versatility. How so?
January 25th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Props to BunnyWrangler for getting us looking in the right hutch!
January 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am
well what is it exactly i give up.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:21 am
See #5 for the first list. For a further hint on the second, try this: http//www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/vTJd
January 25th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I may have been misleading in my "How so?" in post #8. Woodie Held never played an inning as a pitcher, catcher, or first baseman. However, over his career -- not a single season -- he was nevertheless unique in the field. Held's main player page will suggest how so, and Play Index will confirm it.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:40 am
In addition to Albert Pujols in 2001, only one other player has ever played 100 games in a season and at least 20% of the games (of that season) at each of these positions: 1b, 3b, lf, rf.
He did so while also playing for the Cardinals, but in 1984. Then he eventually settled on one (other) position, at which he won five Gold Gloves. Who he?
January 25th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Andy Van Slyke!
January 25th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Only two players have logged 100+ games at every outfield position, first base, and DH.
One's very famously in the Hall. The other -- famous as a World Series hero -- isn't, though he has as many career win shares -- 240 -- as HF'ers Rube Waddell and Herb Pennock (and non HF'ers Rich Reuschel, Jerry Koosman, Davey Lopes, and Shawn Green. [Hmm. . . used, or misued, properly, Shawn Green could have made the list.])
Who's one of the two who were used extensively at these four positions and DH?
January 25th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Yeah BunnyWrangler is a smart guy...he's already won one of my contests over at 88topps blog.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
umm sorry i must have missed it. i got a bit confused. what is the answer?
January 30th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
#5 has the answer to the first list. The second list is 30% of games played at each outfield position.