TK note #7: 4-K games
Posted by Andy on March 28, 2008
This is the final Tim Kurkjian note from his recent book. Thanks to a reader out there who pointed out that I misspelled his name in several posts--those have now been fixed.
TK noted that Rob Deer had 17 games with 4 or more strikeouts. Here are the career leaders:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Reggie Jackson 23 Ind. Games Bo Jackson 19 Ind. Games Sammy Sosa 17 Ind. Games Rob Deer 17 Ind. Games Jose Canseco 16 Ind. Games Jim Thome 15 Ind. Games Dave Kingman 15 Ind. Games Andres Galarraga 15 Ind. Games Dick Allen 15 Ind. Games Reggie Sanders 14 Ind. Games Ray Lankford 14 Ind. Games Bobby Bonds 14 Ind. Games Cory Snyder 13 Ind. Games Jay Buhner 13 Ind. Games Lance Parrish 12 Ind. Games Pete Incaviglia 12 Ind. Games Tony Clark 12 Ind. Games
Reggie Jackson had a stranglehold on this record at one point, but Sosa might catch him if he can find a team to play for. Thome and Reggie Sanders might have a shot too.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Good effort by Bo Knows, in only 694 career games.
It's unlikely that anyone prior to 1956 would make this list. Maybe Vince DiMaggio, Dolph Camilli, or Hank Greenberg? Only 7 players before 1956 had multiple 100-K seasons. 350 players have done it since then, and without checking, I'm guessing everyone on the above list has.
March 30th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
The list of players with the most 5-strikeout games is interesting too:
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/wznH
Ray Lankford had three 5-K games in 1998. Sammy Sosa is the only other player since 1956 to have as many as three such games in his *career.*
March 31st, 2008 at 10:21 am
I didn't realize Dick Allen struck out so much. He's before my time, but I think of Gary Sheffield as being a modern-day comp, in many ways. But Sheffield strikes out very little for a modern power hitter. Never more than 83 times in a season. One 4-K game, 19 3-K games. (Sosa has 121 3-K games, the most of anyone since 1956 and almost certainly ever.)
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
So the question came to mind, what players who have been in at least 1000 games have collected more career strikeouts than games played?
I put in variables for strikeouts and games played and then eyeballed the list of 214. I think there are only three players: Jose Canseco, Jim Thome, and Rob Deer. (Pete Incaviglia misses by 7 SO's.) Several other current players are pretty close. . . .
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
So then I went to the index to see what batters had been at least 500 games, with more strikeouts than games played? Of course, Bo Jackson would lead this list. And there are four others: Adam Dunn, Brad Wilkerson, Russell Branyan, and Dave Nicholson.
What about pitchers, I wondered. As batters, don't they strike out a lot?