Nava / Navarro
Posted by Andy on September 19, 2010
Today the Red Sox are batting Daniel Nava 8th and Yamaico Navarro 9th. Can you think of other examples of teammates batting consecutively with one name being an extension of the other?
Posted by Andy on September 19, 2010
Today the Red Sox are batting Daniel Nava 8th and Yamaico Navarro 9th. Can you think of other examples of teammates batting consecutively with one name being an extension of the other?
September 19th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Not entirely related, but the Dodgers have on numerous occasions had Casey Blake bat in front of Blake DeWitt.
September 19th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
In 1987 Steve Carlton pitched to Carlton Fisk. Both Hall of Famers.
The announcers could of had a field day with that one.
And the Mets threw Bobby Jones vs Bobby Jones of the Padres I believe.
September 19th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Chuck Carr and Matias Carrillo batted back to back in the 6th inning of this game on June 23, 1994:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO199406230.shtml
I was actually checking Jerry Browne when I came across Carr/Carrillo, and was shocked to see Browne never played with a Brown in his career.....
September 19th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Marty Brown batted 8th ahead of Tom Browning in this game for the 1989 Reds:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN198907190.shtml
Also, on a bit of a tangent and reversing the extension, Keith Brown relieved Tom Browning on at least one occasion:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN199010010.shtml
September 19th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Devon White and Mark Whiten back to back:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR199106020.shtml
September 19th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
I count 186 team batting seasons where a team had two players on its roster which satisfies this criterion. Starting with Hall/Hallinan on the 1875 Keokuk team. Brown/Browning on 1883 Louisville. Barr/Barrett on 1884 Indianapolis, Williams/Williamson on 1885 Chicago....
Most recent pairs of names (not counting 2010):
Hu/Hudson - 2009 Dodgers
Zimmerman/Zimmermann - 2009 Nationals
Williams/Williamson - 2007 Orioles
Buck/Buckner - 2007 Royals
Hu/Hull - 2007 Dodgers
Franco/Francoeur - 2005,2007 Braves
Bay/Bayless - 2006-2007 Pirates
Hill/Hillenbrand - 2005-2006 Blue Jays
Williams/Williamson - 2005-2006 Cubs
Martin/Martinez - 2006 Dodgers
Williams/Williamson - 2006 Padres
Lieber/Lieberthal - 2005-2006 Phillies
Valentin/Valentine - 2004-2005 Reds
Hill/Hillenbrand - 2004 Diamondbacks
Valent/Valentine - 2003 Reds
May/Mayne - 2002-2003 Royals
Martin/Martinez - 2000-2001 Mariners
Mora/Morales - 2000 Orioles
Martin/Martinez - 2000 Indians
...
I have the full list, but I'll stop there. Don't know how to scan to see when they hit back to back. Interesting that the Reds had Valent/Valentin/Valentine all playing within a two year period.
September 19th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Joseph T-
I believe both of the Bobby Jones (or, at least two different Bobby Joneseseses) were on the Mets at one point. There was Bobby J Jones and Bobby M Jones, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure if either ever relieved the other, as I believe both were starters at the time.
September 19th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
The 1971 White Sox had Tommy John, Bart Johnson and Jay Johnstone. John and Johnson were both pitchers, though so I don't think they were ever in the lineup at the same time. I found one game where Johnstone batted in front of John. I also found a couple of games where Johnson relieved John (even saving his victory at least once) but Johnstone didn't bat 8th in any of those games.
September 19th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN200009060.shtml
I found this game, with Bobby J giving way to Bobby M. There may have been more games, and they're likely easy to find as they were only on the same team one year (2000) and Bobby M only made a handful of relief appearances. I'm just too lazy to find them. But, hey, I got one!
September 19th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
In Spring Training 2001, the Phillies had Brian L Hunter and Brian R Hunter. Brian L made the team; Brian R never played in the Majors again.
September 19th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
The 1962 Mets had Bob L Miller and Bob G Miller.
They both pitched in the same game a few times, but always with at least 1 other Met reliever separating their names in the box score.
Bob L. Miller also is shown as wearing 156 different uniform numbers over his 17 year MLB career. I wonder if that's a record
September 19th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Brian R. Hunter played for the Phillies the previous season.
The birthdays of Brian R. Hunter and Brian L. Hunter are one day apart. Respectively, they are March 4 and March 5. But since Brian R. was born in a leap year (1968) and Brian L. wasn't (1971), they were both born on what we computer geeks call the same Julian Day in their respective years.
They are not the only pair of players with the same first and last names with overlapping careers to fit this criteria. There were two righthanded pitchers named Jeff Robinson who were active from the mid-1980s through 1992. Jeff M. Robinson, who debuted in 1984 with the Giants and whose career was greatly helped by pitching coach Roger Craig (one of two different Roger Craigs active in San Francisco professional sports during that time period), was born on December 13, 1960, in a leap year. Jeff D. Robinson, who debuted in 1987 with that year's AL East champion Tigers, was born on December 14, 1961, not in a leap year. Thus, they were also both born on the same Julian Day. Both Jeff Robinsons played for the Pirates during their major league careers but not at the same time.
September 19th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
In related news:
Jim Morrison & Mike Tyson were both the second basemen of their respective Chicago teams in '80-'81.
September 19th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
Only barely relevant: in the football game this evening the Giants have Eli Manning passing to Mario Manningham.
September 19th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Tommy John and Jay Johnstone both with the Dodgers?
September 19th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
@11: I think you mean 16 different uniform numbers, not 156. Still a lot, but perhaps not the record (I have no idea how to search BR to check).
September 19th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
This is only nominally on topic (sorry) ... I love that the only 2 players named McCutchen in MLB history are currently on the Pirates, though they are unrelated. They've often batted consecutively, with pitcher Daniel hitting 9th and OF Andrew leading off. On August 25, both scored on the same play, a triple by Neil Walker.
In his 8-year career with Texas, Minnesota and Boston, Mike Smithson had only 2 teammates named Smith: Roy Smith, on the 1986-87 Twins, relieved in one of Smithson's starts, but never directly followed him. But in a Red Sox defeat of the Yankees on June 14, 1988, Smithson pitched the first 7 IP for the win, and Lee Smith went 2 IP for the save.
September 19th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
@15
John and Johnstone were never teammates in LA. Only the one year with the White Sox.
September 19th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
'SFunny, I seemed to recal Greg W. Harris and Greg A. Harris pitching at the same time for the Padres during the '80's, but, just checking their pages, they missed each other by a few years.
The Red Sox had two Ramon Ramirezes (Ramiri?) in spring training this year; Ramon A. Ramirez didn't make the club, Ramon S. Ramirez did, although he was traded to the Giants on July 31st.
September 19th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
More interesting ones from the list:
A battery of Torrez/Torre:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196907062.shtml
Kell/Keller were teammates in Detroit for a couple of years.
Journeyman catcher Jerry May teamed up with John Mayberry in 1972-73 in KC and was traded to the Mets where he played with Willie Mays.
September 19th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
@18
Correcting myself... John & Johnstone were teammates in 1979 with the Yankees.... along with Cliff Johnson. I couldn't find a game in which all three started. Some games with John/Johnstone and John/Johnson, but not all three. Maybe in one game the third subbed in?
September 19th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Then, of course, there's John Johnstone, who qualifies for all this simply by coming up to the plate with a bat in his hands. He only did that eight times, but that might be more times than any of the "two-person" combos had. Johnstone (also known to readers of BBBA as "John-John Stone") had an interesting stretch in '97, when he made a return trip across the Bay Area by playing for the Giants, A's and Giants again all in the space of a month.
September 20th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Yanks had Gerald Williams and Bernie Williams hitting 8-9 when they first came up.
September 20th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Rene Gonzales batting right before Jose Gonzalez many times in 1992 for the California Angels. Gonzales played in a few games with Juan Gonzalez in 1996 with the Rangers, but wasn't a good enough hitter to bat just before or after Gonzalez.
September 20th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Then of course you have that Mariners game in 1990 when two guys named Griffey hit back-to-back 1st inning HRs.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CAL/CAL199009140.shtml
September 20th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
How about Mata and Mattingly on the 1984 Yankees? Mattingly was not yet famous and I always confused the two. Kind of similar to trying to tell Steve Braun from Steve Brye.
September 20th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
At one point in the late 90's, there was a Mark Johnson who was a first baseman, a Mark Johnson who was a catcher, and a Mark Johnson who was an umpire all at the same time. Alas, the stars never aligned so that they would all three be at the plate at the same time....
September 20th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Did Mike Lieberthal ever bat in front of Jon Lieber?
September 20th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Wasn't a category like this created especially for Seth Etherton?
One of Etherton's teams, the 2003 Reds, used all their REE pitchers in the next-to-last game of the season.
Another pair of players to check is Ralph Garr and Gil Garrido for the early-'70s Braves.
September 20th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
@28, Yes Lieberthal did bat in front of Lieber 12 times in 2005, once in 2006. It could have been a lot more, but Lieber apparently didn't like Lieberthal catching, because after mid-2005 Lieber was mainly caught by Todd Pratt (in 2005) and Sal Fasano and Chris Coste (2006). Lieberthal also batted against Lieber 15 times from 1994 to 2001.
September 20th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
And of course there were the three Alou brothers with the Giants in 1963. All three were in the same game seven times, but some of those were PH only for Matty and/or Jesus. Three notable games:
Sep. 10 vs. NYM: Jesus PH for Jose Pagan (batting 8th), Matty PH for Bob Garibaldi (9th), followed by Felipe batting in the lead-off spot. That could have created quite a confusion for the announcers had they all gotten on base, but they went down 1-2-3 🙂
Sep. 15 vs. Pit: Jesus is a defensive replacement for McCovey, Matty for Mays. they didn't bat three in a row, but they were all in the outfield at the same time. The Giants won 13-5.
Sep. 22 vs. NYM: Jesus replaces Cepeda in the lineup, then Matty replaces Mays. They batted three in a row in the 7th inning (Matty, Jesus, Felipe). There was one out, nobody on, when Matty came up, and only Jesus got a hit. And of course they shared the outfield for the rest of the game. The Giants won 13-4.
September 20th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Getting a little astray, but .... back in 1977-79 the White Sox had on the roster both Bill Nahorodny and Wayne Nordhagen. They had to play one game without a DH becuase the manager (Bob Lemon?) wrote in "Nahorodnagen" for that position.
September 20th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
And two of the teammates connecting Lee May to Lee Maye were Jim Ray and Joey Jay. ¡Olé!
September 20th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
the 1970 Pirates pitching staff had a menu of Bob Moose, Bob Veale, and John Lamb. Moose and Veale were SP's though so there was never a game that all three appeared.
September 20th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
The 1979 Dodgers, within the space of one week, batted Derrel Thomas and Gary Thomasson in consecutive spots in the batting order (April 12), and used Lance Rautzhan in relief of starting pitcher Doug Rau (April 18). That must count for something.
September 20th, 2010 at 7:47 pm
There were three Randy Johnsons who debuted in the 1980s. Randall Stuart Johnson was a lefthanded hitting and throwing position player who mainly served as a DH but also played some 1B and OF for the White Sox and Twins in 1980 and 1982. Randall Glenn Johnson, the only righthanded thrower of the three, who also hit righthanded, spent parts of three seasons, 1982-1984, with the Braves at 2B and 3B. Randall David Johnson threw lefthanded and hit righthanded. He did not debut until 1988, but his career lasted until 2009. He played for the Expos, Mariners, Astros, Diamondbacks, Yankees, and Giants. So that makes nine franchises for the three Randy Johnsons, with none shared between or among them. Randall David wore #51 at some time or other for every team for which he played where he did not have a teammate named Bernie Williams.
At one point not too long ago, there had only been two players with the first name of Marlon in major league history - Marlon Anderson and Marlon Byrd. Both originally came up with the Phillies. A few years ago, both broke up no-hitters late in the game within days of each other.
In 1991, there were two active major leaguers with the given name of John Morris, although the better-known of them went by the name of Jack. Both of these Morrises had perhaps their most memorable career games on Sundays late that season, with both games being walk-off 10 inning affairs against the Braves. On both Sundays, the Washington Redskins were on the Sunday night NFL game and won both times in what was one of that franchise's best-ever years. Morris' memorable performance was, of course, Game 7 of the World Series. The "other" John Morris, a journeyman outfielder who had followed GM Lee Thomas from the Cardinals to the Phillies, hit his only career walk-off home run several weeks earlier on the Sunday that coincided with the NFL's opening week, back when the NFL opened on Labor Day weekend.
September 20th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
MLB went 118 years without having a player whose first name began with Q until Quilvio Veres made his debut in 1995. He debuted with the marlins, one of baseballs two newest teams at the time.
later that season Quinton McCracken made his debut with the Rockies, the team that joined when the Marlins did.
September 20th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
On May 14, 2005 Wade Miller took the mound for the Boston Red Sox in his second start with the team. Batting sixth and playing first base was Kevin Millar. Batting eighth and playing third base was Bill Mueller (pronounced "Miller").
The first base umpire was Bill Miller. He also umped Wade Miller's last game with the Sox-- with Millar at first-- but his phonetic namesake thirdbaseman was injured.
The 2009 Boston Red Sox bench had all three players in major league history whose last names start with K-O-T: Mark Kotsay, George Kottaras, and Casey Kotchman.
Kotsay and Kotchman never played on the team at the same time, though both wore #11 and played firstbase.
September 20th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Nice catch on the 3 K-O-T players all playing for the Sox last year Chris. I picked that one up myself a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to pointing it out.
Somewhere, in one of these forums, it was mentioned that Dave Philley played for the Phillies back in the '50's, and Jose Cardenal played for the Cardinals a few decades later. Does anyone know if any twins ever played for the Twins? The only set of twins in the majors I can recall were the O'Briens, Johnny and Eddie who played for the Pirates in the '50's.
Oh, one more; in 1969, Johnny Podres ended his career with the Padres!
September 21st, 2010 at 12:00 am
Players with the last or first names spelled Byrd or Bird have played 2797 major league games.
17 of those have been with the Blue Jays, Cardinals, or Orioles. Jeff Byrd went 2-13 in 17 starts for the 1977 expansion Blue Jays.
As noted above, Marlons and Marlins have played 2274 MLB games (136 before the Marlins existed). 0 of them have been for the Marlins.
Rey Sanchez and Rey Ordonez played for the Devil Rays.
No Jay (last or first name) has ever played for the Blue Jays. Jayson Werth comes closest.
Saxes have played 228 games for Soxes and 1594 for other teams.
Angels have played 2990 major league games. Angel Moreno played his entire 21-game career for the California Angels and went 4-10 with a 4.02 ERA. Other than Moreno, no Angel has played for California, Anaheim or Los Angeles of Anaheim. 21/2990.
This is getting ridiculous.
September 21st, 2010 at 12:25 am
[...] p.m.: Saw this little nugget from baseballreference.com regarding a recent Red Sox batting order that featured Daniel Nava and Yamaico Navarro batting [...]
September 21st, 2010 at 9:28 am
On August 18, 1995, the Philadelphia Phillies batted Kevin Stocker, Kevin Elster, Kevin Flora and Kevin Jordan in succession.
September 21st, 2010 at 10:34 am
John Kruk pointed out Matusz vs. Matsuzaka on BBTN, not quite perfect, but a letter switch away.
September 21st, 2010 at 11:38 am
It has always been a sadness that Miroslav Satan has never played for the New Jersey Devils... though he has played AGAINST them 63 times (16 goals, 21 assists).
September 21st, 2010 at 1:22 pm
MLB went 118 years without having a player whose first name began with Q until Quilvio Veras made his debut in 1995.
Spartan Bill, MLB only made it 75 years without its first Q name. (Very short major-league career, I grant you.)
September 21st, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Does anyone know if any twins ever played for the Twins?
I don't think any twin ever has played for the Twins. The player who comes closest is Dave Edwards, whose older twin brothers Mike and Marshall both played in the majors, Mike mostly for the A's, Marshall only for the Brewers.
No Rocky has ever played for the Rockies. Jeff King played several seasons for the Royals. I'll stop now.
September 21st, 2010 at 8:41 pm
@45
I wish I knew who the broadcaster who led me wrong was.
thanks for the correction
September 21st, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Brent brewer played for Huntsville and Brevard County this year. As you probably guessed, they are in the Milwaukee system.
September 21st, 2010 at 8:51 pm
On July 27, 1990 Jose Canseco batted #3 and Ossie Canseco had 1 PA in the 4 spot. the opponent??? who else but the twins.
September 21st, 2010 at 8:58 pm
On 4-23-2005 Dallas McPherson had his only PA against Huston Street. No Official ABs as he walked.
Would that Base on Balls be considered an "El Paso"?
September 21st, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Phil Bradley spent the 1988 season with the Phils.
September 21st, 2010 at 9:40 pm
I remember Phil Bradley with the Phils. He hit one of the most famous "lost" home run in history, if not THE most famous one. Lost home runs, according to retrosheet.org, are home runs hit in a game that is called due to rain (or maybe some other reason) before it becomes official. His would-have-been home run led off the top of the 1st at Wrigley Field on the night of 8/8/88, one of those rare Monday games that marks the end of a four-game weekend series instead of the beginning of a two-, three-, or four-game weekday series. That night's game would have been the first night game ever at Wrigley Field, but it was called due to rain before it became official. Otherwise, history would have recorded that the first-ever plate appearance in a Wrigley Field night game resulted in a home run.
As I've noted before, the Blue Jays did draft California high school catcher Jay Schroeder in the first round, third overall, in the 1979 draft. However, he did not hit well, and he left baseball to play quarterback in college and later for the Washington Redskins. He became one of two ex-minor leaguers to take snaps in the Super Bowl played in early 1988, the other being John Elway.
September 21st, 2010 at 10:07 pm
Again, off subject from the original topic but one of my favorite baseball names trivia questions... Name two players, both in the Hall of Fame who have the same first and middle name though neither player is known by the full version of either first or middle name.
September 21st, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Good question....I didn't know the answer but maybe it was stored somewhere in the recesses of my mind, as Lou Gehrig came to mind, and I matched him with Hank Aaron, and I see I am right.
September 22nd, 2010 at 2:48 am
Unrelated, but this topic reminds me of one of my all-time favorite match-ups. When Chien-Ming Wang made his MLB debut for the Yankees in 2005, it was against David Bush of the Blue Jays. It made for some funny headlines, like:
Battle of the Ages to be Decided Saturday at Yankee Stadium: Wang vs. Bush.
September 22nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Alas, Daryl Boston (or however he spelled it) played for the White Sox but not the Red Sox.
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:09 pm
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine asked for my help in answering a trivia question posted as an extra credit question in his fiancee's sister's chemistry class: What member of Baseball's Hall Of Fame is featured on every Periodic table of Elements?
Thanks to me, she was the only one in the class who got it right.
I'm sure everyone here knows the answer: Al Kaline (alkaline elements).