Archive for the 'History' Category

This is pretty far down in the weeds, but a lot of what we do when posting these numbers is far down in the weeds. At the prodding of an interested party, I've been asked whether the 1901-1902 Orioles should be part of the New York Yankees history. He argues no. We have shown them as such. I noticed that Palmer/Gillette now show them as not part of the Yankees history in their last ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. Here is a response Gary sent to me when I asked him about it.

We discussed this at length when we did the first edition of our new encyclopedia in 2004. IIRC, the deciding factor was that the Baltimore franchise went bust during the season and was turned over to the league. After the season, the league then sold a new franchise to investors in New York City. We felt that wasn't really a relocation or a transfer; it was simply filling the gap in the league that was opened when the Orioles' franchise disintegrated.

Of the 39 players who appeared for Baltimore in 1902, only five appeared for New York in 1903. Jimmy Williams was the regular second baseman for both clubs. Herm McFarland, a utility player in '02, became a regular outfielder in '03. Ernie Courtney played one game for Balto. in 1902, then 25 for NY in 1903. Harry Howell was the only pitcher of consequence to make the transition. Snake Wiltse (4 G in '03) also appeared for both.

So right now, I'm probably going to switch the 1901 and 1902 Baltimore teams to their own franchise and have the Yankees start in 1903. Anyone want to convince me otherwise?

my wife is gonna be mad « Scott Simkus

Scott, Gary Ashwill and I have put together an agreement that is going to put some of the first publicly available Negro League data on the web.  See the article for the full rundown, but I'm very excited to be working with Gary and Scott on this project.   April is the goal date, though naturally this is a busy time for me, but I think we can get that done.

As you probably saw in the news already, the Red Sox signed Marco Scutaro Thursday to be their new starting SS. I don't want to get into the merits of the deal (others have already covered that ground) or how Scooter is almost certain to regress after a career year, but instead I want to look at how anomalous a player Scutaro is. He's basically a guy who draws a ton of walks but has no power -- last year he was one of only 22 players to have a BB% (BB/PA) of at least 13.2%:

Read the rest of this entry »

On September 27, 1963, in what has to have been one of the worst match-ups ever, the 64-95 the Houston Colt 45s hosted the 50-109 NY Mets.  The season was just about over and the Colt 45s were looking to boost attendance and so they tried a gimmick, starting an all-rookie line-up and using a total of 15 rookies in the game.  46 years later that team is still  only  team since 1954 to have  ever fielded a starting lineup featuring 9 players younger than the age of 22. The results were not pretty as the Mets walked away with an easy 10-3 victory. You can read more about the game on the Astrodaily website. Here is the Colt .45's starting lineup for that day:

As you would expect from a group of prospects, the ensuing careers would turn out to be a mixed bag.  For 17 year old starting pitcher  Jay Dahl, the game was tragically his only game in the bigs. For Joe Morgan, it was only the  6th game in what would become a Hall-of Famer  career. Here's a look at what became of the rookie 9. The player names link to their BR-bullpen pages, the source for much of the included information.

Same columns as the earlier post, but from the pitching team's perspective.

Team	Lk_hm	Lk_rd	Bls_hm	Bls_rd	%L_hm	%L_rd	HFA	HFA_hi_lev
SFG	2136	1967	3967	4104	35.00%	32.40%	2.60%	0.80%
PHI	2093	1894	4056	3975	34.04%	32.27%	1.77%	0.39%
CIN	1972	1948	3995	4265	33.05%	31.35%	1.69%	2.26%
STL	2073	1829	3776	3581	35.44%	33.81%	1.63%	3.97%
HOU	2115	1799	4116	3767	33.94%	32.32%	1.62%	4.62%
MIN	2016	1727	4021	3705	33.39%	31.79%	1.60%	2.46%
TOR	1919	1859	4016	4136	32.33%	31.01%	1.32%	0.79%
PIT	1690	1703	3831	4107	30.61%	29.31%	1.30%	1.37%
WSN	1890	1835	4082	4206	31.65%	30.38%	1.27%	0.84%
CLE	2032	1879	4179	4063	32.72%	31.62%	1.09%	-1.75%
SDP	2135	1820	4425	3966	32.55%	31.46%	1.09%	2.13%
NYM	1895	1812	4162	4188	31.29%	30.20%	1.09%	1.65%
ATL	1973	2038	3728	4028	34.61%	33.60%	1.01%	2.28%
DET	1899	1829	4112	4140	31.59%	30.64%	0.95%	1.65%
LAD	2090	1906	4223	4007	33.11%	32.23%	0.87%	2.93%
TBR	1893	1992	3823	4133	33.12%	32.52%	0.60%	1.06%
MIL	1921	1885	4190	4215	31.44%	30.90%	0.53%	-0.47%
CHC	1981	1864	4230	4065	31.90%	31.44%	0.46%	-0.40%
LAA	1972	1995	4122	4246	32.36%	31.97%	0.39%	-0.06%
KCR	1987	1836	4414	4145	31.04%	30.70%	0.34%	0.84%
BOS	1946	2032	4010	4253	32.67%	32.33%	0.34%	-0.95%
FLA	2130	1841	4482	3919	32.21%	31.96%	0.25%	-1.86%
ARI	2001	1948	4054	3991	33.05%	32.80%	0.25%	0.90%
BAL	1975	1884	4238	4073	31.79%	31.63%	0.16%	-1.16%
NYY	2188	1920	4566	4035	32.40%	32.24%	0.15%	-1.12%
OAK	1813	2011	3919	4366	31.63%	31.54%	0.09%	1.44%
CHW	1901	1787	4144	3892	31.45%	31.47%	-0.02%	1.75%
SEA	1788	1845	4104	4224	30.35%	30.40%	-0.05%	-1.01%
TEX	2041	1831	4518	3870	31.12%	32.12%	-1.00%	1.48%
COL	1732	1841	3941	3965	30.53%	31.71%	-1.18%	-1.92%

Actually on the face of it there may be a park effect here. As the Rockies and Giants had almost the same spread in the opposite direction. Pitchers get more calls in San Fran and hitters get more calls in Colorado? Any ideas why?

Is it possible to both start and pinch run in the same game? Until recently I thought it was not.  Then I came across an old game from 1984 and my eyes were opened to the fact that a player could both start and pinch run in the same game.

On July 23, 1984 the Twins and A's hooked up in a game that was decided long before it was over. Oakland was trailing 14 - 1 in the bottom of the 7th when manager Jackie Moore brought in pitcher Keith Atherton to relieve. Atherton gave up a single and then retired Tim Teufel to end the inning. In the top of the following inning, after DH Dave Kingman singled, Moore once again called upon Atherton to sub, this time as a pinch runner. Atherton replaced Kingman at first, took his place in the batting order and finished the game off as a pitcher.

My initial reaction to seeing this was: "Hey wait! You can't do that!" But as I thought about it, it became more logical. I assume that after the Kingman single, it wasn't Atherton replacing Kingman that allowed him to pinch run. Rather, it was Oakland deciding to forfeit their right to the DH that forced them (and allowed them) to put Atherton on first base. (If this true, then Atherton's being listed as a DH is an error). Regardless of how he got there, Atherton did pinch run for Kingman, even though he was already in the game.

While Atherton was not a starter, the same logic should apply to a starting pitcher as well. If a team wants to forfeit their rights to a DH while he is on base, the pitcher would then take his place as a pinch runner. In that case, it would be possible to start and pinch run in the same game.

EDIT:  To further clarify, here is my theory:

Prior to a game a team has the option of giving up the right to a DH. Presumably, a team has the same right at any point during the game as well. Normally this occurs when a team moves their DH into the field.  However, during this game, the A's chose to do it at a unique moment. With Kingman at first , the A's decided to longer use a DH. As is required by the rules, when the DH is removed the current pitcher replaces him in the lineup. In this case it meant that Atherton replaced Kingman at 1st base. In this way Atherton "pinch ran" for Kingman.

I hope this is clear.  If anyone knows of a better explanation, please let me know.

This is not via Play Index, but, rather from one of the fun Baseball-Reference.com toys that can be found in the Frivolities section of the site.  It's from the Team Game Log Reports - an area which is a series of tools that slice and dice game-by-game results from 1901 to the present in a wide variety of ways.  The tool used here was Situational Reports For Teams' Wins and Losses - which is a form that will create a report showing the won-loss record and the number of runs scored and allowed in various situations.

I was curious about how teams did when playing someone with a winning percentage of .600+ during the 5 year period prior to this season.  So, I set the controls for "From 2004 To 2008 and Greater Than or Equal to a .600 Opponent's Season W-L%" and this is what I got:

Rk    Tm  G  W  L W-L%  RS  RA pythW-L%
1    ANA 28 15 13 .536 146 120     .589
2    CHC 41 21 20 .512 177 176     .503
3    PHI 25 12 13 .480 128 125     .511
4    HOU 51 24 27 .471 210 229     .460
5    TEX 49 23 26 .469 255 269     .476
6    SFG 22 10 12 .455  89  99     .451
7    CHW 29 13 16 .448 135 137     .493
8    BOS 38 17 21 .447 182 218     .418
9    MON 21  9 12 .429  67  89     .373
10   MIN 38 16 22 .421 138 150     .462
11   MIL 49 20 29 .408 201 251     .400
12   FLA 20  8 12 .400  69  94     .362
13   STL 15  6  9 .400  62  66     .471
14   NYY 38 15 23 .395 179 198     .454
15   NYM 28 11 17 .393 121 150     .403
16   OAK 49 19 30 .388 243 258     .473
17   BAL 58 22 36 .379 310 332     .469
18   SDP 29 11 18 .379 120 154     .388
19   ATL 24  9 15 .375  96 132     .358
20   CLE 41 15 26 .366 189 190     .498
21   LAD 35 12 23 .343 128 160     .399
22   CIN 50 17 33 .340 221 287     .383
23   TOR 59 20 39 .339 233 310     .372
24   TBD 59 20 39 .339 246 344     .351
25   ARI 25  8 17 .320  97 136     .350
26   DET 42 13 29 .310 146 209     .342
27   SEA 49 15 34 .306 207 261     .396
28   COL 29  8 21 .276 126 185     .331
29   KCR 41 11 30 .268 169 220     .382
30   PIT 51 13 38 .255 192 318     .284

It's pretty hard to play .500-ball, or better, when facing a team with a winning percentage of .600+, huh? Well, at least, over the last five years, overall, many teams have not been able to do it.

What I find interesting here is that, from 2004 through 2008, teams like the Angels and Cubs have broken-even when they have played tough teams whereas other teams who have posted many wins over the last 5 years, like the Yankees and Mets, have not be able to win as much as they lose when facing stronger teams.

Aren't New Yorkers supposed to be tough? (I say this...joking...in case anyone thinks I'm dissing New York. As a native New Yorker, I don't mean to offend anyone from the area too.)

Jason Kendall hit a single in the second inning of tonight's Brewers-Cardinals game for his 2000 career hit.  Here are all the players with at least half of their games at catcher and at least 2000 career hits: (Totals through yesterday)

  Cnt Player              **H**  From  To   Ages   G    PA    AB    R   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+--------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
    1 Ivan Rodriguez      2637   1991 2009 19-37 2301  9387  8757 1268 530  50 300 1236  477  63 1314  56  27  70 293  124  61  .301  .339  .476  .815 *2/D34    TEX-FLA-DET-TOT-HOU
    2 Ted Simmons         2472   1968 1988 18-38 2456  9685  8680 1074 483  47 248 1389  855 188  694  39  11 100 287   21  33  .285  .348  .437  .785 *2D3/759  STL-MIL-ATL
    3 Carlton Fisk        2356   1969 1993 21-45 2499  9853  8756 1276 421  47 376 1330  849 105 1386 143  26  79 204  128  58  .269  .341  .457  .798 *2D/735   BOS-CHW
    4 Yogi Berra          2150   1946 1965 21-40 2120  8364  7555 1175 321  49 358 1430  704  49  414  52   9  44 146   30  26  .285  .348  .482  .830 *279/35   NYY-NYM
    5 Mike Piazza         2127   1992 2007 23-38 1912  7745  6911 1048 344   8 427 1335  759 146 1113  30   0  45 229   17  20  .308  .377  .545  .922 *2D/3     LAD-TOT-NYM-SDP-OAK
    6 Gary Carter         2092   1974 1992 20-38 2295  9019  7971 1025 371  31 324 1225  848 106  997  68  33  99 180   39  42  .262  .335  .439  .774 *29/375   MON-NYM-SFG-LAD-MON
    7 Johnny Bench        2048   1967 1983 19-35 2158  8669  7658 1091 381  24 389 1376  891 135 1278  19  11  90 201   68  43  .267  .342  .476  .818 *253/798  CIN
    8 Jason Kendall       1999   1996 2009 22-35 1867  7813  6847  957 360  34  73  677  650  46  596 236  25  55 157  170  81  .292  .370  .386  .756 *2/79D    PIT-OAK-TOT-MIL

Babe Ruth Home Run Log

Along with the minor league data, we licensed the SABR Home Run Encyclopedia which is quite frankly a stunning accomplishment in baseball history. I'm working on getting this together for everybody (and I do mean everybody back to 1876). If you want to brainstorm what you would like to be able to do with this in the comments, go ahead. First order of business, is to add a nice summary similar to what we have for the event finders. I'm make a full announcement in the next few days when it is live on the server.

Baseball Digest - 1950 - Google Book Search

File under nothing new under the sun. This article has it all. A reference to "male hormone lozenges", a reference to the need for a player's union, and a complaint that players today are just too soft.

In thinking about it a bit more. I don't know if this is an oblique reference to PED's or if it is a reference to the players needing more, umm, cojones.