Random Trivia

[Jason R. Maier]

Please ignore this post because the clock was messed up at the time I orignally posted this

[cubsfan1073]

Lets just place random intersting pieces of information here

[cubsfan1073]

babe ruth is the only player to get caught stealing to end the world series
christy mathewson is the only player to pitch 3 shutouts in one world series
rick monday was the first player taken in the first amateur baseball draft

[Bigrcube]

Did you know that son of HOF pitcher Ed Walsh, Ed Walsh Jr. ended Joe DiMaggio's 61-game hitting streak
in 1933 in the PCL (Pacific Coast League)
while the future Yankee Clipper was playing for the SF Seals.
Both Ed Walsh's pitched for the Chicago White Sox.

[Utter Chaos]

Intentional Walks to the last 3 all time single season home run leaders

2001 - Barry Bonds - 35 intentional walks
1998 - Mark McGwire - 28 intentional walks
1961 - Roger Maris - 0 intentional walks

I guess when you have some guy named Mantle hitting after you, you tend to get better pitches to hit.

[KCGHOST]

Chet Trail - The first player to join a team (1964 Yankees) prior to Sept 1., stay on their 25 man active roster all through the rest of the regular season and post-season and never enter a game.

[Trivia Guy]

The National League is undefeated in the ten extra-inning All-Star Games. The NL won in 1950 (14 innings), 1955 (12 innings), the first All-Star Game of the 1961 season (ten innings), 1966 (ten innings), 1967 (15 innings), 1970 (12 innings), 1972 (ten innings), 1987 (13 innings), and 1994 (ten innings). The 2002 All-Star Game was declared a 7-7 tie after 11 innings because each side ran out of pitchers. However, the NL has never scored more than nine runs in an All-Star Game. The double-digit mark has been reached six times in All-Star competition by the American League. They did it in 1946, 1949, 1954, 1983, 1992, and 1998.

[Bigrcube]

The only pitcher to strike out 4 batters in one inning in a World Series game
is Orval Overall of the 1908 Chicago Cubs, who shutdown Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers.

[Bigrcube]

The three members of the HOF to hit a HR in their first major league at-bat are:
Cleveland's Earl Averill in 1929
Yankees' Yogi Berra in 1946
Oriole's pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm in 1958.

[Bigrcube]

Volatile Detroit Tigers southpaw Earl Whitehill met his future bride, Violet Oliver, in 1924.
She is the California girl who appears on the Sun-Maid raisin box.
He won 22 games for the 1933 Washington Senators and he has the worst ERA of any pitcher with 200 or more wins.
A close second are:
David Wells (4.07)
Jaime Moyer (4.17)
Kenny Rogers (4.19)

[Utter Chaos]

The three members of the HOF to hit a HR in their first major league at-bat are:
Cleveland's Earl Averill in 1929
Yankees' Yogi Berra in 1946
Oriole's pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm in 1958.Yogi did not hit a HR in his frist at bat.

Averill and Wilhelm are the only members of the Baseball Hall of Fame to homer in their first at bat. Football Hall of Famer Ace Parker also accomplished the feat.

[cubsfan1073]

ty cobb hit 300 in 23 consecutive seasons

[cubsfan1073]

hugh duffy batted 440 in 1894
the highest ever
rogers hornsby hit 424, most in modern era

[Bigrcube]

Yogi did not hit a HR in his frist at bat.

Averill and Wilhelm are the only members of the Baseball Hall of Fame to homer in their first at bat. Football Hall of Famer Ace Parker also accomplished the feat.

You are right.....I stand (or sit) corrected. Sorry. Thanx for clearing that up.
I had bad intel on my "Stump The Band" trivia list. It has been fixed.

Ace Parker in April 1937 while playing with the Philadelphia Athletics of the AL.

[Dodgerfan1]

Babe Ruth kept a cabbage leaf under his hat to keep himself cool during games. He changed it every other inning.

In 1963, Sandy Koufax and Elston Howard won their respective league's MVP Awards. In the NFL, Jim Brown did the same. All three players wore #32.

Harmon Killebrew was used as the model for the MLB logo.

The average life span of a major league baseball is 7 pitches

[cubsfan1073]

ive heard that the life expectancy is even shorter-5 or 6 pitches
also back in the 20s and 30s two balls were used the entire game
one of the reason there were so few home runs is that by the 9th inning the ball was so beat up that it was nearly impossible 2 hit far

[cubsfan1073]

the last playe to win a batting title without hitting a single home run was rod carew in 1972

[cubsfan1073]

jason marquis batted 292 and 310 in 2004 and 2005, respectively

[Bigrcube]

Did you know, that in 1925, the Yankees offered to trade Lou Gehrig to the Boston Red Sox
to make up for the Babe Ruth trade blunder from several years before. They declined.

[Bigrcube]

During his last year of high school, the Yankees offered Ted Williams $200 to sign with them.
He declined because his mother wanted him to complete his studies.

[cubsfan1073]

el duque didnt pitch in the majors until he was 29

[cubsfan1073]

when bobby thomson hit his 'shot heard round the world', he knew what pitch was coming
he was tipped off by someone in centerfield with a telescope

[Jason R. Maier]

Wilbur Wood was the last person to start both ends of a doubleheader.

He did this July 20, 1973 against the Yankees and lost both games.

Game 1 he faced 6 batters and didn't retire a single one, giving up 4 hits, walking one and giving up a passed ball. He was charged with 6 runs (5 earned).

Game 2 he lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up 5 hits, 7 runs (5 earned) and walking one.

All info was found on http://www.retrosheet.org

[cubsfan1073]

nolan ryan got his number retired by three different teams
the astros, angels, and rangers

the only pitcher to win the mvp 2 years in a row is hal newhouser in 1944 and 45

[Gee Walker]

Before the 1990's a complete ball team could be made from the nine players who won consecutive MVP awards.

C - Yogi Berra
1B - Jimmie Foxx
2B - Joe Morgan
SS - Ernie Banks
3B - Mike Schmidt
LF - Dale Murphy (actually a CF)
CF- Mickey Mantle
RF - Roger Maris
P - Hal Newhouser

[AlecBoy006]

Moose Skowron- Polish American Sports HOF- 1980
Burt Hooton DOB: 2/7/50
Lou Bodreau- Last Player manager to win a World Series
Since the 21st Century, the World Series has been won on Sundays twice, Wendesdays twice, Saturday once, and Friday once.

[yanks08701]

dick estelle is the only player from my home town lakewood,nj, the NY Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers during WWII played spring training on the jersey shore

[Bigrcube]

Speaking of retired numbers, I believe that Lou Gehrig's # 4 was the first number
EVER retired by a professional sports franchise. You could look it up.

[Bigrcube]

when bobby thomson hit his 'shot heard round the world', he knew what pitch was coming
he was tipped off by someone in centerfield with a telescope

Speaking of Bobby Thomson, I heard the same story.
I think ESPN or HBO even did a piece on how the NY Giants cheated ALL season, with a spy up in the centerfield scoreboard.
This spy would signal the 3rd base coach who would quickly relay it to the batter. The Giants manager was Leo Durocher,
who at that time was always in the 3B coaches box. But almost all players
denied this happened (someone on the Giants admitted to it, not sure who).

But in any case, they still had to HIT the ball. But yes, it that is so, it sure did HELP.

Did you know, that when Bobby Thomson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round The World".....that rookie Willie Mays was in the on-deck circle?

[Bigrcube]

When the Mets' Jimmy Piersall hit his 100th career HR in June 1963 vs. the Phillies,
he celebrated by running around the bases backward.
The pitcher that he hit if off, who was none too amused by the show,
was future Phillies (1980 W.S.)/Yankees/Mets manager, Dallas Green?

[Bigrcube]

One of baseball's most colorful umpires, this former NL umpire wore a trademark polka-dot bow tie, that's in the HOF.
He acquired his nickname because he was raised in Boston.
He was famous for heavy language and heavy beer drinking.
In 1946, Anheuser-Busch awarded him a lucrative Budweiser franchise in Los Angeles,
that he eventually sold to Frank Sinatra for over half a million $$.
He gambled at the racetrack with his pal Al Jolson.

It's none other than John Edward "Beans" Reardon.

Another of Reardon's friends was actress Mae West, and he appeared in many of her movies.
Reardon worked many important and historic games.
He was behind the plate when Babe Ruth hit his 714th and final home run.

[Bigrcube]

This catcher appeared on card # 1 in 1933 on the first baseball bubble-gum card set ever issued.
His last year was in 1932 for the St. Louis Browns.
He played for the Yankees from 1923-1930.
It's Benny Bengough.

[Bigrcube]

This pitcher lost 6 out of every 10 games with the Boston Red Sox.
He went on to a HOF career and four consecutive 20 win seasons with the
NY Yankees, winning 231 games for them in 14+ seasons.
He was missing 4 toes on his left foot from a coal mine accident.
It's Charles Herbert "Red" Ruffing.

[Utter Chaos]

Darryl Strawberry is the only player that has appeared in the World Series for the Mets and the Yankees.

[Gee Walker]

On June 24, 1962, the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 9-7 in a 22-inning game. At that point in time it was the longest game, measured in innings, that resulted in a victory (the 26-inning game in 1920 ended in a tie).

The Yankees won the game on a home run by Jack Reed. It was the only home run that he hit in his major league career.

[AlecBoy006]

Uttter Chaos- ONLY? What about Dwight Gooden?

Anyway- if Leo Durocher was alive today, he'd be 101.

[Jason R. Maier]

Uttter Chaos- ONLY? What about Dwight Gooden?

Anyway- if Leo Durocher was alive today, he'd be 101.

And if he were alive, would he still be known as the lip? And what would he say about the game today?

Steve Carlton, last pitcher to pitch 300 innings in a season (304 in 1980)

[Utter Chaos]

Uttter Chaos- ONLY? What about Dwight Gooden?
Dwight Gooden never played for the Yankees in the World Series.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/goodedw01.shtml

Strawberry is the only one!

[Dodgerfan1]

The Chicago Cubs' Augie Galan set a record in 1935 when he batted 646 times without hitting into a double play. However, he did hit into one triple play.

On May 30, 1922, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs played a doubleheader. In the first game Max Flack played in the outfield for the Cubs, and Cliff Heathcote was in the Cardinal outfield. Between games they were traded for each other, so in the second game Heathcote played in the Cub outfield while Flack did the same for the Cardinals.

[AlecBoy006]

Ok, I stand corrected, BUT- he was still on the 96 team.

[AlecBoy006]

2004- Beltran to Astros

The Royals get John Buck from Houston, and Mike Wood from Oakland.

[Jason R. Maier]

Stadium that has seen the most no hitters thrown in it

[cubsfan1073]

roger maris hit only one home run in april 1961, but went on to hit 50 before september 1
maris also didnt steal any bases that season

[AlecBoy006]

Maris went his first 11 games in 1961 WITHOUT a homer.

Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell share the exact same debut date: September 9th, 1977.

[cubsfan1073]

jeff bagwell and frank thomas, the 1993 (i think) mvp winners were born on the exact same day

[AlecBoy006]

It was 1994 ;)

[AlecBoy006]

1973 Game 1 NLCS, Johnny Bench hits a homer off Tom Seaver.

[CanadianKid]

Rob Butler (East York, Toronto, Ontario) is the only Canadian player to win a World Series while playing for a Canadian Team (1993 Toronto Blue Jays).

[Dodgerfan1]

On July 27, 1930, Cincinnati's Ken Ash came into a game as a reliever, threw just one pitch and got a victory. Cubs first baseman Charlie Grimm hit the pitch into a triple play and Ash was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning as the Reds rallied for the winning run in a 6-5 win, making Ash the pitcher of record.

In 1903, Brooklyn acquired a 30-year old rookie pitcher named Henry Schmidt. Schmidt finished the season with a 22-13 record for the fifth place Dodgers. After the season, he announced that he wanted to go back to the Pacific Coast League to play ball, which he did in 1904. Schmidt never again pitched in the majors.

Lifetime pinch-hitting averages for some baseball immortals: Ty Cobb .217, Pete Rose .250, Babe Ruth .194, Ted Williams .297, Jackie Robinson .175.

[cubsfan1073]

joe morgan was the first player to steal 500 bases and hit 200 homeruns
ron leflore is the only player to win the stolen base title in both leagues

[AlecBoy006]

Willie Hernandez, Roger Clemens, and Dennis Eckersley are the last 3 AL MVP winners as pitchers.

[Trivia Guy]

When the Mets' Jimmy Piersall hit his 100th career HR in June 1963 vs. the Phillies,
he celebrated by running around the bases backward.
The pitcher that he hit if off, who was none too amused by the show,
was future Phillies (1980 W.S.)/Yankees/Mets manager, Dallas Green?

And Dallas Green is the only pitcher to serve up a grand slam to Pete Rose.

[Bigrcube]

Speaking of grand slams. Jim Palmer is the only pitcher in the HOF,
to have never surrendered a grand slam HR to any batter.
You can look it up.

[Utter Chaos]

Speaking of grand slams. Jim Palmer is the only pitcher in the HOF,
to have never surrendered a grand slam HR to any batter.
You can look it up.An interesting side note is he went to Rochester in 1967 to rehab his back and on July 1st he did give up a grand slam at Niagra Falls. The guy who hit it was Johnny Bench.

[Old Sweater]

The only pitcher to strike out 4 batters in one inning in a World Series game
is Orval Overall of the 1908 Chicago Cubs, who shutdown Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers.

What is the record of strikeouts in 1 inning for MLB?

[cubsfan1073]

What is the record of strikeouts in 1 inning for MLB?
the major league record is 4 which is happend many times, but in the minors a pitcher i believe his name was kelly wursch or something like that, struck out 5 in one inning
says something bout the catcher doesn't it?

[Old Sweater]

struck out 5 in one inning
says something bout the catcher doesn't it?


LOL, Yeah, with Piazza behind the plate all these years you would think that some of his pitchers would break the record of 4.

[yanks08701]

his name is kelly wunsch

[Old Sweater]

Jim and Gaylord Perry are the only brothers to win the Cy Young award.

[cubsfan1073]

his name is kelly wunsch
ahh thats it

[Jason R. Maier]

Bob and Ken Forsch are the only brothers to throw no hitters

[cubsfan1073]

johnny vander meer is the only pitcher to throw 2 consecutive no hitters

[Jason R. Maier]

Earl Wilson and Rick Wise are the only pitchers to have hit home runs in the same game in which they pitched a no hitter (Wise went deep twice).

[Dodgerfan1]

Joe DiMaggio is the only person to play on four World Championship teams in his first four years in the big leagues, the 1936-39 Yankees.

Mickey Lolich, who pitched for 16 years, hit his only home run in his first World Series game (1968).

Johnny Cooney had 3,372 at bats in the major leagues and only had 2 homers. Both came in 1939 on successive days (Sept 24 and 25).

[Bigrcube]

Did you know, that the NY Giants demoted this future HOFer to their Toledo
farm club, left him unprotected in the minor-league draft due to a clerical error,
and then he was selected by another team that he eventually led to a NL pennant?
It was the Chicago Cubs; 50+ HR hitter and 191 RBI (1930);
Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson.

[Old Sweater]

Tony Gwynn is the only player to steal 5 bases in one game.

[Utter Chaos]

Tony Gwynn is the only player to steal 5 bases in one game.Lots of people have stolen 5 bases in a game. The post-1900 record for stolen bases in a game is six, held by Eddie Collins (twice), Otis Nixon, and Eric Young. George Gore (1881) and Billy Hamilton (1894) each stole seven bases in a game.

[Dodgerfan1]

In a Texas League game in 1902, Nig Clarke went 8 for 8 with eight home runs.

In 1903, the Cleveland Naps had a shortstop named John Gochnauer. Dude committed 98 errors that season! 98!! He must have been one hell of a hitter for manager Bill Armour to have tolerated that kind of reprehensible fielding, right? How does .185 grab you?

On May 13, 1911, the New York Giants scored 10 runs in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals before the Cards recorded the first out!

In 1936, Dizzy Dean became the last pitcher to lead his league in both wins (28) and saves (11).

Frankie Crosetti, who hit just .245 lifetime, led the AL in hit-by-pitches five consecutive years (1936-1940).

[Jason R. Maier]

John Hiller and Bill Campbell share the AL record for most relief victories in a season (17)

edit: this in all likely hood will NEVER be matched or broken, if so . . .

[cubsfan1073]

jesse orosco has pitched in the most games ever
mike stanton is the active leader in most games

[Utter Chaos]

jesse orosco has pitched in the most games ever
mike stanton is the active leader in most gamesUntil last season Stanton also had the highest batting average of all players that appeared in over 1000 games. His 0-2 last year dropped him down to .364 so he's now second behind Cobb.

[Old Sweater]

Lots of people have stolen 5 bases in a game. The post-1900 record for stolen bases in a game is six, held by Eddie Collins (twice), Otis Nixon, and Eric Young. George Gore (1881) and Billy Hamilton (1894) each stole seven bases in a game.

Yeah, I got it from this trivia quiz that states.................


Baseball Statistics & Trivia

Some interesting facts about America's pastime



Running

Q1: Who is the only player to steal five bases in one game? He wasn't known primarily as a base stealer, but he did steal 56 bases one year.
This is the modern era record. Around the beginning of the 20th century a couple of players stole seven in a game.

-------------------------

Don't even know if it still holds water for being a modern era record.

[cubsfan1073]

willie mays's catch in the 54 world series was off vic wertz and went 451 feet

[Dodgerfan1]

Davey Lopes started the 1981 All-Star Game at second base. He had the lowest batting average ever for an AS starter (position player) going into the game. He was hitting a robust .169 at the time, but was voted in by the fans due to name recognition and past achievement. Another reason why fans voting for All-Stars may not be the best idea. There was also the AS Game farce foisted upon baseball fans when eight out of the nine NL AS starters were Cincinnati Reds due to shameless ballot-box stuffing by their partisan fans.

Don Drysdale is the only pitcher to have started two AS Games in the same season (1959)

Joe DiMaggio was the first rookie to play in an AS Game in 1936. He went 0-5 and made an error. Oops!!

In 1934, Billy Herman appeared twice in the same AS Game. In the 3rd inning, he popped out as a pinch hitter for Carl Hubbell, then was inserted into the NL lineup in the 7th inning when AL manager Joe Cronin OK'd NL manager Bill Terry's request to allow Herman to replace Frankie Frisch, who had just sustained a charlie horse on the previous play. (I assume there was no other infielder who could have played 2nd base besides Herman, or seeing as how it was only the second AS Game ever played, maybe the rules weren't that stringent yet)

Stan Musial was the only non-Red selected by fans to start the 1957 AS Game (see above - 'Cincinnati fans, ballot-box stuffing, shameless')

In the 1942 AS Game, Mickey Owen hit a pinch hit homer. Owen had no homers at all during the regular season. (Not sure of whom he hit it off. That might be fun to know....)

[Jason R. Maier]

Speaking of all star games . . .

Lefty Gomez is the pitcher that has won the most all star games (3)

[cubsfan1073]

i forget what year or who it was
but during the AS game in sanfransciso during the 40s a pitcher got blown off the mound during his motion and got called for a balk
does anyone know when and who this was?

[Chicoutimi CP]

Only one MLB player reached ALL of these milestones in his career :

* .300 lifetime batting average
* .400 lifetime on base average
* 3000 hits
* 1000 runs
* 1000 RBIs
* 300 HRs

Who is he?

Stan Musial ...

[Chicoutimi CP]

Pete Rose had the most 200-hit seasons with 10, but the longest streak belongs to Willie Keeler with 8 consecutive seasons (1894-1901).

Longest active streak : Ichiro Suzuki, 6 (2001-2006).

[McNick]

i forget what year or who it was
but during the AS game in sanfransciso during the 40s a pitcher got blown off the mound during his motion and got called for a balk
does anyone know when and who this was?

It was Stu Miller in 1961.

[Dodgerfan1]

Only one MLB player reached ALL of these milestones in his career :

* .300 lifetime batting average
* .400 lifetime on base average
* 3000 hits
* 1000 runs
* 1000 RBIs
* 300 HRs

Who is he?

Stan Musial ...

With 159 more hits and just .001 tacked onto his BA, Barroid Bonds will become the second. Here's one vote for hoping his BA continues to drop.

[Jason R. Maier]

The only pitchers that have won multiple MVP Awards are Carl Hubbel (1933 and 1936) and Hal Newhouser (1944-1945)

[Gee Walker]

Bobo Holloman threw a no-hitter in his first major league start, on May 6, 1953. He shut out the A's 6-0. He would win only two more games in his career.

[tearforamariner]

The only pitchers that have won multiple MVP Awards are Carl Hubbel (1933 and 1936) and Hal Newhouser (1944-1945)

And Walter Johnson (1913 and 1924).

[Chicoutimi CP]

Longest streaks of seasons with 30 or more HRs :
1. Barry Bonds 13 (1992-2004, 561 HRs in 7941 PAs)
2. Jimmy Foxx 12 (1929-1940, 484 HRs in 7808 PAs)
3. Sammy Sosa 10 (1995-2004, 479 HRs in 6508 PAs) and Carlos Delgado 10 (1997-2006, 370 HRs in 6429 PAs)

Longest active streaks of seasons with 30 or more HRs :
1. Carlos Delgado 10 (1997-2006, 370 HRs in 6429 PAs)
2. Alex Rodriguez 9 (1998-2006, 400 HRs in 6251 PAs) and Manny Ramirez 9 (1998-2006, 361 HRs in 5523 PAs)
3. Albert Pujols 6 (2001-2006, 250 HRs in 4062 PAs)

[Jason R. Maier]

And Walter Johnson (1913 and 1924).

Oh I didn't know that, I was going by the BBWAA MVP awards.

[Gee Walker]

In Don Larsen's perfect game in the World Series of 1956, the final out was recorded on a called strike three by umpire Babe Pinelli to pinch hitter Dale Mitchell.

It was both Mitchell's and Pinelli's final appearance in major league baseball.

[cubsfan1073]

ichiro got intentionally walked 16 times last year!
its crazy how he got intentionally walked the same amount as travis hafner and was IBB more than justin morneau by 7
i dont no y u would walk him since all he does for the most part is hit singles and is a huge threat on the bases

[cubsfan1073]

ichiro also stole 45 bases last year and was caught stealing just twice
he also grounded into only two double plays

[Chicoutimi CP]

There was no 20 game-winning pitcher in the MLB in 2006. In the National League, the last time it happened in a non-strike year was in 1987 (Rick Sutcliffe, CHC, then led with 18 wins) while in the American League, we have to go back to 1982 to see such a fact (LaMarr Hoyt, CWS, had 19 wins).

[Jason R. Maier]

Jim Tobin is the only pitcher to have hit 3 home runs in one game (did it for the Braves in 1942).

The last AL pitcher to hit 2 HR's in one game was Sonny Seibert in 1971

[cubsfan1073]

greg maddux led all pitchers in SB with 2
sidney ponso and jeff suppan are the only pitchers to have been CS this year

[Old Sweater]

greg maddux led all pitchers in SB with 2

Got to see the one that he stole on the pitcher without a pitch to the plate. Talk about a pitcher napping.

[Dodgerfan1]

From August 31, 1931 to August 2, 1933, the New York Yankees were never shut out. An incredible 308 consecutive games!!

Only three hitters have ever hit home runs into the center field bleachers at the Polo Grounds. Joe Adcock, Hank Aaron and Lou Brock.

Ken MacKenzie was the only pitcher for the 1962 Mets to have a winning record. He was 5-4.

The record for relief losses in a single season belongs to Gene Garber who went 6-16 for the 1979 Braves.

Ridiculous as it sounds, Carroll Hardy pinch hit for both Ted Williams and Roger Maris.

If every day was Sunday, Charlie Maxwell would most likely be enshrined in Cooperstown. Maxwell hit 40 of his 148 career home runs on Sunday. In 1959, his Sunday production was 12 for 31. That same year - 1959, he hit four homers in a Sunday doubleheader against the Yankees and three more in a 1962 Sunday doubleheader, also against the Yanks.

[Jason R. Maier]

The only players to win the MVP award for a team with a losing record were Ernie Banks (58-59 for the Cubs), Andre Dawson (87 for the Cubs), and Cal Ripken Jr. (91 for the Orioles). Also, Robin Yount won the MVP in 89 when the Brewers had an 81-81 record.

[cubsfan1073]

The only players to win the MVP award for a team with a losing record were Ernie Banks (58-59 for the Cubs), Andre Dawson (87 for the Cubs), and Cal Ripken Jr. (91 for the Orioles). Also, Robin Yount won the MVP in 89 when the Brewers had an 81-81 record.
when ripken won it in 1991, the orioles were terrible
they had a 67-95 record and were 24 GB first place

[Jason R. Maier]

The pitcher that won the Cy Young with the most losses was Gaylord Perry for the Indians in 1972 (24-16).

The pitcher with the fewest wins to win the Cy Young was Bruce Sutter in 1979 (6-6 with 37 saves)

[RuthMayBond]

Jim Tobin is the only pitcher to have hit 3 home runs in one game (did it for the Braves in 1942).I thought Guy Hecker did it

[RuthMayBond]

Jim and Gaylord Perry are the only brothers to win the Cy Young award.And they had identical 215-174 lifetime records from Sep. 21-27, 1975

[KingSwisher]

The pitcher with the fewest wins to win the Cy Young was Bruce Sutter in 1979 (6-6 with 37 saves)

Steve Bedrosian won the Cy Young Awrd in 1987. He had a 5-3 record.
Eric Gagne won the Cy Young Award in 2003. He had a 2-3 record.

[cubsfan1073]

grady sizemore saw the most pitches during the 2006 season with 3018
kevin youkilis sees the most pitches per at bat-that I know of-with 4.4 per at bat
if im wrong please dont totally insult me like kingswisher does
but, i think he saw the most

[Elvis]

MLB's first color video board was unveiled at the 1980 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.

[cubsfan1073]

adam dunn has led the major leagues in strikeouts the past three seasons
he had 194 this past year
168 in 2005
and 195 in 2004

[Jason R. Maier]

Roy Face went 18-1 in 1959. Not sure if this is the best winning percentage ever of a reliever with at least ten decisions, but it might be.

Actually it's the best winning percentage EVER in a single season (reliever or starter).

Jim Palmer holds the dubious record of giving up 3 home runs in a single all star game (in 1977 to Joe Morgan, Greg Luzinski and Steve Garvey)

[Dodgerfan1]

In 1963, Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, he hit the first home run of his career.

The Official Rules of Major League Baseball says in 1.04a that 'any playing field constructed by a professional club after June 1,1958, shall provide a minimum distance of 325 from home base to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right and left field foul lines...' The left field fence in Houston's Enron (Astros) Field is only 315 feet from home plate and the right field fence at AT&T Park in San Francisco is only 309 feet from home. Did these teams get some sort of dispensation?

The last remaining Brooklyn Dodger active in the major leagues was Bob Aspromonte who retired after the 1971 season.

Since the inception of the Cy Young Award, Juan Marichal won the most games in one season without winning it. 26 wins in 1968. (Bob Gibson).

[cubsfan1073]

mariano rivera is the last remaining player wearing number 42

[cubsfan1073]

let me get everyone back on topic....
julio franco is the active leader in career grounded into double plays
in 2003 albert pujols led the national league in total bases while vernon wells led the american league

[Erik Bedard]

Only once since 1966, the first year two Cy Young awards were given, only once have the NL MVP and Cy Young winner's team met the AL MVP and Cy Young winner in the World Series. It happened in 1968, when Bob Gibson and Denny McLain, both MVPs and Cy Young winners, met in the WS as members of the Cardinals and Tigers.

[Dodgerfan1]

The only player with 150 wins as a pitcher and 2000 hits as a batter is not Babe Ruth. It's John Montgomery ward.

In 1941, the year Ted Williams became the last hitter to post a .400 BA in a season, fly outs that drove runners home were counted as ABs. You could look it up. The sac fly was introduced in 1908, with no AB being counted. It reverted back to an official AB in 1931, counting as an out. It switched back and forth in 1939 (no AB) and 1940 (yes AB), and was brought back in 1954 as not counting as an AB, which is where it stands to date. Therefore, in 1941, all sac flies Williams hit were counted as outs. Pretty amazing.

In 1998, Bernie Williams became the first player to win a batting title, a World Series and a Gold Glove in the same season. What a year!

Reggie Jackson is the only player in history to win a HR title with three different teams (Oakland 1973 & 1975, NYY 1980 and California 1982).

[Old Sweater]

No pitcher has ever thrown two MLB perfect games, but catcher Ron Hassey caught two: Barker's and Martínez's. Shortstop Alfredo Griffin played for the losing team in the perfect games of Barker, Browning, and Martínez. Right fielder Paul O'Neill played for the winning team in the perfect games of Browning, Wells, and Cone. Don Zimmer was in uniform for all three of the Yankees' perfect games, albeit on the losing side in the first.

[RuthMayBond]

No pitcher has ever thrown two MLB perfect games, but catcher Ron Hassey caught two: Barker's and Martínez's. Shortstop Alfredo Griffin played for the losing team in the perfect games of Barker, Browning, and Martínez. Right fielder Paul O'Neill played for the winning team in the perfect games of Browning, Wells, and Cone. Don Zimmer was in uniform for all three of the Yankees' perfect games, albeit on the losing side in the first.Most of my perfect game trivia involves minor league or Japanese League, but I got a couple. Jim Gilliam is supposedly the only MLer to play in a perfect regular season game and a perfect postseason game.
The Dick Schofields are the only father-son combo to play in perfect games (different ones, obviously ;)

[Dodgerfan1]

Hideo Nomo was one of only two pitchers since 1900 to throw the first no-hitter at two different major league parks (Coors Field and Camden Yards). The other was Cy Young (Boston's Huntington Grounds and NY's Hilltop Park.) Amazingly, Nomo didn't throw a single shutout between his no-hitters, which were five years apart.

Nolan Ryan holds the dubious record of allowing 10 grand slam homers in a career. He allowed two of them in the final month of his final season to surpass Jerry Reuss, Milt Pappas and Ned Garver for the top spot. Since that time, Lee Smith and Frank Viola have tied Reuss, Garver and Pappas with nine.

The 1980 World Series was the first to be played entirely on artificial turf, followed by the 1985 Series, 1987 and 1993.

The longest post-season hitting slump in major league history belongs to Seattle's Dan Wilson. He was 0-42 in the post season before finally getting a hit. He shattered the mark of Marv Owen who, during the '34-'35 Series' was a collective 0-31.

[Bigrcube]

The first rookie in major league history to get 2 hits in one inning is Billy Martin.
On opening day at Fenway Park (April 18, 1950), the Yankees rallied from a
9-0 deficit beginning in the 7th inning, scoring 4 runs, then 9 more in the 8th and
2 in the 9th to beat Joe McCarthy's Red Sox, 15-10.
Each team had 15 hits, but only 1 HR, by Boston first baseman Billy Goodman.
Billy Martin became 1st rookie to get 2 hits in one inning (8th).

[Bigrcube]

The oldest man to debut as manager of a major league team,
@ 66 years, 2 months and 18 days, was Tom Sheehan of the NY Giants,
after they fired Bill Rigney on June 18, 1960.

[Bigrcube]

The 3 NL players all put out in the same triple play who gained entrance to the HOF
and the 3 AL players who hold that distinction are:
NL--1929: Cubs’ Kiki Cuyler, Hack Wilson and Rogers Hornsby.
AL--1931: Yankees’ Babe Ruth, Joe Sewell and Earle Combs.

[Dodgerfan1]

In Ed Walsh's final start of the 1908 season, he needed to win in order to tie Jack Chesbro's record of 41 victories in a season, set in 1904. Walsh faced Cleveland and held the Indians to four hits while striking out 15. Too bad for Big Ed that Addie Joss picked that day to throw the fourth perfect game (at the time) in major league history, beating Walsh and the White Sox 1-0. No one has ever seriously challenged 40 wins since.

In 1942, Paul Waner eked out an infield single, thus becoming a member of the elite 3,000 hit club. He then signaled to the press box to score the play an error, preferring the milestone hit be remembered as a clean one rather than a cheap scratch hit. Guess he didn't care much about screwing over the infielder who would have been given the error! The scorekeeper stood by his decision though, and Waner was 'forced to accept' his 3,000th hit!

In 1960, the Indians and the Tigers pulled off a trade for the ages. No, not Colavito for Kuenn, although that trade did occur in 1960, as well. Nope, it was Joe Gordon for Jimmie Dykes. The only time in major league history that two MANAGERS were swapped for each other!!

Dave Stewart once had a string of eight straight victories over Roger Clemens.

[Jason R. Maier]

Bob Stanley holds the AL record for most relief innings in one season (168 1/3 in 1982)

Walter Johnson holds the record for most consective seasons of at least 20 wins (10 in a row from 1910-1919).

[RuthMayBond]

I could just start going through my computer files, and give stuff like
Tim Keefe had victories in forty-seven different major league parks.
I could keep these up for months and it might bore you guys :ughh

[cubsfan1073]

I could just start going through my computer files, and give stuff like
Tim Keefe had victories in forty-seven different major league parks.
I could keep these up for months and it might bore you guys :ughh
what do you mean your computer files?
heres one
jeff bagwell, rarely noted for his speed, stole 30 bases or more twice in his career and finished with 202 career steals, not bad for a power hitting first baseman

[RuthMayBond]

what do you mean your computer files?I started storing a lot of baseball facts in files on my computer. I could continue with things like
Negro Leaguer Webster McDonald was 14-4 vs. major league teams & beat Dizzy Dean four times.

[RuthMayBond]

Does this thread bore you, RMB?Not at all. I was wondering if my stuff bored you. Like
Dickey Pearce supposedly invented the bunt in 1866

[Dodgerfan1]

Not at all. I was wondering if my stuff bored you. Like
Dickey Pearce supposedly invented the bunt in 1866

No, I've found most of these bits of trivia to be quite interesting, including yours. I rely on several different resources for the trivia I post, not just the net. I try to come up with ones that we haven't all heard a dozen times. I'm fascinated by baseball trivia, as you can probably tell by the plethora of contributions I've made to this thread. I can't help myself.

Quick: name the THREE pitchers in the HOF who have losing major league W/L records. That's RIGHT! They were Rollie Fingers (114-118), Satchel Paige (28-31 - a bit of a trick question, that, but it remains a fact...) and our own contributor, Candy Cummings (21-22 - guess his vaunted newfangled curveball worked less than half the time!

[RuthMayBond]

No, I've found most of these bits of trivia to be quite interesting, including yours. I rely on several different resources for the trivia I post, not just the net. I try to come up with ones that we haven't all heard a dozen times. I'm fascinated by baseball trivia, as you can probably tell by the plethora of contributions I've made to this thread. I can't help myself.
Then you don't mind that
in 1973 George Steinbrenner bought the Yanks for $10 million (which now is about two and a half months of ARod)?

[Bigrcube]

.....in 1973 George Steinbrenner bought the Yanks for $10 million.....

I always thought The BOSS paid $12 million to CBS for the Yankees.
But I looked it up on the internet (it wouldn't lie, right?!), and sure enough it was $10 mil.
And back in 1964 CBS paid $14 million. Go figger, eh?!
Not a very good investment for them back then, eh?!
Wonder if that was in Canadian $dollars$ ?? Or maybe Paley-Buck$.....

[Old Sweater]

And back in 1964 CBS paid $14 million.

Hated that when it happened, never got to see the Yankees on the NBC Game of the Week anymore.

[Utter Chaos]

Hated that when it happened, never got to see the Yankees on the NBC Game of the Week anymore.The way the Yankees played from 1965 to 1973 that's probably a good thing.

[Jason R. Maier]

Mike Marshall holds the AL and NL records for most appearances in a season.

NL - 106 for the Dodgers in 1974
AL - 90 for the Twins in 1979

[RuthMayBond]

The Dodgers were the first team to buy their own plane

[Utter Chaos]

Wedsel Groom (better known as Buddy) has appeared in the most career games (786) without ever having a plate appearance

[Dodgerfan1]

Ty Cobb was 15-46 (.326) against Babe Ruth. All 15 hits were singles.

The Cardinals, under Branch Rickey's watch, is the team credited with starting the current minor league system of developing players, but in 1964, it was the Cards who boasted only 2 regular starters from their own organization (Ken Boyer and our beloved Tim McCarver). In the '60s, that was practically unheard of. They did something right though. They were the world champions, after all!

[yanks08701]

Virgil Trucks was 5-19 in 1952 and of those 5 wins 2 were no-hitters!:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Dodgerfan1]

Fernando Valenzuela's eight shutouts in 1981 tied the major league mark for rookies. It's all the more amazing when coupled with the fact that the players strike that year shortened the season by almost 40%. The Dodgers played just 110 games that year. Can you name the person whose record of eight shutouts as a rookie he tied? Probably not, unless you either already knew it or made a very lucky guess. It was the White Sox's Reb Russell in 1913. Russell is another forgotten player whose short career took some interesting twists and turns. After setting his rookie shutout mark in 1913, and winning 22 games, he went 18-11 in 1916 and 15-5 the following season. In 1919, he pitched to two batters and was released. The reason? Dead arm. He resurfaced in 1922 as an outfielder and hit 21 homers over the next two years with a respectable SA of .568.

Baltimore's Jack Fisher allowed both Roger Maris' 60th homer in 1961, to tie the Babe, and Ted Williams' home run in his final major league AB.

On June 18, 2000, Colorado's Mike Lansing hit for the cycle quicker than anyone in big league history. In a game against the D'Backs, Lansing tripled in the first inning, homered in the second, doubled in the third and singled in the fourth. I have no idea what he did after that! Mel Ott was the youngest ever to hit for the cycle. He was 20 years old.

In 1981, a college playoff game was played between Yale and St. Johns. Both starting pitchers were very impressive, shutting out their opponents through 11 frames with the Yale man pitching a no-hitter. In the 12th inning though, he lost his no-hitter, as well as the game to St. Johns 1-0. The Yale pitcher was Ron Darling and the St. Johns pitcher was Frank Viola. Apparently, there were more major league scouts at this game than any other previous amateur game, as both Darling and Viola had been highly touted.

[cjedmonton]

Great thread! Here are 250 southpaw snippets that you may or may not have known. Enjoy.

As a Matter of Fact (http://www.geocities.com/cjraleigh/trivialist)

[Dodgerfan1]

Great thread! Here are 250 southpaw snippets that you may or may not have known. Enjoy.

As a Matter of Fact (http://www.geocities.com/cjraleigh/trivialist)

Excellent stuff! Fact #1 is very telling, as it shows how important baseball people think lefties are. I never bought into the absolute necessity of having a lefty on a starting staff. I understand the concept of mixing a southpaw in once in a while for the sake of coming at the hitter with a different look, but a good pitcher is a good pitcher, whether he is a righty or a lefty. I'm sure there have been a few successful teams who didn't have a lefty.

It has been said before that if a father wants his son to have a good chance of sticking with a major league ballclub, teach him to pitch left-handed. A score of bad pitchers have had longer major league careers than they otherwise would have as a direct result of them being left-handed, and no other reason. I believe had Terry Mulholland, for instance, been right-handed, he wouldn't have lasted nearly as long as he did. The entire second half of his career he was way below average, IMO. Used mostly to mop up or to get out a left-handed hitter. he wasn't very good at either.

[cubsfan1073]

This is pretty random, but I have seen this a lot, what does IMO mean?

Mike Piazza was drafted in the 62nd round and was the 1390th pick in the draft. The Dodgers manager, Tommy LaSorda, was the godfather of one of piazza's brothers, and it is believed that he was drafted because of that.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Only 4 players have already hit 30 home runs and 30 GIDPs in a single season. Three of those did it in 1983 : Jim Rice (39 HRs + 31 GIDPs), Dave Winfield (32 HRs + 30 GIDPs), and Tony Armas (36 HRs + 31 GIDPS). Last time such a fact happened was in 1999 by Ivan Rodriguez (35 HRs + 32 GIDPs).

[cjedmonton]

Great site, I read those bits of information for 20 minutes


Thanks for stopping by! I am a huge southpaw buff, so I obviously had a great deal of fun compiling that list. Some are a bit obscure, but through the 2006 season, they still hold.

If you'd care to learn more about lefty pitchers, I invite you to visit the main page to my tribute site.

Southpaw Legacy (http://www.geocities.com/cjraleigh)

[AlecBoy006]

Tony Gwynn's 3000th hit came against the Expos.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Getting 200 hits and drawing 100 walks in the same season has been done only 26 times in MLB history.

Lou Gehrig is the best at it, reaching both milestones seven times followed by Wade Boggs (4) and Babe Ruth (3).

More recently, Todd Helton was the last player to do so, in 2000 and 2003, while the first one was Billy Hamilton in 1894.

The batter with the highest OBA to get 200 hits and draw 100 walks was Babe Ruth in 1923 with .545.

But that great season by the Babe ranks 5th among highest OBA for batters with at least 500 plate appearances. Barry Bonds was the best ever with .609 in 2004.

[Dodgerfan1]

In 1906, Ty Cobb spent 44 days in a sanitarium. Tigers manager Frank Navin told the press that Cobb was suffering from stomach trouble, but doctors of the day said they thought it was a combination of his father's accidental shooting death in 1905 and the merciless hazing and abuse he endured from his teammates, most of whom resented him for the wealthy background he came from. It is believed by many that this abuse helped to trigger his nasty behavior in later years.

Stan Musial asked for, and received, a substantial pay cut in 1960, claiming he was overpaid. This was following the first sub-.310 season of his career (he hit only .255 in '59). He went from earning $100,000 to $80,000. He had become the NL's first $100,000/season player in 1958. There were at least two more recent players who also asked for salary cuts due to poor play, and also to free up some money for free agents, however the Players Union would not allow them to accept a pay cut.

The only two AL teams to have players finishing first, second and third in the MVP voting are the 1959 White Sox (Fox, Aparicio, Wynn) and the 1966 Orioles (Frank, Brooks and Boog). Oddly, the Twins finished that same '66 campaign boasting the next three vote-getters for 4th, 5th and 6th place (Killebrew, Kaat, Oliva). The only NL team to finish 1-2-3 was the 1941 Dodgers (Camilli, Reiser and Wyatt).

[cubsfan1073]

Only 4 players have already hit 30 home runs and 30 GIDPs in a single season. Three of those did it in 1983 : Jim Rice (39 HRs + 31 GIDPs), Dave Winfield (32 HRs + 30 GIDPs), and Tony Armas (36 HRs + 31 GIDPS). Last time such a fact happened was in 1999 by Ivan Rodriguez (35 HRs + 32 GIDPs).
miguel tejada led the majors with 28 GIDP in 2006, he also had 24 HRs

[Chicoutimi CP]

* Only 2 batters had 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season : Wildfire Schulte, CHC, in 1911 (30 doubles, 21 triples, 21 home runs, 23 stolen bases) and Willie Mays, NYG, in 1957 (26 doubles, 20 triples, 35 home runs, 38 stolen bases).

* Jim Thome has the most seasons with 100 walks and 100 strike outs : 9.

* Nolan Ryan has the most seasons with at least 200 strike outs : 15 ... But Tom Seaver has the longest streak, with 9 consecutive seasons with 200 strike outs or more (1968-76).

* Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan both have the most seasons with at least 300 strike outs : 6.... But Johnson has the longest streak, with 5 consecutive seasons with 300 strike outs or more (1998-2002).

[Dodgerfan1]

I have received two private messages (you know who you are) asking me to name the two players mentioned in one of my recent contributions. I paste it below:

"There were at least two more recent players who also asked for salary cuts due to poor play, and also to free up some money for free agents, however the Players Union would not allow them to accept a pay cut."

The truth is, I didn't name the players because I'm not sure who they are. I do know that I either heard it on a radio show or read it in the sports news, but I want to say that one of the players was Dale Murphy when he played for the Phillies. I know there was another too, and it eludes me, so if this constitutes an example of sloppy trivia, I apologize. Perhaps someone here could pick me up by dropping a name or two? It would be appreciated. Little help?

There is another example of self-salary slashing I can think of, and it happened in 1950 when Bob Feller voluntarily took a $20,000 pay cut from $65,000 to $45,000 after what he considered a poor 1949 performance. Judging from some of the postings we have seen regarding Feller's recent old-age bitterness (some have even mentioned greed), perhaps this is his way of making up for the lost salary that he, himself, was responsible for...? :rolleyes:

[Trivia Guy]

In the 1942 AS Game, Mickey Owen hit a pinch hit homer. Owen had no homers at all during the regular season. (Not sure of whom he hit it off. That might be fun to know....)

I was a little behind on this thread and just now saw this.........

Mickey Owen is the only player to homer in the All-Star Game in a season in which he did not hit a regular season home run. Owen batted 421 times for the Dodgers in the 1942 regular season without belting a single long ball. In the All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds on July 6, Owen pinch-hit for pitcher Claude Passeau in the eighth inning and homered into the left field stands against Detroit’s Al Benton, accounting for the National League’s lone run in their 3-1 loss.

[Dodgerfan1]

I was a little behind on this thread and just now saw this.........

Mickey Owen is the only player to homer in the All-Star Game in a season in which he did not hit a regular season home run. Owen batted 421 times for the Dodgers in the 1942 regular season without belting a single long ball. In the All-Star Game at the Polo Grounds on July 6, Owen pinch-hit for pitcher Claude Passeau in the eighth inning and homered into the left field stands against Detroit’s Al Benton, accounting for the National League’s lone run in their 3-1 loss.

Trivia guy,

Thanks for fleshing it out! That would be the same Al Benton who would go on to become the only pitcher ever to face both Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Ichiro Suzuki leads all MLB batters for the 2000's decade with 1354 hits, despite missing a whole season since he only started playing in 2001.

[cubsfan1073]

Ichiro Suzuki leads all MLB batters for the 2000's decade with 1354 hits, despite missing a whole season since he only started playing in 2001.
wow that is impressive!
mark grace led the majors with the most hits in the 90s

[Chicoutimi CP]

In 2006, MLB pitchers batted for a .132 combined average.

On a per team base, the Giants (57 hits), Cardinals (56) and Padres (51) were the top three. Each team had 3 different pitchers with 9 hits at least.

Also, the Cubs' pitchers led the way with 8 home runs, on the strength of Carlos Zambrano's 6 round-trippers. By the way, Zambrano had the most home runs in a season since Mike Hampton's 7 in 2001.

Let's add that the Marlins' hurlers had the most RBIs with 33, thanks in part to Dontrelle Willis's 10.

Finally, the Rockies (56), Astros (55), and Braves (53) were the best in the sacrifice hits category by hitting pitchers.

[RuthMayBond]

I have received two private messages (you know who you are) asking me to name the two players mentioned in one of my recent contributions. I paste it below:

"There were at least two more recent players who also asked for salary cuts due to poor play, and also to free up some money for free agents, however the Players Union would not allow them to accept a pay cut."

The truth is, I didn't name the players because I'm not sure who they are. I do know that I either heard it on a radio show or read it in the sports news, but I want to say that one of the players was Dale Murphy when he played for the Phillies. I know there was another too, and it eludes me, so if this constitutes an example of sloppy trivia, I apologize. Perhaps someone here could pick me up by dropping a name or two? It would be appreciated. Little help?Musial was one

[RuthMayBond]

Now that would be an impressive feat. I left several tidbits off my list for the sake of roundness (250 is nicer than 278, for instance), but I couldn't imagine adding too many more without REALLY digging deep!Starting to look, it will be harder than I thought, but I'll limit my trivia to southpaw trivia until I run out. I don't have your list memorized so I may duplicate.
Randy Jones had sixty-eight straight innings without issuing a walk :eek:

[RuthMayBond]

Scott McGregor had a lifetime 1.63 postseason ERA, and walked twice in one World Series.

[RuthMayBond]

Jon Matlack had an even lower 1.40 postseason ERA and a .444 postseason OBP

[RuthMayBond]

Bill White won seven Gold Gloves and became the NL president

[Mikie]

Ichiro Suzuki leads all MLB batters for the 2000's decade with 1354 hits, despite missing a whole season since he only started playing in 2001.

Technically, the current decade started in 2001, since 2000 was the last year of the 20th century, but let's not quibble. I would have bet the farm that Todd Helton had more hits than Ichiro in years beginning with 2, but he doesn't, his total comes to 1322. I would also think Jeter would have more given an entire extra season, but no, he comes in 2nd overall with 1343.

Checking the other likely suspects, I find no one else over 1300 - Juan Pierre, 1244. Vlad Guerrero, 1288. A-Rod, 1276. Pujols has 1159 in the same 6 seasons as Ichiro.

Surprising stat, has all the earmarks of a bar bet winner!

[RuthMayBond]

Fred Lynn is the only MLer to win the RoY and MVP in the same season (hope I don't have too many repeats for cj) or wait, what about Ichiro :grouchy

[RuthMayBond]

Herb Pennock went an undefeated 5-0 in World Series decisions with a 1.95 ERA

[RuthMayBond]

Len Dykstra is one of only four MLers since 1901 to lead his league in hits AND walks the same season

[RuthMayBond]

Outfielder Jimmy Ryan was 6-1 as a pitcher

[RuthMayBond]

Dave Dravecky had a 0.35 postseason ERA

[Trivia Guy]

As part of his record streak of 2,632 consecutive games, Cal Ripken, Jr. was in the lineup every day from the opening of the 1990 season until September 20, 1998 – and still finished fifth in games played in the 1990s. During the 1999 season, back injuries forced the Baltimore ironman to the disabled list for the first time in his career, limiting him to just 86 games. Ripken finished the decade with 1,475 games played, trailing Rafael Palmeiro, Craig Biggio, Mark Grace, and Jay Bell.

This one will win you a bet with a lot of basebal fans...........

[Utter Chaos]

The lowest post-season ERA with a minimum of 20 innings is:

Highlight this area to see the answer >>> John Rocker with 0.00 in 20 2/3 innings <<<<

[cubsfan1073]

Fred Lynn is the only MLer to win the RoY and MVP in the same season (hope I don't have too many repeats for cj) or wait, what about Ichiro :grouchy
yeah, ichiro did it, but it wasn't as cool as when lynn did it because ichiro was really a seven year veteran
ryan howard is the only player to win the ROY and then MVP in back to back seasons

[RuthMayBond]

yeah, ichiro did it, but it wasn't as cool as when lynn did it because ichiro was really a seven year veteran
ryan howard is the only player to win the ROY and then MVP in back to back seasons
And cj might want only southpaw PITCHER trivia?

[Trivia Guy]

[QUOTE=
ryan howard is the only player to win the ROY and then MVP in back to back seasons[/QUOTE]


Cal Ripken did this in 1982 and 1983.

There may have been another but I don't have time to look it up right now.

[cubsfan1073]

Cal Ripken did this in 1982 and 1983.

There may have been another but I don't have time to look it up right now.
oh really? i couldve sworn espn said he was the only one

[Trivia Guy]

oh really? i couldve sworn espn said he was the only one

I found out along time ago that you can't always trust ESPN. I'm from Arkansas and they get things wrong about the Razorback all the time.........

[Dodgerfan1]

What pitcher, who has at least 15 lifetime wins against the Yankees, has the best winning percentage against them? Frank Lary, who it seems was always pitching against the Bronx Bombers, wasn't called 'The Yankee Killer' for nothing. In 1956, a year in which the Yanks won it all, Lary was 5-1 against them. In 1958, another year in which the Yankees were WS champs, Lary was an amazing 7-0 against them. Lifetime, Lary was 27-13 against NY. Lucky he didn't have to pitch to the Babe. Which leads us to the correct answer to this question. The answer is Babe Ruth, who was 17-5 lifetime vs. the Yankees as a pitcher. Fortunately, he didn't have to pitch to the Babe, either.

In 1971, Padres shortstop Enzo Hernandez had 549 at-bats and had 12 RBIs. That's it. Twelve. No commentary needed. And yes, it's the lowest RBI total ever for anyone with at least 500 AB. Hell, Jim Bottomley drove in that many in a single game.

What do Mickey Vernon, Carl Yastrzemski, Ferris Fain, Pete Runnels and Tommy Davis all have in common? If you guessed they all won at least two batting titles each, you'd be half right. They all had lifetime BA of under.300, too.

[cjedmonton]

Nice work digging up a few more lefty tidbits. The Randy Jones feat is the most compelling of the bunch, but unfortunately, is no longer the NL record. Greg Maddux (yes, he's a righty!) got to 70 1/3 IP without issuing a walk in 2001.

BTW, the ML record belongs to Bill Fischer who tossed a staggering 84 1/3 innings without giving up a walk in 1962.

[Trivia Guy]

Nice work digging up a few more lefty tidbits. The Randy Jones feat is the most compelling of the bunch, but unfortunately, is no longer the NL record. Greg Maddux (yes, he's a righty!) got to 70 1/3 IP without issuing a walk in 2001.

BTW, the ML record belongs to Bill Fischer who tossed a staggering 84 1/3 innings without giving up a walk in 1962.

In 2001 Greg Maddux set the National League record by pitching 72.1 innings without a walk. His streak ended on August 12 when he intentionally walked both Steve Finley and Damian Miller in the third inning of a loss to Arizona. Maddux’s next unintentional pass did not happen until August 22 when he walked San Diego’s Ben Davis. If not for the two intentional walks against Arizona, Maddux would have pitched 84.2 innings without a free pass, breaking Bill Fischer’s 1962 record of 84.1 innings consecutive innings without a walk.

[cjedmonton]

In 2001 Greg Maddux set the National League record by pitching 72.1 innings without a walk. His streak ended on August 12 when he intentionally walked both Steve Finley and Damian Miller in the third inning of a loss to Arizona. Maddux’s next unintentional pass did not happen until August 22 when he walked San Diego’s Ben Davis. If not for the two intentional walks against Arizona, Maddux would have pitched 84.2 innings without a free pass, breaking Bill Fischer’s 1962 record of 84.1 innings consecutive innings without a walk.


Right you are. I hastily went according to the Baseball Chronology at the bottom of Randy Jones' Baseball Library page (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/J/Jones_Randy.stm). Thanks for clarifying.

[RuthMayBond]

I thought you'd answer cj but for now I'll assume you want hurlers only
Lefty Grove:
Debuted in same game with HOFer Mickey Cochrane
Played in only game that had both Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig
Won twenty straight home games
Played in a game with six other HOF teammates
Ended Yanks 308 game streak of not getting shut out
Fanned the side on nine pitches twice

[RuthMayBond]

Warren Spahn:
Shut out every NL team at least once and HRed in every NL park

Randy Johnson:
Killed a dove with a pitch
Struck out twenty Reds with no walks
Fanned 32 over consecutive starts
With Schilling, first teammates with 300+ K seasons
Oldest to hit first HR
Combined with Chuck Finley to no-hit Japanese All-Stars
Has won in 39+ different parks

Carl Hubbell:
Had eighteen-IP no-walk 1-0 win

Ed Plank:
stole home

Steve Carlton:
With Niekro, only 300 G winners to pitch for same team in same game
Threw shutout and hit HR in same game
Only 20 game winner in '82
46% of his teams wins in '72

Tom Glavine:
might have record of starts with no relief apps
On team with three other A-S starters
Shutout Cards & hit three-run triple in playoffs

[RuthMayBond]

Whitey Ford
threw consecutive one-hitters
allowed no SB while pitching in 1961
had the most errorless chances for pitchers in 1945

Sandy Koufax
was the first to fan the side on 9 pitches and do it two times
had forty-one K across three straight games

Eppa Rixey had the most errorless chances for pitchers in 1917

John Franco got thirteen saves in one month

Wilbur Cooper
started two triple plays in one season
had the most errorless chances for pitchers in 1918

Jimmy Key was the first Toronto lefty to win in a 614-game stretch

Hippo Vaughn, you probably have the double no-hit game

Chuck Finley
has the record for fanning four in an inning (three times)
combined with lefty Randy Johnson to no-hit Japanese All-Stars

Jim Whitney was the first to lead his team in wins . . . AND HR, BA, BB & SLG!

Mickey Lolich hit his only ML HR in his 1st WS AB

Vida Blue was youngest to win MVP

Wilbur Wood
was last pitcher to start both twinbill games
had shutout in 2nd straight game the Chisox played

Curt Simmons was 1st MLer drafted for Korean War

Herb Pennock was only pitcher to win before 20th birthday and after 40th

[cjedmonton]

Well, I am impressed to see you dig up so many lefty pitcher tidbits (which by the way, is my primary area of interest).

Although several of them are too much of a stretch for me to add to my list, I was pleased to learn about Pennock's feat of winning as a teen and after age 40. Also, I did not know about Jimmy Key breaking a 614 game stretch without a Toronto starter getting a win.

Good stuff!

[Utter Chaos]

Whitey Ford
threw consecutive one-hittersI believe Lefty Sam McDowell did that as well.

[RuthMayBond]

Well, I am impressed to see you dig up so many lefty pitcher tidbits (which by the way, is my primary area of interest).

Although several of them are too much of a stretch for me to add to my list, I was pleased to learn about Pennock's feat of winning as a teen and after age 40. Also, I did not know about Jimmy Key breaking a 614 game stretch without a Toronto starter getting a win.

Good stuff!I'll try to get a few more, then when I run out you can let me know if you want southpaw position players. It looks like you only want records, not just amazing feats

Doc White threw five shutouts in eighteen days

Frank Viola
had an eleven-inning shutout in NCAA playoffs vs. Ron Darling
no-hit the Phillies in spring training
was the first Cy Young winner swapped the season after he won it

John Hiller is in the Canadian HOF

Rube Marquard
had a nineteen-game winning streak in the same year and twenty-one overall
started eight WS games

Thornton Lee surrendered a HR to Ted Williams (so did Thornton's son)

Slim Sallee threw a complete game with sixty-five pitches

Sam McDowell was moved to another infield position for one batter, then moved back to the mound for the rest of the game, this happened twice!

Jesse Orosco
was one of the few player to be named later that had an excellent career
was moved between the mound and outfield three times in one game

Tug McGraw invented the slogan You Gotta Believe when the Mets were in last place

Dave Righetti fanned twenty-one in a minor league game

That's all I got on the better southpaw pitchers without doing some HEAVY digging

[Trivia Guy]

Herb Pennock was only pitcher to win before 20th birthday and after 40th

I didn't think that sounded right so I used the data from Lee Sinins baseball database and ran it through Excel..........

Bert Blyleven (10 wins before age 20 and 8 after age 40) and Mike Morgan (2 and 7) also did it in addition to Pennock (3 and 2).

We need to make sure that what we are posting here is correct.........

[Dodgerfan1]

George Bell (1988) and Tuffy Rhodes (1994) are the only two players to hit three home runs on Opening Day. Joe Torre is the only hitter to homer twice on Opening Day for two straight years (1965 & 1966). Yogi Berra, Gary Carter and Todd Hundley share the record for homering on four consecutive Opening Days. Maybe that record is for catchers only??

Detroit's Gee Walker is the only player to hit for the cycle on Opening Day (April 20, 1937).

On Opening Day, 2000, a record was set when six players had multi-homer games (Shannon Stewart, Tony Batista, Jason Giambi, Gabe Kapler, Ivan Rodriguez and Vlad Guerrero). The previous record of four was set on opening day 1988.

The highest scoring opening day game in history occured on April 19, 1900. Phillies 19, Boston Braves 17 in 10 innings (the Braves scored nine runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game only to lose it in the tenth! Talk about peaks and valleys.)

Sixto Lezcano hit a grand slam homer on opening day, 1978. He hit another salami on opening day, 1980. The only player in history to hit two slams on OD.

The last is the best, IMO....

Bob Feller is not the only pitcher to toss a no-hitter on opening day. Well, not for nine innings, anyway. Leon 'Red' Ames held Brooklyn hitless through 9 1/3 innings on opening day in 1909, only to lose a heartbreaker in 13 innings, 1-0. Incredibly, the next two opening days also held a similar fate for our unfortunate hero. On OD 1910, Ames threw seven innings of no-hit ball before losing to Boston, 3-2. Then in 1911, for good measure, he spun six hitless frames against the Phils before losing 2-0. This dude had to be the most snake-bitten pitcher in opening day history!

[yanks08701]

dmitri young also had 3 home runs on opening day

[Old Sweater]

Eric Young of the Rockies was the last player to steal 2nd,3rd&home in the same inning. June 30th 1996 vs. Dodgers at Coors Field.

[Trivia Guy]

dmitri young also had 3 home runs on opening day

Bell, Rhodes and Young all hit their three opeing day homers on the same calendar day --- April 4th.

[Dodgerfan1]

Bell, Rhodes and Young all hit their three opeing day homers on the same calendar day --- April 4th.

Trivia Guy and Yanks08701,

Thanks for picking me up there, guys. Yep, Young did it too!

[Dodgerfan1]

Eric Young of the Rockies was the last player to steal 1st,2nd,3rd&home in the same inning. June 30th 1996 vs. Dodgers at Coors Field.

This is a neat trick! How was the steal of first base recorded in the scorebook? :crazy

[Trivia Guy]

Johnny Bench smacked 45 homers in 1970 to become the only catcher to lead either league in homers. He hit 15 homers at Crosley Field, 15 at Riverfront Stadium and hit his other 15 home runs on the road.

[punker268]

Josh Gibson in the Negro leagues hit over 800 HR's

[Bigrcube]

Leon 'Red' Ames held Brooklyn hitless through 9 1/3 innings on opening day in 1909, only to lose a heartbreaker in 13 innings, 1-0. Incredibly, the next two opening days also held a similar fate for our unfortunate hero. On OD 1910, Ames threw seven innings of no-hit ball before losing to Boston, 3-2. Then in 1911, for good measure, he spun six hitless frames against the Phils before losing 2-0. This dude had to be the most snake-bitten pitcher in opening day history!

Correction: He did lose the no-no in the 10th, but yielded 7 hits in the 13th, and lost, 3-0.
The Giant's outfielders that day made no putouts.
It was an opening day crowd of 30,000.....on of all days, April 15.
With Christy Mathewson sidelined with a bruised hand, the result of a line
drive off the bat of Moose McCormick, Red Ames got the call.
Opposing team starter, Kaiser Wilhelm (no kidding) matched Ames until yielding a hit in the 8th inning.

Sep 14, 1903 - The Giants take the opener‚ 8-2‚ of a doubleheader in St. Louis. In the nitecap‚ Giants rookie Red Ames begins his
17-year career with a 5-inning 5-0 no-hitter‚ striking out 7 Cards. The game is called in mid afternoon due to darkness caused by an impending storm.

He went on to pitch on four Giants pennant-winners; for the 1905 World Champions, Ames went 22-8, Christy Mathewson 31-8,
and Joe McGinnity 21-15.
Though Ames never again won more than 15, he remained a dependable New York starter through 1912.

Reference: http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Red_Ames_1882

[Dodgerfan1]

Correction: He did lose the no-no in the 10th, but yielded 7 hits in the 13th, and lost, 3-0.
The Giant's outfielders that day made no putouts.
It was an opening day crowd of 30,000.....on of all days, April 15.
With Christy Mathewson sidelined with a bruised hand, the result of a line
drive off the bat of Moose McCormick, Red Ames got the call.
Opposing team starter, Kaiser Wilhelm (no kidding) matched Ames until yielding a hit in the 8th inning.

Sep 14, 1903 - The Giants take the opener‚ 8-2‚ of a doubleheader in St. Louis. In the nitecap‚ Giants rookie Red Ames begins his
17-year career with a 5-inning 5-0 no-hitter‚ striking out 7 Cards. The game is called in mid afternoon due to darkness caused by an impending storm.

He went on to pitch on four Giants pennant-winners; for the 1905 World Champions, Ames went 22-8, Christy Mathewson 31-8,
and Joe McGinnity 21-15.
Though Ames never again won more than 15, he remained a dependable New York starter through 1912.

Reference: http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Red_Ames_1882

My source does say 3-0 and I fat-fingered the score. My bad. Thanks for the correction.

[Jason R. Maier]

Goose Gossage holds the record with most All Star game finishes by a pitcher with 5

[Dodgerfan1]

Tom Browning is the only pitcher to carry a perfect game into the ninth inning after having already tossed a perfect game. He had hurled a perfecto on Sept 16, 1988 and, on July 4, 1989, was within three outs of a second perfect game when he allowed a double to Dickie Thon of the Phillies leading off the ninth (What a way THAT would have been to celebrate Independence Day!)

In 1979, Garry Templeton, aware that no player had ever gotten 100 hits in a season from both sides of the plate, batted exclusively as a righty the final week of the year. He had already accumulated 111 hits as a lefty when he was informed that the feat had never been accomplished. He managed to get his 100th hit as a righty to become the sole holder of the record. He didn't have long to savor it, however. The very next year, Willie Wilson went and tied it! They remain the only two hitters to have achieved that milestone.

Many may know this, but just as many may not. Grover Cleveland Alexander and Tony Lazzeri had more in common than just their famous 1926 World Series face-off. Both were epileptics (Alex wasn't an epileptic until after returning from WWI.)

[The Kid]

Al Spalding won 54 games for the Red Stockings in 1874.

[cubsfan1073]

Al Spalding won 54 games for the Red Stockings in 1874.
Al Spalding also started Spalding sports goods.

[Old Sweater]

Al Spalding also started Spalding sports goods.


Isn't it Spalding that wanted a different color uniform for each position on the field after he got into sporting goods?

[cubsfan1073]

Isn't it Spalding that wanted a different color uniform for each position on the field after he got into sporting goods?
Someone did, I believe it was sometimes in the 1860s, 1868 maybe? It worked for that year, but the next year it wasn't brought back. I don't know if Spalding was the one who started that.

[Dodgerfan1]

In Lawrence Ritter's classic book "The Glory of Their Times", Sam Crawford said, "Walter Johnson and I were very good friends and once in a while, Walter would sort of give me a hit or two. But when Ty came up there, Walter always bore down all the harder. There was nothing he enjoyed more than fanning Ty Cobb. Cobb could never figure out why I did so well against Walter, while he couldn't hit him with a 10-foot pole." The record books show that Crawford had a poor memory. In 245 career at-bats, Ty Cobb batted .335 vs. Walter Johnson.

Ted Lyons and Robin Roberts share the record for most consecutive complete games pitched since the live ball era began in 1920. Lyons hurled 28 straight complete games from 1941-1946 (with interruption by WWII). Roberts pitched 28 consecutive complete games during the 1952-53 seasons.

Ted Williams never had 200 hits in a season. In fact, he only had as many as 190 twice, in 1940 and 1949. Guess that'll happen when you walk over 2,000 times!

Denny McLain and Bill Freehan are the only battery mates ever to finish 1-2 in the MVP balloting (1968).

Clem Labine once retired Stan Musial 49 consecutive times. I know. That's absolutely absurd....

[RuthMayBond]

In Lawrence Ritter's classic book "The Glory of Their Times", Sam Crawford said, "Walter Johnson and I were very good friends and once in a while, Walter would sort of give me a hit or two. But when Ty came up there, Walter always bore down all the harder. There was nothing he enjoyed more than fanning Ty Cobb. Cobb could never figure out why I did so well against Walter, while he couldn't hit him with a 10-foot pole." The record books show that Crawford had a poor memory. In 245 career at-bats, Ty Cobb batted .335 vs. Walter Johnson.Compared with .366 overall

<Clem Labine once retired Stan Musial 49 consecutive times. I know. That's absolutely absurd....>

I'd like to see box scores on that

[Dodgerfan1]

Compared with .366 overall

True, but when you hear someone say that Cobb couldn't hit Johnson with a ten foot pole, what do you figure that means? That Cobb hit maybe .200 or so? .335 is a great average against anyone, especially Da Train.

Clem Labine once retired Stan Musial 49 consecutive times. I know. That's absolutely absurd....

I'd like to see box scores on that

That would be interesting to see, wouldn't it? From what I have been able to ascertain, those 49 ABs were from 1955-57. BTW, Labine also had only 3 hits in 1955 and all 3 were homers!

[Trivia Guy]

[QUOTE Labine also had only 3 hits in 1955 and all 3 were homers![/QUOTE]

The total list of players with three hits in a season, all of which were homers.........


Ed Sanicki 1949
Clem Labine 1955
Keith McDonald 2000 --- the only three hits of his career!
Jorge Sosa 2006

[Chicoutimi CP]

Among all 722 MLB pitchers who have surrendered at least 100 home runs in their career, Kevin Jarvis has allowed the most per 9 innings : 1.72 ...

Here is the top 5 of this very elect club :


Name HRs Innings HR/9 inn.
Kevin Jarvis 149 780.2 1.72
Bruce Chen 151 797.0 1.71
Rob Bell 118 633.0 1.68
Darrell May 123 660.2 1.68
Scott Elarton 180 1013.0 1.60

[cubsfan1073]

Phil Niekro has the most wins during and after he was 43 with 78 wins.
Julio Franco has the most homers for a player 43 or older with 28.

[The Kid]

Satchel Paige won over 1000 games in the negro leagues.

[The Kid]

James "Pud" Galvin was baseball's first 300 game winner. He is also the second pitcher in history to lose 300 games.

[The Kid]

Ty Cobb holds over 90 records.

[Dodgerfan1]

Ty Cobb holds over 90 records.

Does Cobb still hold 90 records or is that the total of records he held at the time he retired?

[cubsfan1073]

Ty Cobb holds over 90 records.
That sounds astonishing, but that could be misleading. For example, Ty Cobb has the highest batting average of all time...Ty Cobb has the highest batting average for a player on the Tigers ever.... Ty Cobb has the highest career BA for an OF. And so on and so forth. That could be misleading.
They could also be records that don't really matter, like Ty Cobb has the most career hit by pitches on Sundays in May (that's not a real stat, it was just an example).

[cubsfan1073]

Fun Fact: Ty Cobb has a career 3.60 ERA.

[cubsfan1073]

-George Sisler started his career pitching and pitched 111 career inings

-Todd Helton has the highest career batting average among active players (.333)

[Dodgerfan1]

That sounds astonishing, but that could be misleading. For example, Ty Cobb has the highest batting average of all time...Ty Cobb has the highest batting average for a player on the Tigers ever.... Ty Cobb has the highest career BA for an OF. And so on and so forth. That could be misleading.
They could also be records that don't really matter, like Ty Cobb has the most career hit by pitches on Sundays in May (that's not a real stat, it was just an example).

Cubsfan, you bring up an interesting point. This is something I have always wondered about. I've heard of some pretty bizarre 'records'. Most hits versus lefties in day games, for example. Yes, I actually heard that one once, and in fact I think it was even broken down by a certain decade! They really stretch a point on some of the television broadcasts. They try to find a record or factoid concerning at least one of the teams playing that day and some are absolutely demented. Whenever I hear that so-and-so holds that many records, I always wonder how many aren't the exact same record but under different circumstances, like your examples.

[KingSwisher]

-Todd Helton has the highest career batting average among active players (.333)

Based on what number of qualifying at bats or plate appearances?

Thanks!

[Dodgerfan1]

The St. Louis Cardinals are the only team in history to lose more than one post-season series after taking a three-games-to-one lead, and they did it three times. They lost to the 1968 Tigers and the 1985 KC Royals in the World Series after being up three to one in games, and they also lost to the 1996 Atlanta Braves after being up three games to one in the NLCS.

Most baseball fans know that Babe Ruth hit the first ever All-Star Game home run in 1933, but I'm betting not so many know who hit the first ever WS homer. It was Pittsburgh's Jimmy Sebring in 1903. The very next day, Patsy Dougherty became the first player in Series history to have a multi-homer game.

At the time Grover Cleveland Alexander retired, it was assumed he had surpassed Christie Mathewson in wins. Alex waited until he got his 373rd victory to shut it down so that he would be ahead of The Big Six who, at the time, was credited with 372. Long after Old Pete had retired however, missing records were discovered and, along with them, a 373rd win by Matty, which was duly recorded.

Along the same lines, Walter Johnson's win total was changed from 416 to 417 after SABR discovered an uncounted victory in 1912 (I can still recall in my youth that the total was 416). I have not read anything beyond this fact, but it leads me to ask a rather obvious question (some of you can see this coming, I know...) Since 1912 was the year that Johnson won 16 straight games, setting a record at the time (which was later equaled by Smokey Joe Wood that same season), would this 'discovered' win have come in the middle of that streak and put him at 17 consecutive victories? I'm guessing not, since there would, no doubt, have been more made of this forgotten victory. By the same token, would this victory also have made any change to his streak of 56 consecutive scoreless innings, which he also set in 1912? Again, not having heard anything about this, I am assuming not. Anybody know?

DF1

[Chicoutimi CP]

During the 2006 season, Joel Zumaya threw the most pitches with 100 MPH velocity or more in MLB : 233, over 1425 total pitches.

Kyle Farnsworth was the runner up with 26, over 1104 total pitches.

[cubsfan1073]

During the 2006 season, Joel Zumaya threw the most pitches with 100 MPH velocity or more in MLB : 233, over 1425 total pitches.

Kyle Farnsworth was the runner up with 26, over 1104 total pitches.
Wow, that's incredible. Sometimes, those stats about MPH are incorrect, so I can't always trust it, but still that's pretty amazing.

[cubsfan1073]

Based on what number of qualifying at bats or plate appearances?

Thanks!
I'm not sure, I looked it up on MLB.com's stats and they do not say how many it takes to qualify.

[cubsfan1073]

Albert Pujols has the second highest career Batting Average among active players (.332) while Ichiro is third (.331) and Vlad Guerrero is fourth with .325.
Craig Biggio has the most career at bats among active players with 10,359.

[cubsfan1073]

Barry Bonds is the active leader in OPS, OBP, and HRs and is second in SB. How ironic is that, Bonds is second in SB and the last time he stole more than 15 was in 1998. He has 509 career SBs.
Here are his SB totals
YR SB
86 36
87 32
88 17
89 32
90 52
91 43
92 39
93 29
94 29
95 31
96 40
97 37
98 28
99 15
00 11
01 13
02 9
03 7
04 6
05 0
06 3

[The Kid]

It seems so hard to picture Bonds ever stealing more than 5 bases in a season right now.

[cubsfan1073]

It's hard to picture Bonds running 90 feet more than he absolutely has to.

[Dodgerfan1]

The all-time lowest single-season team batting average since the dead ball era (pre-1920) was .214 by the 1968 Yankees. Yes, pitchers batted in the AL back then, and their hitting stats counted toward the team totals. Among regular pitchers, Stan Bahnsen hit .049, Steve Barber hit .051, Fritz Peterson hit .079, Joe Verbanic hit .080 and Bill Monbouquette hit a staunch .115. Tom Tresh, who played 152 games at shortstop and batted 507 times, hit a solid .195.

Speaking of feeble hitting, the Los Angeles Dodgers set a new record in 1966 when they were shut out 17 times. Even more amazing was the fact that they won the NL pennant that year! Their amazing lack of hitting caught up with them in the WS as they were held scoreless by Baltimore pitching for 33 consecutive innings!

On July 4, 1950, 56-year old Bernard Doyle was one of 50,000 fans gathered at the Polo Grounds to watch a Dodgers-Giants doubleheader. Doyle had just turned to speak to a fan sitting next to him when he suddenly slumped forward with blood pouring from his left temple, and died almost instantly. The story made the front pages in NY. Despite a criminal investigation, it was never determined where the shot came from, but police suspected it had been fired from outside the stadium.

In 1987, Cleveland's Brook Jacoby belted 32 homers yet had only 69 RBI. The lowest RBI total ever for a player who hit that many dingers. One might surmise he had a lousy BA, but nope. He hit an even .300. Go figure.

[Dodgerfan1]

In 1987, Cleveland's Brook Jacoby belted 32 homers yet had only 69 RBI. The lowest RBI total ever for a player who hit that many dingers. One might surmise he had a lousy BA, but nope. He hit an even .300. Go figure.


UPDATE: Something I just found on the Baseball Library website. This explains a lot: 27 of Jacoby's 32 homers were solo shots, and he hit just .225 with runners in scoring position. I guess that wasn't to hard to figure out!

[Chicoutimi CP]

24.2% of the 2863 pitches faced by Ryan Howard in 2006 were “swings and misses”. That figure gave him the lead in all MLB.

[Bigrcube]

Based on what number of qualifying at bats or plate appearances?

Thanks!

Well, for starters.....he's a 9 year veteran with over 500 ABs or more each yr.
That "qualifying" enough? (sorry for the tone)

[cubsfan1073]

Well, for starters.....he's a 9 year veteran with over 500 ABs or more each yr.
That "qualifying" enough? (sorry for the tone)
I think he was wondering how many ABs needed to qualify because there might've been a player with 200 career ABs who batted .334 or something like that.

[cubsfan1073]

Juan Pierre homers every 342.5 at bats (4110 career ABs, 12 careers HRs)

[Chicoutimi CP]

Since the beginning of the 2000's decade, Chris Carpenter has been the best pitcher against base stealers.

Among hurlers having faced at least 50 attempts over the last 7 seasons, 20 runners were successful against him and 34 were thrown out (almost 63%). And let's not forget the guy is a righthander!

The best lefty is Mike Maroth, with 26 stolen bases allowed and 39 caught stealings (60% outs). But he did it in only 5 seasons, as he reached the majors in 2002.

[Trivia Guy]

Juan Pierre homers every 342.5 at bats (4110 career ABs, 12 careers HRs)

And I saw one of them in person this June at Wrigley! It was also the Cubs' only win at home in June.

The Cubs are 7-1 lifetime with me at Wrigley --- they should send me season tickets and airfare.......... :laugh

[Erik Bedard]

B.J. Ryan is the last pitcher to record a win without throwing a pitch.

[Dodgerfan1]

Tommy McCarthy is enshrined in the Hall of Fame almost exclusively for innovations and 'other contributions' to the game of baseball. He hit a respectable .292 lifetime and within a five year span, he hit .350, .346 and .349. Other than those years however, he was very sporadic at the plate. He stole lots of bases, but steals were a major part of the game back then. He is credited by some historians as the creator of the hit-and-run play (a strategy also credited to John McGraw, although McCarthy had employed it years before McGraw) as well as developing field signals to relay to the team if a play was on. He was a superb outfielder who played alongside Hugh Duffy with the Beaneaters for four years (the press dubbed them "The Heavenly Twins") from 1892-1895. I believe SABR's James D. Smith said it best in 1946, regarding McCarthy's being in the HOF, when he said, "The message was clear: the Hall of Fame is not simply the 'Hall of Stats." Words to live by, indeed.

How dominant was Lefty Grove at his peak? He is the only pitcher ever to lead the majors in strikeouts, winning percentage and ERA in the same year more than once. In fact, he did it three times. In fact, he did it three years in a row. In fact, he did it in 1929, 1930 and 1931, three years of hitters' dominance! His numbers during those years: 79 wins, 15 losses with respective ERAs of 2.81, 2.54 and 2.06. He also had 68 complete games and eight shutouts (in an era when shutouts were fairly rare.) Now that's GREAT peak performance!

Coincidence or Karma? Rube Waddell was born on Friday the 13th and died on April Fool's Day.

[anjo25]

Miller Huggins holds the record for most inside the park homers in a career without ever hitting one out of the park.

[cubsfan1073]

Miller Huggins holds the record for most inside the park homers in a career without ever hitting one out of the park.
FYI...he had 9 career HRs

[KingSwisher]

Well, for starters.....he's a 9 year veteran with over 500 ABs or more each yr.
That "qualifying" enough? (sorry for the tone)

I checked it out. The number to qualify is 3000 plate appearances.

"enough" is a relative term.

[JamesWest]

They could also be records that don't really matter, like Ty Cobb has the most career hit by pitches on Sundays in May (that's not a real stat, it was just an example).

Doubtful, since Cobb played much of his career at a time when the eastern couldn't play home games on Sunday. During the early part of his career, I believe only the White Sox and Browns played home games on Sunday in the AL.

[cubsfan1073]

During the 90s, Mark Grace led the majors in ABs and Hits, while Ken Griffey Jr. led the majors in HRs and RBIs.

[ironman]

Who shares the record for most stolen bases in a game?

Hint in 1800s

[Dodgerfan1]

In 1906, Connie Mack tried to sneak Eddie Collins into the Philadelphia A's lineup by calling him 'Eddie Sullivan' and writing his name on the lineup card as such on Sept 17 of that year. He did this in order to protect Collins' college eligibility at Columbia University. Collins, playing as 'Sullivan', went 1-3 against the great Ed Walsh that game. Unfortunately for him, Collins was eventually busted and barred by the school from playing in his senior year, however he was still able to attend classes and earned his degree. Being dubbed 'Sullivan' also served another purpose. It delayed his mother's discovery of his desire to play baseball professionally. Baseball was not an accepted vocation by 'decent' folks in those days, being played almost exclusively by men who had never bothered to learn a respectable trade, and who were a rough, rowdy lot according to public perception of the day. It wasn't until more and more college graduates began playing professionally (led by stars like Mathewson and Collins) that baseball became more acceptable to the mainstream of America as a profession. For Collins, his HOF career started out inconspicuously as Eddie Sullivan.

At one point, while on his way to pitching history's only opening day no-hitter in 1940, Bob Feller struggled through a marathon AB against Luke Appling in which Appling fouled off an incredible 15 pitches in a row! It is, of course, very well established that Appling had an amazing ability to foul off pitches that were close but not to his liking, enabling him to be a successful hitter.

Batterymates who worked together for the longest period of time? Bill Dickey caught Red Ruffing for 14 years (1930-1942 & 1946). It is probable that the record would be an amazing 17 consecutive years but for the war, which shaved three years off that span. (Carlton pitched to McCarver on either the Cardinals or the Phillies for 12 non-consecutive years.)

[Chicoutimi CP]

Daryle Ward had a fantastic season as a pinch-hitter in 2006 : splitting his time between Washington and Atlanta, he led the majors with 22 hits, 4 home runs (tied with Javier Valentin) and 17 RBIs. :clapping

His complete numbers were :

75 games
62 at bats
22 hits
6 doubles
4 home runs
17 rbis
10 walks
1 hit by pitchers
2 sacrifice flies
13 strike outs
3 grounds into double-plays
AVG .355
SLG .645
OBP .440

(If I made a mistake somewhere, please don't hesitate to post.)

[cubsfan1073]

Christy Mathewson's career win total has been debated greatly and is currently at 373.
At one point Babe Ruth's career home run total was at 715, but it was changed back to 714. Ruth hit a walk-off homer, but since there was a runner on first, he was only credited with a triple. This home run was later taken away from his record because the rules of the day had many other odd rules, such as ground-rule doubles were counted as dingers.
Nap Lajoe batted .426 in 1901, but that number has been changed many teams. He first was reported as having a .422 average, but that number was changed to .409 until a statistician realized that .422 was actually correct. Later, someone found 3 hits that no one had noticed before and .426 is where it stands today.

[Old Sweater]

Christy Mathewson's career win total has been debated greatly and is currently at 763.
At one point Babe Ruth's career home run total was at 715, but it was changed back to 714. Ruth hit a walk-off homer, but since there was a runner on first, he was only credited with a triple. This home run was later taken away from his record because the rules of the day had many other odd rules, such as ground-rule doubles were counted as dingers.
Nap Lajoe batted .426 in 1901, but that number has been changed many teams. He first was reported as having a .422 average, but that number was changed to .409 until a statistician realized that .422 was actually correct. Later, someone found 3 hits that no one had noticed before and .426 is where it stands today.

you typed the wrong numbers on Mattewson's numbers.

[cubsfan1073]

you typed the wrong numbers on Mattewson's numbers.
Wow, you're right, I was way off, I will correct it.

[cubsfan1073]

Bernie Williams is a very good musician and plays the guitar. When he was young he aspired to be a professional musician. He and former teammate Paul O'Neill, who plays the drums, would play together in the clubhouse.

[Chicoutimi CP]

Ronny Cedeno (Cubs) and Adam Everett (Astros) each got 3 RBIs off squeeze plays in 2006, leading all MLB players in those situations. Chicago (NL), with 7, and Houston, with 5, were the teams that had the most squeeze plays last season.

[cubsfan1073]

Ronny Cedeno (Cubs) and Adam Everett (Astros) each got 3 RBIs off squeeze plays in 2006, leading all MLB players in those situations. Chicago (NL), with 7, and Houston, with 5, were the teams that had the most squeeze plays last season.
I'm just curious, where do you get those stats?

[Chicoutimi CP]

I'm just curious, where do you get those stats?

Squeeze plays : I found about the team stats in Baseball Prospectus, Managers' section.

Then I went through the Retrosheet Event Files 2006 to see if I could spot each squeeze play, ending up with the same global MLB number as Baseball Prospectus (58). Then I checked each team data with the plays I had and found out I had a perfect match.

Pinch-hitters (Daryle Ward) : I just used the Retrosheet event files.

[Old Sweater]

ESPN's All Bizzare Injury Team

.

Manager: Roger Craig (Giants)
Cut his hand on a bra strap ... though we're guessing that's pain he played through.

Catcher: Mickey Tettleton (Tigers)
Once missed action with athlete's foot ... caused by tying his shoes too tight.

First Base: Ryan Klesko (Braves)
Once overexerted himself and pulled a muscle ... while picking up his lunch tray.

Second Base: Bret Barberie (Marlins)
Missed a game after rubbing chili juice in his eye ... probably after getting stuck behind John Kruk in morning stretches.


Glenallen Hill's arachnophobia is legendary.
Shortstop: Rey Quinones (Seattle)
Once was unavailable for pinch hitting duty, because he had already returned to the clubhouse ... to play Nintendo.

Third Base: Wade Boggs (Red Sox)
Injured himself while pulling on his cowboy boots.

Outfield: Kevin Mitchell (Mets/Giants)
The master of all bizarre injuries, he once injured himself while eating a cupcake. That, of course, was when he wasn't missing games because of vomiting -induced muscle strains, or strained eyelids.

Outfield: Ken Griffey, Jr. (Mariners)
Missed a game after suffering a pinched testicle from his protective cup ... which explains why the whole "pain in the butt" thing just isn't phasing Jr.

Outfield: Oddibe McDowell (Rangers)
Yet another sad story of a baseball toughman getting taken out by food, he sliced his hand at the Texas welcome home luncheon while attempting to butter his roll.

Designated Hitter: Glenallen Hill (Blue Jays)
Went on the DL because of cuts suffered after smashing a glass table while dreaming he was being attacked by spiders ... anyway, that's his story, and he's sticking to it.

Bench: Terry Harper (Braves)
Separated his shoulder while waving a teammate home and subsequently high-fiving him.


Just stay far away from Jason Isringhausen.
Bench: Rickey Henderson (Blue Jays)
Missed a game because of frostbite ... in August.

Bench: Mark Smith (Orioles)
Injured his hand after sticking it in an air conditioner to "find out why it wasn't working."

Bench: Jose Cardenal (Cubs)
Missed a game in 1974 because he couldn't blink.

Bench: George Brett (Royals)
Broke his toe on a chair at his home while running from the kitchen to the TV to watch Bill Buckner hit.

Bench: Vince Coleman (Cardinals)
Missed the 1985 World Series after getting rolled up in the tarp machine.

Starting pitcher: John Smoltz (Braves)
Once burned his chest while ironing a shirt ... which he was still wearing.

Starting pitcher: Tom Glavine (Braves)
Redefining the phrase "star hurler," he broke a rib in 1992 after vomiting up airplane food.

Starting pitcher: Nolan Ryan (Astros)
Missed a start after being bitten on his hand ... by a coyote.

Starting pitcher: Carlos Perez (Expos)
Broke his nose in a car accident ... while trying to pass the team bus.

Starting pitcher: Doc Gooden (Mets)
Missed a start when Vince Coleman accidentally struck him with a golf club in the clubhouse.

Middle reliever: Steve Sparks (Brewers)
Dislocated his shoulder attempting to tear a phone book in half.

Middle reliever: Charlie Hough (Rangers)
Once broke his pinky ... shaking hands -- pinky shaking, that is.

Middle reliever: Ricky Bones (Marlins)
Went on the disabled list in 2000 after injuring himself while changing channels on the clubhouse TV.

Middle reliever: Greg Harris (Rangers)
Injured his wrist while flicking sunflower seeds in the dugout

Closer: Jason Isringhausen (Athletics)
Broke his hand while punching a trash can just weeks after stabbing himself in the leg trying to open a package.

[Dodgerfan1]

Mark McGwire reached the 500 HR plateau sooner than anyone else in major league history, hitting his 500th in his 5,487th AB.

Frankie Frisch is the only player to have played in at least 50 WS games without homering, yet he hit home runs in each of the first two All-Star Games ever played (1933 & 1934).

Joe DiMaggio was selected to the AL All-Star team every single year he was an active player, 13 in all.

Yogi Berra never led the league in any major offensive category.

Both John McGraw and Barney Dreyfuss had a chance to sign Tris Speaker but both passed on him, McGraw because he had too many outfielders already and Dreyfuss because Speaker smoked cigars. Way to go, Barney.

Stan Musial and Ken Griffey, Jr, hold the record for home runs in a season by a left-handed batter against a southpaw pitcher with 21. Griffey accomplished the feat twice, in 1996 and 1998. He claimed that he was so proficient against lefties because his left-handed father always pitched to him when he was growing up, getting him accustomed at a very early age to facing portsiders. Darryl Strawberry (1988), Ted Kluszewski (1955) and Babe Ruth (1926) each hit 20.

[RuthMayBond]

Yogi Berra never led the league in any major offensive category.Well, didn't they say Stanky can't hit, can't run, can't field, can't throw, but he's the best d@&# shortstop out there :laugh

[cubsfan1073]

Mark McGwire holds the record for most home runs per 100 ABs.

[Dodgerfan1]

In 1974, Hank Aaron outslugged Sadaharu Oh, 10-9, in an orchestrated home run contest in Tokyo. Aaron still had two more swings left in his turn, but chose not to take them.

The 1920 World Series featured several firsts, all executed by the Cleveland Indians. Bill Wambganss became the first (and only) player to perform an unassisted triple play in a WS game, Elmer Smith hit the first WS grand slam and Jim Bagby became the first pitcher to homer in a WS game.

Some people supposedly 'in the know' believe that the novel 'The Natural' was actually based on a different incident than the shooting of Eddie Waitkus. On July 6, 1932, Cubs shortstop Billy Jurges was shot by a showgirl friend when he allegedly attempted to stop her from committing suicide. Jurges was shot twice, once in the ribs and once in the hand, but came back within a month. This was the incident which prompted the Cubs to sign Mark Koenig, which led to bad blood between Chicago and the Yankees when Koenig was only awarded a half World Series share. After an investigation, police suspected that the shooting of Jurges was not accidental, however the shortstop refused to press charges.

Robin Yount collected his 1,000th, 2,000th and 3,000th hits against the Cleveland Indians. Speaking of Yount, did you know that his older brother, Larry, a right-handed pitcher for Houston, was warming up on Sept 15, 1971 after just having been called up from the minors, about to make his major league debut when he injured his arm, couldn't pitch and was soon sent back down? He never returned to the majors. He is credited with having the shortest career in major league history because he was announced into the game before it was decided he couldn't pitch, therefore he is credited with appearing in one game but having thrown zero pitches! One of the hitters he would have faced, had he pitched a full inning, was Hank Aaron.

Quick, what do the following pairs of pitchers have in common with each other?

Greg A. Harris and Greg W. Harris
Sad Sam Jones and Toothpick Sam Jones
Bob Gibson (Cards) and Bob Gibson (Brewers)

Yep, this one's OBVIOUS! They were ALL right-handed! BWAHAHA! :clapping

[cubsfan1073]

Rogers Hornsby is the only player to win two triple crowns in the National League while Ted Williams is the only in the AL. Frank Robinson is the only to win in both leagues.

[Iron Jaw]

Rogers Hornsby is the only player to win two triple crowns in the National League while Ted Williams is the only in the AL. Frank Robinson is the only to win in both leagues.

Frank Robinson never won the triple crown in the National League. He is, however, the only player to win the Most Valuable Player Award in both leagues.

[cubsfan1073]

Frank Robinson never won the triple crown in the National League. He is, however, the only player to win the Most Valuable Player Award in both leagues.
Oh, you're right. I got mixed up with my MVPs and Triple Crowns. Thank you for noticing.

[Trivia Guy]

Robin Yount collected his 1,000th, 2,000th and 3,000th hits against the Cleveland Indians. Speaking of Yount, did you know that his older brother, Larry, a right-handed pitcher for Houston, was warming up on Sept 15, 1971 after just having been called up from the minors, about to make his major league debut when he injured his arm, couldn't pitch and was soon sent back down? He never returned to the majors. He is credited with having the shortest career in major league history because he was announced into the game before it was decided he couldn't pitch, therefore he is credited with appearing in one game but having thrown zero pitches! The first batter he would have faced was Hank Aaron.

I was curious about this and looked it up on Retrosheet. According to that, Aaron would have been the third batter Larry Yount would have faced.

[Dodgerfan1]

I was curious about this and looked it up on Retrosheet. According to that, Aaron would have been the third batter Larry Yount would have faced.

Trivia Guy,

As always, thanks for the correction!! I looked at the reference I cited and it does say that Yount would have faced Hank Aaron if he had pitched an inning. I misread it to say that he would have faced Aaron FIRST. Sorry for the error and nice catch!

DF1