Obscurities in Baseball

[DOUGHBOYS]

I kinda dig obscure records. Nah, I love 'em.
There is an obscure record that I know is impossible to keep, but I would love to know who leads in the category.
Let me explain....
Yesterday, Brandon Belt was hitting against the Marlins. Leading off an inning and with an exaggerated shift against Belt, he tried laying down a bunt.
It was fouled off.
The next pitch is slammed for a homer.
I would just love to know who leads in the category of trying a bunt, then hitting a homer.
Back in the day, the category would have been a bad one to lead.
It meant that the batter failed (maybe even twice) to lay down a sacrifice bunt, then hit a homer with two strikes. The result was great and everybody celebrated, but the hitter knew that he faced a kangaroo court fine and probably a stern talk from the Manager.
Ha! Stern talks from Managers....soooo back in the day.

Anyway, just thought I'd talk about a few other more obscure records and invite you to list any favs you may have.
One of my all-time favorite obscure record is a probable unbreakable record held by Barry Bonds.
While others were fawning over Bonds hitting, me and Joey Votto were incredulous about the walking part of Bonds game.
Bonds was walked whenever a pitcher saw an opportunity to walk him. The same thing happened to Ted Williams.
When a hitter dominates the game, a walk becomes a pitcher's weapon and not an offensive statistic.
Anyway, here is the obscure record....
Bonds was intentionally walked 688 times!
A season's worth of 'I give up, you're better than us', by Managers.
Until Bonds shattered his record, Henry Aaron held the record with just 298 intentional walks.
Before Aaron, it was Ernie Banks. Before Banks, it was Musial. And before Musial, it was Ted Williams.
It should be said that Albert Pujols has passed Aaron with 310 intentional walks.
There are no real records for Ruth or Gehrig, but I would bet Gehrig received more since walking Ruth led to Gehrig. Just opinion there.

One record we think should be broke, especially in today's game, would be the record for striking out.
But guess what?
Those striking out more today are NOT having the longer careers as those striking out less.
Think about it. The players with longer careers who are hanging on today like Pujols, Cabrera, Holliday, and Ichiro did not strike out a lot.
Even recent players like Ortiz, Ramirez, Jeter, and Rodriguez were not known for striking out.
Bryce Harper, Joey Gallo, and others seem to have their sights on this record. They will probably not be alone as today's hitter strikes out more during a season than we have bowel movements.
I'll bet you can't name the two current players who have struck out the most.
With lesser and lesser at bats, neither are a threat to the record.
Think about it and the answer is at the bottom of this post.
Reggie Jackson still holds the record for striking out the most. 2,597 times.
As I wrote before though, striking out is a by-product of production. The four players who have held the record for striking out the most are all Hall of Fame inductees. They are Jackson, Willie Stargell, Mickey Mantle, and Babe Ruth.

Cal Ripken held the record for grounding into the most double plays.
350 times represents half a season of at bats and 700 outs. Ouch.
Ripken was the prime candidate to hold the record.
He had a long career.
He wasn't fast.
He played in an era when a lot of fields had artificial turf, making the balls truer and faster to infielders.

Ripken was thankful to be passed by Albert Pujols. Pujols is on his way to 400 times grounding into double plays.
He has done it 383 times, including being one of the league leaders this year with nine.
Robinson Cano is on the all-time list at 26th all-time.

Eddie Murray beat out Ripken for most Sacrifice Flies. 128-127.
Sacrifice Flies as a statistic is a joke among score keepers.
There is truly no 'sacrifice' involved. The batter just happened to hit a fly ball with a man on third base.
An RBI should be given to the batter for producing a run, but all score keepers agree that an at bat should also be charged to the hitter.
BUT, it is better than the old days. Back in the day, ANY advancement of a base by runners, even from first to second on a fly ball was ruled a Sacrifice Fly.
Pujols has 109 sacrifice flies.

What about Sacrifice bunts?
You know that no current player is even close.
Sacrifices have been left to pitchers for years.
Eddie Collins (512)had more than 500 sacrifices while no other player could break 400.
Collins played in a time where a run was a run and he was particularly adept at bunting.
Before Ruth, Collins also held the record for base on balls.
No records were kept of sacrifice flies then, but if Collins had a lot of those, he was an original 'three true outcome' batter of three categories in which an at bat is not charged! Pretty cool.
Modern day for sacrifices?
No current player is even in the top 100.
In fact, there are only three players from the last 40 years in the top 100.
Omar Vizquel is 35th on the list. Vizquel played on some powerhouse teams. His job was defense and moving the line offensively, he did both well.
Ozzie Smith is 73rd on the list....See 'Omar Vizquel'.
69th on the list is a guy who should be the proudest to make the list. Tom Glavine.
That's right. Glavine sacrificed 222 times to put himself in with the greats of the game.
Though Glavine, being a pitcher, had opportunities to sacrifice, he is surrounded by buntsmen from other generations who made bunting an art form.
A salute to you, Tom Glavine!

[DOUGHBOYS]

Continuing .....since these stupid boards won't let me make long posts!....


This one is astounding.
Pete Rose (14,053) had over 14,000 at bats.
That is 28 years of 500 at bats.
With so much rest given to modern day players, that record will never be approached.
For those old enough to remember, can you imagine a Manager, Any Manager telling Pete Rose, "We're going to rest you today".
Pete would have been pissed!....and probably talked his way into playing.
Although Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken get Iron Man status for their games streaks (the press loves their streaks!), Rose is probably the true Iron Man of baseball.
Rose played more games, had more at bats, and more plate appearances than any player in history and it's not close.
Rose had 10 years of playing 160 or more games. 17 years of playing over 150 games. 23 years of playing over 100 games!
Ripken played every game for a long stretch, yet only led his league in plate appearances one time, Rose, seven times
Heck, Albert Pujols has played forever. Had hardly any long-term injuries, yet Pujols has no chance of passing Rose with 10,363 at bats.
Only six current players have even half the at bats of Pete Rose.
Here they are with total at bats and all-time ranking....

Pujols- 10.363 (21)
Cabrera- 8,647 (98)
Cano- 8.282 (122)
Markakis- 7,952 (157)
Kinsler- 7,315 (236)
Granderson- 7,057 (285)

Ok, this is the last one and it's not about plays on the field.
It's about the number one thing that today's player...play for.
Money.
Money has always been a thing with players of course, but back in the day, owners would send contracts to players and the players would sign and send them back.
Easy enough.
Of course some players balked and the contract would go through the mail several times, but eventually, sometimes even after a hold out, the contract was signed.
What about early records for money?
I won't go into today's players with their contracts well known, but what about past milestones....

Ty Cobb was the first player to receive $10,000 for playing baseball.
Cobb received a $12,000 contract in 1913, a fortune.
Eight years later, Cobb would also be the first player to $25,000
But that only lasted a year as the highest salary when Babe Ruth signed for $50,000 after hitting 59 home runs and setting the baseball world on its ear.
There were rumors that Ruth would reach a $100,000 contract with 'hidden money' but officially, Ruth never received such a contract.
It wasn't till 1949 (wow, the owners were really tight with a buck!) that Joe Dimaggio got a $100,000 contract near the end of his career.
You would think that the greats of the golden era of the 60's like Mays, Mantle, Musial, or Aaron would have been the first recipient of $250,000.
Nope.
No player during the 60's would make that much.
It wasn't till 1974 when Dick Allen signed for that amount.
Just three years later, Mike Schmidt made $500,000.
And three years later, we had our first million dollar player. Nolan Ryan signed a four year deal for four million dollars.
It was the 90's when things started getting a little silly.
Bobby Bonilla signed for 5 Million in '92
Albert Belle for 10 million five years later.
And after AROD with 20 million, the sky has been the limit.
I remember seeing the cover of a Sports Magazine with Pete Rose on the front and the quote "I WANT TO BE THE FIRST $100,000 SINGLES HITTER"
It was brash and cocky as Rose hadn't even been labeled a superstar by any fan's standards at the time.
But, I'll be damned, he was, indeed, the first singles hitter to collect $100,000.
Which leads to the trick question....
Question- How much money does the leading singles hitter of today make?
Answer- None. There are no singles hitters today.

Thanks for the listen.



The two current players that have struck out the most?
Mark Reynolds and Curtis Granderson.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Let's play the 'As Many or More' game......


Josh Phegley has as many rbi (33) and more batting average (.284) than JT Realmuto (.260)

Willians Astudillo is entertaining to watch, but for fantasy purposes, 36 catchers have as may or more rbi than his 11

Yasmani Grandal(51) has as many or more hits than any other catcher in baseball

Jorge Alfaro (56) has as many or more strike outs than other Catcher in baseball

As many Catchers have multiple stolen bases (6) as First Basemen

Cody Bellinger has as many Runs, HR, RBI, SB, and Avg as any other 1B in baseball. Yep, all five roto categories.

Most strike outs to least homers? You may be surprised.

Chris Davis 57/5
Joey Votto 50/4
Miguel Cabrera 44/2

Leury Garcia has the most Runs (38) with the least homers (2) in baseball

17 players have as many or more stolen bases than last years league leaders, Whit Merrifield (8) and Trea Turner (8)

Merrifield has as many or more (5) caught stealing than any player in baseball

According to WAR, Cody Bellinger is twice the player than all but eight players

Bellinger (.379), Arenado (.342), and Josh Bell (.333) have been hit by a pitch (one time) less than 177 other players

Joey Gallo has not grounded into a double play

Manny Machado (16) and Paul Goldschmidt (16) have as many extra base hits as David Fletcher and David Bote

Gordon Beckham has as many or more (10) extra base hits as Miguel Cabrera (10)

Top 'grounder' hitters...

Starlin Castro- 107
Lorenzo Cain- 103
Eric Hosmer- 98
Andrelton Simmons- 96
Marcus Semien- 93

Top 'Fly' hitters...

Jorge Polanco- 129
Cody Bellinger- 128
Whit Merrifield- 127
Nolan Arenado- 126
Yuli Gurriel- 123

19 players have as many or more fly balls than Castro's league leading ground ball total