First Chair

It’s Saturday, October 12 – Game 5 of the ALDS pitting Detroit against Cleveland – and the Tigers have just used up the first three of their 27 allotted outs, leading to Steven Kwan leading off the first for Cleveland.  Entering this do-or-die contest, Kwan has posted a .500/.556/.563 line through the first four games, scoring four runs with one steal.  The 27-year-old’s work so far has got me thinking about leadoff hitters in the postseason, pondering some of the most disruptive, game-changing #1 batters October baseball has witnessed.  

Really, this exploration should start with perhaps the most accomplished leadoff hitter in postseason history – Lou Brock.  Although he played in all seven games of St. Louis’ victory in the 1964 Fall Classic, Brock batted second that year.  The role fit him quite nicely, as he hit .300 on the nose, drove in five runs and even contributed – leading off the fifth inning – a home run in the decisive Game 7.  Three years later, now firmly in the top spot of the order, Brock started authoring his leadoff legend.

All told, in the Cardinals’ seven-game triumph over the Red Sox in the 1967 World Series, Brock went 12-for-29 with four extra-base hits, stole seven bags and scored eight runs.  His slash line proclaimed an awe-inspiring .414/.452/.655 and he – if not for Bob Gibson’s work from the mound – would have been MVP (right?).  The 12 hits left him one shy of tying a World Series record, the steals established a new high mark, and the runs scored matched him with a bunch of others for the third most, trailing only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.  If he wasn’t at the forefront of everything, he was in the middle of most everything.  

Brock’s encore wasn’t half bad, either.

In the 1968 Fall Classic, Brock improved on all three of the slash components, pounding Tigers’ pitching to the sweet, sweet melody of .464/.516/857.  This time, he piled up 13 hits to tie the World Series record, spread six of those knocks for extra bases (tying the Fall Classic high mark), and matched his own record with another seven steals.  The only thing that really took a downward position was his six runs scored (alas, that slide/no-slide choice in Game 5).  

And that was it for the future Hall of Famer, who never appeared in another postseason game.  But the shadow his two-year run casts over all other leadoff performances is immense:  .439/.484/.754/1.238, with 14 runs scored and 14 stolen bases in 14 games, five doubles, two triples and three home runs.  For all leadoff hitters in postseason history with a minimum of 50 plate appearances, Brock’s batting average, slugging percentage and OPS are the best, while his on-base percentage is second best*.  No other player in World Series history – regardless of where he was slotted in the batting order – tallied more stolen bases.

Brock’s superiority has more than enough support, but of course, other contenders made their own special marks when leading things off.  José Offerman went bananas hitting first for the Red Sox during Boston’s 10-game odyssey through the 1999 postseason, hitting safely in nine contests and compiling a .520 on-base percentage in 50 trips to the plate (*thus ruining Brock’s sweep of the rate-stat categories).  No Red Sox batter has ever managed a better on-base mark in a single postseason (min. 50 PA) – not Ortiz or Manny or any of the other heroes who’ve called Fenway or the Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds home.  

And then there’s the only other real – in this writer’s opinion – challenger to Brock’s throne:  Lenny Dykstra.  Nails played in 25 postseason games hitting from the top spot in the order, and there, showcased his propensity to be a can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him destructive force.  Even when not slotted into the top spot in the starting lineup, “leading off” and “whoa” seemed to harmonize for Dykstra, like his unforgettable and maybe series-saving, pinch-hit triple to lead off the ninth inning in Game 6 of the 1986 NLCS.  Then, in Game 3 of the ‘86 World Series – after the Mets had dropped the first two at home – Dykstra settled into the leadoff spot in the order and opened the game with a home run.  By the end of the night, the Mets had a 7-1 victory and Dykstra had himself a four-hit, two-run game.

Hits – big hits – and walks and runs would keep pouring in for the center fielder when he was penciled in at the top of a postseason lineup, as he slashed .344/.481/.770 with seven longballs and 19 runs scored in 16 games from 1988-1993.  By the time he was through, Dykstra had 120 postseason plate appearances when batting as the leadoff hitter and slashed .320/.424/.650 /1.074 while scoring 23 runs in 25 games (in part, thanks to nine dingers).  In the brightest and most taut environments, Dykstra – when batting first – was a slugger whose slash line would look right at home next to Gehrig’s or Foxx’s or Greenberg’s.  

Some of the game’s most notable and electric and captivating leadoff hitters have had their time in the postseason orbit:  Rickey Henderson and Pete Rose, Ichiro Suzuki and Paul Molitor, Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Craig Biggio. Some authored memorable moments and series when hitting first during October (and check out Stan Hack when hitting leadoff in the postseason).  But when it comes to filling out my own pretend lineup card for my own imaginary postseason All-Star squad, I’m writing “Lou Brock” at the very top.

Oh yeah … Steven Kwan did pretty well in his latest chance to influence the playoffs when leading off

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.