When Dave Kingman closed his career in 1986, the 37-year-old had produced 442 home runs – at the time, the 19th most in baseball history. Those 442 also represented an unprecedented 28.1% of his entire collection of hits – a greater percentage than any ballplayer with at least 5,000 plate […]
Albert Pujols’ first 10 seasons were as close to ideal as any player has ever experienced – a full-time player from day one, no significant time lost to injury or labor issues or global conflict or global pandemic, a start at a very young age, eye-popping numbers throughout. That […]
There have been 32 Yankees to power through an August and come out at the end with at least nine home runs and at least 23 RBI. Babe Ruth did this on his way toward establishing a new home run record in 1921. Joe DiMaggio did it on his way […]
Across his magnificent, inaugural Hall of Fame class career, Christy Mathewson paced all his NL peers in fewest walks per nine innings on seven different occasions, a repetition of supremacy that since Matty had his last leadership campaign in 1915, has been surpassed by only Greg Maddux. Before Mathewson started […]
In 1925, Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett became the first player ever to position himself behind the dish for at least half his games and reach the 20-homer plateau, knocking the ball around for 24 four-baggers. Seemingly empowered by the feat, Hartnett then significantly raised the bar in 1930, producing […]
The Red Sox and Yankees have been tussling since 1903, a span that has seen the clash tally up to nearly 2,300 contests. For the team in Boston, this epic rivalry has witnessed Cy Young and Smoky Joe Wood emerge as the winningest pitchers, each collecting 20 victories against the […]
The 1904 Athletics – pitching staff residence for a trio of Hall of Famers – saw their starters average 5.93 strikeouts per nine innings. Under the lights shining on the current environment, that figure may look, feel, sound … anemic, blah, laughable, but for the era, it was anything but. […]
Major League Baseball’s story in the 21st century has been significantly devoted to single-season longball feats – a Major League record here, an AL record there, a shuffling of NL and AL rookie records, perhaps a new record for catchers this season. The narrative has been much less consumed by […]
Over his past 25 games, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner is batting .330, with 36 knocks over 109 at-bats. This stretch won’t be regarded as scintillating or historic or any other word, expression or phrase generally reserved for the upper tier levels of “wow” on a big league diamond. But, Turner’s […]
The Rangers franchise has seen Hall of Fame starting pitchers Fergie Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Bert Blyleven and Nolan Ryan pass through town on their way to Cooperstown. The franchise has boasted of All-Star hurlers like Kevin Brown, Cliff Lee, Kenny Rogers, Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish. But none of these […]