In the first game of a doubleheader on August 19, 1930, Cubs center fielder Hack Wilson delighted the home crowd with his 43rd home run of the year – an astounding total from a couple of perspectives. There was this: by day’s end, Wilson enjoyed a 14-homer leadership advantage over […]
Rickey Henderson’s 25-year journey across the big leagues saw him don uniforms for nine different franchises, a voyage that ultimately produced 297 longballs to pair with his 1,406 thefts. Many of the members of the 250-homer, 250-steal club experienced a fairly nomadic existence, with 10 of them playing for at […]
From 1893 through 2024, the records speak of 228 pitchers who amassed at least 20 starts in a season and finished that campaign by averaging less than a hit and walk allowed per inning pitched. In terms of volume of sub-one WHIP years, Walter Johnson claims the biggest piece of […]
The 1950 Red Sox scored 1,027 runs – the 12th highest buildup in history and one that hasn’t been matched or surpassed since it rose so high. That club had some doozies when it came to single-game pinnacles, tallying at least 20 runs on three separate occasions, with a high […]
In an easy-going, 20-4 rout of the St. Louis Browns on May 21, 1925, Philadelphia Athletics backstop Mickey Cochrane erupted for three home runs. The verb is useful here, as Cochrane entered the game with one four-base hit on his career ledger; then again, he had only played 27 games […]
In the famed 1941 season, the one that peaked with an historic hitting streak and a legendary batting title, neither the streaker (Joe DiMaggio) nor the titleist (Ted Williams) paced the AL in hits. Instead, that overshadowed accomplishment belonged to Washington’s shortstop, Cecil Travis. With his 218 knocks, Travis became […]
Baseball Reference’s accounting delivers a list of 58 position players who generated at least 20.0 WAR through their age-24 seasons. There are three who are credited with a number above 40.0, with the Angels’ Mike Trout (47.5) ahead of the Tigers’ Ty Cobb and the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle. The Seattle […]
When he finished his Hall of Fame career in 1947, Hank Greenberg had scorched, sailed, soared and smacked 781 baseballs for extra-base hits. That tally represented 47.97% of all the hits he had produced over his 13-year career, a percentage that 78 years after he was done tormenting big league […]
The 1925 Athletics roster featured four future Hall of Famers, with three of them in their debut seasons – Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Mickey Cochrane. The fourth, Al Simmons, was experiencing his second go-round and did he ever make a splash: a league-leading 253 hits, a league-leading 392 total […]
Harold Baines drove in 1,628 runs in his 22-year career, more RBI than all but 33 players in Major League history. The number and ranking is/was an essential part of his narrative, even serving as the final statement on his Hall of Fame plaque. 10 of those 1,628 came in […]