Today’s high octane leadoff hitters are of a different makeup than those who dominated the role in the 20th century. Consider that going back to 1901, the single-year high marks for home runs, RBI, total bases and extra-base hits when batting leadoff all come from players in the 21st century, […]
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 […]
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 […]
In every campaign from 1995 through 2002, Mike Piazza withstood the rigors of catching to emerge, by the end of the regular season, with at least 30 homers as part of his show and tell demonstration of what he did for the spring, summer and early part of fall. That’s […]
In 1924, Herb Pennock went 21-9 for the Yankees to become the franchise’s first 20-game winning southpaw. The honorific would be handed off – one Hall of Famer to another – to Lefty Gomez, who rang up a quartet of 20-win seasons in the 1930s (including a pair of Triple […]