September baseball is the time to meaningfully count – up and down. With each contest that marches upward toward the 162nd, postseason pursuers can focus on a magic number, counting down toward the desired zero that translates to October baseball. With each day moving a player closer to his final […]
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 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 […]
Little time is required to recite the lineage of shortstops who’ve produced at least 50 doubles in a season. Boston’s Joe Cronin was the first to do this, reaching 51 two-base hits in 1938. Cronin was left all by himself for a long time, until a burst starting in the […]
Scooping up all the seasons from 1893 through 2024 and then sifting through to keep only the most productive offensive campaigns from catchers, one would be left with just 68 lines that were styled in the form of at least 100 games behind the plate and an OPS of at […]
Since 1893, there are 32 examples of a National or American Leaguer operating in his age-23 or younger season, qualifying for the batting title, and finishing the year with a .350 or better average. There’s some mighty famed campaigns to have climbed this peak. There’s Joe Jackson’s record rookie season […]
In the bottom of the first at Crosley Field on July 6, 1949, Reds cleanup hitter Walker Cooper singled with two outs to move a runner to third. The inning-extending knock turned out to be both a consequential moment for the club and for the 34-year-old who had been acquired […]
In 1987, homers ruled. Mark McGwire launched 49 to obliterate the existing rookie record. Over in the NL, Andre Dawson matched that tally, making the ’87 season the first since 1961 to see multiple players climb so high. In all, 28 players hit at least 30 home runs, more than […]