When Jimmie Foxx hit 50 home runs for the Red Sox in 1938, his home environs at Fenway Park offered a seductive set of dimensions for the slugger – so much so that 70% of his round-trippers (35 of 50) came in the home whites. Right now (but seemingly not […]
A jubilant Ted Williams almost galloping around the basepaths in the aftermath of his swing against Claude Passeau in 1941. Stan Musial thrilling the crowd at County Stadium with his typically understated trot from home to home in 1955. Johnny Callison taming The Monster – Dick Radatz – with a […]
Even with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx in its corner, the AL has played second fiddle to its older sibling when it comes to producing players to reach 400 total bases in a season, with the Junior Circuit having 12 to the NL’s 18. From 1921 (when […]
Baseball Reference identifies 26 players as having a breadth and volume of skills and performance to have amassed – by the time all was said and done – at least 50.0 offensive WAR (oWAR) and at least 15.0 defensive WAR (dWAR). There are some inner, inner-circle all-timers here, some “If […]
If they (and we) are fortunate, defending MVPs Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge will end their respective seasons with somewhere north of 150 games played – an almost daily entry across six months of regular season baseball. In contrast, the best pitchers will present their arms and offerings – if […]
Across 16 seasons, representing seven franchises, while manning first (a lot) and third (a little) and adding about equal time behind the dish and as a DH, Carlos Santana has drawn 1,315 walks in 9,094 plate appearances. “So what?” you might ask. Here’s what. There are 23 players in baseball […]
Jacob deGrom started attacking (and silencing) big league hitters for the official accounting on May 15, 2014, when he allowed a single run over seven innings (and took the loss in a 1-0 affair). The right-hander was 25 years old for this debut and with four hits and two walks […]
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 2001, Barry Bonds had only 156 hits – tied for 71st most in the Majors that year. Of course, the NL MVP had plenty of other categories to tout in a proclamation of his batting superiority, including a big league-best 107 extra-base hits (which also happened to be one […]
When the 1984 Tigers closed up shop for the night on May 22, the club was an astounding 33-5 (.868 winning percentage) with an equally double-look, spit-take worthy run differential of 110. That immense difference between runs scored and allowed through 38 contests hadn’t been reached since 1939, when the […]