Rather famously, Willie Mays’ introduction with the Giants in 1951 started with a few too many zeroes: 0-for-5, 0-for-3, 0-for-4. That 0-for-12 start was, also rather famously, put to rest by a swing and a drive in the first inning on May 28: a solo homer to left against Warren […]
In 1988, Kirby Puckett was the most Kirby Puckett of all: more hits in a season (234) than any other in his career before or after; a higher batting average (.356) than in any other campaign across his 12-year career; a 3.33 walk rate that was (okay, fine) the second […]
On April 24, 1964, the Giants pummeled the Reds, 15-5. This being the mid-1960s, it’s not a shock to see that Willie Mays was greatly involved in letting Cincinnati have it. It was a bit of an everything game for the inner circle great – five runs scored, a pair […]
Since Dave Roberts started steering the Dodgers in 2016, the club owns the Majors’ best overall winning percentage at .628. For all this says about the franchise’s sustained brilliance, the team has – in the aggregate – needed a little bit of runway to soar. Over this 10-season stretch, Los […]
Dissecting and inspecting any Mariners season through the easily compartmentalized segments of “monthly” splits, the usual suspects dominate the collection for the highest OPS. For the top 10, Álex Rodríguez claims three of the slots, including the very best, a 1.412 in May of 1999. Ken Griffey, Jr. owns two […]
It’s been more than a decade since the American League saw the same player capture the batting crown, on-base title, and slugging belt. A year after he claimed the traditional Triple Crown in 2012, Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera took home the rate-stat version, slashing .348/.442/.636. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer – in 2009 […]
Recently, I was skipping through the Major League leaderboards on Baseball Reference, just passing the time while the coffee brewed on the stove, when an enormously cool occurrence jumped off the screen: in 1955, the top 10 in position player bWAR was made up of 10 future Hall of Famers. […]
This past season, Royals All-Star Bobby Witt, Jr. – AL batting champ, runner-up in league MVP voting, Silver Slugger, Gold Glover, producer of the second highest extra-base hit tally ever for a shortstop – also enjoyed a flirtation with hitting .400 … at home. The dalliance fell short, leaving the […]
Following this opening, there’s a little more than a thousand words devoted to connecting the three AL MVP finalists from 2024 to the past. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are going to be referenced, as will Honus Wagner and Rogers Hornsby. Ted Williams and Stan Musial are brought up, as […]