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 […]
For those within a certain age range, Dwight Gooden’s 1985 season resonates like no other. The alchemy of age, dominance, the fact that his curveball seemed to (to me, at least) hop upward before crashing down, being in New York, the heights and the depths of the numbers, all of […]
Almost exactly 38 years ago, on July 20, 1987, the Yankees’ Don Mattingly tied the nine-inning, AL record for putouts as a first baseman, with 22. The landmark achievement, which had been accomplished twice before in the league (both occurrences coming in 1906), gave Mattingly a line in the record […]
Since the NL and AL started tussling in the Midsummer Classic, 30 pitchers have been able to take a breath at the pause to the season and pridefully point to already owning at least 15 wins. Bob Feller was the first to have this chance, way back in 1941 when […]
The NL roster for the 1920 season counted eight clubs; in order of finish that year: the Robins (Dodgers), Giants, Reds, Pirates, Cubs, Cardinals, Braves, Phillies. From that season to the one currently being unfurled, each franchise can crane its metaphorical neck from one end to the other, gazing at […]
Among the more robust RBI men in the game this year, there are four who belong to a family of sorts: let’s call it the Al Simmons Club (you’ll see why later on). Among other notables both hidden inside and blaring out of his Hall of Fame statistical record, Simmons […]
The 1895 Baltimore Orioles won more games than any other NL club that year and did so with a young array of talent that shimmers even when looking from a perch more than 125 years removed. By Baseball Reference’s accounting and evaluation, that club had a trio of position players […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Aaron Judge carnival of wonders, the thumping by Cal Raleigh and Kyle Schwarber, the walloping and run-scoring fusillade from Shohei Ohtani. In a sense, the 2025 campaign has been largely consumed with the bombers, whether their explosions have been confined to four-baggers or just an integral part of the […]