Entering 2025, the postseason account books showed 67 players who drove in at least 14 runs through their first 18 games, with Lou Gehrig and Adolis García tied for the most, 22. A second focus revealed a much smaller collection to have scored at least 17 runs through their first […]
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, […]
Cast the script back to 1977 … The good: just 21 years old, Cardinals shortstop Garry Templeton bats .322 and amasses 200 hits (both top-three marks in the NL) and paces the Senior Circuit with 18 triples. The bad: somehow, despite coming to the plate 644 times, Templeton draws 15 […]
Rickey Henderson’s 25-year journey across the big leagues saw him don uniforms for nine different franchises, a voyage that ultimately produced 297 longballs to pair with his 1,406 thefts. Many of the members of the 250-homer, 250-steal club experienced a fairly nomadic existence, with 10 of them playing for at […]
Sometimes, a player’s line doesn’t need the author’s flourishes – the adjectives, the superlatives, the flow-y and show-y. The numbers, with perhaps just a little context, are all that’s required to … sing. Here’s one such story – just the facts. On June 25, 1987, the visiting Reds lost […]
When the day got started at Briggs Stadium in Detroit on July 19, 1955, rookie Babe Birrer was just a witness, two days removed from his last appearance. But when Frank Lary opened the sixth by surrendering a walk and a run-scoring double, Birrer made his entrance. Inheriting the tying […]
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 […]
Over in the NL this season, Chicago’s Kyle Tucker and New York’s Pete Alonso share the league leads in both RBI (with 25) and extra-base hits (17). One of the two is also pacing the league in runs, hits, total bases, times on base (all Tucker), doubles and OPS+ (Alonso). […]
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 […]