Over a five-year stretch from 1948-1952, the average Ralph Kiner season looked like this: 109 runs scored, 44 home runs, 112 RBI, 119 walks. Only 10 different players – apart from Kiner – have assembled that line in a season, and that’s what Kiner averaged. And if that perspective is […]
In his farewell season in 2016, David Ortiz positively scoffed and sneered and even snarled at that old figure, Father Time. Playing his final game of the year just a couple of months shy of his 41st birthday, Ortiz concluded his age-40 campaign with 38 round-trippers and a .620 slugging […]
A consideration of the variables and measurements that impact the resonance (or ephemerality) of a performer’s stretch of success is beyond this mere little introduction; suffice it to say, why and how and to what degree we recall and remember and imprint could fill up a season’s worth of dialogue. […]
Since the 20th century gave way to the 21st, 1,713 contests have abruptly and resoundingly concluded with a home run. Pinch-hitters have authored 104 of these dream (or nightmare) scenarios, going from witness to hero in whatever time it took to emerge off the pine, prep in the on-deck space, […]
When Dave Kingman closed his career in 1986, the 37-year-old had produced 442 home runs – at the time, the 19th most in baseball history. Those 442 also represented an unprecedented 28.1% of his entire collection of hits – a greater percentage than any ballplayer with at least 5,000 plate […]
In 1925, Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett became the first player ever to position himself behind the dish for at least half his games and reach the 20-homer plateau, knocking the ball around for 24 four-baggers. Seemingly empowered by the feat, Hartnett then significantly raised the bar in 1930, producing […]
The Rangers franchise has seen Hall of Fame starting pitchers Fergie Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Bert Blyleven and Nolan Ryan pass through town on their way to Cooperstown. The franchise has boasted of All-Star hurlers like Kevin Brown, Cliff Lee, Kenny Rogers, Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish. But none of these […]
From the time the 20th century got rolling through the year before Franklin D. Roosevelt captured his first presidential election, big offensive seasons from NL or AL second basemen weren’t all that rare. This is in thanks, just about exclusively, to the immortal trio of Nap Lajoie, Rogers Hornsby and […]
In an easy-going, 20-4 rout of the St. Louis Browns on May 21, 1925, Philadelphia Athletics backstop Mickey Cochrane erupted for three home runs. The verb is useful here, as Cochrane entered the game with one four-base hit on his career ledger; then again, he had only played 27 games […]