Baseball Reference’s accounting delivers a list of 58 position players who generated at least 20.0 WAR through their age-24 seasons. There are three who are credited with a number above 40.0, with the Angels’ Mike Trout (47.5) ahead of the Tigers’ Ty Cobb and the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle. The Seattle […]
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 […]
In 1923, while helping guide a Reds pitching staff to the best ERA In the Major Leagues, backstop Bubbles Hargrave also made an immense etching on the offensive side, posting a .333/.419/.521 line. The effort not only gave the 31-year-old a place among the top-10 in the NL in all […]
Late in the Giants’ season in 1923, first baseman George Kelly came to the plate five times, and, in the old refrain, “fell a triple shy of the cycle.” No matter, for Kelly, instead, homered three times in an exquisite 5-for-5 day at the plate. The performance marked only the […]
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 […]
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 […]
All the way back in June of 1929, Mel Ott (all of 20 years old) punished NL pitchers to the tune of a .339/.500/.711 slash line that featured an astounding 47 RBI. The month featuring the start of summer has never since seen one player drive in as many runs […]
In 1924, Herb Pennock went 21-9 for the Yankees to become the franchise’s first 20-game winning southpaw. The honorific would be handed off – one Hall of Famer to another – to Lefty Gomez, who rang up a quartet of 20-win seasons in the 1930s (including a pair of Triple […]
When Arizona hosted San Diego on August 7, 2010, the visitors were clearly the superior team: first in the NL West, a full 22 games ahead of the cellar-dwelling Diamondbacks. But, at least for this particular day, the Padres had little shot, for they didn’t have Chris Young (at least […]