The 1996 Rockies roster boasted the NL leader in home runs and RBI (Andrés Galarraga), the league’s top base stealer (Eric Young, Sr.) and the top guy in runs scored, total bases, extra-base hits and slugging percentage, Ellis Burks. Burks’ line also dazzled with 40 home runs and 32 steals, […]
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 […]
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 […]
120 years ago, a Reds center fielder named Cy Seymour emblazoned his 10th Major League season with a line so far beyond anything he’d accomplished before and anything he’d do in his final six years after this pinnacle: a startling, awe-inspiring mountain flanked by short, rolling hills. In 1905, left-handed […]
The 2025 Tigers have scored 309 runs – an impressive output at this stage of the season but not really anything exceptional to trace through history. The worthiness of any exploration lies along a convergent path, one that places that runs scored tally alongside the team’s runs allowed (Detroit has […]
When Rennie Stennett tied the Major League record for hits in a nine-inning game, his seven came out of the leadoff spot. When he tied the modern era record for triples in a game, Lance Johnson struck his three when batting at the top of the order. When they tied […]
From 1973 through 1981, Richie Hebner participated in eight Opening Days. “Participated,” while accurate, fails to match the power of the corner infielder’s impact in those contests. He went 18-for-33 (.545), scored 13 runs and whammed his way to making a baker’s dozen of those safeties go for extra bases […]