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 […]
In 1938, while producing more multi-home run games in a season (11) than anyone before, Hank Greenberg walloped 58 home runs. In all the years since, no one has surpassed those 11; in all the seasons since, no Tiger has matched those 58. As the game has evolved and four-base […]
On September 25, 1964, Angels right-hander Dean Chance claimed his 20th win of the year, but it wasn’t easy, as his Halos scored their only run in the bottom of the eighth. Given a lead, at last, Chance then retired Harmon Killebrew on a flyball to right, got Jimmie Hall […]
A year ago, Shohei Ohtani flirted with the exceptional achievement of clocking triple digits in extra-base hits, a feat that’s been managed only 15 times in this National Pastime’s history. Ultimately falling one shy of the century mark, Ohtani had to settle instead for a belt that was stitched with […]
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 […]
Albert Pujols’ first 10 seasons were as close to ideal as any player has ever experienced – a full-time player from day one, no significant time lost to injury or labor issues or global conflict or global pandemic, a start at a very young age, eye-popping numbers throughout. That […]
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 1904 Athletics – pitching staff residence for a trio of Hall of Famers – saw their starters average 5.93 strikeouts per nine innings. Under the lights shining on the current environment, that figure may look, feel, sound … anemic, blah, laughable, but for the era, it was anything but. […]
The 1925 Athletics roster featured four future Hall of Famers, with three of them in their debut seasons – Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Mickey Cochrane. The fourth, Al Simmons, was experiencing his second go-round and did he ever make a splash: a league-leading 253 hits, a league-leading 392 total […]
As the NL’s Rookie of the Year in 2023, Corbin Carroll produced 30 doubles, 10 triples and 25 homers. Last year, the doubles and home runs columns each saw the Diamondback ink in ‘22’ while adding another 14 three-base hits. This season (his age-24 campaign), he’s on pace to again […]