The early part of any season is so much fun in so many ways, including the weirdness of early-season statistics. The box scores add up, the individual player lines reflect those accumulations and a couple or a few weeks into things, the numerical revelations can be worth a second glance […]
In 1956, Henry Aaron – playing in his age-22 season – led the NL with 340 total bases. Over in the AL, Mickey Mantle – playing in his age-24 season – paced the Junior Circuit in this same category, with 376. This excerpt from that season is notable not only […]
When Reggie Jackson hit 37 home runs before the 1969 All-Star break, that explosive first half saw the youngster (he turned 23 that May) wallop in bunches, with eight multi-home run games. Imagine that – before the Midsummer Classic that year, Jackson already had more multi-homer games than any other […]
It’s been more than a decade since the American League saw the same player capture the batting crown, on-base title, and slugging belt. A year after he claimed the traditional Triple Crown in 2012, Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera took home the rate-stat version, slashing .348/.442/.636. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer – in 2009 […]
In 2002, reigning NL MVP Barry Bonds opened the season looking like he had taken a couple of days – rather five months – off. Through the Giants’ first three games for that encore campaign, Bonds collected six hits with five going for extra bases. There was a double and […]