On June 29, 1937, Chicago Cubs first baseman Ripper Collins played a full nine inning game, but did not make a single putout. A first baseman has failed to make a putout in a nine inning game three times in baseball history. Collins did it twice, also doing it in 1935.
Stat I heard I last night in the nationals v. Red Sox game: Ted Williams had a higher career OPS than any single season OPS of any active player.
That's wild. William's had a 1.116 OPS. Pujols was closest at 1.114 in 09. Harper was at 1.109 in 15.
On July 3, 1983, the visiting Texas Rangers scored 12 runs in the top of the 15th inning to beat the Oakland A’s 16-4. It’s the most runs ever scored in extra innings. Dave Beard gave up 7 runs and took the loss.
Especially disappointing as an Oakland A, considering former owner Charlie Finley wrote a bonus clause into every player’s contract beginning in 1972 paying a bonus to every player who grew a mustache. He divorced his wife in 1980 and refused to take 1/2 ownership of the team, forcing him to sell it.
How much fun was 1998? McGuire/Sosa/Griffey? On July 5, 1998: -Roger Clemons won his 300th game -Juan Gonzalez became the second player in history to have 100 RBIs by All Star Break -the Yankees improved to 61-20, the best start to the midsession point in baseball history
On July 10, 1934, Carl Hubbel started for the National League in the second Major League Baseball All Star Game. He was the NL MVP in 1933. Hubbel faced a lineup of 9 AL players who each became Baseball Hall of Fame members—Charlie Gehringer, Henie Manush, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Fox, Al Simmons, Joe Cronin, Bill Dicky and Lefty Gomez. After allowing a walk and single to Gehringer and Manush in the first, Hubbel struck out the next five batters in a row—Ruth, Gehrig, Fox, Simmons, and Cronin. Dickey got a single and he struck out Gomez to close the second. Hubbel had arguably the best screwball in baseball history, breaking opposite a curve.
Although Willie Mays is famous for his over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series, arguably his best catch came on July 24, 1951. Playing at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Mays caught Rocky Nelson’s fly ball at 457 feet in center. He caught it over-the-shoulder on a full sprint and caught it bare handed because the ball was too far from his glove hand to reach across his body. The catch solidified him as the front runner for NL Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, I can’t find a photo of the 1951 catch.
CF at Forbes was 442 feet. There was a corner - similar to todays PNC Park - that was 462 feet from home. So far were these distances, that the grounds crew just left the batting cage on the field.
Lefty Grove won his 20th game on July 25, 1931 to improve to 20-2. He finished the season 31-4 with a 2.06 ERA. He is one of only three pitchers to win 30 since the end of the dead ball era, Dizzy Dean in 1934 and Denny McLain in 1968 are the others.
Willie Stargell hit 475 career home runs. He played 7 full seasons in Forbes and never hit more than 33 in 1966, which was his only season in Forbes over 30. In his first 4 seasons in Three Rivers, he hit 31, 48, 33, and 44.
Gwynn is one of the most under appreciated player in baseball history. His .338 career average is 18 all time, but Ted Williams is the only player after WWII who is higher. He hit above .350 five seasons in a row mid-90’s. Throughout the entire 1990’s, the most strikeouts he had in a season was 28 and he only went over 20 twice the entire decade. He had 651 plate appearances the year he struck out 28.
Who under-appreciates Tony Gwynn? He's a first ballot HOFer who had the 8th-highest percentage of votes in HOF voting history. People ITT are yelling at dblplay1212 for being honest about his abilities and not even criticizing him.
People are yelling? I said he was the best pure hitter I have seen. I wasn't speaking for anyone but myself.
Look, he was a 15 time all star and first ballot hall of fame, he was appreciated. I think he is under appreciated. The guy is without any peers when it comes to batting average. His closest contemporaries are 10 points below his career average. He led the NL in hits 7 times and batting average 8 times, but only finished higher than 6 in MVP voting once in 1984 before his career took off. He finished 7th in MVP voting in 1994 despite a .394 average that is as close to .400 as any player since 1941 when Williams did it.
That's bc most people today realize batting avg isn't a great judge of the player's value. He was primarily a singles hitter that rarely walked. He had no power, no speed, and was terrible defensively. He did one thing great, hit singles. Today we understand a walk is almost as valuable as a single. His career OBP of .388 was very good, just not elite. Mark McGwire had a higher OBP than Tony Gwynn. John Kruk had a higher OBP than Tony Gwynn. Jason Giambi had a higher OBP than Tony Gwynn. Should I go on? He was elite as hitting singles. That's it. For reference, Choo has a higher OBP this year than Gwynn did in his career. Choo is hitting .278. He just walks a lot to get OBP rather than slapping a single. Tony Gwynn is overrated bc of an outdated statistic.
He had speed his first 7-8 years. He had 319 SBs in his career. His five highest SB seasons were: 54 40 37 33 26 He's 35th all-time in doubles and was top 25 in doubles when he retired.
True, young Gwynn could run a little bit. For the majority of his career though, he wasn't a threat. I'm not trying to bag on him. He has elite at putting bat on baseball, he just didn't do much with it when he hit it.
sorry man you jus gotta accept that gwynn wasn’t that good. he was only 1 win better than kenny lofton. war has spoken
Why do you take the comment that Gwynn and Lofton rank right next to each other as a suggestion that Gwynn wasn't that good? Kenny Lofton was better than a lot of OFs in the HOF. Saying someone was basically the same as Kenny Lofton is a compliment.