Five Statistical Facts about Enos Slaughter

His name almost makes Rusty Kuntz’s sound normal. Hall of Fame outfielder Enos Slaughter may be best known for a few unpopular opinions about race however as a baseball player he was very good. Elected by the Veteran’s Committee in 1985 to the Hall of Fame, Slaughter is one of the overlooked players from the 1940s and 1950s when baseball was going through major social changes. Admittedly, I’m not so familiar with him either so join me while I too learn these five statistical facts about him.

Why a Hall of Famer?

Most guys in the Hall of Fame have a number or two where it’s fairly obvious why they were elected. For Slaughter, a guy who took over a decade to get in, it’s not as easy. Slaughter happened to miss three seasons from 1943-1945 because he was off battling the Nazis. This was what could have been the prime of his career so his overall numbers are a bit lacking. He still did have 2,383 career hits and a .300 batting average with a .382 on-base percentage. Slaughter happened to play in an era when big offensive numbers were slightly weaker than the ones the superstars put up today, so by comparison he was in or near the elite status.

Walks to Strikeout Ratio

Perhaps Slaughter’s biggest strength was his eye. In total, Slaughter amassed 1,018 career walks while only striking out 538 times. Particularly early in his career when he came back from saving the world, Slaughter was consistently drawing about 3 times as many walks per season as he was striking out.

By St. Louis Cardinals – 1941 Team Issue [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Postseason Batting

The first three World Series Slaughter played in, his team won. Overall he was 4-1, only losing with the New York Yankees in 1957 in between winning the year previous and after. Individually, Slaughter hit .291 with a .406 on-base percentage. He also had 3 home runs, including 1 in 1956 when he also had a .350 batting average against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Consistency

Slaughter’s splits between the first and second half are frighteningly identical. In the first half he had 1,174 hits, 84 home runs, and a .295 average. In the second half he had 1,208 hits, 85 home runs, and a .304 batting average. Even from month to month Slaughter was consistent hitting .307 in April, .299 in May, .285 in June, .305 in July, .302 in August, and .306 in September.

All-Star Games

There were 10 times when Slaughter was selected to the All-Star Game. This occurred from 1941-1953 with those absent years in between. All occurred with the St. Louis Cardinals too, making me wonder what happened to him when he joined the Yankees in 1954.

Qualifications for the Modern Day Hall of Fame Pitcher

What does it take to become a Hall of Fame pitcher? Does he need a certain amount of wins? Does he need a Cy Young Award on his resume? Is a memorable postseason required?

For the longest time, it seemed there were milestone numbers a player could reach for an automatic trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Offensive players had 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, or living up to the adage “three out of ten make a Hall of Famer” with a .300 career batting average. These are no longer automatic trips to Cooperstown thanks to PED suspicion and general offensive explosions.

Meanwhile pitchers trying to get into the Hall of Fame have a different disadvantage. They no longer pitch as many games or innings as they used to so it’s important to always consider the era when comparing statistics. Cy Young, the all-time leader in wins, had 511 in his career. A modern-day pitcher can easily get into Cooperstown with less than half of that. For instance, Pedro Martinez goes into Cooperstown this summer with 219 wins in his career.

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Asking a pitcher to win 300 games in a career is a very high demand. In spite of the fewer starts we see on a regular basis, we’re pretty lucky to have four pitchers who played throughout the 1990s get to the milestone. Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, and Randy Johnson all won over 300 games.

Johnson was the most recent to reach 300, doing so in 2009. This may be the last time for a while too as nobody is very close at all. The 300-win mark is a good automatic judge for a Hall of Famer, but at the same level as 600 home runs. The only pitcher with 300 or more wins not in the Hall of Fame is Clemens and it has everything to do with PEDs—not baseball skill.

Wins are not everything when it comes to determining a pitcher’s value for Hall of Fame candidacy. As mentioned before, Martinez was elected in 2015 with only 219 of them. His career 2.93 ERA, 3,154 strikeouts, and three Cy Young Awards all helped him become an easy choice. A more realistic number for the modern-day Hall of Fame pitcher to try achieving might be 250 wins.

This total is still far from a guarantee. Players like Tommy John, Jim Kaat, and Mike Mussina all surpassed 250 wins and are without a Hall of Fame plaque. Andy Pettitte also celebrated his 250th career win at one point. Other statistics, like his 3.85 ERA, take away from this accomplishment.

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In terms of strikeouts, reaching 3,000 seems to be milestone most want to reach. Again, though, this is not a guarantee at the Hall of Fame. Curt Schilling finished his career with over 3,000 and hasn’t come very close to Hall of Fame enshrinement. He doesn’t have the cloud of PEDs hanging over his head either. Similar to Pettitte, other numbers Schilling had are holding him back.

Unfortunately, for the Hall of Fame, using a pitcher’s ERA is not a good representation. While a very good number, it doesn’t tell the whole story of a pitcher.

The best example I could find of a modern day Hall of Fame pitcher might be Tim Hudson. Even with him, I’m not sure he belongs in Cooperstown even though he’s one of the best pitchers of this era. More than 200 wins, an ERA below 3.50, and a winning percentage of .633 make him worthy of all of the accolades anyone can earn.

By Rich Anderson (Tim Hudson warming up) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The modern day Hall of Fame pitcher may not look as elite as he used to with few exceptions. Someone like Hudson, consistent for nearly two decades, is what it takes now for a pitcher to earn his spot in the Hall of Fame.

Five Statistical Facts about Bob Feller

According to Baseball-Reference’s Fan EloRater, only 13 pitchers put up better statistics than Bob Feller. Feller spent all 18 seasons of his big league career with the Cleveland Indians and 3 others fighting in World War II. A member of the Indians the last time they won the World Series, these are five statistical facts about the Heater from Van Meter.

Leading the League in Wins

One-third of the seasons he played in Feller led the American League in wins. This fraction includes partial seasons so it’s an even greater achievement than what I’m making it out to be. Six times Feller had more wins than anyone else and it would have been far more if not for WWII. Feller led the league in wins 1939-1941, 1946, 1947, and finally in 1951.

Nearly an MVP

The Cy Young Award didn’t exist until it was too late for Feller to win one or more likely several. He did come close to capturing a couple MVP Awards, most notably each season 1939-1941. These three seasons Feller finished in the top three of voting however Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg would end up winning it.

By Cavguy147 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Leading the League in Strikeouts

In each full season he played in from 1938-1948, Feller led the league in strikeouts. Of course, this leaves out the 1942-1945 seasons as he did not play in the first three and only started 9 games in 1945. His high came in 1946 when Feller struck out 348 batters.

Postseason Pitching

Feller only made it to one World Series when the Indians actually won in 1948. He didn’t pitch particularly well either, going 0-2 with a 5.02 ERA. In spite of their ace’s struggles, the Indians defeated the Boston Braves in six games.

More Complete Games than Wins

A common trend among pitchers from this era, Feller finished with more complete games than he did wins. Feller won 266 games in his career and secured 279 complete games. The most wins he had in a season was 27 in 1940. The most complete games was 36 in 1946.

Five Statistical Facts about Gaylord Perry

After you get finished chuckling about his first name settle in and prepare yourself for some talk about statistics; specifically, statistics about the career of Gaylord Perry. We know he’s in the Hall of Fame and had a reputation for being a good pitcher, but how do his numbers stack up?

All-Star Selections: 4

Only 4 times in his career was Perry named to the All-Star team. My guess is that either he didn’t want to participate or since this was back in the day when the rosters were very exclusive, he narrowly missed making it. Surely Perry deserved to make the All-Star team far more times than he did including the 1978 season when he won the Cy Young Award yet was not good enough for Midsummer Classic.

Leading the League in Wins

Perry finished as the league leader in wins 3 times in his career. He did this in 1970 with 23, 1972 with 24, and 1978 with 21. The 1972 and 1978 seasons were the two he won his pair of Cy Young Awards. The one in 1972 came with the Cleveland Indians while the one in 1978 came as a member of the San Diego Padres.

By twm1340 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom-margie/2110787519) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

All-Time Strikeout Ranking

Currently, with no signs of getting misplaced anytime soon, Perry ranks 8th on the all-time list of pitchers when it comes to strikeouts just above Walter Johnson and below Don Sutton. Perry struck out 3,534 batters in his career. The man to strikeout the most against him was Lee May who went down on strikes 32 times when facing Perry.

Complete Games

I want to laugh at the amount of complete games Perry had. He’s not so ancient where it should be this incredible. Let me start by noting Perry won 314 games in his career. Meanwhile he pitched 303 complete games. This is absolutely amazing and not something we will ever see again thank you very much paranoid caution.

Postseason Pitching

The most jaw-dropping of all statistics Perry owns might be the ones he has in the postseason. Parts of 22 seasons in Major League Baseball and Perry only pitched in the postseason during the 1971 season when the San Francisco Giants were eliminated in the NLCS by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Perry started 2 games and went 1-1 with a 6.14 ERA. To no fault of his own, Perry could never find a home where winning was mandatory.

Aaron Boone More Hall of Fame Worthy than Bret Boone?

Apparently Aaron Boone is much more Hall of Fame worthy than his brother Bret Boone – at least according to voters.

Aaron’s first and only year of eligibility took place in 2015 at the most recent election. He earned 2 votes which is double what Bret received in 2011.

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Statistically the two aren’t even close. Aaron barely topped 1,000 hits with 126 home runs and a .263 batting average. Bret had over 1,700 hits with 252 home runs and a .266 batting average.

Bret also almost won an MVP in 2001 with his 37 home runs and 141 RBIs. He also won a handful of Gold Gloves and had more than Aaron’s 1 All-Star appearance.

Aaron does have the more memorable moment – his walkoff home run in the 2003 postseason.

Following the logic that one memorable moment like this justifies receiving Hall of Fame votes means things are looking pretty good for Travis Ishikawa.

Randy Johnson Should Enter Cooperstown as a Diamondback, Not Mariner

On January 6, 2015 pitcher Randy Johnson was officially voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Selecting him was as automatic as receiving your monthly electric bill or your wife deciding to randomly nag you about something you forgot to do two years ago.

Other than preparing a speech and finding an airline that can provide enough room for his incredibly long legs on his flight to Cooperstown, Johnson has one major decision ahead of him. Johnson will have to decide if he goes into the Hall of Fame wearing a cap of the Seattle Mariners or Arizona Diamondbacks.

Johnson began his career with the Montreal Expos before he was sent to the Mariners with Gene Harris and Brian Holman for Mark Langston and a player to be named later. That player to be named later was Mike Campbell who didn’t come close to making this a fair trade.

His second full season with the Mariners in 1990 was Johnson’s first where he began to truly shine. Johnson finished 14-11 with a 3.65 ERA and was selected to his first All-Star game. By the end of the 1993 season, Johnson had established himself as a star.

Those first folders, binders, and stickers kids had with Johnson on them included him wearing a Mariners’ jersey. An appearance in the film ‘Little Big League’ was just one more image that helped us associate him as a Mariner forever.

In July of 1998, the Mariners did the unthinkable and traded Johnson to the Houston Astros. Johnson was 34-years-old at the time and a free agent at the end of the season. At the time it may have been a reasonable decision. Most men at that age are already slowing down and asking their doctors questions they would have been too embarrassed to normally do. The way it turned out may have them still regretting it.

Before the 1999 season, Johnson signed a contract with the Diamondbacks. Still a young team with only one season in franchise history, Johnson put them on the map by winning his second career Cy Young Award. Four years earlier he had won the same award in the American League with the Mariners in 1995.

By SD Dirk on Flickr (Original version) User UCinternational (Crop) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Johnson continued his dominance in the National League by winning the Cy Young Award each season through 2002. His four consecutive awards are tied with Greg Maddux for the most of any pitcher.

When retirement came, Johnson spent parts of 10 seasons with the Mariners and 8 full seasons with the Diamondbacks. His record as a Mariner was 130-74 along with a 3.42 ERA. As a Diamondback he was 118-62 with a 2.83 ERA. His ERA was inflated due to his poor 2003 season where he pitched in only 18 games and had a 4.26 ERA.

Johnson’s overall numbers better with the Diamondbacks than with the Mariners, there are three other reasons why he should go in as a Diamondback.

The first is that he was a big part of the Diamondbacks winning the 2001 World Series. The second is that it will make him the first Hall of Famer to wear a Diamondbacks’ hat into Cooperstown. If he chose the Mariners this would also be the case, however, this leads into the third reason.

The final reason Johnson should select a cap with a snake on it is because next year the Hall of Fame ballot will include Ken Griffey Jr. Equally as important to the history of the Mariners, the honor of being the first in the team’s history should go to him. He was possibly more electrifying than Johnson was and made the team important around the country. You could not walk into an elementary school in the 1990s without seeing Griffey Jr. somewhere. He’s certainly not going to go in as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.

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Choosing the Diamondbacks over the Mariners should be an easy decision. Griffey Jr. will give fans in Seattle a reason to travel to New York next summer anyway. Plus, the way things are going the team will land its first pitcher in Cooperstown five years after Felix Hernandez retires.

Fact: Aaron Boone was the Least Qualified Hall of Famer on the 2015 Ballot

One statistic included on Baseball-Reference is the Hall of Fame Monitor. I think I have discussed it before, but anyway, you can read more about it on their page.

From the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot, Aaron Boone was last in this statistic. He had a 4 rating. At the top of the ballot was Barry Bonds at 340.

The closest player to Boone on the ballot was Cliff Floyd with a score of 22. Neither belongs in the Hall of Fame, but the difference is pretty significant. Coming to the conclusion that Boone was the worst player on the 2015 ballot is completely reasonable.

Yet in spite of being the worst player available to vote for Boone did not finish with the fewest votes. He got 2 of them which was more than Darin Erstad‘s 1 vote and the no votes Floyd, Brian Giles, Jermaine Dye, Eddie Guardado, Jason Schmidt, Rich Aurilia, and Tony Clark received.

Boone’s one crowning moment in baseball was his Game 7 walk-off home run in the ALCS for the Yankees. My guess, whoever voted for him really like the result of that at-bat.

One great swing of the bat, we can all agree Boone probably didn’t earn those two votes.

My Awful Hall of Fame Predictions

In early December I published a piece here about ten predictions for the 2015 Hall of Fame voting. Until today, I ignored looking at how accurate I was. Good thing it’s Friday because I may not want to get out of bed tomorrow for how wrong I was.

My first prediction was that Randy Johnson would receive 96.3% of the vote. He actually receive 97.3% of the vote which was not a bad prediction. After this though, my eye for the future was lost.

I also predicted Pedro Martinez would receive 85.9% and John Smoltz would get 77.3%. Martinez actually ended up getting 91.1% and Smoltz had 82.9%. I was about 6% off on each.

Then I made a silly prediction that Craig Biggio would lose votes. He actually ended up receiving only one less vote than Smoltz did. Mike Piazza did gain votes, which I predicted, so this has thus far been the only prediction I was exact on – however, mostly everyone knew this would happen.

By slgckgc (Mike Piazza) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Next I thought Eddie Guardado would get a vote. My logic made sense. Guardado was pretty popular and seemed to be a guy I thought some writer would toss a vote at. He didn’t and instead the only guy to get 1 vote was Darin Erstad. Maybe most shocking of all, Aaron Boone had 2 votes.

Another prediction I got wrong was thinking Mike Mussina would get more votes than he did in 2014. Instead he dropped about 4%. I was right about Larry Walker getting more votes, up nearly 2%.

Continuing with predictions where I was half right, Sammy Sosa did receive fewer votes like I said he would. I thought Mark McGwire might get a few more, but like Sosa, he lost favor with a few voters this last year.

One of the bolder predictions, I thought Nomar Garciaparra would get more votes than Gary Sheffield. I predicted Garciaparra would be around 20% while Sheffield would get 18%. Instead Garciaparra only had 5.5% and Sheffield beat him with 11.7%.

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The last of my serious predictions, I reminded everyone about the evilness of middle school bullies and Barry Bonds. He actually did receive 4 more votes in 2015 than he did in 2014, however, still far from actually getting into Cooperstown.

Finally I predicted all of my predictions would be exactly correct. Instead of saying I got just about everything wrong, I will say I only got this one incorrect.

Five Statistical Facts about Chipper Jones

Visit any classroom in the late 1990s and you would be hard-pressed to not find at least one kid with Chipper Jones on a notebook, binder, or book cover. I had them all I loved him so much. A surefire Hall of Famer once eligible, these are five statistical facts worth knowing about Larry Wayne Jones, the man we call Chipper.

All-Star Selections: 8

We think of Jones as one of the elite players from the 1990s and 2000s however he was only ever selected to 8 All-Star games. This is not bad, but for a guy of his caliber I’m a little disappointed. Jones received the selection every year from 1996-2001 except for 1999 when he should have as he happened to hit a career high 45 home runs that season along with winning the NL MVP. Jones went again in 2008 and for a final time in 2011 then again in 2012.

Batting Title

Jones won his lone batting title in 2008 at the age of 36. He did so with a .364 batting average and an even more impressive .470 on-base percentage. His time was limited as it had been in recent years, only playing in 128 games. Jones still managed to draw 90 walks which helped the high on-base percentage rise even more.

By Djh57 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Walks to Strikeouts Ratio

Here’s something we could have never expected from a guy who hit 468 home runs in the era he did: Jones finished his career with 103 more walks than strikeouts. Jones came close several times, but he never actually struck out 100 times in any season.

100+ Runs and 100+ RBIs

Whenever a player scores 100 runs and knocks in 100 in the same season you better not ignore it. Jones did this 8 times in his career. The most runs he scored in any season were the 123 in 1998. His highest RBI total was 111, which he had in 1997 and 2000.

Switch Hitting Splits

The greatest switch hitter of the century, Jones was equally as dangerous from the left side as he was the right. As a left handed hitter he had a career .303 batting average. Batting right handed he hit .304. His home run totals were equally proportional in comparison to his at-bats. Jones had 361 home runs from the left side compared to 107 from the right. His at-bat totals were about 3 times more as a left handed hitter so they were pretty close.

Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez vs. Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson

2015 Hall of Fame Pitchers vs. 1936 Hall of Fame Pitchers

By bryce_edwards (Pedro Martinez/David Wright) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons