Baseball for Beginners: Moments Everyone Should Know – Bill Buckner’s Blunder

Not everyone is as big of a baseball fan as you or I. Believe it or not, many people are completely clueless about the game. I know, it seems silly that some of baseball’s classic moments would be foreign to them.

In an attempt to educate the rest of the world about baseball, I’m going to share some of baseball’s most memorable moments whether good, bad, or indifferent.

Today’s installment is Bill Buckner‘s Blunder. In 1986, the Boston Red Sox were one out away from winning the World Series for the first time in a really long time. I’m not even exaggerating. It was 1986, the same year Ferris Bueller’s Day Off came out, and the team hadn’t won the World Series since Babe Ruth played for them.

Buckner’s Blunder came in Game 6 with the Red Sox leading the New York Mets in the series 3-2. Some wild pitches and a few fluky plays as part of a Mets’ comeback led to the infamous error.

Mookie Wilson stepped up to the plate and hit what should have been a routine out at first. Instead, history happened:

The end result of Buckner’s fielding mistake was the series continuing to Game 7. The Mets won the game and the series causing Buckner to become one of the biggest goats in baseball history. Only when the Red Sox finally won in 2004 was he forgiven…at least by some.

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.

Yadier Molina vs. Ivan Rodriguez: The Better Defensive Catcher

Each season since 2008, St. Louis Cardinals’ Yadier Molina has been awarded the National League Gold Glove Award for catchers. He did this making a career high 10 errors with a career low .986 fielding percentage. This first Gold Glove was overdue. Molina had already established himself as a great defensive player, particularly when it came to catching base runners trying to swipe a bag. In 2005 he gunned down a league leading 64% of base runners trying to steal on him. He led the league again in 2007 with 54%.

Molina eventually became more than a great defensive player. His bat got hot and he has consistently provided the Cardinals with offense. In 2012 he finished 4th in the MVP voting. In 2013 he finished 3rd.

By Johnmaxmena2 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

During his rise as an offensive player Molina has continued to impress defensively. The player he immediately reminds us of is Ivan Rodriguez.

There’s no arguing who was the better overall baseball player as Rodriguez’s offensive skills were far more superior to Molina. Rodriguez even won the American League MVP in 1999 thanks to his 35 home runs, 133 RBIs, and .332 batting average. All of these quickly defeat Molina’s best in any of those categories.

A more fair comparison between the two would be based solely on defense. Like Molina, Rodriguez was constantly winning Gold Gloves during his time playing baseball. He won a record 13 at the catcher’s position compared to Molina who is currently sitting on 7. More must be considered than one award to truly know which of these two was a better defensive player.

Using the basics, this is how their career totals look:

Molina

Fielding Percentage: .994
Most Errors: 10
Most Passed Balls: 8
Range Factor Per 9: 7.47
Caught Stealing Percentage: 45%

Rodriguez

Fielding Percentage: .991
Most Errors: 15
Most Passed Balls: 14
Range Factor Per 9: 7.12
Caught Stealing Percentage: 46%

Based on these numbers alone, Molina appears like he was the better defensive player.

It’s not that simple, though. While career percentages and worsts are great, it is also worth considering bests, averages, and other complicated numbers. You can dabble and prod as much as you want on their Baseball-Reference pages, but for me I’m going to skip right to what stat geeks hold dearest: WAR.

A statistic which compiles over time, it would be unfair to go with the career number of defensive WAR as Rodriguez played more games. Instead I will look at the career averages of each.

Molina: 1.7
Rodriguez: 1.4

Once again, Molina has the advantage. Giving Rodriguez the benefit that his fielding may have gone down in the latter stages of his career, I have calculated the defensive WAR he had in his first 11 seasons to make it more equal with the 11 seasons we have seen from Molina. His total came out to 1.9.

By Wknight94 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

To know which of these two is the better defensive catcher would take a lot of considerations and even more opinions. Depending on what you value you most, the answer could be either.

Based on what I learned here, I would have to say Molina is slightly better.

Felix Hernandez: The Best Pitcher in Seattle Mariners’ History

Felix Hernandez Already the Best Pitcher in Seattle Mariners’ History

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

Five Statistical Facts about Bob Gibson

The man who helped make 1968 known as “The Year of the Pitcher,” Bob Gibson spent all 17 of his years at the Major League level with the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s one of those pitchers often overlooked in an era when Sandy Koufax was playing for the much more popular Los Angeles Dodgers. He was more than the 1968 season and that truth is backed up by these five statistical facts.

20 Game Winner: 5 Times

Gibson reached 20 wins in a season 5 times in his career. He did it in 1965 and 1966 then again 1968-1970. He also won 19 games twice, falling just short. Ultimately Gibson would finish his career with 251 career wins.

Complete Games

As he pitched in an era when complete games were still expected, Gibson finished his career with a remarkable 255 of them. Of those 255 complete games, 56 came in the 1968 and 1969 season combined when he had 28 in each. Speaking of 56, this is how many shutouts Gibson had in his career.

Cy Young Awards: 2

Gibson managed to win the Cy Young Award twice in his career. The first was in his remarkable 1968 season and the second came in 1970 when he won a career high 23 games. The 1968 season was most noteworthy for his incredibly low ERA which was at 1.12. You can read more about that season in a previous post I made specifically about the few bad games he had during his reign of terror.

Postseason Pitching

Gibson won 2 World Series with the Cardinals and lost another. His statistics say he was certainly deserving of the championships he won. Gibson went 7-2 in the postseason, which at the time only included the World Series, with a 1.89 ERA. He started 9 games and had 8 complete games. Two of those complete games were shutouts. The first, coming in 1964 against the New York Yankees, took 10 innings for him to complete.

Batting Statistics

Remember when pitchers could swing a log? Okay that didn’t sound right. The point is Gibson was a pretty hitter by today’s standard for pitchers. Gibson may have only had a .206 batting average, but it included 24 home runs and 144 RBIs. Gibson hit 5 home runs in 1965 and 1972 for season highs. In 1963 he had 20 RBIs. His best offensive year though came in 1970 when he hit .303 with 2 home runs and 19 RBIs.

Fact: Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan Both Walked Over 200 Men in a Season

Hall of Fame pitchers Bob Feller and Nolan Ryan were not always perfect. A big weakness of both at times was their lack of control. Something these two men have in common that most people don’t realize is they are the only two pitchers since 1900 to walk over 200 men in a single season.

We’ll never see anyone come close to 200 base on balls in a year based primarily on how much less pitchers to take the mound so this appears to be an accomplishment not ready to change. Several pitchers in the 1800s walked over 200 batters in a season, but for the more modern era there’s only Feller and Ryan.

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

Feller walked 208 batters in 1938. Amazingly, he still only had a 4.08 ERA. Basically, he switched off a lot of hits allowed for walks.

Ryan actually reached 200 walks twice. The first was in 1974 when he walked 202 batters. In 1977 he topped it with 204.

Because of seasons like those, you can guess Feller and Ryan are near the top all-time in walks. Feller is 5th with 1764 and Ryan is 1st with 2795. Second place goes to Steve Carlton who is nearly 1000 behind.

Truly a testament to everything else they did well, Feller and Ryan were able to overcome the shortcomings and have very successful careers that landed them in Cooperstown.

By Chuck Andersen (Nolan Ryan – Tiger Statium 1990) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Sorry, Alex Rodriguez is a New York Yankee

It’s not surprise to fans of the New York Yankees that third baseman Alex Rodriguez is a member of the roster. When I apologize to the fans, though, for more than just this upcoming 2015 season.

When I say Rodriguez is a Yankee I mean in terms of history.  Don’t look now, but Rodriguez has spent a full 10 seasons with the Yankees–not including the 2014 season.

By terren in Virginia (#522) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Rodriguez came up with the Seattle Mariners yet only spent 7 years there. There were also 3 seasons with the Texas Rangers when Rodriguez apparently began cheating.

So far Rodriguez has played parts of 20 seasons and half have been as a New York Yankee. By default, he’s one of you guys.

While we’re on the topic of awful people who are Yankees, why is Ben Chapman always credited as the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies yet never acknowledged for playing 7 years with the Yankees? In my opinion, he’s one of you guys too.

Ubaldo Jimenez Might be the Greatest Pitcher in Colorado Rockies’ History

I’ve been obsessing lately over the Colorado Rockies. Writing several pieces for Call to the Pen about them, my interest seems to be a simple one: the team’s pitching.

It’s amazing how environmental factors can change the physics of a sport. To someone who knows nothing about baseball, they might be surprised to learn how much the thickness of air affects the game.

I did some brief research into the history of the Rockies’ pitching statistics to find out who the best was. The answer appears to be Ubaldo Jimenez.

By Chamber of Fear (Flickr) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

Jimenez’s 18.6 WAR as a pitcher is the top of any. His 7.5 in 2010 was also the highest in team history. He’s the leader or near it in several other categories. Again, this has a lot to o with how great he pitched in 2010.

That remarkable season, Jimenez went 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA. He also had 214 strikeouts.

Impressively, Jimenez’s numbers at Coors Field were very good as well, which they’d almost have to be. At home he was 9-2 with a 3.19 ERA in 2010. On the road he was 10-6 with a 2.63 ERA including 2 shutouts.

In the history of the Rockies, nobody has more than 3 shutouts. This happens to be a record Jimenez shares with Jason Jennings.

Pitchers don’t last long with the Rockies. A lot of it is probably their ego. Several decent pitchers have spent a few years before eventually leaving. It has to be tough on management to really know a pitcher’s value too when they have to handicap an ERA.

Nothing against Jimenez, but as a franchise’s best pitcher it’s a bit sad. In second place would probably be Aaron Cook which is equally as upsetting. Both quality pitchers who have had their good seasons, just about every team in baseball has a nice handful of pitchers better than the Rockies’ number one.

Curt Schilling’s Unique Trade History

A look at Curt Schilling’s one-sided trade history

Googie man at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

The Best Baseball Player Born in Nebraska: Pete Alexander

A state that has only a little over 100 baseball players with major league experience, Nebraska actually has some very good ones including a handful of Hall of Famers like Wade Boggs, Richie Ashburn, Sam Crawford, and Bob Gibson. Unfortunately for these men, none of them are what I consider the best born in the state.

The best baseball player born in Nebraska is Pete Alexander. Also a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Alexander won 373 games in his career and according to Baseball-Reference, is fourth greatest pitcher in history.

The name may not be too familiar to most as Alexander instead went by the the very presidential name Grover Cleveland.