trivial occurrences 2020

With four straight home runs, the White Sox tied a major league record in their game yesterday against the Cardinals. Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, and Jose Abreu were also the first three Cuban-born players to go back-to-back-to-back in MLB history.

washington's luis garcia is the first player born in the 2000s to homer in the major leagues

and apparently he was starting in place of starlin catro...the first player born in the 1990s to hit a home run

awooooooo

*castro

The @Padres are the first team EVER to hit a grand slam in four consecutive games.

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 21, 2020

holy shit they did it

before yesterday

We have a winner.

Last time there were multiple MLB games played on a day, and none of them lasted 9 innings: Jun 21 1943. American League off-day. pic.twitter.com/E1H9PnYj64

— Doug Kern (@dakern74) August 28, 2020

Padres and Rockies combined for 14 runs and 28 hits at Coors tonight with only 1 Home Run. Got me looking for the highest scoring games with no extra base hits and it led me to this wild 2005 Phillies vs Marlins game: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/FLO/FLO200509170.shtml

D-train takes a complete game shutout into the 9th with a 2 run lead and ends up losing 10-2, on a ton of hits, errors, and hit batsmen.

Jacob deGrom just became the first pitcher to induce at least 31 swings and misses in a game and LOSE since Pedro Martinez had 37 misses (and 17 K's) in a 1-0 loss to Steve Trachsel on May 6, 2000.

— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) August 31, 2020

because of the marlins' earlier covid-related schedule issues, new outfielder starling marte could possibly play 65 games in a 60-game season

MILWAUKEE -- Josh Hader and the Brewers closed their homestand with a Major League record.

Hader finished the Brewers’ 8-5 win over the Tigers on Wednesday night at Miller Park with a record-setting 12th consecutive hitless appearance to begin the season, snapping a tie he had shared with three others and capping a winning homestand that kept Milwaukee in the thick of the postseason chase -- losing record and all.

Nobody’s perfect, and Hader certainly hasn’t been. His velocity is a tick down this season and his walks were up even before an outing Saturday against the Pirates when he blew a save by walking five of the six batters he faced, forcing home the tying and go-ahead runs. The Brewers bailed him out that night with Eric Sogard’s walk-off home run, and the next day, Hader threw a rare bullpen session to, in his words, “make sure I was able to throw it over the plate, at least.”

Back on the mound on Monday, Hader struck out the side in a win over Pittsburgh. On Wednesday against Detroit, he hit the first man he faced before retiring the next three.

With that, Hader had 12 straight hitless games spanning 11 2/3 innings to begin 2020. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the longest season-opening streak of appearances without allowing a hit in history, snapping a tie he had shared with 2017 Tiger Justin Wilson, 1999 Phillie Scott Aldred and 1987 Red John Franco.

...“He's good at baseball,” Christian Yelich said.

Do people even care about hitless streaks anymore if you're walking 5 straight batters in the thick of it?

it's pretty trivial, i'd say

Today is just the 23rd day in MLB history with 20+ games. First time since 1974 pic.twitter.com/Xxx6TRWCco

— Dan Hirsch (@DanHirsch) September 4, 2020

13 XBH today is a brewers franchise record

19 runs, of which yelich got 1, which feels representative of his season so far

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29863609/tampa-bay-rays-first-mlb-modern-history-start-all-lefties

Luke Voit hit a game-ending sacrifice fly leading off the 10th inning

Cavan Biggio is the 7th player (since stolen bases became an official stat) to steal 20 bases without being caught to begin a career.#BlueJays

— Rodney Hiemstra (@therodbot) September 18, 2020

SABR-approved percentage

From Jon Couture:

Jon Lester, regular season with Red Sox: .636 winning pct. (110-63), 3.64 ERA
Jon Lester, regular season with Cubs: .636 winning pct. (77-44), 3.64 ERA

who led MLB in HR, RBI, and Runs from 1950-1959?

ugh, a hint: not MLB, but just one of the leagues. this player was 1st in MLB in 2 of the categories, and 2nd in MLB in the other

I know this because this player played in 3* different HOME stadiums during this stretch. He would have had even better numbers if his team had stayed put.

*Kind of a trick question but I'm shameless: Name all 3

Ebbetts, the LA Coliseum, and...?

For some reason I watched his HOF speech last night (maybe the first one I’ve ever sat all the way through?)

He spent the entire speech telling stories about teammates and family, it was great

It was used for 15 "home" games by the Brooklyn Dodgers during their last two seasons in Brooklyn – seven in 1956 and eight in 1957.[7] The games were played partly as a negotiating tactic with the Borough of Brooklyn, in pursuit of a new stadium to replace Ebbets Field.[8] While it had just 24,000 seats as opposed to Ebbets Field's 31,497, Roosevelt Stadium had 10,000 parking spaces compared to Ebbets Field's 700. The Dodgers' negotiation came to naught, and the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roosevelt_Stadium#Sports

Incredible to think back at how much power BigAuto used to have.

(Dodger Stadium has 16k parking spaces... if you've ever gone to a game there you'll never forget the hour plus spent coming in & out Chavez Ravine).

Don't know where to put this--it's not an occurrence, it is trivial.

Posnanski mentioned Alex Gordon today, so I was looking at the 2005 draft (Gordon was drafted second). Within the first 11 picks, there were three guys who seemed like a very good bet for the HOF at one point midway through their careers, then all three, for one reason or another, fell off a cliff: Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, and Andrew McCutchen. (Two are still active, and McCutchen's playing reasonably well at 33, but he'd have to stage some kind of a comeback to make up for time wasted.) Justin Upton, and Ryan Zimmerman were also in the top 11--add Gordon, and that's six guys between 30-50 WAR. I would think that counts as a strong draft, I don't know--the value is spread around, at least, rather than one or two imposing players.

6 of top 11 with 30/50 WARs is extremely impressive, i would think! tough to comprehensively compare that draft year until all the players from it are retired, but that's gotta be up there for a top 10 cumulative WAR

Found this piece, which counts 2005 as the best ("sickest," actually, but I'm up on my lingo, so I know that means good) first-round ever, and the fifth-best overall. It was written in 2012, though, when the three headed-for-the-Hall guys were all at their peak--might get a bit of a downgrade today. But it does seem to be one of the best ever.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1462043-which-mlb-draft-class-is-the-best-of-all-time

Looking at their rankings today, think I'd go with the '85 class as the best (third on their list). Bonds, Randy Johnson, Larkin, Smoltz, Palmeiro--wow. And Will Clark still may make the HOF one day via the Veteran's Committee.

i knew that pitchers sucked at hitting. i didn't realize they suck a little more each year!

https://i.imgur.com/snOJv8M.png

(xposts) The first round of the 2011 draft is looking pretty great right now. All mid-career, among the first 11 picks: Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer, Anthony Rendon, Francisco Lindor, George Springer.

I love to get excited about Opening Day starters, especially when they have outings that could be mistaken for bad openers. 1.1 IP, 6 R for Brad Keller (KC), 0.1 IP, 5 R for Kyle Gibson (TEX) https://t.co/e2rmJurMR7

— Jay Jaffe (@jay_jaffe) April 1, 2021

This is the Giants' first 10-run FIRST INNING since June 29, 1967 at the Cardinals, when they scored 11 in the 1st

Scoring summary from that inning ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/shoem2nEZD

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) May 4, 2021

Is this what they mean by a "counting stat"?

https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2021/5/6/22422240/blue-jays-pitchers-matz-kay-ray-ryu-ties-mlb-name-record

just wait until the diamondbacks promote the Ng quadruplets

How do you hit .000 and match Babe Ruth in the record books?

You do what White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal just did -- go 0-for-3 with 13 walks in four games. With the strange stat line, Grandal joined the Bambino (1930) as the only players in American League history to walk 13 or more times in a four-game span.

If you add in the National League, you're only going to add one more player to the list -- Bryce Harper, who accomplished the feat in 2016.

wow, grandal's current line is:

.121/.388/.259

Carlos Martínez, a nine-year veteran, raised his career ERA from 3.55 to 3.64 in less than an inning.

— Foolish Baseball (@FoolishBB) June 3, 2021

It was a tough day

yankees (taillon) vs red sox (eovaldi) today is the first MLB game in which both starters have had multiple tommy johns

Since 1901, the Twins are just the 4th team to hit 7 HR in a 9-inning game and lose.

White Sox (6/25/16 vs Blue Jays)
Tigers (8/8/04 vs Red Sox)
Tigers (5/28/95 vs White Sox)https://t.co/fHLzbRR4BO

— Stathead (@Stathead) July 28, 2021

OK I’m interrupting my vacation one more time for this incredible tidbit.

2 teams in the last 100 years had scored in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th innings of any game. And then last night 2 teams did it in the same game! #Royals #Yankees

Baseball!

Now back to the beach

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) August 10, 2021

HISTORY at Dodger Stadium: Austin Adams ties the all-time record for hit batters in a season in the modern era (21) by plunking Will Smith in the ninth inning. He's done it in 47 2/3 innings. Most recent guy to hit 21 (Kerry Wood in '03) needed 211

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) September 12, 2021

Paul Goldschmidt is now the all-time leader in hits for a player born in Delaware with 1,549. He surpassed Delino DeShields with that double.

That makes him first in hits for the First State.#Cardinals #stlcards #MLB

— Derrick S. Goold (@dgoold) September 15, 2021

Gavin Sheets with a hit off Lance McCullers, Jr., radio broadcast just said there's family history as Gavin's dad Larry had a hit off Lance McCullers, Sr.

Terrance Gore:

- 102 MLB career games
- 0 career Home Runs
- 1 career RBI
- 2 career Doubles
- 3 World Series rings. He has more World Series rings than Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout combined (2).@LoCronitaTV pic.twitter.com/IwRVNwUHiH

— Héctor Gómez (@hgomez27) November 3, 2021

guy's a winner

amazing!

102 games, 77 PAs, 3 world series rings

0 HRs

2022 is official terrance gore HR watch imo

in 2016, with the royals, in 27 games he finished with .000/.000/.000 and 0.4 fWAR, due to his defense

Terrance Gore WS-Ring Watch.

extrapolated over a full 162 game season, he would be .000.000.000 and 2.0 fWAR

Amazing that teams manage to find space for a player like him in an era of 12 and 13-man pitching staffs.

ya well how else are they gonna win a WS?!

Jays tried this with Munenori Kawasaki, didn't take.

Roel Ramírez has made two big-league pitching appearances, one each in 2020 and 2021 with the St. Louis Cardinals. The 26-year-old right-hander — now in the New York Mets organization — has been charged with nine earned runs in one inning of work. Ramirez’s 81.00 currently ranks as the highest in the modern era among pitchers who have recorded at least three outs.

hell yeah

I wonder how Yu Darvish's two starts stack up historically in the schizophrenia department:

1st: 6.0 IP, 0 runs, 0 hits, 4 walks, 3 K, GS of 71
2nd: 1.2 IP, 9 runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 2 K, GS of 3

Bo Bichette's go-ahead grand slam tonight was his first; also the 25th anniversary of Carlos Delgado's first slam.

take that, chicago

COAST TO COAST 📈

For the first time in MLB history, all four LA and NY teams are leading their respective divisions. pic.twitter.com/1t729bcd0a

— ESPN (@espn) May 4, 2022

The Orioles are now 0-6 when Anthony Santander hits multiple HR in a game -- Santander is the only player in MLB history to lose the first 6 multi-HR games of his career. pic.twitter.com/E2e26g6siW

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 17, 2022

The Braves' bid to win 15 in a row falls short as the Cubs become the first club since 1999 to beat a team with a 10+ game winning streak while on a 10+ game losing streak.

This is so ephemeral it's not even an occurrence, but I noticed that Machado, Devers, and Ramirez are 1-2-3 on Fangraphs' WAR list today. Those are arguably the three most underappreciated players in baseball, all at the same position.

Starting next year, every team will play each other for at least one series per year. So I got to thinking who has hit a home run in every park, and came up with this list. Currently no active player has done it.

https://www.quora.com/Who-has-hit-a-home-run-in-every-active-MLB-park

now this is trivial

First time in modern history (since 1900) that an MLB player has driven in the only run of a game off his brother.
Austin Nola’s RBI single off Aaron Nola in the sixth inning gives Padres a 1-0 victory over the Phillies.

— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) June 25, 2022

well that was rude. breaking one of the unwritten rules there

Every team in the A.L. East is .500 or better tonight--is that the latest date ever for such a thing in the wild-card era?

Found this piece from June 25, 2013 (A.L. East again).

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1683743-can-the-2013-al-east-make-history-with-all-5-teams-finishing-above-500

Not even close:

In 2005, the entire NL East actually finished at or above .500: Braves (90-72), Phillies (88-74), Marlins (83-79), Mets (83-79) and Nationals (81-81).

If they can hang on for three more days, it will mark the second-latest date for this.

https://www.mlb.com/news/all-al-east-teams-at-500-or-better

A reader on James's site:

"Over the course of his career, Vin Scully called a game involving a manager who was born in 1863 (Connie Mack), and a game involving a player born in 1996 (Julio Urias)."

Derek Law, making history for the Tigers in Toronto: The first pitcher to allow a homer, commit an error, hit a batter and throw a wild pitch in a single relief appearance.

— Ryan Ford (@theford) July 30, 2022

George Kirby of the Mariners: 24 strikes to start the game.

https://www.mlb.com/news/george-kirby-throws-24-straight-strikes-to-start-a-game

Had to look him up--rookie, 17 starts. Doubt that anyone without exceptional control could do that, and sure enough, only 13 walks in 90 IP. He needs more innings, but he might get a few ROY votes.

Got me reading up on the other George Kirby, who I'm guessing most of you (mookieproof, maybe) don't know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Kirby

Old, weird trivial occurrences (from something on my FB wall): "Trammell and Whitaker got their first major league hit off the same pitcher (Reggie Cleveland), and their final major league hit off the same pitcher (Mike Fetters)."

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/why-are-the-atlanta-braves-bunting-at-all/

the braves have only made four bunt attempts this season, by far the fewest bunt attempts by a team since bunts have been tracked. all four bunt attempts were unsuccessful (one would have been successful but michael harris II tried to stretch a bunt single into a double and got thrown out)

only four bunts! That’s kind of amazing.

From The Baseball 100: on Sept. 26, 1975, both Gaylord and Jim Perry had career W-L records of 215-174.

Still plugging away with the Posnanski book. Maybe I knew this already, but I'm not sure: George Brett (29th) and Mike Schmidt (30th) were drafted consecutively in the second round of the '71 draft.

wrong sport but i feel like i must honor this level of triviality

on Saturday, Trent Alexander-Arnold could become the first player to play a Premier League game next to a river that shares his first name since Don Hutchinson for Everton away at Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999 pic.twitter.com/WNyaZn3swF

— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) October 20, 2022

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfpIHoiXoAIP2PG.jpg:small

From Posnanski's book: Rickey Henderson was named after Ricky Nelson. "Travelin' Man'--makes sense.

Had no idea Whitey Herzog played alongside Satchel Paige (at least 51 at the time).

I cannot verify the truth of this--turned up on my FB wall:

"In high school, Joey Gallo tossed a no-hitter and then took Greg Maddux's daughter to prom the same night."

(If true, had to have her home in fewer than 100 pitches.)

He definitely struck out

One of those things that turn up on your FB wall: Brett Gardner vs. last year's White Sox.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/brett.jpg

Not sure which is weirder: the closeness, or that somebody out there noticed this in the first place. (Of the key categories they left out, Gardner's better: sizable leads in BB, triples, and SB.)

don't know where else to put this, but it's all trivial so maybe here.

i was looking at the phillies' 2023 ZiPS projections today and saw that the #1 player comp for bryce harper this hear is Len Koenecke. (for those that don't follow zips, the comps are for historical seasons by players of that same age. so in this case, it's saying that the mean projection for 2023 bryce harper, his age 30 season, is the age 30 season of Leo Koenecke for the dodgers, in 1934).

i had never heard of Koenecke. he has an interesting MLB career! he only played 3 years in MLB: 1932, 1934, and 1935. he spent most of his career playing for the Indianopolis Indians in the American Assocation and a year with the Buffalo Bisons in the International League. john mcgraw signed him for $75,000, which seems like a huge amount of money considering the era.

anyways, in 1935 he was cut mid-season, and as people of that era seemed compelled to do, he immediately started drinking.

The Dodgers were in St. Louis preparing for a series against the Cardinals when Koenecke was informed that his season was over. Koenecke caught an American Airlines flight back to New York City via Chicago and Detroit.[6] During the flight, he drank a quart of whiskey and became very drunk. After Koenecke had harassed other passengers and struck a stewardess, the pilot had to sit on him to restrain him as he was shackled to his seat. He was removed unconscious from the flight in Detroit. After sleeping on a chair in the airport, he chartered a flight to Buffalo in the hopes of rejoining the Bisons. En route, he had a disagreement with the pilot and a passenger, and attempted to take control of the aircraft.[6][8]

In order to avoid a crash, Koenecke was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher by both the pilot, William Joseph Mulqueeney, who had left his controls, and the other passenger, Irwin Davis.[5][6][9] Now lost in Canadian airspace, Mulqueeney made an emergency landing at Long Branch Racetrack in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada where it was found that Koenecke had died of a cerebral hemorrhage.[5][6] The two men were charged with manslaughter but were found not liable by a coroner's jury soon after.[10][8][11][12]

He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery at Friendship, Wisconsin.[13]

i hope to never be drunk like that, but i hope one thing we can all try to remember in such a state is that, no matter how much you think it makes sense to overrule the pilot and take over the craft, you are definitely wrong about that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPVw8MJzY08

The Rays must have been bad for longer than I remember--I would have guessed their numbers would be much better.

Rays and D-Backs team stats since joining MLB as expansion teams in 1998, via @JayCuda: pic.twitter.com/9fiHnyozsM

— The Game Day MLB (@TheGameDayMLB) February 22, 2023

they were terrible for a while before they started their whole... i don't know what to call it. the thing they do.

Wow, just wow.

I should clarify--by "I would have guessed their numbers would be much better," I meant better than the D-backs. Except for the three or four years in and around their WS win, I don't remember Arizona as ever being anything special, whereas it feels like the Rays have been good for a long time now.

From '99-02, the D-backs were 102 games over .500 (.579); the rest of the time, they're 1,537-1,761 (.466).

most starts on the second day of the season, all-time: a three-way tie between ron darling, andy pettitte and tom glavine with eight

Did you know this guy is now married to Tomi Lahren?! He keeps pictures of her of Twitter but they’re all over his Instagram

JP Arencibia dating Tomi Lahren is a level of hell I wasn't expecting. What other 2010s Blue Jays are dating alt-right figureheads? Is Aaron Hill going steady with Lauren Southern, is Ryan Goins an item with Kent State Gun Girl? https://t.co/n1VUFLjlLy

— ℳatt (@matttomic) February 14, 2021

the other day adam duvall became the first-ever player who, needing a single to complete the cycle, hit a walk-off homer instead

oops

Sandy Alcantara missed a Maddux by one pitch tonight, but it feels more like he had a super-Maddux: CG shutout, 100 pitches, game time of 1:57.

actually got this, although it took me two minutes plus

Quick, name the only player in MLB history whose first and last names are state capitals. You have one minute...

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) April 25, 2023

i can't figure it out. i keep getting stuck on Montgomery

Albany Bismarck

I got it but it was a guessed combo, didn't remember the guy specifically.

An absolute goldmine in the Athletic’s article about media guide trivia, including!

The Rockies reliever who is a published author. Tbf pitching for the Rockies has to be the worst. The Amazon reviews are great, though. Fair play.

Or ask the writer: children’s book author and Rockies reliever Brent Suter, who wrote “Binky Bandit” after he was inspired by his dog, Wally, a miniature goldendoodle. You can find the book, which has been translated into multiple languages, at your local library.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brent Suter is a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. He led Major League Baseball with twelve relief wins in the 2021 season. Outside of baseball, Brent is a graduate of Harvard University, with a degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and is an outspoken advocate for conservation efforts with Players for the Planet, an organization of professional athletes who aim to make positive environmental change. He resides in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife Erin, his son Liam, and of course, Wally, the inspiration for this book. The Binky Bandit is his first published book.

Ji Man Choi sees dead people. Choi says he is terrified of ghosts and believes he’s had many encounters with them, including receiving invisible hugs and hearing whispers. Choi’s first ghostly encounter came while he was recovering from back surgery in 2011, when he felt a “spirit” on his chest and awoke as he felt the bed slump. He also had an encounter at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, where a number of major leaguers have claimed to experience the paranormal.

"I was scared at first," Choi said, "so I didn't want to open my eyes. I dealt with that a lot more times after that."

Those other times include once when Choi was laying on his side and felt a spirit crawl up behind him to hug him, and another whispered into his ear.

Reliever Andrew Chafin tried selling his truck while mic’d up by FOX Sports Arizona during BP in 2017: “If anybody’s interested in a truck, I’ve got a 2012 GMC Sierra 3500HD Denali with a fully built twin turbo. With a fully built Allison transmission for sale. Just shoot me a tweet if you are interested. … Please put that on there for me. I’m really trying to sell this truck.”

Inspired the Miguel Cabrera thread revival I went down a baseball reference rabbithole and just found out there are only four active players, with enough career PAs to qualify for the career batting average leaderboard, who are hitting over .300 for their career. I'm giving away one here, if anyone wants to guess the other three go for it.

Besides Cabrera, I would guess Goldschmidt, Freeman, and Trout. But that seems too obvious, so I'm sure at least one is wrong.

Only got one of three. One of the other two I should have had one for sure; the other guy, I wouldn't have thought of.

in case you were wondering

Blake Sabol of the @SFGiants is the first rookie catcher in MLB history to hit a walkoff HR when behind in the count with his team down to its last out. pic.twitter.com/CqYdsqamPL

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) April 26, 2023

finally, been waiting for a long time, taking bets on when that was going to happen

of course we are all already familiar with the storied list of rookie catchers to hit walkoff HRs when down to their last out when *ahead* in the count

don't forget the legendary 1 ball and 1 strike walkoffs

those were crazy because the count was even, and then boom, the hitter went WAY ahead with a major league home run

yes each one totally unforgettable, kennedy assassination level

Clemenza, I'd have guessed one of the other two and the one of the three you picked correctly. It's definitely interesting that there are so few guys whose career BA hits that mark. I didn't dig deep so I don't know if there are any guys who are about to become eligible who will enter that club, but I really would have thought there'd be more players on the list. But I guess it makes sense

If Cano can get signed again somewhere he'll also join that list (but he's at .3008 so if he plays too much he'll probably fall off of it)

Luis Arráez, 26, is sitting at .321 right now, but not even 1,500 career AB. What is the threshold of eligibility?

i've literally only seen arráez play against the mets in their opening series this year, but . . . he is awesome

even keith hernandez was all like, that kid can [fuckin] hit

The cutoff for BR at least is 3000 plate appearances.

Votto finished the 2021 season at .302; last year's .205 pulled him under.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mipc-JxrhRk

sorry, i'm not really a music video pun/ref guy but dream theater is mandatory

Would love to see a list of Votto's favourite songs. If ever a player were destined to have, I don't know, Hasil Adkins or Camper Van Beethoven on there, he's the guy.

number of home runs by planet in the solar system since 1950*

* regular season only pic.twitter.com/VDfGCupgj4

— Jay Cuda (@JayCuda) May 8, 2023

Spencer Strider is surely the most ILM pitcher out there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD3x5o1tji0

With two on and one out in the second inning, [Kutter Crawford] unleashed a full-count cutter to Max Kepler that elicited a tapper just in front of the plate. Conner Wong sprung to the ball to initiate a rare, inning-ending, 2-6-3 double play, the only recorded instance of such a twin killing in available play-by-play data, which dates to 1988.

Put it on glovework you cowards!

Beautiful play, Connor “🥰🥰🥰” Wong has such a great arm on him

What a double play by the Sox pic.twitter.com/qkN6bMwf0Q

— The Pesky Report (39-35) (@PeskyReport) June 21, 2023

Tonight is the 6th time this season the White Sox pitching staff has recorded 15+ strikeouts (17 tonight).

They are 0-6 in those games.

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) June 24, 2023

I watched Lance Lynn strike out maybe 17(?) Mariners and still lose. Initially I was like, eh that’s not saying a huge amount cos my beloved Mariners are the 4th highest as a team in strikeouts and the offence has been pretty bad for weeks now, BUT it was genuine Tungsten Arm shit.

Giolito got most of his strikeouts against just three Red Sox; Adam Duvall & Connor Wong both were 0-3 on strikeouts against him, and each struck out a fourth time against the relievers. Christian Arroyo went 0-4 with 3ks as well. So hat fully tipped cos that is not a team that strikes out a lot, especially in the same game.

Also, the Red Sox had 4 hits to the White Sox 8.

Credit to @StrangedeBill1:

4 pitchers, and 4 pitchers only, have played in the majors after attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton CA, and now all 4 have thrown an MLB no-hitter. This is a simply incredible baseball fact—most amazing ever. pic.twitter.com/96VdAjCvj4

— High Heat Stats (@HighHeatStats) August 10, 2023

but how hot is he in person

Dominic Leone has pitched at Citi Field for the:

Mets (7/29)
Angels (8/26)
Mariners (Sun)

that 37-day span is the 3rd-shortest since 1900 for a player to play at a venue for 3 diff teams, behind only:

Mike Piazza at Sun Life Stadium, '98: 17
Bobby Rhawn at Shibe Park, '49: 26

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 3, 2023

don't know why i went down the Joe Magrane rabbithole today but even in the context of the changing game, it's wild to see that he threw 10 shutouts in his brief-ish career (all from 1987-1990) and meanwhile Scherzer has thrown 5, and Verlander has thrown 9.

"I went down the Joe Magrane rabbithole today"--words never before uttered throughout the entirety of human history.

He used to be the cardinals best pitcher when I was first following them, and I’d stare at his cards all the time. On the whole, pitchers are kind of strange creatures. Somehow I feel like becoming familiar with magrane partly introduced me to that

Lucas Giolito is the first pitcher to allow 8+ runs in a game for 3 different MLB teams in the same season since Bill Magee did so in 1899 for the Louisville Colonels, Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Senators.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 5, 2023

Correction: the Baltimore Orioles tonight became the first American MLB team in history to beat every other team at least once in a single season. The Toronto Blue Jays accomplished this back on September 1.

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 12, 2023

Amazing that it never happened before, but I guess the interleague scheduling used to be very different, so it wasn't always possible in past years.

However, that bit of trivia calls for CodifyBaseball variations:

In 2022, Aaron Judge became the first Yankee MLB player in history to hit more than 61 HR in a season.

In 2010, Joey Votto became the first non-West Coast born Canadian MLB player in history to win an MVP.

In 2022, the Houston Astros became the first MLB team in history to win a World Series while being managed by Dusty Baker.

etc.

Saw this list on Reddit & posting here purely for the Mark Prior mention for user felicity

https://i.postimg.cc/ryryXfzp/IMG-0563.jpg

Oh I’m a fucking idiot: the list is last pitcher to strike out 15 in a single game

Honor the Prior!

<3

Cole is buoying NYA and HOU but couldn't help PIT out of the basement there

I’m sorry to tell you that People Magazine does not know ball. Bellinger and Betts aren’t even the best looking guys on their respective teams! Shohei is a good pick.

Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Cody Bellinger have made People Magazine's list of Sexiest Men in Sports

They appear alongside Messi, Lewis Hamilton, Travis Kelce and others pic.twitter.com/q9TX6xAm1U

— Cut4 (@Cut4) November 8, 2023

Maybe we need a thread that's an ILB version of Greil Marcus's "Real Life Top 10":

https://www.mlb.com/news/billie-eilish-wears-jake-peavy-jersey

I saw this cos I follow Peavy on Instagram and he was so happy because his teenage son is a fan and it instantly made him cooler by proxy, lol. He said he was going to send her a signed shirt!

Aaron Nola has thrown 10,000 fastballs in his career. 9 of them have been 96 MPH or faster. 3 of those 9 were thrown to his brother, Austin Nola. pic.twitter.com/8UPrrbEUf9

— Baseball Dugout (@baseballdugout_) October 20, 2022

Neat idea:

https://i.postimg.cc/kXZ7s0yW/salary.jpg

Six players who are in the HOF, one who will be (Freeman), one who might be (deGrom), plus A-Rod. Bob Feller's $82,500 would be worth all of $1,043,067.01 in 2023 dollars according to this:

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Not too much over the minimum salary.

cousin dave <3

Matt Cain might have been the worst pitcher (including RP!) on the Giants that season which is frankly surprising.

the last Giant to have a 30HR season was… Barry Bonds in ‘04

Brandon Belt came closest in 2021. It’s a hard park for homers cos it’s pretty much limited to pull side hitting due to not only the park dimensions but also the marine layer iirc? As we know, there has never been a rhh splash hit and as for lefties going oppo…

L: the 97 HR hit 420+ feet by LHH at Oracle Park in the Statcast Era (since 2015) before tonight

R: what Triston Casas just did https://t.co/NEB7B0GFPZ pic.twitter.com/GLVBe4qPcn

— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) July 29, 2023

100% on park dims, also sea level altitude (>20 ft), high humidity, stadium shelter on 3B/LF side acts as a windshield when honestly there is almost always a strong afternoon breeze pulling straight out to RF... but park dims make this (& SD) a huge power drain (almost wrote dong drain, sorry).

lol. On that note, you can go to sadly defunct twitter account would_it_dong and search Oracle to see all the moonshots that are described as “Only Oracle Park would have held that one in”

https://twitter.com/would_it_dong

Relatedly, this infamous Red Sox twitter meme

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb1J5itX0AE_0p8?format=jpg&name=large

Fenway is god-tier park dims. <3<3<3

I believe I made a park dims thread...?

I sure did!

S/D Unconventional Stadium Dimensions

I was looking at the NL ROTY for 2002 to see who finished above Mark Prior (not saying he should have won it, but wanted to see if I recognised any of the names). Look at the guy who finished in 4th! Negative WAR, league-high walks(106 in 154 innings), WHIP of 1.578 (Prior’s was 1.166). What on earth was going on there?

https://i.postimg.cc/J4Dvykkt/IMG-6367.jpg

14 wins as a rookie and had a gruesome end of season injury which may have lent some sympathy votes.

Steve Shasta…You are unreal

lollin'~q

...pardon my ignorance. When did you start posting on ILX gyac? I created this subboard 21 years ago (!) when I had tons of free time and we could have used more quality posters such as yourself.

Firstly!

Secondly, I had to check, 2011? But I only got into baseball in 2022. I’m trying very hard to make up for lost time though! One day we will meet and pore over your big book of player injuries together 🫡🫡🫡

Yes please!

HEALTH IS WEALTH

(aw, thanks for the kind words too!)

Was WAR around in 2002? I know there was an earlier version at some point--VORP--but I don't think it was. A couple of the awards that year were obvious--Bonds and Johnson--but Tejada winning MVP over A-Rod suggests voting was still pretty old-school.

No idea, and I’m not even a WAR believer tbh (it’s just one stat of many & I personally cbf thinking about the different kinds), but I just mentioned it as shorthand for a negative WAR (for a reliever, no less!) being reflective of some less than shining performances.

I think it's a great tool for narrowing the field and making sure there's never a Baylor/Burroughs-type winner again. (And honestly, you don't need WAR for that.) But I'm far from a true believer. I like a little narrative in the mix!

If you want to feel really old: Kent Tekulve turns 77 today.

thought he'd be older

https://i.imgur.com/Zp1C3Dt.jpeg

I wonder if his arm even works these days...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVGks-UU0AIl4VC?format=jpg&name=small

According to noted White Sox stats poster Jay Cuda, they are only the second team in baseball history to have--take a deep breath--zero runs, zero walks, zero extra-base hits, and 10 or more strikeouts in an Opening Day game. The previous instance was in 1967, when the San Francisco Giants faced Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Tbf they should definitely have had a walk going by the scorecard

#OpeningDay
Umpire: Brian O'Nora
Final: Tigers 1, White Sox 0#RepDetroit // #WhiteSox#DETvsCWS // #CWSvsDET

More stats for this game 👇https://t.co/fASdPcVOMs pic.twitter.com/uFV9X0FshR

— Umpire Scorecards (@UmpScorecards) March 29, 2024

Tyler Anderson vs. Chase Anderson--that seems worth noting.

the astros' manager and the orioles' manager are brothers-in-law because their wives are sisters

the list of current active leaders in shutouts includes a guy near the top whom i forgot existed.

Clayton Kershaw - 15
Justin Verlander - 9

tied for third place --

Gerrit Cole - 5
Max Scherzer - 5
Shelby Miller - 5

reminds me what a different time we're in, Tim Belcher (career w-l of 146-140, ERA of 4.16) tossed 18 shutouts and even if we take away the 8(!) he threw in 1989*, he'd still rank second among active dudes now.

Not that living to 100 is trivial, but I don't know where else to post this (and there's a great brush-with-fame story from 1951).

https://www.mlb.com/news/oldest-living-mlb-player-turns-100

There are quite a few brushes with fame in his bio, he's had an incredible life!

For the first time since 1910 and only the second time in the history of the baseball, the Colorado Rockies have trailed in all 28 games to start a season.

— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) April 28, 2024

He can see Russia from his window:

https://www.mlb.com/news/dave-winfield-getting-statue-in-alaska

I checked this--true!

https://i.postimg.cc/DftZ4WvQ/moyer.jpg

From the article about Chadwick Tromp wearing 45:

Tromp is not the first player with a presidential last name to wear the jersey number corresponding with that POTUS’ term placement, however unintentionally. There’s Ben Ford, who pitched 19 unremarkable games in relief for the 2004 Milwaukee Brewers. Ford wore the No. 38; Gerald Ford was the 38th president.

He said he selected that number himself, but did so without knowing its historical significance and relation to the president.

“My parents’ names are actually Gerald and Betty Ford too,” Ben said, referring to the congruency between his family and the former president and first lady. “Ever since I was young, it’s always been talked about like that. I never even would have thought to have done that.”

U L Washington wore the No. 1 for the 1985 Expos. Buster Adams, who played in the 1940s wore, No. 2 and No. 6 in his career. John Adams was the second president and John Quincy Adams was the sixth. Two players named Jackson wore No. 7. Four players named Taylor wore No. 12. Six Johnsons wore No. 17, another 10 Johnsons wore No. 36. Three Wilsons wore 28. One Ike and one Dwight, both first names, wore the No. 34. Reggie Cleveland notably wore the No. 22, though not the No. 24.

There are other close calls. The Washington Senators had an infielder named John Kennedy, who wore No. 34 in 1962, No. 36 in 1963, and also shared a May 29 birthday with John F. Kennedy, the 35th president. There was also a John Fitzgerald who wore the No. 35 for his one big league appearance in 1958.

Then there’s No. 41 Guy Bush, who played with the Cubs in the 1920s and 30s. He died in 1985, four years before George H.W. Bush would become the 41st U.S. president.

Otis Nixon wore #1, as in "the first president to resign."

To paraphrase Outkast, what's more trivial than trival? Stupid!

https://i.postimg.cc/MpsxVGRb/trivial.jpg

Hey Ira! (Flagstead)

Have you ever seen a center fielder tag someone out at home plate? Well here you go! pic.twitter.com/MORPFxt5Tp

— WOSN Sports (@WOSNScores) May 25, 2024

he ran right into the CF's trap

J.D. Martinez's 321st career HR tonight was his first-ever walk-off. Not sure if anybody keeps records on that kind of thing, but the odds on that seem very long.

If it was his first walk off, that would be crazy.

But first walk off homer? Can only happen at home, team has to be losing by as many runs are om base - 1, j.d has to be in that batting order.... and then he has to hit a home run! Without doing any math, I'd say the 250-350 range is where the statistics favour this being an almost definite thing

JD has hit 4 HRs in a game which honestly is much more impressive (and rare).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szf0TeB2PKY

Walk-offs are easily checkable on Baseball Reference. Looking at the three guys ahead of J.D. for career HR, there's Bryce Harper (6 career walk-offs), Vinnie Castilla (3), and Troy Glaus (6); behind him, Jay Bruce had 5 (including his very first HR), then there's the two Fielders, Cecil (2) and Prince (4).

6, 3, 6, 5, 2, 4--more in line with what I'd expect.

https://www.mlb.com/news/most-career-walk-off-home-runs-in-mlb-history-c275821150

Steve: four HR in a game is definitely more impressive--hitting 320 HR before you hit your first walk-off is almost the opposite of impressive--but I doubt it's rarer, not unless you can find 18 other players (how many who've had 4-HR games) who hit that many HR without a walk-off.

Tonight's game between the Nationals and Rockies was the first in Major League history to end in a walk-off victory on a pitch clock violation.

— Jessica Camerato (@JessicaCamerato) June 23, 2024

does anyone recall seeing a [6 - 3 - 4/5] gb double play where it's intentionally thrown to first to get a speedy runner, followed by a non-force out of a slowboy that was on 1st to complete the double play?

sorry that's 5 - 3 - 4/6

Never seen one of those. Just 3UA - tag at 2nd.

Yeah or the guy on first is out because they’ve thrown from third to first and he’s caught off the bag.

Watching Braves-Yankees and YES network said this about Max Fried, but I can’t find anything about this anywhere else (tbf, a couple of minutes googling):

Announcer says he wears 54 because “his favourite pitcher of all time is Sandy Koufax and his favourite pitcher growing up is Clayton Kershaw, so he added Koufax’s 32 and Kershaw’s 22 for 54”

Cal Raleigh: first @MLB player to homer from both sides of plate in a state (CALifornia) that starts with his first name.

Only Chili Davis at CHI (7/30/88) & Milton Bradley at MIL (4/18/05) have done it in a CITY that starts with the first 3 letters of first name. #TheMayerGWS

— Alex Mayer (@alexmayer34) July 10, 2024

truly a trivial occurrence lol

Braves booth (Brandon Gaudin and CJ Nitkowski, 10000000x better than Chip Caray + anybody) last night was speculating whether there have ever been two A.J.s in one bullpen or on one pitching staff before now. (AJ Minter & AJ Smith-Shawver)

closest i can come is that a.j. burnett and j.a. happ were both in pittsburgh in 2015

great trivia question, that switch-hitter one

James McArthur of the Royals with two saves in one doubleheader. Is that rare?

This is just Brewers pitchers, so obviously not common, but maybe not that rare.

From @EliasSports, multiple saves by a Brewers pitcher on the same day:

8/16/1981 Rollie Fingers
7/18/1983 Pete Ladd
7/2/1984 Fingers
10/5/1986 Mark Clear
7/29/1997 Mike Fetters
6/05/2003 Mike DeJean
7/30/2013 Jim Henderson
5/30/2022 Josh Hader

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) May 31, 2022

First 8-9-4-2 DP since 1900:

https://www.mlb.com/news/crazy-baseball-double-plays

three 20-year-old rookies named Jackson (Holliday, Chourios, and Merrill) all hit triples on the same day (Aug. 16, 2024)

Elly De La Cruz entering today

.261 AVG
61 RBI
61 SB
61 BB
61 XBH

Gleaned from FB--not sure when "today" was.

Rookie Kameron Misner led off the ninth inning with his first major league home run, giving Tampa Bay a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday as the Rays began their season of home games at Steinbrenner Field.

Miser, a 27-year-old who debuted last August, entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth. He drove a first-pitch fastball from Victor Vodnik (0-1) over the right-field wall for his second big league hit.

He became the first player in major league history to have his first home run be a walk-off home run on Opening Day.

Red Sox's Rafael Devers first with 10 K's in opening 3 games

Devers showing signs of life...

eh not really.

He looks very off mechanically, something with whatever he’s doing with his front foot. Naturally the “good” “people” of Boston want him killed.

charlie morton is the sixth pitcher in baltimore orioles history to strike out 10+ batters in a start of five innings or fewer

sadly for him, he also gave up two homers and five runs

I didn’t realise he was also on the 2017 Astros until the broadcast said it

(Broadcast helpfully pointed out that “Charlie knew what was going on but has said he regretted not saying anything”)

reds are the second team (after the 1960 phillies) of the live-ball era to lose three straight games 1-0

The Rangers are now 8-2, having been outscored by one run (34-33) for the year. They've won five one-run games. They also got crushed one game, 14-3, by Cincinnati...who then, as noted just above, immediately proceeded to lose three consecutive one-run games themselves.

the padres outscored the rockies 16-0 in their three-game series this weekend

It was the 34th time that a team had shut out its opponent for an entire series of three-plus games since 1901, and the first since Cleveland did it against Kansas City in August 2017.

With roughly 10% of the season complete, James Wood is tied for the MLB lead in HRs.

The previous youngest player to lead the MLB in HRs was 23yo Prince Fielder in 2007.

pirates pitchers did not record a strikeout against the cubs last night

pittsburgh pitching last accomplished that in 2009. cubs hitters last went K-less in 2013

The Mariners have two Luis Castillos, both starting pitchers, one 30 and one 32? One is well known, one is not; one is pitching well, one is not.

Prince Fielder has as many career inside-the-park home runs (2) as Kenny Lofton (1), Tim Raines (1), and Ichiro Suzuki (0) combined.

nice

just want to add as many as kenny lofton, tim raines, ichiro suzuki, and bob tewksbury combined

the 10th time in recorded MLB history that a team had a 19+ run lead after 5 innings of play

re: the padres in colorado this evening

Weird...Rece Hinds of the Reds, the first player ever (according to random Facebook post) to have 13 of his first 15 hits go for extra bases. His career line into his second season:

65 AB, 15 hits, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 7 HR, .231/.296/.662, 26 K.

I wonder if he'll get...

Rece-Hind

...

...

...

That's good--now I know the internet sign for rimshots...The Reds now have two dynamic low-average guys; should change their name to the Cincinnati Juan Samuels.

Adam Gretz
adamgretz.bsky

I can't imagine anyone's ever done it, but I wonder who is closest to hitting for MLB's Water Cycle: A HR into the Allegheny River (Pittsburgh), McCovey Cove (SF), the Pool in Arizona and the Kansas City fountain. I promise I'm not high or drunk. I'm legitimately curious.

apparently nine people have done three of the four -- two of them active: paul goldschmidt has not hit the fountain in KC and joc pederson has not hit the pool in arizona

supposedly adam dunn hit KC/SF/AZ *and* hit one into the ohio river in cincy, but not the allegheny in pittsburgh

anyway this is all right-handed-hitter discrimination

https://i.postimg.cc/qMwKTR7r/Screenshot-2025-05-30-at-10-49-12-AM.png

Heliot Ramos has done McCovey Cove, has also homered at PNC & Chase (to right in the latter case!), probably the only righty with a chance.

Took at look at Gausman's splits, and this does check out:

In a remarkable feat of precision and performance, Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays etched his name alongside some legendary pitchers this past May. According to @CodifyBaseball, Gausman joined an elite roster in baseball history.

We’re talking a statistical oddity--33 or more strikeouts, no more than one walk, and zero hit batters or wild pitches within a single calendar month. It’s a tiny club that’s only seen the likes of Ray Sadecki, Bret Saberhagen, David Price, Hisashi Iwakuma, Freddy Peralta, and now, fittingly, Gausman himself.