Baseball Stat of the Day Blog
August 2, 2007 6:54 AM   Subscribe

What's the fewest number of pitches pitched in a complete game? How many times has a relieving pitcher been awarded a win without even facing a batter? How many different pitchers has Julio Franco faced? What's the greatest number of hits in a game where all of them are home runs? Who's hit the most grand slams in the ninth or extra innings? These questions and many (many) more at Baseball-reference.com's fantastic Stat of the Day blog.
posted by Plutor (34 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow, this is really neat. Thanks.
posted by fallenposters at 7:01 AM on August 2, 2007


Thanks for pointing this out. I'm going to try to figure out now if any AL Pitchers have hit homeruns while playing in the American League.
posted by drezdn at 7:06 AM on August 2, 2007


Totally cool -- I will now waste my entire afternoon at work thanks to you.
posted by lazywhinerkid at 7:06 AM on August 2, 2007


It's only active players, at least for the late-inning grand slam specs. That makes it less comprehensive.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:09 AM on August 2, 2007


What a cool site-- thanks for pointing it out.

I posted a while back about winexp.walkoffbalk.com, which calculates a team's odds of winning based on data from past comparable game situations. That is much less fun to explore than this site.
posted by ibmcginty at 7:21 AM on August 2, 2007


drezdn: "Thanks for pointing this out. I'm going to try to figure out now if any AL Pitchers have hit homeruns while playing in the American League."

I'm not registered on baseball-reference.com (but it's tempting), so I can't see the whole list, but I can see that Josh Beckett did it once.
posted by Plutor at 7:33 AM on August 2, 2007


Who's hit the most grand slams in the ninth or extra innings?

Nice to see A-Rod on that list, even though everyone knows he's a filthy, lazy choker who can't hit.
posted by Kwantsar at 7:36 AM on August 2, 2007


I'm not registered on baseball-reference.com (but it's tempting), so I can't see the whole list, but I can see that Josh Beckett did it once.

It was versus the Phillies in the 2006 season at Citizen's Bank Park. I was lucky enough to be at the game.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:01 AM on August 2, 2007


Oh, cool. Thanks!
posted by rtha at 8:24 AM on August 2, 2007


The stat of the day for me:

I will now having "Productivity average" well below the Mendoza Line.
posted by ORthey at 8:33 AM on August 2, 2007


I can't believe Julio Franco is still playing (or attempting to do so) at 48! Also, I couldn't for the life of me understand how Nolan Ryan wasn't on the list of Hall-of-Fame pitchers he faced off against in his career, but this comment cleared things up. Neat site!
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:37 AM on August 2, 2007


Who knew that Chien-Mien Wang has the most wins in the majors since the start of the 2006 season?
posted by ORthey at 8:41 AM on August 2, 2007


How many pitchers have thrown a no-hitter under the influence of LSD?
posted by Sailormom at 8:59 AM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


Let's see: people gather obsessive details about one particular field of human pursuit. They go to events dressed in a fashion similar to the principles.

One group is dismissed as freaks who live in their mother's basements. The other is seen as normal.

How are "Star Trek" fans and baseball fans that different?
posted by MrGuilt at 9:37 AM on August 2, 2007


MrGuilt, we're talking about a very specific kind of baseball fan. Your "average" fan of baseball probably doesn't care all that much about how many grand slams are hit in the 9th inning or later. And I bet that no one would ever come away from a sabr conference and think anyone in there as normal.

But of course, sports are 'cool' and star trek 'isn't.'
posted by ORthey at 9:48 AM on August 2, 2007


Fantastic post. I'll be wasting the rest of my day here, thanks.

And now for some zombie-baseball haiku:

Julio Franco
At 12:35 a.m.
Brains, blood and base hits

posted by slogger at 9:55 AM on August 2, 2007


Let's see: people gather obsessive details about one particular field of human pursuit. They go to events dressed in a fashion similar to the principles.

One group is dismissed as freaks who live in their mother's basements. The other is seen as normal.

How are "Star Trek" fans and baseball fans that different?
posted by MrGuilt at 12:37 PM on August 2 [+]

Well, did anyone dress up as a baseball player when called for jury duty?
posted by etaoin at 10:21 AM on August 2, 2007


MrGuilt: "How are "Star Trek" fans and baseball fans that different?"

I don't think they are. Are you implying I do?
posted by Plutor at 10:41 AM on August 2, 2007


Plutor: not you, per say. Society in general.

Granted, I think we're judging the groups, in both cases, by the extreme case, not the typical fan. ORthey, detail obsession is likely not to be typical of any fan.

etaoin, I haven't sat on any juries lately, but I did see a lot of baseball-team-logoed attire last time I had to go to court.

/Not a hard-core Trek fan, but probably closer to that than a "how many grand slams against a left-handed pitcher in 70 degree weather" baseball fan.
posted by MrGuilt at 10:55 AM on August 2, 2007


How are "Star Trek" fans and baseball fans that different?

Baseball fans have girlfriends?

But to seriously answer your question...baseball is real. That's the biggest difference.
posted by rocket88 at 11:15 AM on August 2, 2007 [5 favorites]


Tomorrow's stat of the day, today: The 2nd inning of today's White Sox @ Yankees game is the first time in MLB history where each team scored 8 runs in their half of the same inning.

BETEMIT!!
posted by edverb at 11:32 AM on August 2, 2007


Baseball Reference is one of the greatest Web sites ever, not just for baseball. Historical box scores!

"How are "Star Trek" fans and baseball fans that different?"

Whether it's accurate or not, baseball fans aren't associated with pedophilia.

Hey, you went a trollin' ...
posted by mrgrimm at 11:37 AM on August 2, 2007


One difference is that in baseball, the weird, way-too-detailed stats are produced from the bizarre events that crop up during actual play—in that sense it's like taking a lot of raw data from a system and shuffling it to see what falls out. In Star Trek, the weird, way-too-detailed stats are produced from a bunch of people fanwanking (yes, this is an actual term people use) to fill in the gaps the actual show writers left behind, oh, and by the way, it's all fiction, and as the saying goes, truth is often stranger than fiction.

Or to put it another way, baseball stats represent glitches in the cosmos, while Star Trek stats represent glitches in the brain of Rick Berman. Given the choice between worshipping the cosmos or Rick Berman, I know which one I'd choose.
posted by chrominance at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2007


Thank you, MrGuilt, for making this thread a referendum on Trekkies. Thank you very much.
posted by Plutor at 11:54 AM on August 2, 2007


baseball is real

As real as Barry Bonds's record.
posted by MrGuilt at 12:59 PM on August 2, 2007


In the future, no one will enjoy anything.
posted by drezdn at 1:07 PM on August 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


Or to put it another way, baseball stats represent glitches in the cosmos, while Star Trek stats represent glitches in the brain of Rick Berman. Given the choice between worshipping the cosmos or Rick Berman, I know which one I'd choose.

Or, put differently, things that happen on the baseball field are, y'know, real.
posted by Kwantsar at 1:10 PM on August 2, 2007


Baseball is America's Pastime... While Star Trek is...well...
posted by bmpetow at 1:40 PM on August 2, 2007


Baseball may be real, but at least Star Trek is visually and philosophically interesting.
posted by tehloki at 2:39 PM on August 2, 2007


edverb: First time that exactly 8 runs were scored in each half of one inning, perhaps, but not the first time at least 8 runs were scored in each half. See Tigers @ Rangers, May 8, 2004, 5th inning.
posted by letourneau at 3:22 PM on August 2, 2007


White Sox batting, game tied 0-0.

Konerko singles.
Pierzynski singles.
Dye doubles, Konerko scores. 1-0 White Sox.
Erstad singles, Pierzynski scores. 2-0 White Sox.
Uribe singles, Dye scores. 3-0 White Sox.
(Should you pull the pitcher after five consecutive hits and three scores? Not today!)
Richar flies out. 1 out.
Owens grounds into fielder's choice. Error, everybody safe.
Cintron grounds into fielder's choice (play at the plate). 2 out.
Thome singles. Uribe and Owens score. 5-0 White Sox.
Konerko doubles. Cintron scores. 6-0 White Sox.
Pierzynski singles (again). Thome and Konerko score, 8-0 White Sox.
Dye doubles (again).
The Yankees change pitchers.
Erstad walks.
The Yankees change pitchers.
Uribe flies out.

Yankees batting, White Sox winning 8-0

Matsui singles.
Posada doubles.
Cano singles, Matsui scores. 8-1 White Sox.
Betemit homers, Posada and Cano score. 8-4 White Sox.
Phillips singles.
Damon strikes out. 1 out.
Cabrera singles.
Abreu singles. Phillips scores. 8-5 White Sox.
Rodriguez singles. Cabrera scores. 8-6 White Sox.
The White Sox change pitchers.
Matsui strikes out. Double steal! 2 outs.
Posada hits ground rule double. Abreu and Rodriguez score. Tied, 8-8.
Cano grounds into fielder's choice.

Jermaine Dye had a good day (2 homers, 2 doubles).
posted by kirkaracha at 3:49 PM on August 2, 2007


drezdn: "Thanks for pointing this out. I'm going to try to figure out now if any AL Pitchers have hit homeruns while playing in the American League."

Ask, and ye shall receive.
posted by Plutor at 10:07 AM on August 3, 2007


That was awesome (and they even mentioned it on my blog). Even more awesome was the idea of Rollie Fingers hitting a home run.
posted by drezdn at 10:17 AM on August 3, 2007


Chicks dig the long ball.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:23 AM on August 3, 2007


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