“Statistics are about as interesting as first base coaches.” ~ Jim Bouton
Well, with due respect to Jim Bouton (1962-1978) who was a heck of a pitcher, some stats are just amazing and need to be shared from time to time. I hope you find these as interesting as I do.
Alex Johnson (1964-1976) of the California Angels and Ron Johnson (1969-1975) of the New York (football) Giants were brothers and each had a great 1970 season. Alex won the American League Batting Title with a .329 average while Ron became the first NY Giant to rush for over 1000 yards with 1,027, add in 487 yards receiving and he led the NFL in Total Yards from Scrimmage with 1,514 Yards.
Denny McLain (1963-1972) became the most recent Major League Baseball pitcher to win 30 or more games during a season. He joined the 11 other pitchers in the 20th century when he posted his 31-6 record in 1968.
Adam Dunn (2001-2014) while playing for the Cincinnati Reds hit a ball into another state. Well, technically anyway. Dunn hit a tape measure homer run out of Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, which of course is in Ohio. Once out of the park it rolled approximately 200 feet, settling on a piece of driftwood in the Ohio River, which is considered Kentucky.
When he retired, Jamie Moyer (1986-2012) had faced 8.9% of all MLB hitters ever. By the time Jamie Moyer retired, about 19,000 different hitters had played in the MLB. Moyer faced 8.9% of them, that’s roughly 1,700 different batters faced. 1,700.
Carl Hubbard is the only man enshrined in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963) and the baseball Hall of Fame (1976). The 6’5” tackle starred for nine NFL seasons with the NY Giants, Green Bay Packers, and the Pittsburg Pirates (who were later named the Steelers). Hubbard was elected to baseball’s shrine for his work as an umpire.
Ray Caldwell (1919-1921) pitched for the Cleveland Indians. He was struck by lightning in the 9th inning of his Indian’s debut on August 24th, 1919, and finished the game, after being revived. 17 days later he pitched a No-Hitter. He won 20 games for the 1920 World Champion Indians. Talk about tough!!!
In 1997, Greg Maddux (1986-2008) threw a 78-pitch complete game. This is about “4 innings” of work for most current starting pitchers. He threw 63 strikes and only 15 balls.
In the 1992 season, Tony Gwynn (1982-2001) had 571 plate appearances. In those plate appearances, Tony was caught looking at strike three ONLY three times. Tony Gwynn also produced more 4-hit games with 45 than multi-strikeout games with 35.
In five consecutive seasons from 1998-2002, Randy Johnson (1988-2009) had 300 plus strikeouts in each. Since 2002, there have been a total of five seasons with 300 plus strikeouts.
Jason Varitek (1997-2011) is the only player to play in the Little League World Series, the College World Series, the MLB World Series, the Olympics, and the World Baseball Classic. He played in more postseason games than any other Red Sox player in the team’s history. He is also the only player in MLB history to catch four no-hitters. My personal favourite, he is the only red Sox player to ever punch Alex Rodriguez in the face. Not a bad baseball life.
Terrance Gore (2014-Present) of the New York Mets has just 79 plate appearances in his career, a mere 15 hits in his career, but he has 43 career stolen bases. Throw in three World Series rings as well. Gore is mostly used as a pinch runner.
In his career Babe Ruth (1914-1935) stole home a total of 10 times, while Rickey Henderson (1979-2003) who had 1,406 career stolen bases only did it twice.
Thanks for reading. More amazing stats in the future.
~ Coach Mike
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Exciting game🤩 Was Veritek benched🤷🏻♀️
Fascinating fun facts 🤗 This was such a fun read🤩 I am very curious about the A Rod punch🤷🏻♀️