Players who played their entire MLB career with the Brewers
Here’s a great trivia question for Brewers fans:
Can you name the five players who played their entire career with the Brewers (minimum of 500 games)? Hint: Two of them are currently on the Brewers roster. (Answer to follow)
It’s pretty rare to find a player who spends their entire MLB career with one team, especially if that career has a lot of mileage. Of the 22 players who played 2,800 or more games in the majors in their careers, only seven played all of their games with one team (Carl Yastrzemski, Stan Musial, Cal Ripken, Jr., Brooks Robinson, Robin Yount, Craig Biggio and Al Kaline).
As most avid Brewers fans know, Yount spent his entire career with the Brewers and holds the number one spot in this stat with 2,856 career games, all with the Brewers. One of Yount’s running mates during his career, Jim Gantner, holds the number two spot on this list with 1,801 career games, again, all with the Brewers.
Here goes… the 12 players who played (or have played) 200 or more career games in the majors, all with the Brewers.
1. Robin Yount, 2,856
2. Jim Gantner, 1,801
3. Ryan Braun, 1,219 (currently on Brewers roster)
4. Dave Nilsson, 837
5. Jonathan Lucroy, 710 (currently on Brewers roster)
6. Scooter Gennett, 320 (currently on Brewers roster)
7. Mark Brouhard, 304
8. Jerry Augustine, 279
8. Matin Maldonado, 279 (currently on Brewers roster)
10. Bill Wegman, 266
11. Ron Theobald, 251
12. Teddy Higuera, 213
How well did you do on the trivia question? Yount and Gantner were easy; Braun and Lucroy was pretty easy guesses, especially with the hint, but Nilsson… that one I would have missed.
A pair of Brewers who were on the roster last year would have been on the above list but are no longer in the organization. Khris Davis was traded to Oakland few weeks ago; he had 321 games with the Brewers and will most likely add a few MLB games to his career with the A’s. Logan Schafer has 292 games with the Brewers in his career, but is now in the Washington Nationals organization.
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Inside the Numbers: QBs with 30+ TD passes who were sacked 30+ times
Favre and Rodgers rank 1-2 in most seasons with 30 TD passes and 30 sacks
In baseball, players who are 30-30 players are those who slugged 30 or more home runs and stole 30 or more bases. Two positive stats that help define an all-around offensive threat on the baseball diamond.
Let’s take a look at a different 30-30 player, one in the sport of football: A 30-30 quarterback who passed for 30 or more TDs in a season while being sacked that season 30 or more times by the opposition.
In 2015 there were eight 30-30 QBs. That was the most in a season since there were four who reached those numbers in 2011. The eight in 2015:
Blake Bortles, Jacksonville, 35 TDs-51 sacks
Tom Brady, New England, 36 TDs-38 sacks
Drew Brees, New Orleans, 32 TDs-31 sacks
Derek Carr, Oakland, 32 TDs-31 sacks
Cam Newton, Carolina, 35 TDs, 33 sacks
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay, 31 TDs-46 sacks
Matthew Stafford, Detroit, 32 TDs-44 sacks
Russell Wilson, Seattle, 34 TDs-45 sacks
Four of the above QBs (Bortles, Carr, Newton and Wilson) reached these numbers for the first time in their careers. Brady, Brees and Stafford did it for the second time each, while Green Bay’s Rodgers was a 30-30 QB for the fourth time in his career. That leaves him just one season behind his predecessor, Brett Favre, who had five 30-30 seasons in his Hall of Fame career.
The 30-30 mark has been reached 44 times in NFL history by 26 quarterbacks. As mentioned above, Favre and Rodgers top the list with five and four seasons respectively. Philip Rivers is next with three 30-30 seasons.
Here’s a few more stats on these 30-30 QBs:
- Favre was the oldest QB to have a 30-30 season. He was 40 years old in 2009 when he had 33 TD passes and 34 sacks for the Minnesota Vikings.
- In 27 of the 44 seasons the 30-30 QBs played on teams that won 10 or more games.
- Nineteen of the 44 QBs had a Quarterback Rating of 100 or higher in that season.
- The first 30-30 QBs were Dan Fouts (30 TDs-32 sacks) and Steve Bartkowski (31 TDs-35 sacks) in 1980.
- Four undrafted QBs had at least one 30-30 season in their careers: Tony Romo, Kurt Warner, Warren Moon and Dave Krieg.
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NBA players who have depended on the 3-pointer
Steve Novak
The three-point shot has become an important weapon in basketball today. Like the “closer” specialist in baseball, teams are now depending on players that can hit the three with regularity, even if that is their only function on the team. Over the past few years, we have seen in the NBA a handful of players whose role is to come off the bench and open up the offense by draining a few three-pointers.
The poster child for this has been Marquette grad Steve Novak. Currently a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Novak is in his 10th season in the league. He has played for eight teams in that span. Novak’s role with many of those teams? Come off the bench and give his team some instant offense via the three. And he has been quite good in that role.
Novak’s shot selection in his career his been very distinct: In 456 NBA games, Novak has taken 1,704 shots, 1,325 from three-point range and only 379 shots from inside the three-point line. Novak is the only player in NBA history to have made over 500 three-point shots and less than 200 from inside the three-point arc (he has made 572 three-pointers and 175 two-pointers).
Novak is also the only player in NBA history to have two seasons where he made more than 100 three-point shots with less than 50 two-point shots made (he did it in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons as a member of the New York Knicks).
Following is a look at the eight players in NBA history who made 100 or more three-pointers in a season with less than 50 two-pointers made.
Year, Player, Team (two-pointers made/three-pointers made)
2013-14, Anthony Tolliver, Charlotte (27/102)
2012-13, Shane Battier, Miami (16/136)
2012-13, Jason Kidd, New York Knicks (38/114)
2012-13, Steve Novak, New York Knicks (29/149)
2011-12, Matt Bonner, San Antonio (49/105)
2011-12, Steve Novak, New York Knicks (28/133)
2010-11, James Jones, Miami (23/123)
2007-08, Damon Jones, Cleveland (36/115)
2005-06, James Posey, Miami (42/117)
Novak is one of three NBA players who has made over 500 three-pointers in his career while making less than 500 two-pointers (as noted above Novak has 572 threes and 175 two-pointers). The others: James Jones (409/731) and Daniel Gibson (487/578).
Death of a World Series champion
Back in 2013, the Boston Red Sox won their third World Series in 10 years after a drought of more than 85 years from 1918 to 2004. But in the last two years after their last championship the team has not looked anything like a champion. They have followed up their ’13 title with a pair of A.L. East Division fifth place finishes and two seasons under .500. They were 71-91 in 2014 and 78-84 last season.
Last year they became the third franchise in baseball history to have two consecutive losing seasons (winning percentage under .500) after winning a World Series. They would have to have two more sub-.500 seasons to approach the other teams on the list: The Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993 and then had four straight seasons under .500; the Florida Marlins were World Champions in 1997 and then finished under .500 in five consecutive seasons.
Here’s a look at the 14 teams that won a World Series and then played under .500 the following season and beyond.
World Series title year, consecutive years under .500 after World Series win
Florida, 1997… five consecutive years under .500
Toronto, 1993… four consecutive years under .500
Boston, 2013… two consecutive years under .500
San Francisco, 2012… one year under .500
St. Louis, 2006… one year under .500
California, 2002… one year under .500
Cincinnati, 1990… one year under .500
L.A. Dodgers, 1988… one year under .500
Kansas City, 1985… one year under .500
St. Louis, 1982… one year under .500
St. Louis, 1964… one year under .500
L. A. Dodgers, 1963… one year under .500
Pittsburgh, 1960… one year under .500
St. Louis, 1931… one year under .500
The Florida Marlins after winning their title in 1997 had the worst winning percentage the year following a World Series when they won only .333 of their games in 1998.
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Good news/bad news for the Denver Broncos
Okay Broncos fans… do you want the good news first or the bad news?
Let’s assume you want the good news first: The 2015 Denver Broncos became the first team in 38 years to win a Super Bowl after losing the Super Bowl either the previous year or two years back. The Broncos lost Super Bowl #48 to the Seattle Seahawks in 2014 but won the title two years later.
Here’s a look at the five teams in Super Bowl history to win a Super Bowl within two years of losing the title contest.
Baltimore Colts: Lost Super Bowl #3… won Super Bowl #5
Dallas Cowboys: Lost Super Bowl #5… won Super Bowl #6
Miami Dolphins: Lost Super Bowl #6… won Super Bowl #7
Dallas Cowboys: Lost Super Bowl #10… won Super Bowl #12
Denver Broncos: Lost Super Bowl #48… won Super Bowl #50
That’s the good news; now for the not-so-good news. Can the Broncos return to the Super Bowl next year to defend their title? Past history indicates there is about a one in five chance they will be back in the Super Bowl in 2017 representing the AFC.
Of the previous 49 Super Bowl champs, only 11 of them returned to the Super Bowl the following year. Following is a list of those teams.
Green Bay Packers: won Super Bowl #1… won Super Bowl #2
Miami Dolphins: Won Super Bowl #7… won Super Bowl #8
Pittsburgh Steelers: Won Super Bowl #9… won Super Bowl #10
Dallas Cowboys: Won Super Bowl #12… lost Super Bowl #13
Washington Redskins: Won Super Bowl #17… lost Super Bowl #18
San Francisco 49ers: Won Super Bowl #23… won Super Bowl #24
Dallas Cowboys: Won Super Bowl #27… won Super Bowl #28
Green Bay Packers: Won Super Bowl #31… lost Super Bowl #32
Denver Broncos: Won Super Bowl #32… won Super Bowl #33
New England Patriots: Won Super Bowl #38… won Super Bowl #39
Seattle Seahawks: Won Super Bowl #48… lost Super Bowl #49
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