Current MLB players who have played 10 seasons with one team
Let’s start this blog with a quiz:
There have been 15 players who played one or more games in 10 or more different seasons with the Brewers. Can you name these 15 Brewers who have played 10 or more seasons with the Brew Crew? (Answer below.)
One thing free agency did for baseball was it made staying with one team for an entire career almost a thing of the past. While many players may play 10 or more years in the majors, and some may play more, it’s pretty rare to find more than a handful who stayed with one team for an entire career.
Last season there were 24 players on rosters who had played (or were playing) their 10th season (or more) with that club. Two teams, Boston and Cincinnati, toped this list each with three players with 10 or more seasons with the Reds or Red Sox. For the Reds, Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto and Homer Bailey each had 10 or more campaigns with the team, while David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Clay Buchholz were 10-year players with the Red Sox.
Here’s a look at the 30 MLB franchises and how many 10-year players were with the team in 2016.
3: Boston (Buchholz, Ortiz, Pedroia), Cincinnati (Bailey, Phillips, Votto)
2: Minnesota (Mauer, Perkins), New York Mets (Reyes, Wright), Philadelphia (Howard, Ruiz), St. Louis (Molina, Wainwright)
1: Chicago White Sox (Danks), Detroit (Verlander), Kansas City (Gordon), L.A. Angels (Weaver), L.A. Dodgers (Ethier), Milwaukee (Braun), New York Yankees (Rodriguez), San Francisco (Cain), Seattle (Hernandez), Washington (Zimmerman)
0: Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago Cubs, Cleveland, Colorado, Houston, Miami, Oakland, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Tampa Bay, Texas, Toronto
If we look at the list of 24, we see that one-third of these players are no longer with the teams they played for last season. Retirement ended the careers of Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, Ryan Howard is still a free agent, and five players have new teams: Brandon Phillips (Atlanta), Carlos Ruiz (Seattle), Clay Buchholz (Philadelphia), Jered Weaver (San Diego) and John Danks (Atlanta).
Now to answer the trivia question at the start of the blog…
Last season Ryan Braun became the 15th Brewers player to play in 10 or more seasons with the team. He joined the following players (numbers of seasons with the Brewers also noted):
20: Robin Yount
17: Jim Gantner
15: Paul Molitor
14: Charlie Moore
12: Jim Slaton
11: Rickie Weeks, Bill Wegman, Cecil Cooper, Gorman Thomas, Don Money
10: Ryan Braun, Geoff Jenkins, Bob McClure, Moose Haas, Jerry Augustine
It’s anyone’s guess whether or not another player will join this above list of Brewers. When you consider that after Braun the player on the current roster with the most seasons with the team is Wily Peralta with five, chances of anyone joining this in the near future is not likely.
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NBA Stats: Most career points without an NBA All-Star Game appearance
(Jason Terry)
When players get a chance to play in the NBA, there are various outcomes they hope for: a long career, an NBA Championship, the Hall of Fame, an All-Star Game appearance (or more), enough money to not have to worry for the rest of their life. You get the point.
But let’s deal with one aspect what a player hopes for: To be considered an All-Star. We just saw the 2017 NBA All-Star Game played in New Orleans with several repeat performers like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, and a few first-timers like Giannis Antetokounmpo. There are, however, NBA players who have had very successful NBA careers who never suited up for an NBA-Star Game. In fact, there are 15 players who have 14,000 or more career points in the league who have been played in the ASG. They are:
Eddie Johnson, 19,202
Jason Terry, 18,577
Jamal Crawford, 1,7770
Andre Miller, 16,278
Derek Harper, 16,006
Sam Perkins, 15,324
Byron Scott, 15,097
James Edwards, 14,862
Richard Jefferson, 14,702
Mike Bibby, 14,698
Jason Richardson, 14,644
Monta Ellis, 14,630
Purvis Short, 14,607
Rod Strickland, 14,463
Al Jefferson, 14,043
Of these 15, five are still active this season: Terry, Crawford, Richard Jefferson, Ellis, and Al Jefferson.
If we look at just career games played in the league, Jason Terry leads that category. Terry (through the 2017 All-Star break) has 1,332 career games in the NBA, 28 more than the player second on the list, Andre Miller.
Of the players who have never appeared in the NBA All-Star Game, Leroy Ellis has the most rebounds with 8,709; Miller has the most assists with 8,524; and Derek Harper tops this list of players with 1,957 steals.
Jason Terry is only 635 points behind Eddie Johnson for the top spot in this stat, but at age 39 (he turns 40 in September), his career may not see many more days after this campaign. On the other hand, Jamal Crawford, third on the list and a little over 1,400 points shy of the top spot, may have enough of a career left to challenge Eddie Johnson. Crawford turns 37 in March, but he is still a very productive player off the bench for the Clippers averaging over 12 points per game. He may have a realistic shot at surpassing Johnson.
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NBA Stats: Is it time to start promoting Bucks’ Malcolm Brogdon as this year’s ROY?
“With the 36th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, the Milwaukee Bucks select Malcolm Brogdon, guard from the University of Virginia.”
When the Bucks made this selection of Brogdon in the second round of last year’s draft, there wasn’t much fanfare, in fact, most Bucks fans probably had little idea what the team was getting with Brogdon. Almost a year later, the team, its fans, and the NBA are taking notice of Brogdon and his play on the court.
At the All-Star break, Brogdon is averaging 9.4 points per game, 2.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists. He is also averaging 25.6 minutes per game, an unusually high number of minutes on the court for a first-year player, let alone a rookie who was drafted in the second round.
While the Bucks brass may be pleasantly surprised with Brogdon’s play, imagine the surprise of the rest of the NBA. In fact, you could certainly make a case for Brogdon as this year’s Rookie of the Year. Yes, a second-round player garnering a ROY Award!
Well, let’s take a moment and make the case for Brogdon as ROY. First, Brogdon has scored 517 points, most of any of the rookies taken in the second round. His closest competitor is fellow second-rounder Isaiah Whitehead of Utah who has scored 338 points for the Jazz. Not bad, you say. But here’s where things get interesting. In looking at all players taken in the 2016 NBA Draft, Brogdon’s 517 points ranks first; yes, that’s right, he has scored more points than every player taken head of him in the draft.
His 9.4 ppg ranks first among players drafted in 2016, as does his 4.2 assists per game. He also has 2.7 rebounds per game, not bad for a rookie guard… that stat ranks seventh among the draftees. His aforementioned 25.6 minutes per game ranks second among 2016 draftees (L.A. Lakers 2016 selection Brandon Ingram tops the list).
(Just for clarification, Brogdon ranks third in points for first-year players… a pair of Philadelphia 76ers, Joel Embiid and Dario Saric, lead the list of most points for rookies; neither was drafted in the 2016 NBA Draft, however.)
There is still a whole half of a season to go, but continued strong play from Brogdon will certainly keep his name near the top of the list for 2016-17 NBA ROY.
One more note about second-round draft choices by the Milwaukee Bucks. Brogdon has gotten off to a great start as the Bucks 2016 second round choice. But past history has shown us that the Bucks have selected a few other “gems” in the second round of the NBA Draft.
Here’s a look at the most career points in the league by players who were drafted in the second round by the Bucks. There are 15 players drafted in the second round by the Bucks who scored 3,000 or more points in their NBA careers. Of these 15, five never put on a Bucks uniform.
| Year Drafted | Player | Career NBA points | Games with the Bucks |
| 1976 | Alex English | 25,613 | 142 |
| 2000 | Michael Redd | 11,972 | 578 |
| 2007 | Ramon Sessions | 7.005 | 124 |
| 1998 | Rafer Alston | 6,799 | 114 |
| 1994 | Voshon Lenard | 6,745 | 0 |
| 2005 | Ersan Iluasova | 6,339 | 453 |
| 1982 | Fred Roberts | 5.962 | 394 |
| 1995 | Eric Snow | 5,791 | 0 |
| 1991 | Bobby Phills | 5,153 | 0 |
| 2002 | Ronald Murray | 4,817 | 12 |
| 1987 | Winston Garland | 4,799 | 0 |
| 2009 | Jodie Meeks | 4,337 | 41 |
| 2003 | Keith Bogans | 4,257 | 29 |
| 2008 | Luc Mbah a Moute | 3.716 | 335 |
| 1979 | Edgar Jones | 3,257 | 0 |
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NFL Stats: The importance of the second half of the season
The 2016 NFL season is in the books, but how about one more stat from last season… (For those of you going through football withdrawals, maybe this will help!)
Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers fans will remember the ’16 season for many reasons including how their teams put together long winning streaks to finish the season. Both teams ended up in their respective conference championship games, although both lost in an attempt to make the Super Bowl.
How important is finishing strong in an NFL season? How important is the second half of the season?
Let’s take a look at the records of each of the 32 NFL teams in the second half of 2016… some very distinct numbers pop out.
Here’s the record of each NFL team in the second half of 2016 (Games #9 through #16).
*=Playoff team
7-1: New England*, Pittsburgh*
6-2: Atlanta*, Dallas*, Green Bay*, Kansas City*, Miami*, New York Giants*, Oakland*, Tampa Bay
5-3: Detroit*, Indianapolis, Seattle*, Tennessee
4-4: Arizona, Baltimore, Houston*, Washington
3-5: Buffalo, Carolina, Cincinnati, Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans, Philadelphia
2-6: New York Jets, San Diego
1-7: Chicago, Cleveland, Jacksonville, L.A. Rams, San Francisco
Did you notice the very clear stats that emerge from these records:
- The 12 playoff teams had a combined record of 76-26 (.745) in the second half of the season. The teams that did not make the playoffs last season were a combined 52-102 in the second half (.338).
- Twelve of the 18 teams that won at least four of their last eight games made the playoffs in 2016.
- Eleven of the 14 teams that won five or more of their last eight games made the playoffs last season.
- Teams that won their division (New England, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Green Bay, Dallas, Kansas City, Seattle and Houston) were 47-17 (.734) in the second half of the season.
- The two Super Bowl teams (New England and Atlanta) were a combined 13-3 (.813) in their last eight games of the season.
- The four teams that played in the conference championship games (New England, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Green Bay) were a combined 26-6 (.813) in the second half of the season.
- The best second half by a non-playoff team last season was Tampa Bay at 6-2. Since 1988, the best second half of the season by a team that did not make the playoffs were the 1991 Philadelphia Eagles who went 7-1 in their last eight games but did not make the post-season.
- Both Seattle and Houston finished the year 4-4 in 2016, but each made the playoffs. The 1999 Miami Dolphins and 2006 New York Giants both finished those seasons 2-6, but each made the playoffs that year. It was the worst finish in their last eight games by a playoff team since 1988.
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MLB stats: Winning 57 or more games at home
With pitchers and catchers reporting this week, the start of baseball in 2017 is upon us. Here’s just a small taste of some baseball analytics to get you ready for the upcoming season.
Two interesting elements of the Chicago Cubs success last season was their dominance at home (57-24) and a 15-5 record in interleague play. Let’s, however, focus on their winning ways at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs last year became the 36th team in MLB history to win 57 or more games at home in a season. They were the first team to reach 57 wins at home since the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers won 57 games at Miller Park that season.
Of the 36 teams that have reached 57 or more wins at home in a season, 23 went on to play in the World Series that year with 12 winning the championship (the Cubs became the 12th team to do so.) That means that 13 of the 36 did not reach the World Series in the season they won 57 or more games at home. The aforementioned 2011 Brewers were the last team to fail to reach the World Series in a season where they won 57 or more games at home..
Here’s a look at the 12 teams to win the World Series in the same year they won 57+ games at home.
Year, Team, Home Wins in that title season
2016 Chicago Cubs, 57
2009 New York Yankees, 57
1998 New York Yankees, 62
1975 Cincinnati Reds, 64
1970 Baltimore Orioles, 59
1961 New York Yankees, 65
1942 St. Louis Cardinals, 60
1937 New York Yankees, 57
1932 New York Yankees, 62
1930 Philadelphia A’s, 58
1929 Philadelphia A’s, 57
1927 New York Yankees, 57
The 1961 Yanks top the list with most wins at home in a season, 65. The ’75 Big Red Machine is next with 64 wins at home. Ten of the 12 teams that won 60 or more games at home in a season eventually made it to the World Series that year with only five winning that crown that year (1932 Yankees, 1942 Cardinals, 1961 Yankees, 1975 Reds and the 1998 Yankees).
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