The 600-HR Club welcomes Albert Pujols
On Saturday night, June 3, Angels’ first baseman Albert Pujols became the ninth member of the exclusive 600-HR Club. Pujols hit a grand slam that night, becoming the first member of the 600-HR Club to join the club with a grand slam.
For the record, here are the nine members of the club: Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Alex Rodriguez (696), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey, Jr. (630), Jim Thome (612), Sammy Sosa (609) and Pujols (600).
Here are a handful of stats about the 600-HR Club and Albert Pujols’ 600 homers.
- None of the nine members played for just one team. Pujols becomes the fourth member of the group who has played for just two teams in his career (he has played for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Angels). The others: Bonds (Pittsburgh and San Francisco), Aaron (Braves and Brewers) and Mays (Giants and Mets). Thome played with the most teams, six (Cleveland, Philadelphia, the White Sox, Dodgers, Minnesota and Baltimore).
- Three of the nine members also have 3,000 hits: Aaron (3,771), Mays (3,283) and Rodriguez (3,115). Pujols has 2,876 (as of June 3).
- Pujols, as of June 3, had 608 career doubles. That ranks second among the nine 600-HR Club members. Aaron has the most two-baggers with 624. Pujols does, however, have the fewest triples of the nine members with 16.
- Three members also have 2,000 or more RBIs: Aaron, Ruth and Rodriguez. Pujols had 1,859 as of June 3.
- Of the nine members of the club, Pujols has the fewest strikeouts with 1,091.
- Of the nine members of the club, Pujols and Thome have the fewest sacrifice bunts with one each.
- Babe Ruth has the highest batting average of the club members at .342. Pujols is second at .308. Two other members hit .300: Aaron (.305) and Mays (.302). The lowest average of the nine? Sosa at .273.
- Although he has 600 career HRs, Pujols has never hit 50 or more in a single season.
- Pujols has homered against all 30 MLB teams. The fewest HRs against any one team is one versus his old team, the Cardinals.
- Pujols has 56 HRs versus the Cubs and 55 versus the Astros, most against any team.
- Pujols has hit 137 of his home runs in the first inning, most of any inning.
- He has hit 487 of his 600 home runs from the three spot in the batting order.
- The month with the most HRs for Pujols is August with 112.
- Pujols has hit 318 homers at home and 282 on the road.
Teammates with 80-plus extra-base hits in a season
Chris Davis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has 75 extra-base hits (42 home runs and 33 doubles) this season, most in the majors. He is on pace to have 103 extra-base hits for the season. Should he get to 100 (and potentially, beyond that), he would become the 13th player in baseball history to have 100-plus extra-base hits in a season (three players accomplished the feat twice in their careers).
The question, however, is will Davis have one of his teammates join him in the 80-plus extra-base hit club? Manny Machado has 55 extra-base hits in 2013 and Adam Jones is close behind with 54. Both of these players are on a pace to end up with about 75 for the season.
Teammates with 80-plus extra-base hits in a season has happened 34 times since 1901. Last season, Brewers teammates Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez each had 80 extra-base hits, making them the first set of Brewers teammates to accomplish that. They were also the first teammates with 80-plus extra-base hits since 2008 when St. Louis’ Ryan Ludwig (80) and Albert Pujols (81) reached that mark.
Here’s a look at the teammates that had 80-plus extra-base hits in a season since 2000.
Season, Team, Players
2012, Milwaukee: Ryan Braun (80) and Aramis Ramirez (80)
2008, St. Louis: Ryan Ludwig (80) and Albert Pujols (81)
2007, Detroit: Curtis Granderson (84) and Magglio Ordonez (82)
2007, Florida: Hanley Ramirez (83) and Dan Uggla (83)
2005, Texas: Alfonso Soriano (81) and Mark Teixeira (87)
2004, Boston: David Ortiz (91) and Manny Ramirez (87)
2004, Colorado: Vinny Castilla (81) and Todd Helton (83)
2004, St. Louis: Jim Edmonds (83) and Albert Pujols (99)
2003, Colorado: Todd Helton (87) and Preston Wilson (80)
2003, Toronto: Carlos Delgado (81) and Vernon Wells (87)
2001, Houston: Lance Berkman (94) and Jeff Bagwell (86)
2001, Texas: Alex Rodriguez (87) and Rafael Palmeiro (80)
2000, Houston: Jeff Bagwell (85) and Richard Hidalgo (89)
2000, San Francisco: Barry Bonds (81) and Jeff Kent (81)
Here’s a few more stats about extra-base hits in a season:
* The New Yankees have had teammates with 80-plus extra-base hits most often in MLB history with eight. However, the last time they accomplished that was in 1937.
* Lou Gehrig tops the list of most seasons with 80 or more extra-base hits with 10. He is followed by Babe Ruth and Albert Pujols with nine each.
* Babe Ruth holds the MLB record for most extra-base hits in a season with 119 in 1921. The last time a player had 100 or more extra-base hits in a season was 2001 when four players cracked the 100 mark: Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, Sammy Sosa and Luis Gonzalez.
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2011 division champs Brewers, D’Backs and Tigers struggling in 2012
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Take a look at the standings today and you’ll see a few surprises: Baltimore, not expected to make much noise in the A.L. East, has a two-game lead in that division. The Cleveland Indians are three games up in the A.L. Central. Not surprising is the Texas Rangers’ five-game lead in the A.L. West.
Over in the National League, the Braves and Nationals are 1-2 in the East. The Cardinals, even after losing Albert Pujols, sit atop the Central, and the Dodgers have the biggest division lead, six games over the Giants.
The other surprise is last year’s division champs. As previously mentioned, the Rangers continue their solid play. But take a look at the other five defending division champs: The Yankees are 21-18, but are currently in fourth place in the A.L. East; Detroit has a losing record at 19-20, although they are in second in the A.L. Central; Arizona is 18-22 and third in the N.L. West; Philadelphia has a winning record at 21-19, but they are last in their division; and the Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the N.L. Central last season, are off to a horrible start. They Brewers are 16-23 and in fifth place in the division.
Since 1994 when Major League Baseball went to three divisions in each league, 46 teams repeated as division champs the following year, just under 50 percent of the time. Of the teams that won their division since ’94, 21 of them were under .500 the following season, and 35 dropped from first place to third place or lower the following season.
Here’s a look at the teams since 1994 that won the division title and then saw their winning percentage drop the most the following season.
Win pct drop, Team, Year of Division title, win pct that year/win pct next year
.191 Montreal, 1994, .649/.458
.191 Minnesota, 2010, .580/.389
.155 Houston, 1999, .599/.444
.149 San Diego, 1998, .605/.457
.148 Texas, 1999, .586/.438
.142 Seattle, 2001, .716/.574
.136 Los Angeles Dodgers, 2004, .574/.438
.121 Chicago White Sox, 1994, .593/.472
.117 Baltimore, 1997, .605/.488
Six franchises have not won a division title since 1994. They are:
* Colorado: Has won the Wild Card three times
* Kansas City: Came in second in 1995
* Florida/Miami: Won the Wild Card twice; won the World Series both of those years.
* Toronto: Finished second in 2006
* Montreal/Washington: Finished second in 2002.
Did you know? Since 1994, the New York Yankees have won 13 A.L. East titles. They have never dropped lower than second place the year after winning a division championship.
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Roy Halladay hates relief pitchers! (just kidding)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published multiple times weekly focusing on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Roy Halladay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here’s a quick trivia quiz for you: Can you name the last pitcher to lead the American League in complete games in two consecutive seasons? And… Can you name the last pitcher to lead the National League in complete games in two consecutive seasons?
If you answered Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay to both questions, you know your baseball.
Halladay last year topped the N.L. with eight complete games after leading the league in that category in 2010 with nine complete games. As a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, he led American League starters in complete games in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Following is a look at five different individual pitching and batting stats and the last time a player led the league in that category in two consecutive seasons. (Note: If a player tied for that stat title in one or more seasons, it is noted).
PITCHING
Complete Games, American League: Roy Halladay (Toronto) 2007, 2008, 2009
Complete Games, National League: Roy Halladay (Philadelphia) 2010, 2011
Wins, American League: LaMarr Hoyt (Chicago) 1982, 1983… Note-C.C. Sabathia was tied with two other pitchers for most wins in 2009 and led the league in wins in 2010.
Wins, National League: Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles) 1965, 1966… Note-Greg Maddux was tied with Ken Hill for most wins in 1994 and led the league in wins in 1995
ERA, American League: Pedro Martinez (Boston) 2002, 2003
ERA, National League: Randy Johnson (Arizona) 2001, 2002
Strikeouts, American League: Johan Santana (Minnesota) 2004, 2005, 2006
Strikeouts, National League: Tim Lincecum (San Francisco) 2008, 2009, 2010
Saves, American League: Dan Quisenberry (Kansas City) 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985… Note: Francisco Rodriquez was tied with Bob Wickman for most saves in 2005 and led the league in saves in 2006
Saves, National League: Jose Valverde (Arizona, Houston) 2007, 2008
BATTING
Batting Average, American League: Joe Mauer (Minnesota) 2008, 2009
Batting Average, National League: Larry Walker (Colorado) 1998, 1999
Home Runs, American League: Jose Bautista (Toronto) 2010, 2011
Home Runs, National League: Albert Pujols (St. Louis) 2009, 2010
Runs Batted In, American League: David Ortiz (Boston) 2005, 2006
Runs Batted In, National League: Andres Galarraga (Colorado) 1996, 1997… Note: Ryan Howard led the league in RBIs in 2008 and tied with Prince Fielder for the RBI title in 2009
Stolen Bases, American League: Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston) 2008, 2009
Stolen Bases, National League: Michael Bourn (Houston, Atlanta) 2009, 2010, 2011
Runs Scored, American League: Dustin Pedroia (Boston) 2008, 2009
Runs Scored, National League: Albert Pujols (St. Louis) 2009, 2010
Where does Albert Pujols rank among baseball’s all-time greatest hitters?
Albert Pujols... Image via Wikipedia
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog that is published every Wednesday and Friday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” posting every Friday.
With his three HRs in Game Three of the World Series, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols continues to build an impressive resume that will likely get him into baseball’s Hall of Fame five years after his retirement. He has won three National League MVP awards (and finished second in the balloting three times), was the N.L. Rookie of the Year in 2001, and has been selected to nine N.L. All-Star teams.
But here’s the question: Where does Pujols rank among baseball’s all-time greatest hitters? Consider… a .328 career batting average, 445 homers and 100 or more RBIs in ten of his 11 seasons. Great credentials and numbers!
Let me offer the following criteria to analyze Pujols and how he compares with the other great hitters in the game’s history. My definition of a great hitter would include a player who hits for a high average, someone who hits for power, and a hitter with a great eye at the plate. To quantify what I just said, let’s look at how many hitters have accomplished the following in a season (Why the following criteria? It’s my blog!):
* Hit .300 or better
* Hit 30 or more home runs
* Walk 100 or more times
* Strike out less than 100 times.
With these numbers as a definition of a player who had a “great hitter” season, we see that only 28 players have had one or more “great hitter” seasons in major league history. In fact, this year only one player met the above criteria: Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. Cabrera hit .344, slugged 30 home runs, walked 108 times and struck out 89 times.
Following are the players in baseball history who had one or more seasons where they batted over .300, hit 30 or more HRs, walked 100 or more times, and had less than 100 strikeouts.
‘Great Hitter’ Seasons, Player
11….. Babe Ruth
9….. Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds
8….. Ted Williams
5….. Jimmie Foxx, Frank Thomas
4….. Mel Ott, Mickey Mantle
3….. Stan Musial, Gary Sheffield, Albert Pujols
2….. Ralph Kiner, Jason Giambi, Todd Helton
1….. Hack Wilson, Hank Greenberg, Duke Snider, Norm Cash, Willie McCovey, Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith, George Brett, Dwight Evans, Jeff Bagwell, Chipper Jones, Brian Giles, Luis Gonzales
There’s no doubt that Pujols is one of the game’s greatest players and is definitely one of its great hitters. Exactly where does he rank among the greatest hitters? You be the judge! In fact, send me your ranking of your three greatest hitters in major league history. We’ll see how the voting plays out.
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