Today’s Sports Stat: September 29, 2018
When it comes to games with two or more home runs, Ryan Braun is the king for the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the span of four days, Braun hit a pair of home runs in two games; Braun hit a pair against the St. Louis Cardinals on September 25 and then hit two against the Detroit Tigers on September 28.
Braun tops the Milwaukee franchise with the most multi-home run games in a career with 32. He is followed by Prince Fielder with 22 and Gorman Thomas with 19. Braun is, however, nowhere near the leader board when it comes to the most multi-HR games in MLB history. Leading the way is Babe Ruth with 72 followed by Barry Bonds with 71. Others with 60 or more career multi-HR games: Sammy Sosa (69), Mark McGwire (67), Willie Mays (63) and Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez (each with 62).
The Brewers have had five players hit two or more home runs in a game this season. Braun has done it four times followed by Jesus Aguilar with three games. The other three Brewers players with multi-HR games this year (each with one game) are Keon Broxton, Eric Thames and Christian Yelich.
Following are the MLB players with the most multi-HR games in a season.
11: Sammy Sosa, 1998; Hank Greenberg, 1938
10: Giancarlo Stanton, 2017; Sammy Sosa, 2001; Alex Rodriguez, 2002; Albert Pujols, 2009; Mark McGwire, 1998; Ralph Kiner, 1947; Jimmie Foxx, 1938; Barry Bonds, 2001.
9: David Ortiz, 2005; Mark McGwire, 1999; Willie Mays, 1955; Andruw Jones, 2005; George Bell, 1987; Jose Bautista, 2010.
Robin Yount holds the Brewers record for most games with two or more home runs in a season with seven (he did it in 1982). Gorman Thomas had six multi-HR games, also in 1982, while Richie Sexson had six in 2001. Braun had six multi-HR games in both 2012 and 2016.
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Today’s Sports Stat: February 19, 2018
Last baseball season, Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton and New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge each hit 50 home runs … Stanton had 59; Judge had 52. (These two are now teammates with Stanton’s trade to the Yankees in the off-season.) It was the first time since the 2007 season that two players hit 50 in a season; that year Alex Rodriguez had 54 and Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder had 50.
Stanton and Judge became the 44th and 45th players to hit 50 in a season. Of the 45 times it has happened in MLB history, there have been 29 different players who have reached the 50-HR milestone. Here are the nine players who have hit 50 or more home runs in multiple seasons:
4: Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa
3: Alex Rodriguez
2: Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey, Jr., Ralph Kiner, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays.
Stanton and Judge will look to become only the sixth and seventh players to hit 50 HRs in consecutive seasons. The five players who have consecutive seasons with 50 homers: Rodriguez (2001 and 2002), Ruth (1920 and 1921, also 1927 and 1928), Griffey (1997 and 1998), McGwire (1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999) and Sosa (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001).
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Teammates with 80-plus extra-base hits in a season
Chris Davis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.
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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Planning the birth of baseball’s next great home run hitter!
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday with a bonus “SIX STATS…” posting every Friday.
Babe Ruth, born in February... Image via Wikipedia
For those of you young couples that are planning a family and you’d like to make sure that your next son will be one of the top home run hitters in the history of baseball, you’ll probably want to read this blog.
There are 83 players who have hit 350 or more home runs in baseball history. In looking at the month in which these players were born, those planning a birth may want to target a March, August or November birth… and most certainly not an April birth!
Following are the number of players with 350+ career home runs and the month they were born.
350+ HR Club members, Month
10… March
10… August
10… November
8… May
8… October
7… September
6… January
6… June
5… February
5… July
5… December
3… April
Note #1: On six different dates, two members of baseball’s 350+ HR Club were born: March 7-Joe Carter and Jeff Kent; March 8-Jim Rice and Dick Allen; May 27-Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell; October 20-Mickey Mantle and Juan Gonzalez; November 18-Gary Sheffield and David Ortiz; November 21-Ken Griffey and Stan Musial.
Note #2: Seven of the 83 players were born on the 27th, most of the group. Five members each were born on the 10th and the 24th. There was at least one player with 350+ home runs born on every date (1, 2, 3, 4…) of a month.
Note #3: Of the 25 players who have hit 500 or more home runs, four were born in May and four were born in October, most on the list.
Did You Know? Hank Aaron, number 2 on the list, was born on February 5… Babe Ruth, number 3 on the list, was born on February 6.
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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