Trivia - Hit or Miss

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 8:04 AM EDT

There have been more than 17,500 players to appear in the major leagues, but only 260 of them have managed to total 2,000 or more hits in their careers. It's safe to say that anyone who can amass 2,000 hits is a rare talent. Even the 'worst' of such players is pretty good - only nine guys from this group had a career Wins Above Replacement less than 20, and seven of those nine made the All-Star team. This just goes to show that if you have a bunch of guys who are capable of getting to 2,000 hits in their career on your team, you'd expect the team to be pretty good, unless they were all at the very beginning or very ending of their careers.

And you'd be right. The nine teams who had seven of these guys on their roster won games at a 92-70 clip on average.

There was only one team that had eight of these guys. What was that team, and who were the eight players on the roster who ended up with 2,000+ career hits?

The 1993 Toronto Blue Jays

1B: John Olerud, 2239
2B: Roberto Alomar, 2724
SS: Tony Fernandez, 2276
RF: Joe Carter, 2184
LF: Rickey Henderson, 3055
DH: Paul Molitor, 3319
OF: Shawn Green, 2003
C/PH: Carlos Delgado, 2038

Next question - how many home runs can you hit in a career while missing having a total of 30+ in any single season? How many career wins can you get without ever having a single season of 20+?

Name the top three in career home runs among guys who never hit 30+ in a season

1. Al Kaline, 399

2. Harold Baines, 384

3. Rickey Henderson, 297

Name the top three in career wins among guys who never won 20+ in a season

1. Dennis Martinez, 245

2. Frank Tanana, 240

3. Jerry Reuss, 220

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Am pretty sure one of the three pitchers is Dennis Martinez. I recall that discussion in a gamethread earlier this month.

by talonk on Apr 22, 2011 9:55 AM EDT reply actions

Martinez is #1, with 245 wins.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions

The other pitchers are Kenny Rogers and Jerry Reuss.

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 10:49 AM EDT reply actions

Reuss is right, Rogers is wrong.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

I replied in the wrong place below, but Frank Tanana is #2. 240 wins, never better than 19-10 in a single season.

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes, Tanana is #2.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Al Kaline had 399 career homers and never hit more than 29 in a season. Is he at the top of the list?

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 10:52 AM EDT reply actions

Yes, he is #1.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Frank Tanana. The discussion I remember around the time we discussed Martinez was wrong.

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Man, there are quite a few teams that jump to mind for the hits, but every time I look at those teams, they fall short quite fast. (was thinking the Big Red Machine, the Phillies of the early 80s and the Athletics of the late 20s), but have yet to find one that fits your profile.

by talonk on Apr 22, 2011 11:13 AM EDT reply actions

The 1972 Reds had seven. Rose, Bench, Morgan, Perez, Concepcion, Griffey, and McRae.

by emd2k3 on Apr 22, 2011 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Actually, just 6 – Griffey, Sr. didn’t get called up until 1973.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Those ’28 Athletics were the only team with 3 3,000 hit guys – Cobb, Speaker, and Collins, all at age 40+. Plus a 26-year old Al Simmons, who finished with over 2,900 hits.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions

I count 12 guys on the 1996 Indians with 1500+ hits, but only 7 with 2000+.

Professional Lurker. Non-Baseball Posting Specialist.

by fingolfin on Apr 22, 2011 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions

I’m guessing Baines (384) is on the HR list. Not sure about the other one. I know Henderson had 297, but it seems like there should be someone between Baines and Henderson.

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 11:30 AM EDT reply actions

That’s right, it is Baines and Henderson

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions

How about your 1998 LA Dodgers?

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 11:32 AM EDT reply actions

Oh, I guess not. Seemed promising, with such ships-passing-in-the-night guys like Piazza, Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Zeile, Konerko and Adrian Beltre all on the roster at different times.

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

They didn’t have any members of the 2,000 hit club. Sax and Gibson came closest. They did have four pitchers who gave up more than 2,000 hits, though.

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

That’s 1988.

by emd2k3 on Apr 22, 2011 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Sorry, can’t read today. You are correct.

by FredOx on Apr 22, 2011 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions

They had 5 2000 hit guys, by my count, with Konerko and Beltre possible additions.

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions

1981 Royals only had six. (Brett, White, May, Otis, White, Wilson)

by emd2k3 on Apr 22, 2011 11:42 AM EDT reply actions

Duh. Listed Frank White twice. Should be McRae.

by emd2k3 on Apr 22, 2011 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Lists are hard.

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 12:28 PM EDT up reply actions

There have been more than 17,500 players to appear in the major leagues, but only 229 of them have managed to total 2,000 or more hits in their careers.

From the BRef career hits leaderboard, I count 260 (Shawn Green at 2003). They show the top 1000 on that page.

by talonk on Apr 22, 2011 11:52 AM EDT reply actions

Oops. Wrote down the wrong number – 260 is right.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions

1995 New York Yankees. Only 7. Jeter, Mattingly, Boggs, Fernandez, O’Neill, Sierra, B. Williams

by emd2k3 on Apr 22, 2011 12:02 PM EDT reply actions

2004 Yankees had 7: Jeter, A-Rod, Williams, Sheffield, Lofton, Sierra, and Olerud. Jason Giambi had only 1,917 hits.

by emd2k3 on Apr 22, 2011 12:06 PM EDT reply actions

Giambi is still playing, so they could get there. But he only had 43 hits last year, 3 so far this year. Matsui (1125) is still a regular, but he’s 37 and not likely to last long enough to get those 850+ hits.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions

1993 Blue Jays: 1BOlerud, 2B Alomar, SS Fernandez, LF Rickey, RF Joe Carter, DH Molitor, plus youngsters Shawn Green and Carols Delgado. And CF Devon White had 1934 hits.

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 12:21 PM EDT reply actions

See how excited I was! Two errata! None of Green’s or Delgado’s hits came in 1993, by the way, but they were called up in September and played in 3 and 2 games, respectively.

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

I knew it had to be something like that … kept looking at the Yankees for crossover from Gehrig to Dimaggio or Dimaggio to Mantle. Just couldn’t find it.

Also thought it might have been some of the obscure names on the list too. But those names are all pretty well known.

by talonk on Apr 22, 2011 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I was thinking about Rickey, and remembered his foray into Canada, and there they all were.

by YoDaddyWags on Apr 22, 2011 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Several of the teams with 7 were mentioned above:
1996 Indians
1995 Yankees
2004 Yankees

The other ones were:
1996 Orioles (Alomar, Bonilla, Murray, Palmeiro, Ripken, Surhoff, Zeile)
1985 Reds (Buddy Bell, Cedeno, Concepcion, O’Neill, Parker, Perez, Rose)
1986 Reds (Bell, Concepcion, Larkin, O’Neill, Parker, Perez, Rose)
1983 Yankees (Baylor, Campaneris, Griffey Sr, Mattingly, Nettles, Randolph, Winfield)
1973 Red Sox (Aparicio, Cepeda, Cooper, Dwight Evans, Fisk, Reggie Smith, Yaz)
1930 Senators (Cronin, Goslin, Judge, Joe Kuhel, Manush, Buddy Myer, Rice)

I had to look up Joe Kuhel, never heard of him before. He looks like the proto-Buckner. Long career first baseman with league averagish offense.

by InfiniteMonkeyTypists on Apr 22, 2011 1:08 PM EDT reply actions