February 11, 2011
3 days until pitchers and catchers
47 days until Opening Day
Today is completely random stat/fact day, so here is completely random stat trivia:Among active players, who has the best career at-bats per home run ratio?
Today is the 42nd day of the year: Jackie Robinson wore #42. This Sunday, February 13, will be the anniversary of a 1968 trade that sent Robinson to the New York Giants. As you may know, Robinson never played for the Giants. At the time they settled on the trade, the Dodgers were unaware that Robinson had already agreed to retire that offseason. Agreed with whom, you ask? The president of the Chock full o’Nuts company, which was at the time a lunch counter franchise in New York (they had not yet begun making coffee, which is what they do today). Robinson had agreed with the company to quit baseball and come on board as an executive, and he did.
Good investment: Jayson “Werewerth” Werth is getting more millions of dollars in his new contract with the Nationals (126) than he has career home runs (120). (Courtesy of Steve M.)
One of my most favoritest stats ever: Stan Musial has 3,630 career hits. 1,815 of those came at home, and 1,815 of those came on the road.
Left behind: Last year, 62.8% of players batted exclusively right-handed, 28.7% batted exclusively left-handed, and 8.6% were switch hitters.
Not canine, K/9: Today is Brian Matusz’s birthday. He had a pretty good first full season last year, with a 7.3 K/9 ratio. In Doc Gooden’s first season, he had an 11.39 K/9 ratio (that’s 276 strikeouts in 218 innings), best ever for a player’s first season.
That season, 1984, is the only season ever in which rookies led each league in strikeouts: Doc with his 276 led the NL, and Mark Langston with 204 for Seattle led the AL. Both pitchers debuted on April 7 of that year. Doc won rookie of the year that year, and Langston finished second.
Don’t make ’em like they used to: Baseball has some of the best names. Players and managers whose birthdays are today through Sunday include: Pants Rowland, Sweetbread Bailey, Blue Washington, Kiddo Davis, Crazy Schmit, Tuck Turner, and Biff Sheehan.
Strong cup of coffee: 505 guys have played exactly one major league game. Of those 505, only one ever homered in his fleeting moment in the show (Steve Hill did it last year for the Cardinals).
The District: As far back as the records go, 96 major league players were born in Washington, DC. Only 3 of them have made an All-Star Game – Maury Wills (7), Don Money (4), Brendan Donnelly (1).
Trivia answer: Ryan Howard has the best career at-bats per home run ratio with 12.79. That’s good for third all-time, behind McGwire (10.61) and Ruth (11.76).
3 days until pitchers and catchers
47 days until Opening Day
Today is completely random stat/fact day, so here is completely random stat trivia:Among active players, who has the best career at-bats per home run ratio?
Today is the 42nd day of the year: Jackie Robinson wore #42. This Sunday, February 13, will be the anniversary of a 1968 trade that sent Robinson to the New York Giants. As you may know, Robinson never played for the Giants. At the time they settled on the trade, the Dodgers were unaware that Robinson had already agreed to retire that offseason. Agreed with whom, you ask? The president of the Chock full o’Nuts company, which was at the time a lunch counter franchise in New York (they had not yet begun making coffee, which is what they do today). Robinson had agreed with the company to quit baseball and come on board as an executive, and he did.
Good investment: Jayson “Werewerth” Werth is getting more millions of dollars in his new contract with the Nationals (126) than he has career home runs (120). (Courtesy of Steve M.)
One of my most favoritest stats ever: Stan Musial has 3,630 career hits. 1,815 of those came at home, and 1,815 of those came on the road.
Left behind: Last year, 62.8% of players batted exclusively right-handed, 28.7% batted exclusively left-handed, and 8.6% were switch hitters.
Not canine, K/9: Today is Brian Matusz’s birthday. He had a pretty good first full season last year, with a 7.3 K/9 ratio. In Doc Gooden’s first season, he had an 11.39 K/9 ratio (that’s 276 strikeouts in 218 innings), best ever for a player’s first season.
That season, 1984, is the only season ever in which rookies led each league in strikeouts: Doc with his 276 led the NL, and Mark Langston with 204 for Seattle led the AL. Both pitchers debuted on April 7 of that year. Doc won rookie of the year that year, and Langston finished second.
Don’t make ’em like they used to: Baseball has some of the best names. Players and managers whose birthdays are today through Sunday include: Pants Rowland, Sweetbread Bailey, Blue Washington, Kiddo Davis, Crazy Schmit, Tuck Turner, and Biff Sheehan.
Strong cup of coffee: 505 guys have played exactly one major league game. Of those 505, only one ever homered in his fleeting moment in the show (Steve Hill did it last year for the Cardinals).
The District: As far back as the records go, 96 major league players were born in Washington, DC. Only 3 of them have made an All-Star Game – Maury Wills (7), Don Money (4), Brendan Donnelly (1).
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| Jackie Robinson shilling for Chock full o’Nuts |
Trivia answer: Ryan Howard has the best career at-bats per home run ratio with 12.79. That’s good for third all-time, behind McGwire (10.61) and Ruth (11.76).
