White Sox All-Time Lineups

 

Recently, I was taken by a particular book, written by Rob Neyer.  It is a book I have owned for a few years called The Big Book Of Baseball Lineups, and includes Neyer's picks for each franchise's best lineup by position, second best lineup by position, best lineup by single season stats and best lineup by rookie seasons.  I read it in it's entirety a while ago, but have rediscovered it among my collection of books.  I find myself disagreeing with him on a few things, but that's to be expected with any "best" list.  Neyer's book only goes to 2002, so using player stats from 2003-2010 will lead to some different results.

Taking from his ideas, I will post my best team by position and best team by single year statistics for the Chicago White Sox.  Feel free to disagree with me.  I hope this leads to good discussion.  These lists are just my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own.  To explain a bit about how I am choosing players by position:  I am choosing to include only the years in which they played this position more than any other.

White Sox All-Time Lineup By Position

 DH - Jim Thome(2006-2009):  During his seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Jim Thome hit .265/134/372(.265/34/93 a season) with a .929 OPS featuring a .390 OBP.  Frank Thomas' DH years don't match up to this type of consistent output(.274/24/76 season avgs from 1998-2005).  Through 2002, Neyer had Greg Luzinski as the top DH in Sox history for no other reason than he was strong.

C - Carlton Fisk(1981-1993):  Already a legend when he changed his Sox, Fisk stepped right in and played great ball.  He put up the line of .257/214/762 .766 OPS.  His statistics are very similar with other big name Sox catchers Pierzynski and Lollar.  In fact, some of their stats are almost identical.  However, Fisk's stats are higher in more areas and if you're looking at players who are similar, you have to go with a guy who's stats are better.  It's really amazing that three catchers from three different eras could put up almost identical stat lines.  The home runs for Fisk are the statistic that most stands out, and broke the tie.

1B - Frank Thomas(1990, 1992-1997):  During his rookie season, he batted .330.  Then from 1992-1997, he was arguably the best hitter in MLB.  1991 had to be omitted because he played a lot more DH than 1B.  During this stretch he hit .332/225/745(.332/32/106) with a 1.066 OPS.  Frank Thomas was an easy pick here.  Rob Neyer also selected Frank Thomas.

2B - Eddie Collins(1915-1926):  Picked up by the White Sox a year after winning the MVP award with the Athletics, he instantly became a legend in the Sox uniform.  In his first season with the Sox, he hit .332/4/77 with 46 SBs, a league leading 119 walks and a .460 OBP.  Over his tenure with the White Sox, he hit .331/31/804 with a .426 OBP, 368 SB, 2007 hits, 1065 runs scored and 205 K/965 BB.  Rob Neyer also selected Collins for 2B.

SS - Luke Appling(1930-1950):  A lifetime Sock, Old Aches & Pains hammered out some of the best seasons ever for probably the worst stretch of teams the White Sox have ever put together in their history.  He put up career statistics of .310/45/1116 with an amazing .399 OBP, 2749 hits, 102 triples and 528 K/1302 BB.  He is quite possibly the least talked about great player in MLB history.  Rob Neyer also selected Appling.

3B - Robin Ventura(1989-1998):  Robin Ventura was an important part of the White Sox in the 1990s as the anchor at third base.  He hit .274/171/741(.274/17/74) with an .805 OPS.  He played solid defense.  I selected him slightly over Bill Melton who in far fewer at bats with the Sox than Robin, put up pretty good and similar type statistics.  I would also point out that Joe Crede is the best fielding third basemen we have had.  Rob Neyer also selected Ventura.

LF - Shoeless Joe Jackson(1915-1920):  From the second half of 1915 to 1920, Joe Jackson became a White Sox legend and the symbol of the Black Sox scandal, unfairly I might add.  He hit .340/30/426 with a .403 OBP and .906 OPS.  He had a 3-to-1 BB/K ratio.  He ran out 79 triples.  He made play after play in LF.  He may have had his best years for Cleveland, but he was certainly not a slouch in his service to the White Sox.  Neyer selected Jackson for LF.

CF - Fielder Jones(1901-1908):  This is probably the weakest position for the White Sox in team history.  Not one player who played for a while at this position for the Sox put up amazing statistics.  Fielder Jones was mostly a singles hitter who stole bases.  His line was .269/10/375 with a .683 OPS but his evident in his ability to hit, steal and score.  He also managed the 1906 squad to it's first World Series championship.  Aaron Rowand didn't play for us long enough to accumulate great statistics and Lance Johnson was about the same as Fielder Jones without the managing.  It wouldn't be hard for a semi-good CF in the future to play 5 or 6 seasons for the Sox and become the greatest Sox CF in team history.  Neyer also went with Jones.

RF - Jermaine Dye(2005-2009):  I realize he did not come close to playing as long for the Sox as Harold Baines, who is held in very high esteem by all Sox fans.  However, Jermaine Dye had much better output for the Sox than Baines did in comparison.  Dye hit .278/164/461 with a .869 OPS.  Until really his last season, he played solid defense.  Baines is more of an accumulation player than a player with great output, or .288/15/70 average for his 14 seasons with the Sox.  Jermaine Dye's averages were .278/33/92 in 5 seasons with a better OPS.

SP - Ed Walsh(1904-1916):  Pretty clear choice for #1 starting pitcher.  Ed Walsh won a World Series and posted the lowest career ERA in MLB history at 1.82(1.81 for the Sox).  He went 195-125 with a 1.81 ERA and 0.995 WHIP.  His 7.1 H/9 was also great for a career mark.  He also had almost 3-to-1 K/BB.  He posted 35 saves in relief.  He pitched 249 complete games.  Many of these marks will never be achieved again because we are in a different era and players are not expected to pitch until their arm falls off anymore.  Neyer picked Walsh.

White Sox All-Time Team Best Seasons

DH - Jim Thome(2006):  .288/42/109 1.014 OPS, 108 runs and 107 walks.  A truly great season.

C - Carlton Fisk(1983):  .289/26/86 .874 OPS, .518 SLG.  He scored 85 runs and helped the team make their first post season appearance since 1959.  In 1985, he hit 37 HRs and drove in 107 RBI, but with far inferior statistics overall to his 1983 season.

1B - Frank Thomas(1994):  .353/38/101 1.217 OPS, .729 SLG, 106 runs scored, 109 walks and an astronomical 211 OPS+.  Due to the strike, he only got 399 at bats and still put up stats that many sluggers would like to have for an entire season.

2B - Eddie Collins(1915):  .332/4/77 .896 OPS, OBP of .460.  League leading 119 walks and a solid 118 runs scored.  Stole 46 bases.

SS - Luke Appling(1936):  .388/6/128 .981 OPS, .474 OBP.  You know a player had an amazing season at the plate if they can drive in 128 RBI on just 6 home runs.  He also posted 204 hits, 111 runs scored and finished 2nd in MVP voting.

3B - Robin Ventura(1996):  .287/34/105 .888 OPS.  He scored 96 runs and stayed true to his career average of almost 1/1 K/BB.  He won also won his fourth gold glove.

LF - Albert Belle(1998):  .328/49/152 1.055 OPS, .655 slugging.  His 49 HR and 152 RBI are White Sox single season records.  He also posted exactly 200 hits and 113 runs scored.  His 16 sac flies lead the league, as well as his 399 total bases and 171 OPS+.  He should have won MVP, but the media(and myself) hated him as a person and he finished 8th(ridiculously biased voting).

CF - Aaron Rowand(2004):  .310/24/69 .905 OPS.  His .544 slugging was pretty solid.  He scored 94 runs and stole 17 bases.  Again, there haven't been very many good CFs in White Sox history, and this really is the best overall season anyone has had in CF in our uniform.

RF - Jermaine Dye(2006):  .315/44/120 1.006 OPS, .622 Slugging.  He scored 103 runs and posted a 151 OPS+.  He won silver slugger and was named an All Star.

SP - Ed Walsh(1908):  40-15, 1.42 ERA, 42 complete games in 464 IP.  He pitched 11 shutouts and struck out a league best 269.  His 4.80 K/BB ratio also was a league best.  These statistics are just ridiculously good and nobody will ever pitch anywhere close to these numbers for the Sox again.

***Bonus: Most Undeserved Bad Season*** 

Ed Walsh(1910):  He pitched 369.2 innings, with 33 complete games, 1.27 ERA, 0.820 WHIP and lead the league with a 4.23 K/BB ratio.  However, despite pitching great, he went 18-20 on the season.  That is the most unfair, undeserved season in White Sox history for any player.

 

An Outsider's First Home Game

Me about to sit down for my first home game

Growing up, I was always just naturally attracted to the White Sox.  From my first days of playing rookie league baseball, I always gravitated toward the team.  My first pursuit in baseball cards was to land a Frank Thomas.  I did so pretty quickly and was very excited.  On video games, I always played as the White Sox.  At Dairy Queen, I always asked for my ice cream in the White Sox helmet.  I bought Frank Thomas' cleats for Pee Wee baseball league.  My first hat was a White Sox hat.  My parents didn't understand my obsession with the White Sox, but helped me nurture it with purchases.

Growing up in Arkansas, it was pretty apparent that it was not a White Sox fanbase.  Everyone was always Cardinal crazy, and the occasional times someone was not a Cardinal fan, they were either a Royals fan or a Rangers fan.  We did not travel a lot when I was a child, taking most of our trips to Tulsa or Branson.  I always dreamed of going to Chicago and seeing the White Sox play, but it never happened.  Season after season I would watch on tv, and wish I was there.

Finally, when I turned 19, and had an ok job with little extra money in my account, I asked my dad if he wanted to take a trip to Chicago.  He said he would, and we planned it out.  I purchased tickets online for the White Sox and was so thrilled that I was finally going to get to go to a White Sox game at US Cellular Field.  It would not be my first White Sox game though.  In 1999, I went to a White Sox game at St. Louis' Busch Stadium.  We lost 8-6 in a slugfest.  I was determined to see a victory this time.

Fast forward back to 2005.  Yes, I chose a pretty good year to go to my first Chicago home game.  We decided to drive to save money.  A 10 hour drive was ahead of us, and we knew we should leave early.  So we departed at 1 AM.  For a good majority of our drive, we saw little traffic.  We arrived in Chicago around 11:30 AM as we had stopped minimal times.  As I was driving into Chicago, I got an overwhelming feeling of excitement.  I could not wait to see everything and experience all that we were going to see.

After sleeping in the hotel for a few hours, we decided to head out to the ballpark early.  We left around 4:30 and arrived at 5:15 with the gates closed.  The drive up was amazing for a first timer, seeing the skyline of Chicago.  As we were driving toward the exit to which we turn to hit the Dan Ryan, I got my first glimpse of US Cellular Field in the distance.  It seemed to sparkle in the late afternoon sunlight, enticing me forward.

As we parked and went toward our gate, I was almost jogging as I was finally going to get to see the place I had dreamed of seeing my whole life.  We got to the gate and there was a small line.  It was past 5:30, but the gate attendant was not letting people in yet.  Finally, around 5:40, he started letting people in.  We had lower level tickets, out in right field in the section that is next to the foul pole in fair territory, very last row.  They weren't the best seats, but at this point I would have sat on the scaffolding atop the outfield billboards just to be there.

As I walked in, I noticed all of the food vendors' snappy names, and thought that was great.  I grabbed a program from a vendor, and went about finding my way to our seats.  Once we got to the outfield concourse, I remember remarking that it was so spacious.  My dad had been to other parks in the past and said he didn't remember any having a large walking concourse and that it was nice.  I had also been to other parks, and had never seen anything like it.  We found our seats, but decided to give the park a walk around.  We kept walking and I found a man offering to rate my pitching speed.  So I decided to stop there.  He said I would get booed if I threw less than 60 MPH.  I hit 71 and he was impressed.

We moved on and got closer to the scoreboard.  This was the scoreboard from all the video games, from all the times watching on TV.  It was great in person, and really became the focus of several photos from my digital camera.  As we walked around further, I noticed the Pontiac Fundamentals deck and the shower head.  The billboards looked massive on games and on tv, but in real life they were gigantic beyond belief.  On the way back to our seats we stopped and got food.  It was then that I experienced my first Hebrew National kosher hot dog.  It was excellent, and to this day I still buy those at the store almost exclusively.  My dad ordered a slice of Connie's pizza and promptly went back and got another before we sat down.

So we sat in our seats and waited for the game.  It was about a 50 minute wait, but that was fine.  I was at my first game with my dad, and we were about to both get to see our favorite teams.  He was a Dodgers fan, and I specifically picked this set of games to attend knowing this.  Finally the game started.  It was Turn Back The Clock day and they had a video montage of the 1959 World Series prior to the game.  All the players were wearing 1959 jerseys.  They had a couple of players from the 1959 team on hand too.  I was really excited, as the White Sox had spent all year up to this point playing as the best team in baseball.

The game got underway and for several innings, it did not go my way.  My dad is not the kind of person to just rub it in my face, but his team was winning from the first inning.  He just smiled and enjoyed it but never gave me hell over the fact.  Elmer Dessens and Duaner Sanchez had really kept us at bay for 8 innings allowing the Sox to score just 1 run to the Dodgers' three.  Freddy Garcia pitched a decent 8 innings of his own, allowing 3 runs but walking 6 and giving up a home run to Jeff Kent.

I felt like we could win, but we needed to string together hits to have a chance in the 9th.  The Dodgers trotted out Yhency Brazoban to close out their 3 to 1 victory.  The inning started with a walk, then a ground out moved Iguchi to 2nd.  Konerko flied out to center, giving us 2 outs.  At this point, many people began to leave the park, and I was stunned.  My team's fan base, at least a fourth of them, were giving up on the game!  Knowing that I had driven 10 hours and waited my whole life to be there, I could not fathom the idea of leaving a game before the final out.  Every game I attend is such an experience and special moment that does not happen often, and it made me almost mad to see people walking out early.

The next batter was Everett, and he knocked in Iguchi to make the score 3-2.  This game me more hope.  He was replaced by Willie Harris, who promptly stole second base.  Rowand then proceeded to drive Harris in on a 3-2 pitch to tie the game.  After a walk to the mound, the manager decided to leave Brazoban in.  In stepped AJ Pierzynski with a chance to win the game with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.

This was a legendary at bat for me, as he battled and battled.  He worked a 3-2 count off 9 or 10 pitches.  He kept fouling every pitch off.  Aaron Rowand attempted to run with the pitch several times, having to trot back to first base each time with a foul.  This must have went on four or five times. 

Then, Yhency finally threw a pitch that was over the good part of the plate.  AJ swung and drilled the ball deep to left center field.  Everyone in the house was willing the ball over the wall.  It made it about 2 rows into the stands.  At my very first White Sox home game, we had put together a 4 run 9th inning rally and won on a walk-off home run!

Fireworks Night after the AJ Walkoff Victory

The excitement was surreal.  The fireworks poured out of the scoreboard.  The place was so loud it was deafening.  I could just feel Hawk going crazy up in the booth.  My dad, always a good sport, was telling me that was a great game.  I, of the not such a good sport type, was giving him hell.  I remember taking off my hat and waving it in his face.  What a game to call my first home game.  I could not have asked for better.  It is an experience I will never forget. 

I recorded the game on WGN, but as I was watching it later at home, I realized how different it was on TV than experiencing it all in real life. I would choose being there every time. The feeling is unmatched.

We went to the game the next night, and it was on ESPN. An 8th inning rally lead to another victory over the Dodgers, capping off a three game sweep. The following Monday, we decided to go since it was half price. After struggling early, the Sox rallied for an 8-6 victory over the Royals. Frank Thomas hit a home run, which was very special for me.

Me about to watch the White Sox beat the Royals 8-6

As an outsider, each time I visit the park, I always feel like one of the crowd.  When I am in the stands, it doesn't matter where we are from.  We all have one team, one bond.  I may not be from Chicago, Illinois, Indiana or Wisconsin, but I am always at home at US Cellular Field. Each game is special and something to cherish.

The Death Of Baseball Circa 1881

Can you imagine if the National Pastime were actually Cricket instead of Baseball?  Well more than a few people thought this was our future back in the early 1880s.  One person wrote an editorial column about just this topic in the New York Times in 1881.  Here is the entire article, which is good for a laugh or two at his misguided sense of our nation's affection with baseball.  The gambling issue is raised here, but as with all sports of the time, they were heavily gambled on and much money was to be won or lost on each event.  Cricket would not have avoided the gamblers looking to make any money they could on results, which can be manipulated in many sports, including Cricket.

The intelligence issue is laughable at best as well.  They actually try to pen the lack of interest in Cricket on low intelligence of the American people, stating that baseball is an easy game that everyone can understand and is not a high intellect sport.  They then completely destroy their own theory by later stating that rules were becoming really complicated, which would mean people would have to be pretty intelligent to keep up with the changes right?  Here is the editorial in it's entirety below.

"There is really reason to believe that baseball is gradually dying out in this country.  It has been openly announced by an athletic authority that what was once called the national game is being steadily superseded by cricket, and the records of our hospitals confirm the theory that fewer games of baseball have been played during the past year than were played during any other single year since 1868.

About twenty-five years ago there was an effort made to induce Americans to play cricket, but it failed.  We were not at that time worthy of the game and in our ignorance we said, "Give us something easier."  It was then that certain unknown persons resolved to take the old game of rounders, which had gradually become known by the name baseball, and to make of it an easy substitute for cricket.  To the latter game it bore much the same relation that the frivolous game of euchre bears to the grand science of whist.

The baseball conspirators said to their fellow countrymen, "Here is an easy game which everybody can learn.  Let us play it and call it our national game."  The suggestion met with a warm response, and baseball clubs sprang up all over the country.  Of course the national game soon lost the simplicity of the familiar baseball of country small boys.  Elaborate rules were made and these were so constantly changed and so many additions were made to them that the study of baseball jurisprudence became a gigantic task.

When objection was early made to the national game that it was really fit only for boys, the conspirators hit upon the plan of using a ball about as hard as a ten-pound cannon ball and much more dangerous, and then proudly asked if they had not taken away the reproach that baseball was a small boys' game.  From that time on it became rather more dangerous to play baseball than to fill lighted kerosene lamps or to indulge in any other of our distinctively national sports.

It is estimated by an able statistician that the annual number of accidents caused by baseball in the last ten years has been 37,518, of which 3 percent have been fatal; 25,611 fingers and 11,016 legs were broken during the decade in question, while 1,900 eyes were permanently put out and 1,648 ribs were fractured.

During the halcyon period of the national game a number of enthusiastic players went to England in order to introduce it in that benighted land.  They played several games in public, but the Englishmen refused to take any interest in the matter.  They said, "Ah! Yes! Very nice game for little boys, but it's only our old game of rounders, you know."  The American missionaries returned disappointed and somewhat disheartened, and from that time baseball began to show signs of waning popularity.

Then appeared the "professional players" to tell upon the game.  They made a living by hiring themselves out to baseball clubs.  They made what was originally designed to be a sport a matter of business.  Worse than this, they made the national game a national instrument of gambling, and generally succeeded in placing it on a level with the game of three-card monte.  Games were won and lost in accordance with previous "arrangements."  In other words, one set of players sold the game to their opponents before it was played, and the unfortunate people who had bets on the results were thus systematically robbed.

Of late years baseball has been rather more disreputable than was horse racing in the days before the existence of Jerome Park.  The honest young men who dressed themselves in ridiculous uniforms, called themselves "Red-legs" or "White-legs," and broke their fingers by playing matches in public found that they were ranked in public estimation with professional black-legs.  One need not wonder that they are now abandoning the game wholly to the professional players.

Probably the time is now ripe for the revival of cricket.  The day has gone by when Americans looked upon athletic sports which really required muscle and endurance and upon games of cards in which intellectual effort was a more important element than chance as something to which they had no time to attend.  Whist has to a large extent superseded euchre, and the latter has been banished from the drawing room in the railway smoking car.

Our experience with the national game of baseball has been sufficiently thorough to convince us that it was in the beginning a sport unworthy of men and that it is now, in its fully developed state, unworthy of gentlemen.  Cricket will probably become as popular here in the course of a few years as it is in England, and we shall be contented to play a game worth playing, even if it is English in origin, without trying to establish a national game of our own."

So what we gather from this is that not only was this the writer's opinion that baseball was dead, but the opinion of many people, including athletic clubs and hospitals.  The statistics may have been skewed a little bit to show some kind of exodus away from the game of baseball by players all over the country, but as technology got better along with better rules to keep the players safe, injuries were simply going down.  The fact that injuries were being used to possibly scare people away from the sport was reaching at best for any argument that could attack baseball unjustly.

If you look at baseball history, the person who penned this mentions the exact moment when baseball really became the major sport beloved by the whole nation.  It was when the writer of this editorial wrote that the game had become professional, that everyone became a fan of the sport.  The 1880s saw a big rise in the number of recognizable stars in the sport from Old Hoss Radbourn to Cap Anson.  The person who wrote this simply missed the idea that we would embrace the game as fans even if we were not all cut out to play at the highest level.  He thought that this weeding out of top players from the rest of the crop would discourage people from associating with the sport, and that we would all simply lose interest.

I am really glad that we embraced baseball from the get go, and never let go of our national pastime.  Cricket might be a fine game for other people, but baseball is our sport.  Cricket matches can take hours and hours, or even days to play.  There are no rules dictating how fast a pace which the game must be played, and a pitcher can literally stand still with the ball until he is ready to throw.  There are records of guys purposely waiting hours to throw the ball.  The longest match ever played was in 1939 and lasted over 11 days.  We think a long baseball game is one that goes beyond 12 innings!  England scored 654 times in that game, which just defeats all perception of what a sport should be in this country.

Baseball is truly America's pastime, no matter what football thinks, and I am proud of our game.  It has lasted strong for over 200 years(134 years professionally), and will go on for many more years to come.  Major League Baseball is the one sport for which I live, breath, and die each year.  No other sport excites me nearly as much as watching baseball.  It is the only sport that I will watch religiously, even when it is not my team playing.  I cannot imagine having to watch cricket because baseball did not exist.  I am very glad this 19th century prediction of the future was completely false.

The Best Pitching Seasons Ever

Sometimes when you are looking at a bunch of statistics, a player will have a year that just makes you pause and ponder just how good that player was in that particular season.  Many times I have found myself looking at pitching statistics, and one year will jump out above all others.  Throughout all baseball eras, pitchers have had seasons that are mind boggling to say the least.  I'm going to discuss some of those years that I have read on a player's stat sheet here, in no particular order.

I will discuss some of these seasons with a few extra statistics you may not know.  RSAA(Runs Saved Against Average) is the amount of runs that a pitcher saved vs. what an average pitcher would have allowed.  This statistic will be used to determine the "extra wins" that pitcher was able to get vs what the average pitcher would have won that season.  These statistics come from the  Lee Sinins Sabermetric Encyclopedia, which lists them to determine what the best pitching seasons were.  Some of the seasons I list are not on their list but I think are worthy of mention.

Old Hoss Radbourn's 1884 Season

Old Hoss Radbourn is a hall of fame pitcher for good reason.  Despite the fact that he pitched in the dead ball era when ERAs were lower and a lot of guys looked great, he stood out as one of the very top pitchers.  His 1884 is the season that jumps off the page for me.  In that season, he won 59 games to 12 losses, with a 1.38 ERA in 678.2 IP, 441 strikeouts and a 207 ERA+ which is park adjusted.  Another awesome stat is that he made 73 starts and had 73 complete games!  All of those statistics lead the league.  I know this is deadball era but all of these stats are amazing even when compared to other deadball era pitchers.  This was a truly great pitching performance.

Cy Young's 1901 Season

Cy Young was a true link between early baseball and baseball as it was progressing forward into the 1910's.  As hitters became better, statistics for pitchers began to drop to more normal levels.  Cy Young's 1901 was an outstanding season for it's time.  He went 33-10 with a 1.62 ERA and 217 ERA+.  He started 41 games with 38 complete games and a league leading 5 shutouts.  He struck out a league leading 158 while issuing just 37 walks(league leading 0.9 BB/9).  He posted a 0.972 WHIP that lead the league.  His RSAA was 72, which lead to 4.23 extra wins.  The best pitcher award is named after Hall of Famer Cy Young for good reason.

Ed Walsh & Christy Matthewson's 1908 Seasons

I feel this is clearly Christy's best season of his career.  He lead the league in the following categories:  Wins(37), ERA(1.43), Games(56), Starts(44), CG(34), Shutouts(11), Saves(5; a lot back then not having actual relief pitchers), IP(390.2), K(259), Batter's Faced(1469), ERA+(168), WHIP(0.827), BB/9(1.0) and K/BB(6.17).  They didn't have awards, but it's almost certain if they did he would have won something. 

As for Ed Walsh, he was incredible for the White Sox in 1908.  He lead the league in: Wins(40), Games(66), Starts(49), CG(42), Shutouts(11), Saves(6), IP(464), K(269), Batter's Faced(1755) and K/BB(4.80).  Again if there had been awards, he would have been right there with Matthewson and may have won it over Christy.  Would have been interesting to see how the voters would have decided who had the better season.  Two years later, Ed Walsh may have had the most undeserved season in MLB history.  He posted a 1.27 ERA and 0.82 WHIP but suffered 20 losses.

Walter Johnson's 1913 Season

Walter Johnson is another hall of fame pitcher who had many great seasons.  He had some seasons where he may have bested some of his statistics from 1913, but in no other season was he as dominant over the league as 1913.  In 346 IP he went 36-7 with a 1.14 ERA and 259 ERA+.  He posted a 0.78 WHIP and had 246 strikeouts to just 38 walks(he averaged 1.0 BB/9).  In 36 starts he had 29 complete games and 11 shutouts.  He was rewarded for this season, winning his first of two career MVP awards for his efforts.  Walter's RSAA for that season was 75, and it lead to him winning an extra 5.26 games over what the average pitcher would have won.  An amazing season for sure.

Grover Cleveland Alexander's 1915 Season

It is really difficult to decide whether 1915 or 1916 was a better season for Alexander.  I am going with 1915 very slightly over 1916 by a micrometer.  In 1915, Alexander lead the league with 31 wins to just 10 losses.  He also lead the league in IP(376.1), ERA(1.22), CG(36), Shutouts(12), K(241), batters faced(1435), ERA+(225), fewest H/9(6.1), lowest WHIP(0.842), highest K/9(5.8), K/BB(3.77).  He had many great seasons but this, overall, is his best of them all.

Lefty Grove's 1931 Season

Lefty Grove's 1931 was a great season.  In 30 starts, he posted 27 complete games with a league leading 4 shutouts.  He pitched 288 innings with a record of 31-4 and a 2.06 ERA.  He also lead the league in Ks with 175, 220 ERA+, and 1.077 WHIP.  He was rewarded with the 1931 MVP for this season.  His RSAA for 1931 was 75, which lead to 4.50 extra wins.  It's clear to see why he is a solid hall of famer.

Carl Hubbell's 1933 Season

In 1933, Carl Hubbell was very dominant over the league.  He lead the league in Wins(23), ERA(1.60), Shutouts(10), IP(308.2), ERA+(195), WHIP(0.982) and K/BB(3.32).  He was named the league's MVP with a 96% share of the voting.  He had other solid years but none as completely dominant as 1933. 

Bob Feller's 1940 Season

 

Feller had many great seasons, but 1940 really stands out.  He began the 1940 season with a no hitter against the Chicago White Sox.  He would go on to pitch two other starts that ended as 1 hitters.  He lead the league in Wins(27), ERA(2.61), Games(43), Starts(37), Complete Games(31), Shutouts(4), IP(320.1), K(261), Batters Faced(1304), WHIP(1.133), H/9(6.9), HR/9(0.4), K/9(7.3) and K/BB(2.21).  He finished 2nd in MVP voting, and definitely would have been awarded the Cy Young award if it had existed.

Hal Newhouser's 1945 Season

Hal Newhouser may have benefitted from many of the game's top players being gone to war, but we cannot discredit what he did from 1944 to 1946.  His 1945 season stands out the most and will be discussed here.  That season he was 25-9 with a 1.81 ERA, 195 ERA+, in 313.1 innings, which all lead the league.  In 36 starts, he pitched 29 complete games with 8 shutouts, all of which lead the league.  He struck out 212 batters, while also leading the league with 6.1 K/9 and a league low 6.9 H/9.  A year after winning his first MVP in 1944, he was rewarded with the MVP award again for his 1945 season.  Newhouser's 1945 RSAA was 59, leading to an extra 3.70 wins.

Sandy Koufax's 1965 Season

It's hard to pick just one season to call amazing from Sandy Koufax, since he had more than a few eye-popping seasons.  After looking over his stat sheet a lot, I have determined that I would say his 1965 was his best overall season.  He lead the league in the following categories:  Wins(26), ERA(2.04), IP(335.2), CG(27), K(382), Batter's Faced(1297), WHIP(0.855), fewest H/9(5.8), K/9(10.2) and K/BB(5.38).  He was awarded the Cy Young unanimously, taking 100% of the votes.  I believe if a great pitcher had a season like this in 2011, who already had a semi-great career up to this point, people would be seriously starting to talk about whether or not that pitcher was the greatest ever.

Denny McLain & Bob Gibson's 1968 Seasons

You cannot have a discussion about the greatest pitching seasons in MLB history without discussing Bob Gibson's 1968 season.  He went 22-9 with a microscopic 1.12 ERA, which was the lowest ERA since the deadball era.  His ERA+ was 258.  In 304 IP, he struck out a league best 268 batters with a league low 5.8 H/9 and 0.853 WHIP.  He posted 28 CG and a league leading 13 shutouts.  He was awarded the Cy Young, the MVP and the Gold Glove award.  Many people will tell you that this was the most dominant season by a pitcher that they ever witnessed.

Denny McLain found similar success in 1968, which was deemed the "Year of the Pitcher".  McLain may have been the best example of a pitcher who benefited the most from the rules changes.  Prior to 1968 he average 12-8, 3.57 ERA a season.  In 1968, he lead the league in the following stats: Wins(31 to just 6 losses), Starts(41), CG(28), IP(336), Batter's Faced(1288) and K/BB(4.44).  He posted other great statistics that didn't lead the league, like a 1.96 ERA and 0.905 WHIP.  Despite leading the league in HR allowed(31), his HR/9 stayed below 1.0(0.8).  He also posted a high 280 K that did not lead the league, but is very respectible.  He was rewarded with the Cy Young and MVP awards for his effort.  This became the first year since 1924 that pitchers won all of the league's MVP awards.

Steve Carlton's 1972 Season

Steve Carlton won 329 games and four Cy Young awards, but no season he pitched was finer than 1972.  That season he lead the league in the following statistics: Wins(27 to just 10 losses), ERA(1.97, the only sub-2.00 ERA of his career), Starts(41), CG(30), IP(346.1), K(310), Batter's Faced(1351), ERA+(182) and K/BB(3.56).  He lead the league in hits allowed(257) but was still able to post the only sub-7.0 H/9(6.7) and only sub-1.00 WHIP of his career(0.993).  He also had the most shutouts of his career(8) although that did not lead the league.  He was awarded the 1972 Cy Young Award, his most dominant and statistically amazing one on his shelf.

Ron Guidry's 1978 Season

 1978 was a crazy year for baseball in the American League.  The Yankees over-came a 14 game deficit they had in June to defeat the Red Sox for the crown and eventually won the World Series.  One of the major reasons they did this, is because of the magical season of Ron Guidry.  He lead the league that year in: Wins(25 to just 3 losses), ERA(1.74), ERA+(208), WHIP(0.946) and H/9(6.1).  His 9 shutouts also lead the league and tied a Major League record for a left handed pitcher with Babe Ruth's 1916 season.  His 18 strikeouts vs the California Angels were also a Major League record until it was broken by Roger Clemens in 1986.  His solid non-league leading statistics were 248 strike outs, 273.2 IP and 16 complete games.  He was awarded the Cy Young and finished 2nd in MVP voting.

Dwight Gooden's 1985 Season

Dwight Gooden could have been one of the greatest of all time.  He just had a lot of demons he could never get past.  However, he gave us his 1985 season as proof that he could have been legendary.  That season he lead the league in:  Wins(24 to just 4 losses), ERA(1.53), CG(16), IP(276.2), K(268) and ERA+(229).  Although he did not lead the league in WHIP, this was his only sub-1.00 WHIP of his career(0.965) and his highest shutout total of his career(8) which amazingly did not lead the league.  He also posted the highest K/BB of his career(3.88) and his lowest H/9 of his career(6.4).  He was outstanding and was rewarded with the Cy Young Award.

Mike Scott's 1986 Season

Mike Scott had a few flashes of greatness once he arrived in Houston, but did not really put together a long stretch of good and great seasons.  He did however give us his 1986, in which he was about as great as they came.  He lead the league in: ERA(2.22), Shut outs(5), IP(275.1), K(306, by far his most ever), ERA+(161), WHIP(0.923), H/9(5.9 which is outstanding), K/9(10) and K/BB(4.25).  He far and away outshined his teammate and future hall of famer Nolan Ryan, who put up mediocre statistics that season to say the least.  Scott carried that team all the way to 1st place and a berth in the NLCS, coming up short of the World Series.  He was awarded the Cy Young for 1986.

Greg Maddux's 1992-1994 Seasons

 In 1992, Greg Maddux lead the league in Wins(20), Starts(35), IP(268), Batter's Faced(1061), ERA+(166) and HR/9(0.2).  He had a low WHIP(1.01) a low H/9(6.8), and 9 complete games with 4 shutouts.  In 1993, he lead the league in ERA(2.36), Starts(36), CG(8), IP(267), Batter's Faced(1064), ERA+(172) and WHIP(1.049).  He had other good numbers for HR/9(0.5) and 20 wins.  In 1994, Maddux lead the league in Wins(16), ERA(1.56; microscopic!), CG(10), Shutouts(3), IP(202), Batter's Faced(774), ERA+(271), WHIP(0.896), H/9(6.7) and HR/9(0.2) in the strike shortened season.  In all three of theses years, he was awarded the Cy Young.  He also won the Gold Glove in all of these incredible years.

Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson's 1995 Seasons

Greg Maddux was really unhittable in many seasons, but especially 1995.  He lead the league in: Wins(19 to just 2 losses!), ERA(1.63), CG(10), Shut Outs(3), IP(209), ERA+(262), WHIP(0.811, lowest of his career), HR/9(0.3), BB/9(1.0) and K/BB(7.87).  His 181 K/23 BB jumps right off the page to me and really stands out.  His K/9 were the highest of his career that season at 7.8.  Realizing that this season occurred during the point when players may have began really starting to use steroids, this season becomes even more special.  When talking to any baseball fan who remembers the 90's, if you ask them what the best season you saw by a pitcher, many people will list Greg Maddux's 1995.

Randy Johnson was also amazing in 1995. He lead the league in ERA(2.48), K(294), ERA+(193), WHIP(1.045), H/9(6.7), HR/9(0.5), K/9(12.3) and K/BB(4.52).  His team played well in his starts and got him to an amazing 18-2 record, just behind Greg Maddux's amazing record.  He also had 6 CGs and 3 shutouts.  He was lights out in the American League, which traditionally is tougher to pitch in because of the DH.  It is really difficult to determine who had the better year, so I won't.  Johnson was awarded the Cy Young for his efforts, and the Seattle Mariners made their first post season appearance ever after winning the AL West title, largely on the back of RJ, the Big Unit.

Pedro Martinez's 1997, 1999, 2000 & 2002 Seasons

I couldn't choose just one season and all three of these seasons are legendary.  In 1997, Pedro lead the NL in ERA(1.90), CG(13), ERA+(219), WHIP(0.932), H/9(5.9) and K/9(11.4).  He also posted 305 strikeouts and 4 shutouts to go with a 17-8 record on a 4th place team.  In 1999 moving to the American League's Boston Red Sox, he was unbelievable yet again.  That year he lead the league in Wins(23 to just 4 losses), ERA(2.07), Strikeouts(313), ERA+(243), WHIP(0.923), H/9(6.8), HR/9(0.4), K/9(13.2) and K/BB(8.46).  The next year in 2000 he lead the league in ERA(1.74), Shut outs(4), Strikeouts(284), ERA+(291), WHIP(0.737), H/9(5.3), HR/9(0.7), K/9(11.8) and K/BB(8.88).  He also had 7 complete games and went 18-6.  For all three of these seasons 1997, 1999 and 2000 he was awarded the Cy Young award and finished 2nd in MVP voting in 1999.  

In 2002, he found himself on the better end of greatness again, leading the league in ERA(2.26), strikeouts(239), ERA+(202), WHIP(0.923), H/9(6.5), K/9(10.8) and K/BB(5.98).  He finished 2nd in Cy Young voting pretty unfairly that year.  When comparing his season to Barry Zito's, you can clearly see that Pedro Martinez was much better.  It should be noted that Martinez pitched all of these great seasons during what is now called the steroid era.  Lots of players were hitting like they never had before due to steroid use and abuse.  To put up numbers like these during that era, it wouldn't be wrong to say it was the best stretch of pitching ever.

Randy Johnson's 1999-2002 & 2004 Seasons

Randy Johnson is one of the Top 10 greatest pitchers of all time.  He lead the league in strikeouts 9 times.  1999-2002 though was his best four season stretch of his career.  Starting in 1999, he lead the league in ERA(2.48), Starts(35), CG(12), IP(271.2), Strikeouts(364), Batter's Faced(1079), ERA+(186) and K/9(12.1).  In 2000 he lead the league in win %(.731), Starts(35), CG(8), Shut outs(3), Strikeouts(347), ERA+(181) and K/9(12.6).  In 2001, he lead the league at ERA(2.49), Strike outs(372), ERA+(188), WHIP(1.009), H/9(6.5) and K/9(13.4).  In 2002, he lead the league at Wins(24), win %(.828), ERA(2.32), CG(8), IP(260), Strikeouts(334), Batter's Faced(1035), ERA+(197) and K/9(11.6).  For each of these seasons he was awarded the Cy Young.  Winning Cy's four years in a row had only been done one other time by Greg Maddux(1992-1995).

In 2002, Randy was back at it, leading the league at Starts(35), Strikeouts(290), ERA+(178), WHIP(0.90) and H/9(6.5).  He posted a low 2.60 ERA with 4 complete games and 2 shutouts.  His K/9 was 10.6 and his K/BB was 6.59.  His HR/9 was 0.7 during this steroid era season.  He finished 2nd in Cy Young voting that season, and everyone agreed he should have won over Roger Clemens.  He was robbed of the Cy due to his 16-14 record, which should not have kept him from winning the Cy.  Like Pedro Martinez, all of these seasons were during the so-called steroid era, and that makes them even more amazing.

I have not seen any seasons after this that have just jumped off the page.  There have certainly been good Cy Young seasons by pitchers since 2002(Zack Greinke's 2009), Felix Hernandez' 2010), but nothing like these.  Will we ever see any more seasons like these or has MLB changed and are we going to see less and less all-time great seasons from pitchers?  I thought since the steroid era was really ending with all of the new testing that we'd see the re-emergence of the great pitcher seasons but it has not happened quite like these.  Maybe in the future and I would welcome it.  I have always liked pitching more than hitting.  I hope we see more great seasons like these.

An Old, Tattered, But Great Baseball Book

When going through my collection of baseball books, most of them have nice covers, full of graphics and nice print.  However, one book clearly stands out in my collection.  An old, tattered, solid green hardback book looks like the worst piece in my collection.  It is not.  In fact, it is the best book in my collection.

This is the inside page which tells that the book is titled Low And Inside and was printed in 1949.  This book would later be reprinted with cover art, but this is in fact a first edition version of the book.  The top line lets us know what this book will be about:  "A Book of Baseball Anecdotes, Oddities and Curiosities".  It's full of interesting short true stories that occurred in baseball from the 1800s to the 1940s.  These aren't the basic stories of great games and moments, but the odd and strange moments that would have been lost to time if not gathered by the author here from discussions with people and newspaper articles.

 

Once we get to the stories themselves, we see that it's an easy reading size font and there are many pages with full page or most-of-the-page illustrations of the events taking place in the stories.  It does not go in any specific order or have any kind of structure.  The stories are random to say the least, and are about many different baseball leagues and teams, not restricted to Major League Baseball.  

I feel that this is such a great book, that I am going to post several stories from this book to my blog, because I feel they need to be known and would be interesting to any baseball fan.  I am going to post these stories over several posts, because a smart person once said 'if we don't remember the past, we're doomed in the future to repeat it.'  The stories don't have titles, so the titles I give are just for appeal.  I also typed them out with the same spacing, capitalization and punctuations used by the original author.

Snakes On A Field

ONE DAY in July of 1909, James Phelps was playing in the outfield for Rayville in a game at Monroe, Louisiana.  In the eighth inning a Monroe batter drove a long fly over Phelp's head.  He turned with the crack of the bat and raced into a bog on the outer edge of the playing field, and the spectators roared approval when he made a spectacular, one-handed catch of the ball.

At the moment the ball hit his glove, Phelps felt a stinging sensation on his leg.  Glancing down, he saw a large snake.  He was one of the team's star players, and he felt that he should stay in the game, so he said nothing about the snake and played out the ninth inning.  Only then did he mention the snake to his teammates.  Two hours later he was dead.

The Dog Days Of Summer

A CLEVELAND OUTFIELDER named Moffitt encountered extraordinary difficulties when he went after a high fly ball during a game with Chicago one afternoon in 1884.

Just as Moffitt started his run, a dog came onto the field.  The dog appeared to believe that Moffitt was running from him in fright and went for the outfielder.  Moffitt stayed on his course despite the fact that the dog was soon nipping at his legs.  In the same instant that he caught he ball, the fielder kicked the dog in the head, and the dog lit out for the side lines.

Moffitt took quick stock of the situation.  Nobody on base.  He whirled around, cocked his arm, and threw the ball with all his might---a perfect peg it was, too, for it hit the fleeing dog squarely in the backside and knocked him essover appetite.(Note, I don't condone animal cruelty, but apparently he was pretty mad at the dog; also, the player's name on the 1884 Cleveland Blues was Sam Moffet, so the author misspelled his name, not me).

Baseball Takes A Lot Of Heart

ASSIGNED to the job of scorekeeper in a game at Morristown, Ohio, one day in 1902, a young man named Stanton Walker found that his pencil needed sharpening in one of the late innings.  He asked the man sitting next to him for a knife.  Walker had just started to put a new point on his pencil when a hard foul ball shot back of the plate, struck his hand, and drove the blade of the knife into his heart.

"Kill The Umpire!"....Literally?!

JUST for the record, at least two umpires have been killed by ballplayers who, infuriated over decisions, have attacked the officials with bats.  In 1899 at Lowndesborough, Alabama, Umpire Samuel White was killed by a player who had been abusing him all afternoon.  Umpire White, after taking the abuse for several innings, knocked the player down; when he got up he had a bat in his hand and used it to fracture White's skull, killing him instantly.  Two years later, at Farmersburg, Indiana, Umpire Ora Jennings was killed in much the same way.

Taking Your Base The Hard Way

The White Sox spent last year getting on base anyway they could.  The White Sox as a team got hit by a pitch 79 times, tops in the American League.  As for individuals on the team, Juan Pierre lead the way getting nailed a league best 21 times.  The Carlos Quentin was second, getting hit 20 times.

So what lead to this?  I would say Juan Pierre moved closer to the plate last season, judging by pictures of him batting for the Dodgers and him batting for the White Sox.  He is about a half step closer to home plate in those photos.  There's many reasons to move in the batters box, such as attempting to reach more pitches, or take away a pitcher's ability to pitch inside.  The latter may have been true.  It should also be noted that Juan wasn't out there in football pads like Craig Biggio used to wear, which looked ridiculous.  If this is actually a team strategy, Juan clearly took it to heart.  Juan Pierre had never been HBP more than 10 times in any season prior to 2010. 

The Carlos Quentin is a different case though.  TCQ has been HBP regularly throughout his career.  He has been hit 74 times in 5 seasons.  He has two 20 HBP seasons, four 10+ HBP seasons overall.  He knows when he goes up to the plate that he's going to get HBP, and he's ok with it.  He hasn't changed anything in the years I have been watching him at the plate.  During a stretch in 2008, TCQ was HBP in 6 straight games, which is assumed to be a Major League record.  During that stretch, he missed two games with pain after being HBP in his 5th straight game.  He also holds the Minor League record for a season, being HBP 43 times in 2004.

No other players on the White Sox team last year were HBP more than 10 times.  Gordon Beckham and Alex Rios were each HBP 7 times.  All of these HBP did not lead to a high team OBP, as the Sox team OBP was just .332.  When you couple this with the White Sox 922 strikeouts as a team(second fewest in MLB), you have to wonder why we did not have an OBP that ranked in the Top 10 in baseball.  Standing closer to the plate does take away a pitcher's ability to pitch comfortably inside, which lead to the fewer strikeouts.  However, it may not be worth people getting injured or constantly being bruised up and being less than 100%.  I think it would benefit TCQ if he stepped a small margin back from the plate.

In 2007, the White Sox 2010 OBP of .332 would have ranked #19 in MLB but this year it ranked #12. You can look at this drop in overall MLB OBP as the last vestiges of steroid era baseball have been disposed.  In 2007, the Yankees lead MLB with an OBP of .366, and in 2010 they lead MLB with an OBP of .350. The White Sox however, were dead last in 2007 at .318 OBP, so the new strategy has helped some in that regard.  There are other factors though, such as the fact that the White Sox have better players today than they did on the 2007 team that went 72-90 and finished 4th in the Central.  The OBP situation will only improve with Adam Dunn in the lineup.

Looking at the stat sheet, you can see that this spike in HBPs began in 2008. Not coincidentally, that was TCQ's first year with the Sox. In 2007, they ranked 20th in MLB with 52 HBP. In 2008-2010, they ranked in the top 7 every year in HBP.  I think it would be better to just let the team hit their way on or take a walk.  The White Sox only walked 467 times in 2010, which ranked 25th in MLB.  They should certainly learn the art of patience, and take a walk every now and then; a walk you don't have to get HBP to accomplish.