Baseball Reference is a truly wonderful site, and it is the standard among anyone who wants to see tons of basic stats. Of course, if you are a reader of this site, you know the first time I mention any current major league player on the Nats, I link to his Baseball Reference page. These pages can be very helpful, but they can also be eye-opening, mind-blowing or just plain weird. Here are a few I’ve found that I find interesting in no particular order:
- Herb Washington: 105 games, 33 runs, 31 SBs… 0 plate appearances.
- John Coleman: In 1883, he was the single season leader in Earned Runs, Hits, and Losses, and nobody has ever beat him in any of these marks.
- Michael Jordan: A 31-year old AA player who batted .202/.289/.266, what’s so interesting about that?
- Will White: He pitched 680 innings in 1883, a record that will broken some time after there’s a professional team on Saturn. More remarkable? He pitched 7 more seasons AFTER that, and did so rather effectively, with an ERA+ of 121 and a record of 154-133. This is all after that 1883 season, so maybe we ARE baby-ing pitchers. Let’s think about a 3 man rotation next year, is all I’m saying.
- Babe Ruth: Look how many times he lead the league in R, HR, BB, OBP, SLG, OPS… there were 5 seasons where he got on base more than HALF the time he got up! Then, when you’re duly amazed, scroll down and look at his pitching career, which included a 94-46 record (10th all time winning percentage) and an ERA title. Geez.
- Pud Galvin: Just cause he’s the original juicer. Notice it says HALL OF FAME right below his name, even though the Washington Post touted the value of his using performance enhancer at the time. Pulling out testosterone from monkey gonads to inject into ballplayers sounds like something for Mike Rowe this season.
- Rogers Hornsby: While Ruth was doing it in the American League, this guy was leading every category in the National League. For SIX STRAIGHT SEASONS, from 1920-1926, he lead the league in AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS. During that time
- Frank Thomas: Just a reminder. You may remember what he did the last few years. But from 1991-1997 he was absolutely incredible. 2 MVPs, 2 more 3rd places, and the other 3 years he was in the top 10.
- Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Johan Santana: There was a string of about 15 years when these four guys were easily the best pitchers in the league, almost one after the other. First Maddux (92-95). Then came Pedro (97-03) and Randy (99-02), then Johan(04-06). Just look at their numbers in those timeframes. Unhittable.
- Maury Wills and Brad Wilkerson: First guys to bat for the Expos and the Nats, respectively.
There you go, enjoy the links!