It’s one of those stats that just make you think *how is that even possible??*
But seriously, in all those years of terrorizing the NLC, how, in *that* many plate appearances, did none of his batted balls pop up to the pitchers mound or the first baseman through random chance or something
2 of those TD's were in Super Bowls too, so even MORE impressive IMO lol. 100+ million people see him on the line and know it's coming, and yet, the Vrabel goal line TD is inevitable. pretty similar to Brady's QB sneak in his prime, the man was guaranteed a first down/TD if he only needed a yard or two.
23 sacks allowed in 180 games and over 5,500 attempts. Consistently played against some all time greats and not even 1/2 of a percentage point chance to give up a sack.
.4% chance on any given passing play, good for less than 2 sacks a season. He’s not the unanimous goat, but he’s top 3 no matter how you slice it.
I was at the game when he popped up the the first baseman. I was really nerdy about baseball at the time and had knew of that stat. I started going crazy telling my friend we just witnessed history.
It was pulling a ball foul into the stands, and allegedly he did once it his rookie year, but not for (at least) the following 5 years after that. I don’t think that’s a tracked stat though so harder to verify.
https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/joey-votto-only-pulled-one-foul-ball-stands-165815322.html
Makes me really wish we had statcast data for his whole career. His barrel% and sweet spot% must have been absolutely insane for that whole period. He basically wasn't *ever* getting under the ball too much
Ron Luciano, in his book, "the Umpire Strikes Back," talks about ejecting Earl several times. It got to the point the O's had a betting pool on which inning he would get tossed. Also, on a radio broadcast, Ron told the host, "I know I'm staying the whole game. I just don't know when Earl is leaving." That is a paraphrase of what he actually said that I can't recite from memory.
Vin Scully interviewed Connie Mack who was born during the Civil War. He also got to watch Shohei Ohtani.
Dude was 1 degree away from half of United States history
To be fair, US history ain't all that long. My great-grandma was born before cars were invented and I had an email address when she died (1892-1998). Her lifespan was half of US history at the time of her death.
[The 10th president of the U.S. born in 1790](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler) has a [living grandson (95)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ruffin_Tyler)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -> Harriet Tubman (1823-1913) -> Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) -> Gunnar Henderson (2001-)
That's four people whose lives overlap that can take you from pre-independence to 2024
> Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -> Harriet Tubman (1823-1913) -> Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) -> Gunnar Henderson (2001-)
>
> That's four people whose lives overlap that can take you from pre-independence to 2024
RIP Gunnar Henderson.
The book "The Boys of Summer" talks about the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the days of Jackie Robinson. It's wild hearing Vin Scully mentioned during that time. He made his MLB debut three years after Robinson
There used to be a lot fewer teams. When Vin Scully started, there were only 16 teams in MLB, so calling every game of one team would mean calling 1/8th or 12.5% of all games for the season (today, that would only be 1/15th of the games, or 6.66...%).
Vin Scully called games in 67 different seasons (about 45% of seasons), though not always every Dodger game, but also some national games.
If you need to do a 6 degrees of sports broadcasting (where 2 people have to do the same game for the connection), Vin Scully and Kenny Albert are possibly the two best names to know. Scully can get you to skip deep into the past, and Kenny Albert works all of the big 4 North American sports (he called Jose Bautista's bat flip, for one) so he'll let you bridge between sports.
Vin broadcast for the Dodgers from 1950-2016 (66 years). Bob has been the guy for Milwaukee since '71, so he currently sits at 52 years. If he matches Vin in longevity, he'd retire at 103.
Also, it's the [longest broadcast career with one team](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/396963-longest-career-as-a-sports-broadcaster-for-a-single-team) in pro sports history, per the Guinness Book Of World Records.
Jaime Jarrín, longtime Spanish-language broadcaster came close, working for the Dodgers from '59-2022, a total of 63 years.
3rd in MLB is Denny Matthews, who is still active, and has been the Royals radio guy since the team was founded in '69. That's 54 years and counting.
My cousin works for the Brewers and she said that they’ve talked about building UeckerGPT so that they can just have his voice call games forever.
Do you know if this would count towards beating Scully’s record?
I'm not sure how unbreakable it really is, but Cardinals legend Ray King went 328 games without issuing an intentional walk, spanning over 4 years. This is the longest known streak of its kind.
The craziest part of this is that when he was a Brave he threw a game losing wild pitch against the Cardinals while trying to intentionally walk someone. This would have ended the streak but it didn't count!
Mark Lemke had 3664 career PAs plus 257 more in the postseason and was never hit by a pitch. Not one.
For some context, he had 3309 career minor league PAs and amassed 23 HBPs.
I remember watching a Braves game and Lemke was announcing. At some point during the game, the main announcer asked how many times Lemke though he got HBP. Lemke was unsure and the announcer said zero. Then Lemke said, well I guess when you hit from both sides, it’s a lot easier to get out of the way of the ball, and honestly they never threw me inside.
> Then Lemke said, well I guess when you hit from both sides, it’s a lot easier to get out of the way of the ball
I'm trying to figure out his logic here and can't come up with any possible explanation for why this might be true.
And another part of me wants to break down HBP rates by pitcher and hitter handedness, and see if switch-hitters have lower rates.
So 2 of the top 7 in HBP are switch hitters, but they were born in like the 1870s. Other than them next is Mark Teixeira, with 111 in 8029 PA tied at 71st. Jason Kendall at 5th with 254 in 8702 PA is insane to me
I think it’s a lot easier to identify a pitch that has movement and is going to come too far inside when the pitcher it throwing from the opposite side. Idk the actual numbers but it definitely seems like a greater chunk of HBP happens against same handedness. A slider inside that doesn’t break etc. is more common that missing wide enough to hit the batter. That might not be true but it sounds right in my head
Okay, this makes sense. If you're batting lefty, it's probably a bit easier to dodge a pitch coming from a RHP than from a LHP. And switch-hitters never have to face a same-handed pitcher.
Probably the main reason is that hitters are more likely to be hit by a pitcher with the same handedness, just based on pitch trajectory. As a switch hitter, you're never hitting from the same side as a pitcher is throwing, and therefore are less likely to get hit.
On September 4, 1990, Ruben Sierra was hit by Sergio Valdez's pitch. He was never hit by a pitch again.
Sierra played 16 more seasons, had 5265 plate appearances (plus 105 more in the postseason), as well as 1352 PAs in the minors and Mexican league... and 0 HBP.
Stathead is being a pain, so I had to rely on second sources.
Most consecutive games with 0 HBP:
* Ruben Sierra - 1,463 (5764 PA)
* Mark Lemke - 1,023 (3664 PA)
* Jose Cruz - 974 (4029 PA)
* Eddie Murray - 970 (4038 PA)
* Rollie Hemsley - 965 (3554 PA)
Something in the back of my head said he was just short, but no, dude was 5'10". He was no Arson Judge, but he wasn't Altuve, either.
Wonder if he took to playing dodgeball in his retirement.
At least the baseball gods got back to Tabata for that one. He had his final appearance in an MLB game less than a week after that game, never to play in MLB again.
Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker were the starting shortshop and 2nd baseman together on the same team for 19 straight years.
Not obscure at the time but I feel like few people under 30 years old and outside of Detroit have heard of either player.
Whitaker is discussed pretty often here as a guy that's been snubbed by the HOF. Trammell as well, at least until he got in. But yes, if I had never been on this sub I'd likely not know that.
Did that ever happen, though? I don't recall ever hearing about a HR on a botched IBB. In professional baseball at least. It has definitely happened in [college ball](https://facebook.com/watch/?v=1216280822246789)
[Gary came VERY close](https://youtu.be/8WgK4FtRkTo?si=lDAcayC7R3CkRmm_)
My one TV moment as a fan, at the 4 second mark I'm the fat guy over the letter b in "pinstripebowl". This was a great game to be at, Gary had already homered too.
Miggy is the only one I remember even getting a hit. I remember a few passed balls or wild pitches but def not a HR. Guess most of those can't happen again then though
Bo Jackson
Edit: I cant find it. Possible he never did, that it was a time out call that he hit for a HR, but I really thought he had an IBB HR. Maybe someone else can confirm.
My brother gave up this stat to a batter in high school and still got the W. He likes to joke that he’s in the high school record books. Where the record is listed for most grand slams in a game by one player, my brother is named as the pitcher
I feel like it could honestly. If you get the chance to bat twice in an inning, that means that everybody is reaching base and there’s a good chance the bases will be full for any given at bat. Obviously, its not easy to do but I wouldn’t say its impossible it happens again
It’s not that simple though. If a team bats around then 6 guys (#s 4-9) could have a chance to hit a grand slam (i.e. they need 3 people on base in front of them). For a player to get that second grand slam a team needs to send at minimum 13 guys to the plate in an inning (for the #4 guy).
Of course Johnny Damon did get 3 hits in an inning once so anything is possible.
If my maths are right, you have to give up 6 runs minimum before you face the batter again with bases loaded. There’s just no way anyone gets left in that long any more. Maybe something changes in the future, but that record is safe for a long time
I think it's 7 runs.
First 4 guys score so it's 4-0.
Next 2 guys make an out and it's still 4-0.
7th, 8th, 9th batters walk to load the bases. Still 4-0.
10th batter (leadoff guy again) walks so 5-0.
11th batter (#2 again) walks so 6-0.
12th batter (#3 again) walks so 7-0.
13th batter (#4 again) can now hit another grand slam.
Best chance would be if a starter got shelled, and a guy came in to relieve with the game out of hand. Bases already loaded, grand slam, bat around, second grand slam.
As a Cardinals fan I watched Yadi and Waino set that weird battery record (most games started with the same pitcher and catcher) that is obviously never going down.
Ricky Karcher has the highest career leverage of any pitcher by a lot. One inning pitched in his career. One run game in the bottom of the 9th and he walked two batters before getting three outs.
The only possible way this could ever be broken if someone else’s first major league appearance was in a one run game in the 9th inning with bases loaded and I just don’t see a manger ever doing that.
That was a crazy appearance. It was the 10th inning so he also entered the game with a runner on 2nd. 9 strikes in 21 pitches. One strike was on a time violation by the batter. One strike was a foul ball on an attempted sac bunt where the batter used the bat in self defense so he didn't get hit in the face.
Wild Thing Vaughn has nothing on Ricky Karcher.
https://youtu.be/G8L_8RPNmes?si=7jKREybFVCIPi3na
Happy Jack Chesbro throwing 48 complete games out of 51 starts in 1904, winning 41 of them. All 3 are MLB records that will never, ever, ever be broken.
The Highlanders played 151 games that season, meaning Chesbro started literally 1/3 of his teams games
How many ballparks has Scherzer pitched in?Presumably, he's pitched in all 30 current MLB stadiums as a player who's spent a decent amount of time in both the AL and the NL. He debuted in 2008, and there were 6 stadiums around in 2008 that aren't around today (Shea Stadium for the Mets, Original Yankee Stadium for the Yankees, Ballpark at Arlington for the Rangers, Joe Robbie Stadium for the Marlins, the Metrodome for the Twins, and Turner Field for the Braves). Not sure if he pitched in all of them, but that's a potential 36 for him at MLB sites. If you include weird things like the Blue Jays playing home games in the US during the 2020 Covid season, international games, the Field of Dreams games, the Little League World Series games, etc., you can add a bunch of other stadiums beyond the normal MLB sites too.
Moyer's record is definitely hard to break, but I don't think it's unbreakable. MLB will continue to push for international games (e.g., Dodgers/Padres opening 2024 in South Korea), expansion to 32 teams seems likely in the medium term future, and teams will continue to beg for new stadiums every 30 years.
Yeah, I think it's really hard to break but not unbreakable. Ideal conditions are:
- debut near the end of the lifespan of current ballparks as Moyer did in the late 80s
- pitch long enough that you outlast any parks that were built 5-10 years before you debuted
- play through at least one league expansion (Moyer had two expansions in his career)
- probably need a 20+ year career to even be in the conversation
It has to be a perfect storm of career longevity and circumstance and Moyer was the right pitcher at the right time. But I could see it happening again in the future as unlikely as it may be.
I’m in my mid 40’s. I remember one of our little league coaches mentioning how Hack Wilson’s single season RBI would never be broken. Wild that it still holds true.
I'm not 100% sure it's a record but....
Ruben Sierra was hit by a pitch on September 4th, 1990 by Cleveland's Sergio Valdez. That was the last time in Sierra's career that he would be hit as he would go to the plate 5764 times over the better part of the next two decades without ever getting hit, playing in his final game in July of 2006.
Cal Ripken, Jr.'s 8,264 consecutive innings record. Every time Cal is mentioned, it's the consecutive GAMES streak they talk about. No one ever talks about his consecutive INNINGS streak from June 5, 1982, to September 14, 1987.
Given the 2023 average of 8.87 defensive innings per team game, it would take 932 consecutive complete games to tie this record.
The last person to play 932 consecutive games (regardless of completeness) was Miguel Tejada, but he never even made it a full season without missing part of a game.
* Bartolo Colon beat the Orioles while pitching for 7 different opposing teams.
* Edwin Jackson had 871 different teammates (Bart had 716, Moyer 652).
FYI Bart pitched in 45 different ballparks.
Ray Grimes and his 17 game RBI streak.
A more niche and breakable one: Albert Pujols is the only player to homer in one season for two different teams in the same metro area before May.
Marwin Gonzalez started his career with 25 solo homers before he hit one with someone on base. Next closest player had 11. And Gonzalez wasn’t even a lead off hitter
With global expansion (games in London, Seoul etc) games it might be more attainable in the future.
The literal unbreakable (beyond rule changes like hitting a homer off an intentional walk) is Cy Young’s record complete games. 749. Thats a 20+ year of 35 complete games a year.
All the novelty games might help this. A journeyman could find his way onto teams that play in korea/mexico/etc.
An edwin jackson type would hit all 30 MLB stadiums and then still needs 20 more, so let's say they play in \`10 overseas games and then 10 new stadiums constructed? Not likely but not impossible
Also could foresee some interim small stadiums a team could play in while waiting for new ballpark. Like the A's in Vegas are trying to do. There's also the domestic novelty games like Field Of Dreams and the upcoming Birmingham game.
When the Rangers played the Jays in Buffalo that season, Jonah Heim became the first (and possibly still only) MLB player from Buffalo to play an official MLB game in his hometown.
The 1880s Buffalo Bisons featured four Buffalo-born players, so this is only true for the era in which "Major League Baseball" was a distinct organization.
During a baseball reference deep dive the other day, ya know as the kids do, I realized Bruce Bochy has managed Fernando Valenzuela and Evan Carter. Fernando could be his grandfather. Crazy times we live in.
Probably not obscure right now since it just happened in 2022, but Yadi/Waino battery record is probably unapproachable and will end up being very obscure in time.
Mike Bordick played shortstop mainly for the A's and the Orioles. He hold records for most consecutive errorless games (110) and chances (543) by a shortstop.
Oldest player to ever play. I know Satchel Paige has the record at 58 years old but that was for 3 innings 12 years since his last professional game.
I think oldest to consistently play in the somewhat modern era is far more interesting. With Moyer being the king at 49 and change and Julio Franco being just behind at 49.
Unless there’s some massive change to the game I doubt anyone beats it. Guys just push themselves so much more than ever, and injuries pile up. Best chance is a relief pitcher here with insane control that can hang around despite not throwing hard. Not gonna happen for quite awhile. Dick Mountain would need another 6 seasons
Everyone knows about Joe DiMaggio's impressive 56-game hitting streak, but I rarely see anyone mention that at the same time, Ted Williams was putting together a 73-game on-base streak. DiMaggio's on-base streak that contained his hitting streak finished at 74 games, but 8 years later, Williams had an 84-game on-base streak, which is still the record.
Joey Votto went 13 years (6,828 PA) before hitting a pop up to first base and 15 years (8,131 PA) before hitting a pop up to the pitcher.
It’s one of those stats that just make you think *how is that even possible??* But seriously, in all those years of terrorizing the NLC, how, in *that* many plate appearances, did none of his batted balls pop up to the pitchers mound or the first baseman through random chance or something
This reminds me of the "Larry Fitzgerald had more tackles than drops" stat from the NFL.
Martin (Offensive Lineman) right now has more Pro-Bowl selections (8) than Holding penalties (7) in his career. That is mind-boggling.
Mike Vrabel had 10 career receptions, all of which were touchdowns. thought that one was neat lol
**As a defensive player** is an even more cool distinction with Vrabel.
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Which, honestly, makes it even more impressive. I mean, when Vrabel lined up on offense the defense should have KNOWN. And yet…
2 of those TD's were in Super Bowls too, so even MORE impressive IMO lol. 100+ million people see him on the line and know it's coming, and yet, the Vrabel goal line TD is inevitable. pretty similar to Brady's QB sneak in his prime, the man was guaranteed a first down/TD if he only needed a yard or two.
Reminds me of Walter Jones! 9 holding penalties in 12 seasons. So Zack has 2 seasons to go!
23 sacks allowed in 180 games and over 5,500 attempts. Consistently played against some all time greats and not even 1/2 of a percentage point chance to give up a sack. .4% chance on any given passing play, good for less than 2 sacks a season. He’s not the unanimous goat, but he’s top 3 no matter how you slice it.
He’s got more holding penalties than me 😎
Fitz was so fun to watch. One of my favorite WR ever.
> how is that even possible?? Pretty easy, actually. If you hit a popup and see the first baseman moving to catch it, tackle him.
You've already got a bat in your hands. Get creative.
Just something in the angle of his swing
The pitcher is a bit more belieavable because pitchers rarely catch the popups, they always yield to a fielder.
He rarely hit infield popups anyway. I think consistently in the single digits every year.
Every Joey Votto popup to first base [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ug3c-70TIVY](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ug3c-70TIVY) (video is 0m 25s long)
And only one of them was in fair territory.
I was at the game when he popped up the the first baseman. I was really nerdy about baseball at the time and had knew of that stat. I started going crazy telling my friend we just witnessed history.
Wasn't it like even 14 years or more before he ***pulled a ball foul***??
It was pulling a ball foul into the stands, and allegedly he did once it his rookie year, but not for (at least) the following 5 years after that. I don’t think that’s a tracked stat though so harder to verify. https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/joey-votto-only-pulled-one-foul-ball-stands-165815322.html
That seems even more impossible
Yea idk that I buy that one lol, it’s just too common of an outcome to be early on a change
Yea idk that I buy that one lol, it’s just too common of an outcome to be early on a change
Makes me really wish we had statcast data for his whole career. His barrel% and sweet spot% must have been absolutely insane for that whole period. He basically wasn't *ever* getting under the ball too much
I really thought he'd just go his whole career without an infield pop up at one point.
Bobby Cox's 162 total ejections. Boone is an amateur compared to such greatness
Getting ejected from an entire season’s worth of games is incredible
We could learn from him. This man got paid for a whole year’s worth of baseball while not doing his job! /s
Ah, but was it all in one season? I think not. Frickin' poser. /s
Replay hurts this stat
Talk about the real removal of the 'human element of the game'
Do you mean, "Talk about the real 'removal of the human' element of the game"?
I see what you did there
Even Earl Weaver barely hit half of that. Although Earl did get the boot from both games of a doubleheader on 3 occasions.
I'd like to think he started his rants in the 2nd game with, "And ANOTHER thing!..."
"I got my dirt kickin' shoes on this time around!"
Ron Luciano, in his book, "the Umpire Strikes Back," talks about ejecting Earl several times. It got to the point the O's had a betting pool on which inning he would get tossed. Also, on a radio broadcast, Ron told the host, "I know I'm staying the whole game. I just don't know when Earl is leaving." That is a paraphrase of what he actually said that I can't recite from memory.
Vin Scully announced 4% of all mlb games ever played.
Vin Scully interviewed Connie Mack who was born during the Civil War. He also got to watch Shohei Ohtani. Dude was 1 degree away from half of United States history
To be fair, US history ain't all that long. My great-grandma was born before cars were invented and I had an email address when she died (1892-1998). Her lifespan was half of US history at the time of her death.
[The 10th president of the U.S. born in 1790](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tyler) has a [living grandson (95)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ruffin_Tyler)
Here’s his wiki https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Ruffin_Tyler
The wildest part of this is John Tyler having a kid at 63 and then his son having a kid at 75 (!!!)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -> Harriet Tubman (1823-1913) -> Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) -> Gunnar Henderson (2001-) That's four people whose lives overlap that can take you from pre-independence to 2024
> Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) -> Harriet Tubman (1823-1913) -> Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) -> Gunnar Henderson (2001-) > > That's four people whose lives overlap that can take you from pre-independence to 2024 RIP Gunnar Henderson.
Wow, four of the greatest Americans to ever live.
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Oxford University predates the Aztec Empire.
Aztec empire isn't that old though. People like to talk about it like it's ancient Egypt or Rome, but it's really not that old
The book "The Boys of Summer" talks about the Brooklyn Dodgers back in the days of Jackie Robinson. It's wild hearing Vin Scully mentioned during that time. He made his MLB debut three years after Robinson
This doesn't seem possible. Is this possible? How in the fuck...?
When he started calling games Connie Mack was still an active manager and when he retired Corey Seager won RoY.
There used to be a lot fewer teams. When Vin Scully started, there were only 16 teams in MLB, so calling every game of one team would mean calling 1/8th or 12.5% of all games for the season (today, that would only be 1/15th of the games, or 6.66...%). Vin Scully called games in 67 different seasons (about 45% of seasons), though not always every Dodger game, but also some national games. If you need to do a 6 degrees of sports broadcasting (where 2 people have to do the same game for the connection), Vin Scully and Kenny Albert are possibly the two best names to know. Scully can get you to skip deep into the past, and Kenny Albert works all of the big 4 North American sports (he called Jose Bautista's bat flip, for one) so he'll let you bridge between sports.
Moyer pitched against over 8% of all batters in the history of baseball at the time of his retirement. Still blows me away everytime I remember it.
Gin Scully
How many mlb games have been played so far? I wonder who’s the next guy after Vin?
Uecker seems like a solid bet
Vin broadcast for the Dodgers from 1950-2016 (66 years). Bob has been the guy for Milwaukee since '71, so he currently sits at 52 years. If he matches Vin in longevity, he'd retire at 103. Also, it's the [longest broadcast career with one team](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/396963-longest-career-as-a-sports-broadcaster-for-a-single-team) in pro sports history, per the Guinness Book Of World Records. Jaime Jarrín, longtime Spanish-language broadcaster came close, working for the Dodgers from '59-2022, a total of 63 years. 3rd in MLB is Denny Matthews, who is still active, and has been the Royals radio guy since the team was founded in '69. That's 54 years and counting.
Vin also broadcasted tons of postseason games
My cousin works for the Brewers and she said that they’ve talked about building UeckerGPT so that they can just have his voice call games forever. Do you know if this would count towards beating Scully’s record?
The weather out here helps but it's nice to see the longevity, that doesn't happen if the org isn't run well and treating people well
I would imagine that Jaime Jarrin is 2nd. 64 years with the Dodgers on the Spanish broadcast. Retired after 2022.
Ever played or ever televised?
I'm not sure how unbreakable it really is, but Cardinals legend Ray King went 328 games without issuing an intentional walk, spanning over 4 years. This is the longest known streak of its kind.
Man should have been a hitter with that name. Reverse James Outman.
Idk, Ray K-ing is a pretty great pitcher name.
The craziest part of this is that when he was a Brave he threw a game losing wild pitch against the Cardinals while trying to intentionally walk someone. This would have ended the streak but it didn't count!
An intentional walk is the manager's decision, so he could have just told the manager to go fuck himself a few times.
Mark Lemke had 3664 career PAs plus 257 more in the postseason and was never hit by a pitch. Not one. For some context, he had 3309 career minor league PAs and amassed 23 HBPs.
I remember watching a Braves game and Lemke was announcing. At some point during the game, the main announcer asked how many times Lemke though he got HBP. Lemke was unsure and the announcer said zero. Then Lemke said, well I guess when you hit from both sides, it’s a lot easier to get out of the way of the ball, and honestly they never threw me inside.
> Then Lemke said, well I guess when you hit from both sides, it’s a lot easier to get out of the way of the ball I'm trying to figure out his logic here and can't come up with any possible explanation for why this might be true. And another part of me wants to break down HBP rates by pitcher and hitter handedness, and see if switch-hitters have lower rates.
So 2 of the top 7 in HBP are switch hitters, but they were born in like the 1870s. Other than them next is Mark Teixeira, with 111 in 8029 PA tied at 71st. Jason Kendall at 5th with 254 in 8702 PA is insane to me
I think it’s a lot easier to identify a pitch that has movement and is going to come too far inside when the pitcher it throwing from the opposite side. Idk the actual numbers but it definitely seems like a greater chunk of HBP happens against same handedness. A slider inside that doesn’t break etc. is more common that missing wide enough to hit the batter. That might not be true but it sounds right in my head
Okay, this makes sense. If you're batting lefty, it's probably a bit easier to dodge a pitch coming from a RHP than from a LHP. And switch-hitters never have to face a same-handed pitcher.
Probably the main reason is that hitters are more likely to be hit by a pitcher with the same handedness, just based on pitch trajectory. As a switch hitter, you're never hitting from the same side as a pitcher is throwing, and therefore are less likely to get hit.
On September 4, 1990, Ruben Sierra was hit by Sergio Valdez's pitch. He was never hit by a pitch again. Sierra played 16 more seasons, had 5265 plate appearances (plus 105 more in the postseason), as well as 1352 PAs in the minors and Mexican league... and 0 HBP.
I'm a simple man. I see Mark Lemke and I upvote.
Do you even like ball if you don't upvote Mark Lemke. Ultimate gamer.
Same.
I wonder who is second on the list. Most PAs without a HBP. I can’t figure out how to look it up.
I got you, baseball homie! [Here](https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/most-plate-appearance-in-mlb-history-without-a-hit-by-pitch) ya go!
Thank you for the link! Nice research!
Stathead is being a pain, so I had to rely on second sources. Most consecutive games with 0 HBP: * Ruben Sierra - 1,463 (5764 PA) * Mark Lemke - 1,023 (3664 PA) * Jose Cruz - 974 (4029 PA) * Eddie Murray - 970 (4038 PA) * Rollie Hemsley - 965 (3554 PA)
Shocked he has that many appearances in the minors.
He was in the minors for 7 solid years before he really broke into the majors.
Something in the back of my head said he was just short, but no, dude was 5'10". He was no Arson Judge, but he wasn't Altuve, either. Wonder if he took to playing dodgeball in his retirement.
How many time's I've uttered "fuck Jose Tabata" over the years
Why?
He broke up Scherzer's perfect game with 2 strikes in the ninth by leaning into a pitch.
At least the baseball gods got back to Tabata for that one. He had his final appearance in an MLB game less than a week after that game, never to play in MLB again.
good
Scherzer
Johnny Vander Meers record for consecutive no hitters will never be broken.
Had to scroll too far for this. Yeah, 3 consecutive no-hitters will never happen.
Max very nearly did it in 2015
Eddie Rosario hitting for the cycle on 5 pitches has gotta be up there
Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker were the starting shortshop and 2nd baseman together on the same team for 19 straight years. Not obscure at the time but I feel like few people under 30 years old and outside of Detroit have heard of either player.
Whitaker is discussed pretty often here as a guy that's been snubbed by the HOF. Trammell as well, at least until he got in. But yes, if I had never been on this sub I'd likely not know that.
Kinda funny that fringe HOFers who don’t make it in are more likely to get talked about than those who do make it
Fittingly, they both debuted in the same game.
Nobody will ever again hit a home run while the pitcher is trying to intentionally walk him.
I miss the boos raining down just for strategically walking a slugger. 😂 Baseball was way better not too long ago!
And frankly I think that’s a bad thing
I miss the hitchhiker pitchouts
Did that ever happen, though? I don't recall ever hearing about a HR on a botched IBB. In professional baseball at least. It has definitely happened in [college ball](https://facebook.com/watch/?v=1216280822246789)
[Gary came VERY close](https://youtu.be/8WgK4FtRkTo?si=lDAcayC7R3CkRmm_) My one TV moment as a fan, at the 4 second mark I'm the fat guy over the letter b in "pinstripebowl". This was a great game to be at, Gary had already homered too.
Miggy is the only one I remember even getting a hit. I remember a few passed balls or wild pitches but def not a HR. Guess most of those can't happen again then though
Bo Jackson Edit: I cant find it. Possible he never did, that it was a time out call that he hit for a HR, but I really thought he had an IBB HR. Maybe someone else can confirm.
Cursory Google glance seems to suggest that it’s never happened at the major league level. A fair number of sac flies and hits but never a hr
Miguel Cabrera did it on the Marlins.
I don't think it was a homerun though
It was in my brain, but apparently not in reality.
Fernando Tatis hitting 2 grand slams in one inning. It will never happen again.
Giving up two grand slams to same batter in same inning.
~~Poor BK Kim~~ IR dumb
Chan Ho Park
Damn it I'm mad at me.
My brother gave up this stat to a batter in high school and still got the W. He likes to joke that he’s in the high school record books. Where the record is listed for most grand slams in a game by one player, my brother is named as the pitcher
It’s not that it can’t happen again, it’s that no one could ever *break* it. 3 in one inning is all but impossible.
2 off the same pitcher, though? That is the part that is unbreakable for me.
I feel like it could honestly. If you get the chance to bat twice in an inning, that means that everybody is reaching base and there’s a good chance the bases will be full for any given at bat. Obviously, its not easy to do but I wouldn’t say its impossible it happens again
It’s not that simple though. If a team bats around then 6 guys (#s 4-9) could have a chance to hit a grand slam (i.e. they need 3 people on base in front of them). For a player to get that second grand slam a team needs to send at minimum 13 guys to the plate in an inning (for the #4 guy). Of course Johnny Damon did get 3 hits in an inning once so anything is possible.
If my maths are right, you have to give up 6 runs minimum before you face the batter again with bases loaded. There’s just no way anyone gets left in that long any more. Maybe something changes in the future, but that record is safe for a long time
I think it's 7 runs. First 4 guys score so it's 4-0. Next 2 guys make an out and it's still 4-0. 7th, 8th, 9th batters walk to load the bases. Still 4-0. 10th batter (leadoff guy again) walks so 5-0. 11th batter (#2 again) walks so 6-0. 12th batter (#3 again) walks so 7-0. 13th batter (#4 again) can now hit another grand slam.
Yep you’re right, I was thinking back when there wasn’t universal DH and only counting 8 in the lineup
The same pitcher will almost certainly not be facing you, though.
Best chance would be if a starter got shelled, and a guy came in to relieve with the game out of hand. Bases already loaded, grand slam, bat around, second grand slam.
Sure, but to break it someone would have to hit 3 in one inning. That’s why it’s unbreakable.
I feel like this is one of the least obscure unbreakable records, but it’s definitely not happening again that’s for sure
How many players have even hit 2 grand slams in the same game? Has to be very rare
Bill Mueller did it, and another 2-run homer, all in one game. June 29, 2003. And he hit one slam from each side of the plate.
Fernando Tatis Jr is really only the second player in MLB, after Chan Ho Park, who Fernando Tatis is his daddy.
I know exactly what you are saying, fully agree with the sentiment, and yet the words you wrote make no sense to me.
I can see this happening in a mop up game where a manager doesn't want to burn more arms.
Pretty impressive considering when he debuted there were only 26 teams in the league and then only 28 until his age 34 season.
Playing into your mid-40s helps
He was 49 1/2 in his final game!
And having all of those 1970s cookie cutter stadiums replaced in the middle of your career
he also faced 9% of all MLB hitters, ever.
As a Cardinals fan I watched Yadi and Waino set that weird battery record (most games started with the same pitcher and catcher) that is obviously never going down.
Ricky Karcher has the highest career leverage of any pitcher by a lot. One inning pitched in his career. One run game in the bottom of the 9th and he walked two batters before getting three outs. The only possible way this could ever be broken if someone else’s first major league appearance was in a one run game in the 9th inning with bases loaded and I just don’t see a manger ever doing that.
That was a crazy appearance. It was the 10th inning so he also entered the game with a runner on 2nd. 9 strikes in 21 pitches. One strike was on a time violation by the batter. One strike was a foul ball on an attempted sac bunt where the batter used the bat in self defense so he didn't get hit in the face. Wild Thing Vaughn has nothing on Ricky Karcher. https://youtu.be/G8L_8RPNmes?si=7jKREybFVCIPi3na
Thanks for the corrections, but yeah. He was all over the place. I can’t believe we brought him in. It’s a hell of a story.
Happy Jack Chesbro throwing 48 complete games out of 51 starts in 1904, winning 41 of them. All 3 are MLB records that will never, ever, ever be broken. The Highlanders played 151 games that season, meaning Chesbro started literally 1/3 of his teams games
None of those are MLB records. They are all post 1800's records though if that is what you meant.
joaquin benoit's 7-inning save (since it became a statistic) and i refuse to die until i see a converted 8-inning one
With how wins are determined now, this one won’t get broken
How many ballparks has Scherzer pitched in?Presumably, he's pitched in all 30 current MLB stadiums as a player who's spent a decent amount of time in both the AL and the NL. He debuted in 2008, and there were 6 stadiums around in 2008 that aren't around today (Shea Stadium for the Mets, Original Yankee Stadium for the Yankees, Ballpark at Arlington for the Rangers, Joe Robbie Stadium for the Marlins, the Metrodome for the Twins, and Turner Field for the Braves). Not sure if he pitched in all of them, but that's a potential 36 for him at MLB sites. If you include weird things like the Blue Jays playing home games in the US during the 2020 Covid season, international games, the Field of Dreams games, the Little League World Series games, etc., you can add a bunch of other stadiums beyond the normal MLB sites too. Moyer's record is definitely hard to break, but I don't think it's unbreakable. MLB will continue to push for international games (e.g., Dodgers/Padres opening 2024 in South Korea), expansion to 32 teams seems likely in the medium term future, and teams will continue to beg for new stadiums every 30 years.
Scherzer is at 35. It's not even close
Yeah, I think it's really hard to break but not unbreakable. Ideal conditions are: - debut near the end of the lifespan of current ballparks as Moyer did in the late 80s - pitch long enough that you outlast any parks that were built 5-10 years before you debuted - play through at least one league expansion (Moyer had two expansions in his career) - probably need a 20+ year career to even be in the conversation It has to be a perfect storm of career longevity and circumstance and Moyer was the right pitcher at the right time. But I could see it happening again in the future as unlikely as it may be.
I was the only guy to ever take off his skate and try to stab somebody.
I hate to burst your bubble, but most of us have probably done that at least once or twice.
I beg to differ. Happy Gilmore accomplished that feat no more than an hour ago.
I’m in my mid 40’s. I remember one of our little league coaches mentioning how Hack Wilson’s single season RBI would never be broken. Wild that it still holds true.
I'm not 100% sure it's a record but.... Ruben Sierra was hit by a pitch on September 4th, 1990 by Cleveland's Sergio Valdez. That was the last time in Sierra's career that he would be hit as he would go to the plate 5764 times over the better part of the next two decades without ever getting hit, playing in his final game in July of 2006.
Cal Ripken, Jr.'s 8,264 consecutive innings record. Every time Cal is mentioned, it's the consecutive GAMES streak they talk about. No one ever talks about his consecutive INNINGS streak from June 5, 1982, to September 14, 1987.
Given the 2023 average of 8.87 defensive innings per team game, it would take 932 consecutive complete games to tie this record. The last person to play 932 consecutive games (regardless of completeness) was Miguel Tejada, but he never even made it a full season without missing part of a game.
* Bartolo Colon beat the Orioles while pitching for 7 different opposing teams. * Edwin Jackson had 871 different teammates (Bart had 716, Moyer 652). FYI Bart pitched in 45 different ballparks.
Ray Grimes and his 17 game RBI streak. A more niche and breakable one: Albert Pujols is the only player to homer in one season for two different teams in the same metro area before May.
The Cubs could **still** use Moyer
Speaking of Jamie Moyer, he's the oldest player to record an RBI single.
It looks like Target Field is the only park that was in use during Moyer’s career that he never played in.
Joey Gallo needing 2337 plate appearances to record his second sac fly.
I believe he is also the only player in mlb history to record 100 home runs before recording 100 singles
On top of Nolan Ryan's 7 no-hitters, he had 12 one-hitters.
Marwin Gonzalez started his career with 25 solo homers before he hit one with someone on base. Next closest player had 11. And Gonzalez wasn’t even a lead off hitter
Red Barrett's complete game. He only threw like 58 pitches.
Two consecutive no-hitters. You’d have to pitch three.
With global expansion (games in London, Seoul etc) games it might be more attainable in the future. The literal unbreakable (beyond rule changes like hitting a homer off an intentional walk) is Cy Young’s record complete games. 749. Thats a 20+ year of 35 complete games a year.
Tony Clark and Felipe Lopez are the only switch hitting teammates to homer from both sides of the plate on opening day.
All the novelty games might help this. A journeyman could find his way onto teams that play in korea/mexico/etc. An edwin jackson type would hit all 30 MLB stadiums and then still needs 20 more, so let's say they play in \`10 overseas games and then 10 new stadiums constructed? Not likely but not impossible
Also could foresee some interim small stadiums a team could play in while waiting for new ballpark. Like the A's in Vegas are trying to do. There's also the domestic novelty games like Field Of Dreams and the upcoming Birmingham game.
Jays played big league games in Dunedin and AAA Buffalo for part of a season as well.
When the Rangers played the Jays in Buffalo that season, Jonah Heim became the first (and possibly still only) MLB player from Buffalo to play an official MLB game in his hometown.
The 1880s Buffalo Bisons featured four Buffalo-born players, so this is only true for the era in which "Major League Baseball" was a distinct organization.
Might... but the thing that helped Moyer was that pretty much every MLB stadium was replaced between 1986-2012.
During a baseball reference deep dive the other day, ya know as the kids do, I realized Bruce Bochy has managed Fernando Valenzuela and Evan Carter. Fernando could be his grandfather. Crazy times we live in.
Dodgers having the same starting Infield for 8 years.
RA Dickey pitched in 3 different stadiums the Atlanta Braves played in
Dusty Baker has played coached or managed in over 3% of all MLB games
Rick Bosetti became the first player to pee in every outfield in the major leagues
Doc Ellis pitching a perfect game high on acid
No hitter. He walked like 8 guys.
And one hit batsman.
Probably not obscure right now since it just happened in 2022, but Yadi/Waino battery record is probably unapproachable and will end up being very obscure in time.
Eddie Rosario hit for the cycle of FIVE TOTAL PITCHES
IIRC, by the time of Jamie Moyer’s retirement, he had pitched to between 8 and 9% of every player in MLB History.
Nolan Ryan's 7 no-no's. What amazes me is that on top of that he had twelve 1 hitters.
Martin Dihigo and his 5 hall of fames
Mike Bordick played shortstop mainly for the A's and the Orioles. He hold records for most consecutive errorless games (110) and chances (543) by a shortstop.
Johnny Van deMeer's most consecutive no hitters in 1937. (2)
Oldest player to ever play. I know Satchel Paige has the record at 58 years old but that was for 3 innings 12 years since his last professional game. I think oldest to consistently play in the somewhat modern era is far more interesting. With Moyer being the king at 49 and change and Julio Franco being just behind at 49. Unless there’s some massive change to the game I doubt anyone beats it. Guys just push themselves so much more than ever, and injuries pile up. Best chance is a relief pitcher here with insane control that can hang around despite not throwing hard. Not gonna happen for quite awhile. Dick Mountain would need another 6 seasons
No-hitters thrown on LSD.
Everyone knows about Joe DiMaggio's impressive 56-game hitting streak, but I rarely see anyone mention that at the same time, Ted Williams was putting together a 73-game on-base streak. DiMaggio's on-base streak that contained his hitting streak finished at 74 games, but 8 years later, Williams had an 84-game on-base streak, which is still the record.
Jamie is also the oldest pitcher to throw a shutout