On July 21, 1975, Mets’ infielders Felix Millan (2B) and Joe Torre (1B) became a record-setting double play combination – but that was not necessarily a good thing. In 6-2 loss to the Astros in New York, Millan went four-for-four (four singles) and each time was forced at second base, as Torre grounded into four double plays in his four plate appearances. Plenty of unicorns here. By grounding into four twin killings, Torre became the first (and still only) National League player to ground into four double plays in a game. (The only other MLB player to “accomplish” this feat is Tigers’ LF Goose ..read more

From Bob Feller to Nolan Ryan and Joey Jay to Jamie Moyer, Baseball Roundtable looks t some mound accomplishments for the “ages,” as I wait for the first Spring Training box scores. YOUTH WILL BE SERVED Youth was never served (on the diamond) quite like it was for hard-throwing teenager Bob Feller.  As the chart below shows, if you make a list of the youngest pitchers to fan ten or more batters in an MLB game, Bob Feller holds the first nine positions. How remarkable was “Feller’s Feat” at the time?  Consider that, in Feller’s rookie season, MLB pitchers averaged 3.5 strikeouts per ..read more

Well, here are some more Baseball Roundtable musings, as we wait for Spring Training to open. This time it’s rare occurrences and oddities (unicorns, if you will) in some way relate to getting on base or on-base percentage.  I hope you find them interesting and entertaining. Bryce Harper and an Unblemished Hot-Pink Bat Photo: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons It was Mother’s Day (May 8) 2016 and the Nationals were facing the steaking Cubs at Wrigley Field. (The Cubs were 23-6 and were on a six-game wining streak.)&n ..read more

Each year, since 2014, Baseball Roundtable has announced a John Paciorek Award (JPA) honoree. The JPA recognizes players who have had short, sometimes very short, major-league careers, but whose accomplishments, nonetheless, deserve recognition.  Past winners have included:  a player who collected at least one base hit in every MLB game he played; a player whose every MLB hit (three in nine career at bats) was a home run;  a player who had only one MLB at bat, but earned  a World Series ring and a Purple Heart;  a war hero who pitched in the majors on one leg; and much ..read more

The 2024 Baseball Writers of America Baseball Hall of Fame ballots have been announced – and congratulations to Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer – worthy candidates all.  In this post, I’ll be taking a look at the differences (and similarities) between the official BBWAA results and Baseball Roundtable’s unofficial reader/fan balloting.  YOu’ll find some (handy?) charts at the end of the post. Spreading Out the Love The 83 reader respondents and the 385 official BBWAA voters voted for about an equal number of players per ballot.  The writers averaged 7.0 players per bal ..read more

Most baseball fans are aware of the fact that on May 1, 1920, the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves played in MLB’s longest-ever (by innings) MLB game – a 26-inning 1-1 tie in Boston. It’s also well-known that both starting pitchers Joe Oeschger and Leon Cadore “went the distance.”  Those are a couple of records (length of game and length of a pitching appearance), that are pretty much unbreakable. Photo: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons A Good Pick for A tough Day as a “Hitter“ As always with Baseball Roundtable “one thing leads to another” and perusing the box score of that Oeschg ..read more

The Reverse Unicorn Since 1980, only two pitchers have “achieved” twenty or more losses in a single season. In that same span, there have been 131 pitcher seasons of twenty or more wins. Regular readers of Baseball Roundtable know how my mind tends to wander during the off-season – leading to the exploration of a wide range of baseball topics (particularly rarities and oddities). Admittedly as “One thing seems to lead to another,” these posts can at times seem like watching a series of unrelated slides (I hope most of you remember slides).  Each post, however, can be traced to an overar ..read more

Welcome to the 19th post in the Baseball Roundtable’s “Who’s Your Daddy?” series, where we take a look at Roundtable-selected lineups that performed exceptionally well against some of MLB’s greatest pitchers. As always, I would stress that the pitchers included in the Who’s Your Daddy? series are among the “best in the business.”  They are selected not because of the players who performed well against them, but rather because success among hitters when they were on the mound was the exception rather than the rule.  We’ve looked at pitchers from a wide range of eras – from Carl Hubbel ..read more

Readers of Baseball Roundtable are aware of how I am drawn to baseball rarities in the off-season.  In this post, we’ll look at some of the unique statistics surrounding zero-home run seasons. If you enjoy this you may want to check out my posts on 20-game winners (click here) and 100-RBI seasons (click here). Rarities and Oddities – MLB Batting Champions with Zero Home Runs There have been only two MLB batting champions to log zero home runs in a season in which they won the crown … and they came 75 years apart.  Wee Willie Keeler, 1897 Orioles Photo: Internet Archive Book Images ..read more

It’s October 1, and that means it’s time for the Baseball Roundtable monthly Wrap Up for September – a look at the stories and statistics that caught The Roundtable’s attention over the past month, as well as the standings, Roundtable Players and Pitchers of the Month, the Trot Index and more. Keep in mind, the stats presented are for September only and do not include games of October 1. As usual, there a few things unusual over the past thirty days: The first rookie with a 25-50 season and the first-ever 40-70 campaign (HR/SB); A 200th career win and a 400th career home run; New records set ..read more