By Blaidd Drwg
Old friend Joe Posnanski came up with a list of 14 random baseball facts recently (Hey, even the best professional writers get bored). A few of the gems from his list:
14. Johnny Damon has as many hits as Ted Williams (2,654 hits).
Number 14 isn’t all that exciting by itself, but it becomes more interesting when you couple it with this bit from his commentary:
I’d say if you put together the best team you could find of hitters who DID NOT get 3,000 hits, it would beat the team of players who DID get 3,000 hits.
Team with 3,000 hits:
1B: Stan Musial
2B: Eddie Collins
SS: Cal Ripken (or Jeter soon)
3B: George Brett
LF: Ty Cobb (or Rickey or Yaz)
CF: Willie Mays
RF: Hank Aaron (or Clemente or Kaline)
C: None (Ivan Rodriguez only one with 2,500 hits)That team is amazing. But look at the non-3,0000 hit team.
Team without 3,000 hits
1B: Lou Gehrig
2B: Joe Morgan (or Hornsby)
SS: Honus Wagner
3B: Mike Schmidt (or A-Rod)
LF: Ted Williams (or Barry Bonds)
CF: Mickey Mantle (or DiMaggio)
RF: Babe Ruth
C: Johnny Bench (or Yogi)
I think I will take the less than 3000 hits team, thanks.
6. Aubrey Huff’s next double (344) will move him ahead of Mickey Mantle on the all-time doubles list.
I guess this should not have surprised me – for all of the complaints about modern parks, the old, old Yankee Stadium was just as bad – despite a center field that was larger than most parks short of Yellowstone, it was less than 320 feet down the lines and had shorter power alleys than most parks, which probably lead to less doubles and more HR for the Mick.
5. Dan Quisenberry led the league in saves more times than Mariano Rivera did (5-3).
Not surprising. Saves are overrated, but it might just be another indicator of just how good the Quiz was.
1. Ron Kittle hit more home runs per at-bat than Lou Gehrig (1 every 15.39 at-bats vs. 1 every 16.23).
I forgot how much of a masher Kittle was – did you know he once had a 50 HR season in the minors in the early 80’s, back when it was rare? He also hit 40 HR’s in the minors the year before. Joe Pos’s section on Kittle is a great read.
FlatbreadGarden 