Most Plate Appearances, No Singles

Brad Nelson, 0 for 21 this year, was outrighted (booted off the 40-man roster but not released) to the minors by Milwaukee earlier this week. Since he was outrighted once before, he had the option to choose free agency rather than report to AAA. He did and has had contact from several teams. Until he signs, however, his brief major league career qualifies him for the following list:

Most Career Plate Apperances, No Singles

Name	Years	PA	H	2B	3B	HR
Bobby Tiefenauer	1952-1968	48	1	1	0	0
Randy Tate	1975	47	0	0	0	0
Bo McLaughlin	1976-1982	45	0	0	0	0
Tony McKnight	2000-2001	44	0	0	0	0
Daryl Patterson	1968-1974	37	0	0	0	0
Charlie Cady	1883-1884	36	2	1	1	0
George Borchers	1888-1895	34	2	2	0	0
Ted Davidson	1965-1968	34	0	0	0	0
Charley Stanceu	1941-1946	34	0	0	0	0
Hank Biasatti	1949	33	2	2	0	0
Andy Hassler	1971-1985	31	0	0	0	0
Brad Nelson	2008-2009	31	2	2	0	0
Sean Burnett	2004-2008	30	1	1	0	0
Skip Pitlock	1970-1975	30	2	1	0	1

As you can tell by the years each played, most of those players were pitches. Only Hank Biasatti, a first baseman for the Athletics, and Nelson were not pitchers for a significant portion of their careers. Charlie Cody started five games as a pitcher and also appeared in the outfield, second base, and catcher.

Another active position player who has struggled to single is Matthew Brown, a third baseman for the Angels. He batted 27 times in 2007 and 2008, hitting only a double. Brown is currently playing for the AAA Salt Lake Bees. Both Nelson and Brown will likely get more chances to single in the majors, so hopefully their time around this list is short.

Most Extra Base Hits Allowed in a Season

Before the 2008 season began, I had two posts listing the most doubles allowed in a season and the most triples allowed in a season (both were written before the B-R Play Index included 1956 data). It's easy to find a list of the most home runs allowed in a season. For whatever reason, I never put all three together...until today. Here are the pitchers who have allowed the most extra base hits in a single season since 1956.

Most Extra Base Hits Allowed in a Season, 1956-2007

Name	Team	Year	XBH Allowed	IP
Robin Roberts	PHI	1956	117	297.1
Rick Helling	TEX	2001	116	215.2
Jose Lima	HOU	2000	108	196.1
Darrell May	KCR	2004	105	186.0
Eric Milton	CIN	2005	102	186.1
Brad Radke	MIN	1996	101	232.0
Rick Helling	TEX	2000	100	217.0
Bert Blyleven	MIN	1986	100	271.2
Mickey Lolich	DET	1973	99	308.2
Rick Helling	TEX	1999	98	219.1
Chris Capuano	MIL	2006	97	221.1
Phil Niekro	ATL	1979	97	342.0
Mickey Lolich	DET	1974	96	308.0
Robin Roberts	PHI	1957	96	249.2
Brett Tomko	STL	2003	95	202.2
Jeff Suppan	KCR	2000	95	217.0
Mike Mussina	BAL	1996	95	243.1
Jim Perry	MIN	1971	95	270.0
Jim Merritt	CIN	1970	95	234.0
Jim Merritt	CIN	1969	95	251.0

Slugging Percentage is for Wussies

I've gone kind of crazy with different streaks lately and that will unapologetically continue today. A few weeks ago, I made a list of what I called Anti-DiMaggios, players with the longest streak of consecutive games played without a hit. Today features another negative streak, though not as harmful as going hitless. I've looked up all the position players who have gone at least sixty-five consecutive games without an extra base hit. Remember, for hitting streaks, a game only counts if the player gets an at-bat or sacrifice fly (pinch-hit walks don't snap them).

I thought about calling these guys the Anti-Griffey/Mattingly/Longs, after the players holding the record for consecutive games with a home run, but that doesn't quite fit (and it's pretty cumbersome). "Anti-Joneses" is an option, but how many people can identify Chipper Jones as the guy who holds the record for consecutive games with an extra base hit (more on that later)? Maybe "Swatless Swingers" would work, but it sounds pretty corny. Whatever you call them, you can't deny their lack of power.

Most Consecutive Games With Zero Extra Base Hits, 1956-2008

Rank	Name	Games	AB	Start	End
1	Greg Gross	100	156	6/5/1988	9/27/1989
2	Luis Gomez	88	198	5/29/1974	5/28/1976
3	Scott Pose	87	151	5/30/1999	9/29/2000
4	Jose Valdivielso	80	221	6/19/1960	5/30/1961
5	Manny Mota	75	75	5/26/1978	9/1/1982
6	Junior Noboa	74	111	5/27/1991	4/7/1994
7	Tom Hutton	73	86	7/5/1979	7/15/1980
8	Mike Mordecai	71	127	4/25/1997	6/16/1998
9	Dal Maxvill	69	184	4/9/1970	7/19/1970
	Frank Baumholtz	69	102	4/22/1956	5/26/1957
11	Jose Oquendo	68	166	7/19/1992	6/14/1994
	Wayne Tolleson	68	210	5/28/1987	6/11/1988
	Denny Walling	68	113	6/15/1982	6/26/1983
14	Stan Javier	67	94	6/29/1991	5/18/1992
	Larry Lintz	67	216	9/3/1974	8/26/1975
	Al Weis	67	158	7/16/1965	8/17/1966
17	Manny Mota	66	71	5/26/1974	7/9/1975
	Mike Fiore	66	95	5/22/1970	8/10/1971
19	Duane Kuiper	65	109	8/22/1983	9/7/1984
	Marty Keough	65	90	9/27/1964	7/6/1966
	Phil Gagliano	65	136	7/9/1969	5/4/1971

The longest "active" streak belongs to Orlando Palmeiro (44 games), but he's retired. The next longest current streak is 33 games belonging to Jason Wood, but he's now playing for the Marlins' AAA affiliate in Albuquerque. That means the longest active streak for a player currently on a major league roster is 31 games (through 4/21/08), belonging to Willie Bloomquist of the Mariners. Mark Sweeney of the Dodgers is right behind him at 30 games.

Most Doubles Allowed in a Season

This follows the previous post by looking at the most doubles allowed by a pitcher in a single season. There's a lot of recent seasons on the list. Who would've thought that five of the only fifteen 60+ doubles allowed seasons in the past half century took place in 2006 or 2007? I like it when I can pick an arbitrary cutoff at a nice number: only twenty-five pitchers have given up 58 or more doubles in a season (since 1957).

Most Doubles Allowed in a Season, 1957-2007

Name	Team	Year	2B Allowed	IP
Rick Helling	TEX	2001	68	215.2
Chris Capuano	MIL	2006	66	221.1
Rick Helling	TEX	2000	66	217.0
Jamie Moyer	SEA	1998	64	234.1
Jim Merritt	CIN	1970	64	234.0
Mike Mussina	BAL	1996	63	243.1
Dennis Leonard	KCR	1978	62	294.2
Matt Morris	SFG/PIT	2007	61	198.2
Jae Weong Seo	NYM	2003	61	188.1
C.C. Sabathia	CLE	2007	60	241.0
Jeff Suppan	MIL	2007	60	206.2
Zach Duke	PIT	2006	60	215.1
Kenny Rogers	TEX	2000	60	227.1
Bruce Hurst	BOS	1984	60	218.0
Jim Merritt	CIN	1969	60	251.0
Kenny Rogers	TEX	2004	59	211.2
Wilson Alvarez	CHW	1996	59	217.1
Jose Lima	KCR	2005	58	168.2
Darrell May	KCR	2004	58	186.0
Brad Radke	MIN	2000	58	226.2
Mark Leiter	PHI	1997	58	182.2
Chris Haney	KCR	1996	58	228.0
Steve Cooke	PIT	1993	58	210.2
Dennis Eckersley	CHC	1986	58	201.0
Rick Sutcliffe	CLE	1983	58	243.1

I guess you have to be pretty durable and usually play in front of a bad defense (cough...Milwaukee...cough) to make the list.

Fewest XBH by a Batting Title Qualifier, 1988-2007

I am amused by records of futility throughout baseball history. If you've read some of the older posts you've likely figured that out by now. Even the last couple posts have been about futility in a way: either individual lack of overall power or team lack of health/scoring/what have you. Today I want to continue that with another post about guys with very little power.

For those unfamiliar with the abbreviation XBH used in the title, it stands for Extra Base Hits (2B, 3B, & HR). Instead of finding players with low slugging percentages and marveling at their slap-hitting ways, I thought using a counting stat like XBH might cause other players to jump out. I don't know if that happened since the list is still a bunch of shortstops and Otis Nixon, but I think it's neat anyway.

I only looked at the past twenty seasons and set the minimum plate appearances to the batting title qualifier of 502 (hence the title). This cuts out all of 1994 and many players in 1995, but with a counting stat like XBH it's not really fair to penalize players for not having the same opportunity to raise their numbers. Really I guess you could say I'm only looking at the past eighteen-plus seasons, but that's all the fans got, right? :)

Fewest XBH by a Batting Title Qualifier, 1988-2007

1. Felix Fermin, 1989, 562 PA, 10 XBH
2. Jose Lind, 1992, 506, 15
3. Alfredo Griffin, 1990, 502, 15
4. Eric Yelding, 1990, 559, 15
5. Gary Pettis, 1989, 536, 15
6. Otis Nixon, 1993, 532, 16
7. Mike Caruso, 1999, 564, 17
8. Otis Nixon, 1996, 575, 17
9. Rey Ordonez, 1996, 530, 17
10. Darren Lewis, 1995, 527, 17
11. Walt Weiss, 1993, 591, 17
12. Willie Randolph, 1991, 512, 17
13. Rafael Santana, 1988, 521, 17
14. Brad Ausmus, 2003, 509, 18
15. Tom Goodwin, 1998, 608, 18
16. Omar Vizquel, 1993, 630, 18
17. Otis Nixon, 1992, 502, 18
18. Jose Oquendo, 1988, 518, 18
19. Brad Ausmus, 2006, 502, 19
20. Tom Goodwin, 1996, 587, 19
21. Carney Lansford, 1990, 564, 19

These twenty-one players are the only ones to finish a full season with fewer than twenty extra base hits while qualifying for the batting title in the past twenty years. I guess it works out to an average of about one per year but only one player has joined (twice) since 2000 so it's getting rarer.

Another player almost joined this list in 2007, but Reggie Willits knocked out 21 extra base hits in 518 PA. Futile offensive player Nick Punto managed to rap out 23 XBH with a slugging percentage of only .271, which is just sad. Jason Kendall, Luis Castillo, Omar Vizquel, and Mark Loretta were the only other qualifying players with fewer than thirty.

He Couldn't Score From Second on a Double!

When Barry Bonds was playing with almost no cartilage in his knees, one of the criticisms of him that made me smirk was some snarky pundit saying, "he couldn't score from second on a double." True about Bonds or not, every season sees a few doubles hit with runners on second who don't end up scoring on the play. It doesn't mean much because, among myriad other explanations, the runner may have thought the ball would be caught while the batter was hustling around first and/or the official scorer of the game was generous in not charging the fielder with an error.

Looking at all the doubles hit with only a runner on second or with runners on second and third I found twenty-six instances of the runner not scoring from second on the hit.

1. April 11 - TBD @ TEX (box/play-by-play) - Ty Wigginton doubled to left off Robinson Tejeda, scoring Ben Zobrist from third and moving Carl Crawford from second to third.
2. April 16 - BAL @ TBD (box/play-by-play) - Aubrey Huff's double to center moves Miguel Tejada from second to third.
3. April 17 - LAD @ ARI (box/play-by-play) - Conor Jackson's line drive double to right moves Carlos Quentin from second to third.
4. April 19 - TEX @ CHW (box/play-by-play) - Sammy Sosa moves to third on Hank Blalock's double to left.
5. April 21 - MIN @ KCR (box/play-by-play) - Torii Hunter drives in Michael Cuddyer on a line drive double to left, but Joe Mauer only moves up one base to third.
6. April 30 - LAA @ KCR (box/play-by-play) - Chone Figgins plates Erick Aybar but Ross Quinlan only reaches third base on the double to left.
7. May 2 - WSN @ SDP (box/play-by-play) - Kory Casto moves Robert Fick up one base on a double to center.
8. May 12 - CHC @ PHI (box/play-by-play) - Cesar Izturis doesn't get an RBI on his double to right since Mark DeRosa stops at third.
9. May 14 - LAA @ TEX (box/play-by-play) - Mike Napoli gets one RBI as Casey Kotchman stops at third on a double to center.
10. May 20 - NYY @ NYM (box/play-by-play) - Hideki Matsui doubles to right, moving golden boy Derek Jeter to third base.
11. May 29 - LAD @ WSN (box/play-by-play) - Juan Pierre gets a double to left but pitcher Brad Penny can't score.
12. June 1 - LAD @ PIT (box/play-by-play) - Jason Bay plates the first run of the game on a center field double but Freddy Sanchez can't give the Bucs a two-run lead, instead stopping at third.
13. June 2 - LAD @ PIT (box/play-by-play) - Ronny Paulino doubles to right and Adam LaRoche only moves to third.
14. June 5 - HOU @ COL (box/play-by-play) - Against all odds, Adam Everett gets an extra base hit, doubling to right. Unfortunately, he doesn't get an RBI as Luke Scott only moves up one base.
15. June 7 - DET @ TEX (box/play-by-play) - Magglio Ordonez moves to third on Sean Casey's double to right.
16. June 18 - MIN @ NYM (box/play-by-play) - Paul Lo Duca scores and Carlos Beltran reaches third on David Wright's double to center.
17. June 23 - MIN @ FLA (box/play-by-play) - Torii Hunter is robbed again by Joe Mauer's inability to score from second on his double to left.
18. June 25 - HOU @ MIL (box/play-by-play) - Johnny Estrada remains slow, moving only to third on Geoff Jenkins' double to right.
19. June 25 - SDP @ SFG (box/play-by-play) - Adrian Gonzalez doubles to center and Jose Cruz Jr. only moves to third on the play.
20. July 8 - TBD @ KCR (box/play-by-play) - The only play like this for the entire month takes place as Carlos Pena doesn't score on Ty Wigginton's double to right.
21. August 4 - TEX @ TOR (box/play-by-play) - Lyle Overbay scores but Alexis Rios doesn't when Vernon Wells doubles on a line drive to left.
22. August 13 - SFG @ PIT (box/play-by-play) - In the second game of a doubleheader, pitcher Noah Lowry can't score on a Rajai Davis double to center.
23. August 20 - STL @ CHC (box/play-by-play) - Albert Pujols scored and Juan Encarnacion moves to third on Scott Rolen's "double to 3B," however that works.
24. August 25 - OAK @ TBD (box/play-by-play) - Tampa Bay is victimized a third time as B.J. Upton deprives Delmon Young of an RBI on his double to center.
25. August 26 - MIN @ BAL (box/play-by-play) - Michael Cuddyer doubled to third base and Justin Morneau ends up there from second.
26. September 28 - ATL @ HOU (box/play-by-play) - Chipper Jones ends a month-long drought of these plays with a double to center that fails to plate Yunel Escobar.

Even more rare is a runner on third base failing to score on a double. As far as I can find, the last time this happened was almost thirty years ago and only four such plays took place in the fifty-one seasons cataloged by the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index.

1. June 15, 1965 - PHI @ MLN (box/play-by-play) - Mack Jones doubled to right in the bottom of the fourth but Rico Carty somehow didn't score.
2. July 4, 1970 - OAK @ CAL (box/play-by-play) - Maybe he was excited thinking about fireworks later that night, but Ken McMullen can't score from third on Jay Johnstone's double in the bottom of the second. In his defense, it was a double to third base, so maybe it was a fluky play.
3. July 31, 1972 - KCR @ CAL (box/play-by-play) - Paul Schaal hits a bloop double to right field and Lou Piniella stays at third base on the play. I don't know about you, but I think it'd be fun to see Sweet Lou's reaction if a player on his team was caught in the same situation.
4. April 18, 1978 - MIL @ BOS (box/play-by-play) - Larry Hisle finds himself in Lou Piniella's situation as Dick Davis hits a bloop double to left.
   

Most Doubles in a Season with Zero Home Runs

Doubles aren't as exciting as triples since they're a lot easier to hit. Even the slowest players in the major leagues get doubles from time to time (case in point: active leader in PA with no triples Johnny Estrada has 129 career two-base hits). If slow guys can hit doubles, surely even guys with no power can hit some, too, even if they're of the bloop hit "hustle double" variety. Here is the list of the most doubles in a season by a player with no home runs; like yesterday it's split into post-1920 and deadball eras.

Most Doubles in a Seasons with Zero Home Runs, 1876-1919

Rank	Name	Season	Doubles
1	Nap Lajoie	1906	48
2	Lave Cross	1902	39
	Curt Welch	1889	39
4	Cap Anson	1883	36
5	Scoops Carey	1902	35
6	Nap Lajoie	1912	34
	Bill Bradley	1905	34
8	Tris Speaker	1918	33
9	Duffy Lewis	1913	31
	Lee Tannehill	1904	31
	Jack McCarthy	1902	31
	Jack Manning	1883	31
13	Bill Rariden	1915	30
14	Mike Mowrey	1911	29
	Jimmy Collins	1907	29
	Lave Cross	1905	29
	Claude Ritchey	1905	29
18	Shano Collins	1916	28
	John Leary	1914	28
	Claude Ritchey	1903	28
	Jim O'Rourke	1892	28
	Jimmy Wolf	1888	28

Most Doubles in a Seasons with Zero Home Runs, 1920-2007

Rank	Name	Season	Doubles
1	Dick Bartell	1931	43
2	Dave Cash	1977	42
	Billy Rogell	1933	42
4	Bill Wambsganss	1924	41
5	Ozzie Smith	1987	40
6	Marty Marion	1942	38
7	Doc Cramer	1938	36
	Sparky Adams	1930	36
	Dave Bancroft	1920	36
10	Roy Hughes	1936	35
	Billy Herman	1933	35
	Willie Kamm	1931	35
	Tom Oliver	1931	35
	Sparky Adams	1926	35
15	Billy Goodman	1951	34
	Bill Knickerbocker	1935	34
	Hal Rhyne	1931	34
	Tom Oliver	1930	34
19	Joe Gedeon	1920	33
20	Rollie Hemsley	1935	32
	Willie Kamm	1927	32

It appears as though the assumption doubles conformed to the same deadball era spike triples did is in error. The second, "liveball era" list is littered with names from the 1920's and 1930's. Perhaps the true spike in doubles either took place or lasted until 1940? A quick look at a chart of doubles per game throughout MLB history confirms that 1920-1939 saw doubles at an only recently matched frequency. What happens to the second list above if the years are changed to 1940-2007? Let's find out:

Most Doubles in a Seasons with Zero Home Runs, 1940-2007

Rank	Name	Season	Doubles
1	Dave Cash	1977	42
2	Ozzie Smith	1987	40
3	Marty Marion	1942	38
4	Billy Goodman	1951	34
5	Frank Taveras	1978	31
	Billy Goodman	1955	31
7	Miguel Dilone	1980	30
8	Jason Kendall	2005	28
	Scott Podsednik	2005	28
	Jim Gantner	1988	28
	Matty Alou	1968	28
	Red Schoendienst	1946	28
13	Alfredo Griffin	1989	27
	Frank Taveras	1980	27
	Johnny Pesky	1947	27
	Luke Appling	1940	27
17	Al Oliver	1984	26
	Don Kessinger	1975	26
	Dick Groat	1965	26
	Richie Ashburn	1957	26
	Skeeter Newsome	1944	26
	Steve Mesner	1943	26
	Doc Cramer	1942	26

This final list looks a lot like the first list which makes sense, I suppose, considering doubles occurred at a similar rate. Even if more players weren't hitting home runs back then, they weren't really any better at hitting doubles than today's players.

Most PA in a Season, No Extra Base Hits

It's hard to play baseball for a long time as a position player and not get at least one extra base hit. Even if it's a home run off the sweet spot of the bat or a hustling bloop double, a player's line for a season generally won't be full of zeros in the 2B, 3B, and HR column. Unless, of course, they're one of the many pitchers that don't hit well, but they're in their own little universe (and don't count for these lists). Today I have two lists of players that didn't manage to get extra base hits after all. The first is the most PA in a season from 1901 to 1919 (the dead-ball era) and the second shows the most PA in a season from 1920 to the present.

Most PA in a Season, No Extra Base Hits, 1901-1919:

1. Jack O'Connor, 184 PA, 1906
2. Mike McNally, 151, 1916
3. Bill Stumpf, 143, 1912
4. Otis Lawry, 137, 1916
5. Gene Good, 135, 1906
6. Bill McKechnie, 129, 1913
7. Grover Land, 119, 1910
8. Bill Carrigan, 118, 1906
9. Mike Massey, 114, 1917
10. Dave Shean, 110, 1919

Most PA in a Season, No Extra Base Hits, 1920-2007:

1. Dwain Anderson, 144 PA, 1973
2. Dave Nelson, 137, 1969
3. Pat Corrales, 135, 1972
4. Mike Gallego, 132, 1995
5. Bob Swift, 118, 1951
6. Paul Casanova, 113, 1974
7. Frank Baumholtz, 112, 1956
8. Doc Ferrell, 112, 1933
9. Tom Egan, 109, 1974
10. John Simmons, 107, 1949

The way I took pitchers out was to say anyone who appeared in over 50% of their games as anything but a pitcher counts. Oddly, Lynn Nelson, a righthanded starting pitcher for the 1938 Philadelphia Athletics showed up on my 1920-2007 list. Some investigation revealed he pitched in 32 games but batted in 67, meaning he showed up 35 times as a pinch-hitter. He had 119 plate appearances without an extra base hit that season, so it seems weird he'd continually be used. Looking back one year to 1937, however, you see he had a .354/.387/.549 line in 120 PA, including 4 home runs (and 6 games in left field), so I guess they were hoping it wasn't a fluke. Unfortunately, he never hit that well again.

For the curious: Chris Heintz, a Twins catcher, had the most PA without an extra base hit in 2007 with 61.

20+ HR, 3B, 2B, SB

If you're curious about how many people are in the 20-20-20-20 club now that Curtis Granderson joined, check out this short article at Beyond the Box Score. I think it's pretty neat.

Maybe They Chew "---mint" gum

Today's list is the top single seasons by PA with no doubles since the inception of the National League (1876) to the present:

Name	PA	Year
Herman Pitz	390	1890
Rafael Belliard	321	1988
Choo Choo Coleman	277	1963
George Twombly	266	1914
Joe Stanley	258	1906
Bill Holbert	245	1879
Ozzie Virgil	241	1957
Hughie Critz	227	1935
Jersey Bakely	221	1888
Jim Donahue	199	1886