Update: Last Position Players to Pitch by Team

Previous installments can be found here: April 2008, May 2009.

With September call-ups a couple days away, it is likely the days of position players pitching are over for another season. Here is the full list of 2009 position player pitchers:

Ross Gload (FLA) - May 22
Nick Green (BOS) - August 27
Paul Janish (CIN) - May 6 & July 6
Mark Loretta (LAD) - July 28
Cody Ross (FLA) - April 26
Nick Swisher (NYY) - April 13
Jonathan Van Every (BOS) - April 30
Josh Wilson (ARI & SDP) - May 11 & June 7

Here's the updated list by team:

Last Position Player to Pitch by Team
(through 8/30/2009)

Team	Name	Date
Arizona Diamondbacks	Josh Wilson	5-11-2009
Atlanta Braves	John Russell	6-25-1989
Baltimore Orioles	Manny Alexander	4-19-1996
Boston Red Sox	Nick Green	8-27-2009
Chicago Cubs	Gary Gaetti	7-3-1999
Chicago White Sox	Dave Martinez	8-4-1995
Cincinnati Reds	Paul Janish	7-6-2009
Cleveland Indians	Tim Laker	4-20-2004
Colorado Rockies	Todd Zeile	9-14-2002
Detroit Tigers	Shane Halter	10-1-2000
Florida Marlins	Ross Gload	5-22-2009
Houston Astros	Tim Bogar	6-24-2000
Kansas City Royals	Tony Pena	6-21-2008
Los Angeles Angels	Chili Davis	6-17-1993
Los Angeles Dodgers	Mark Loretta	7-28-2009
Milwaukee Brewers	Trent Durrington	4-17-2004
Minnesota Twins	John Moses	7-31-1990
New York Mets	Todd Zeile	7-26-2004
New York Yankees	Nick Swisher	4-13-2009
Oakland Athletics	Frank Menechino	7-18-2000
Philadelphia Phillies	Tomas Perez	5-13-2002
Pittsburgh Pirates	Abraham Nunez	5-30-2004
San Diego Padres	Josh Wilson	6-7-2009
Seattle Mariners	Jamie Burke	7-6-2008
San Francisco Giants	Greg Litton	7-4-1991
St. Louis Cardinals	Aaron Miles	6-13-2008
Tampa Bay Rays	Josh Wilson	6-8-2007
Texas Rangers	Scott Sheldon	9-6-2000
Toronto Blue Jays	Frank Menechino	8-28-2004
Washington Nationals	Junior Noboa	7-20-1990*

* - Fellow position player Dave Martinez pitched right before Noboa in the same game.

It's Lenn Sakata Day

Lenn Sakata should have been one of those ballplayers that spent a few seasons in the majors, had a few timely hits, played decent defense, and then slipped out of baseball consciousness.

For the most part, that is the type of ballplayer he was. Mention the name Sakata to baseball fans today and you probably won't get much of a reaction. A few might think the name is familiar, and some diehards might remember seeing him play. Like so many background players, if he is remembered today, it is because of his role in some strange part of baseball history. Would anyone remember Bill Wambsganss today without his triple play? Would Brewers fans remember Rick Manning if he hadn't gotten the walk-off hit robbing Paul Molitor of a final chance to extend his hitting streak? So it is with Lenn Sakata...

Lenn Sakata was born in 1954 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and graduated from Kalani High School in that city in 1971. He played college ball as an infielder at Gonzaga University, earning All-Big Sky conference honors in 1973 and 1974 and second team All-American honors in the latter year. In 1974, he set a school record for RBI (68) that would stand until some guy named Jason Bay broke it in 1999. After his excellent 1974 season, Sakata was selected in the fifth round of the 1974 draft by the San Diego Padres but did not sign. Back then, baseball had a secondary draft in January for players who either did not sign or were not eligible to be drafted in June. In the January 1975 draft, the Milwaukee Brewers saw fit to select Sakata with the tenth pick. He began his professional career later that spring.

He began his minor league career about as far from Hawaii as he could get in organized baseball. He was assigned to the Brewers AA affiliate in Thetford Mines, Quebec. Once a hotbed of asbestos mining, Thetford Mines is about 120 miles (190 km) northeast of Montreal. Sakata, playing second base, shared the infield with future Brewer Jim Gantner. Both players hit .257 in the Eastern League, but only Sakata was promoted to AAA Spokane for the 1976 season. Back in his college town, Sakata hit .280 with ten home runs. He followed that up by hitting .304 in 1977 and earning a callup to the majors. When Sakata took the field in the first game of a July 21 doubleheader, Sakata became only the second Japanese-American to play in a major league game (the first was Ryan Kurosaki, a Cardinals pitcher).

Sakata struggled as a Brewer, hitting .162/.209/.214 in 53 games for Milwaukee. He started the 1978 season with Milwaukee, but a poor .192 average in 86 plate appearances earned him a ticket to Spokane. His final shot in Milwaukee came in September 1979 after he once again hit .300 in AAA. Seizing his chance, Sakata went 7 for 14 with two doubles in four games at the end of the year. The Brewers were so impressed they promptly shipped Sakata to Baltimore for righthanded reliever John Flinn. Flinn spent one unimpressive year in Milwaukee, but Sakata spent six seasons with the Orioles. After tearing up the International League for a month, Sakata was called up to Baltimore and hit his usual .190. He played a little shortstop for the first time in his pro career, however, and that earned him a spot on the 1981 Baltimore squad. He finally cracked .200 that year and had his best season in 1982, hitting .259/.323/.370 in nearly 400 plate appearances while playing second and short. In fact, he was the starting shortstop until a guy named Cal Ripken moved over from third in July. Undoubtedly Sakata would have started again at short had Ripken needed a day off. So much for that idea.

Sakata was once again a backup second baseman in 1983, but it was his appearance at a different position that year that remains memorable. Coming into play on August 24, the Orioles were 1/2 game behind Milwaukee for first place and one of four teams within 4 games of the division lead. Baltimore was hosting Toronto, the third place team. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh with one out and the bases loaded, manager Joe Altobelli pinch-hit for starting catcher Rick Dempsey. The move didn't work and the Orioles didn't score that inning. After the inning, Lenn Sakata came into the game at second base and thus was around for the Orioles' ninth-inning rally. Sakata walked and later scored the tying run, but not before Benny Ayala pinch-hit for backup catcher Joe Nolan. The Orioles couldn't plate the winning run. Lacking catchers, the Orioles were forced to use Sakata behind the plate, outfielder Gary Roenicke at third, and outfielder John Lowenstein at second base.

The first batter, Cliff Johnson, hit a go-ahead home run and the second batter, Barry Bonnell, singled to center. That was it for pitcher Tim Stoddard, and lefthander Tippy Martinez came in to stem the tide. Eager to steal off non-catcher Sakata, Bonnell was promptly picked off first. Dave Collins then walked and, also eager to test Sakata, was promptly picked off. Willie Upshaw then hit an infield single to second. Following the example of his teammates, he leaned too far and was also picked off first.

In the bottom of the tenth, Cal Ripken tied the game with a leadoff home run. A walk, groundout, intentional walk, and strikeout set it up for Lenn Sakata to step in the box. Randy Moffitt, a pitcher Sakata had never faced in the majors, was on the mound. In this weirdest of games, what happened next only made sense. Sakata hit his second home run of the season to win the game.

Baltimore went on to win the division by six games and won the World Series in five games over Philadelphia. Sakata spent two more years as a backup second baseman in Baltimore, hitting .191 and 227. He had a couple last gasps in 1986 and 1987 with Oakland and New York, but he finished his career four hits short of 300 with a .230 average. Sakata went on to coaching, both in America and Japan, setting a record for most wins in the California League, and currently manages the Japanese Chiba Lotte Marines farm team.

Depending on how his coaching career progresses, Sakata may eventually be known for more than being behind the plate while Tippy Martinez set a pickoff record or being the second Japanese-American to play in the majors. No matter what Sakata does going forward, however, the August 24, 1983, game between Toronto and Baltimore (and Sakata himself) will be remembered for both dramatic moments and a trivia-producing extra inning.

More reading about Sakata and the game:
Lenn Sakata at baseball-reference.com
Lenn Sakata at The Baseball Cube
Box score and play-by-play of August 24, 1983 Toronto-Baltimore game
The Baltimore Sun remembers the game with some great quotes
Seattle Times about Sakata's current situation and view of baseball
Press release for Sakata setting California League wins record
New York Times article about Don Wakamatsu with some Sakata information

The Last Left-Handed Catcher

The New York Times looks at Benny Distefano and the dearth of left-handed catchers. Distefano's appearance behind the plate on August 18, 1989 (box score) remains the last time a lefty has donned the tools of ignorance.

Hat tip to Bucs Dugout.

Musing

A couple days ago I was reading baseball news and came across this AP story about the Twins activating Nick Punto on Yahoo. The part that caught my eye:

The switch-hitter has been a valuable utility player for the Twins since 2005.

I saw that and chuckled about his abysmal hitting in 2007 and so far this year (until missing time he had the lowest SLG among qualifiers by about 40 points). Taking a further look, though, I wonder if he just has a serious aversion to odd-numbered years. Punto's batting lines each season since 2005:

2005: 439 PA, .239/.301/.335, 68 OPS+
2006: 524 PA, .290/.352/.373, 90 OPS+
2007: 536 PA, .210/.291/.271, 52 OPS+
2008: 377 PA, .284/.344/.382, 99 OPS+
2009: 157 PA, .202/.303/.225, 47 OPS+

Strange.

Update: Last Position Players to Pitch by Team

UPDATE: New post through August 30, 2009 here.

Since plenty of people have stumbled across my April 2008 post about the last position players to pitch for each team, I figured it was high time for an update. So far in 2009, four position players have taken the mound for their teams: Paul Janish, Cody Ross, Nick Swisher, and Jonathan Van Every. Last year Jamie Burke, Aaron Miles, and shortstop Tony Pena pitched. Burke even picked up a loss.

Here's the updated list:

Last Position Player to Pitch by Team

Team	Name	Date
Arizona Diamondbacks	Jeff Cirillo	8-20-2007
Atlanta Braves	John Russell	6-25-1989
Baltimore Orioles	Manny Alexander	4-19-1996
Boston Red Sox	Jonathan Van Every	4-30-2009
Chicago Cubs	Gary Gaetti	7-3-1999
Chicago White Sox	Dave Martinez	8-4-1995
Cincinnati Reds	Paul Janish	5-6-2009
Cleveland Indians	Tim Laker	4-20-2004
Colorado Rockies	Todd Zeile	9-14-2002
Detroit Tigers	Shane Halter	10-1-2000
Florida Marlins	Cody Ross	4-26-2009
Houston Astros	Tim Bogar	6-24-2000
Kansas City Royals	Tony Pena	6-21-2008
Los Angeles Angels	Chili Davis	6-17-1993
Los Angeles Dodgers	Robin Ventura	6-25-2004
Milwaukee Brewers	Trent Durrington	4-17-2004
Minnesota Twins	John Moses	7-31-1990
New York Mets	Todd Zeile	7-26-2004
New York Yankees	Nick Swisher	4-13-2009
Oakland Athletics	Frank Menechino	7-18-2000
Philadelphia Phillies	Tomas Perez	5-13-2002
Pittsburgh Pirates	Abraham Nunez	5-30-2004
San Diego Padres	Sean Burroughs	9-20-2005
Seattle Mariners	Jamie Burke	7-6-2008
San Francisco Giants	Greg Litton	7-4-1991
St. Louis Cardinals	Aaron Miles	6-13-2008
Tampa Bay Rays	Josh Wilson	6-8-2007
Texas Rangers	Scott Sheldon	9-6-2000
Toronto Blue Jays	Frank Menechino	8-28-2004
Washington Nationals	Junior Noboa	7-20-1990*

* - Fellow position player Dave Martinez pitched right before Noboa in the same game.

The Unique Nationals

The Washington Nationals might have the worst record in the majors, but they've got one thing going for them. Through May 5th, every regular* in the Nationals lineup has an OPS+ over 100. No other team can claim that.

* Guys in the top spots on each team's Baseball-Reference.com page.

The Junior Squad

My dad and I were talking about this the other day. Baseball players seem oddly drawn to naming their sons after themselves. No data to back this up, but it seems like there are a heck of a lot more First Last, Jr.'s among the baseball population than the general population.

Enough to field a full squad, in fact:

C - Sandy Alomar
1B - Billy Sullivan
2B - Jerry Hairston
3B - Ed Sprague
SS - Tony Pena
LF - Jose Cruz
CF - Gary Matthews
RF - Ken Griffey
SP - Jim Bagby
RP - Pedro Borbon

You could have Ruben Amaro, Tony Gwynn and Ozzie Virgil on the bench with Mel Queen, Lew Krausse, and Fred Rath (of course) supporting Borbon out of the 'pen.

First base was the toughest position to fill. There just aren't many good options. I was going to move Sprague there, but there aren't many options at third either. That left a choice between 1930's backup catcher/first baseman Billy Sullivan and the forgettable Pete Rose. You can see which way I went.

Spring IBB and Other Curious Things

A couple weeks ago I posted about intentional walks in spring. A commenter suggested managers call for IBB in spring in order to get pitchers used to dealing with the pressure of situations that call for putting a baserunner on. I'm kind of dubious about that, but I guess it's possible. Since I wrote about the first two IBB's of spring, there have been five more. The latest victims/beneficiaries: Reds' 1B Kevin Barker, Mariners 3B/1B Russell Branyan, Cardinals SS Tyler Greene, Dodgers IF Mark Loretta, and Royals OF Derrick Robinson. The pitchers tabbed to add a baserunner: Texas RHP's Thomas Diamond and Andrew Laughter, Tigers LHP Fu-Te Ni, Dodgers RHP Ramon Troncoso, and Pirates RHP Ronald Uviedo. Hopefully the experience was useful to them.

Despite only appearing in one game and not giving up a hit, Phillies LHP J.C. Romero is one of only five pitchers with 2 or more pickoffs in spring. In two innings, he walked three batters, picked off two of them, had a throwing error on another pickoff attempt, and allowed a run on a subsequent sacrifice fly. Rockies lefty Franklin Morales leads all pitchers with three pickoffs. Cardinals pitcher Brad Thompson is the only righty with two or more pickoffs. The 1988 season this isn't, but not every pickoff has succeeded. Eighteen pitchers have been called for balks and Morales is the only one with a successful pickoff.

What do Wade LeBlanc, Mike MacDougal, and Luis Perdomo have in common? Each has three wild pitches this spring, and all are one behind Ian Kennedy for the MLB lead. Wildness can be intimidating, too: Wes Littleton, Carlos Marmol, and Jarrod Washburn are tied with three hit by pitches. Inconsistency hits fielders, too: Padres SS Everth Cabrera and Dan Uggla are tied atop the leaderboard with five errors.

Who's played the most innings in the field this spring? If you guessed Colby Rasmus with 99, you'd be correct. Andrew McCutchen and Xavier Paul are second at 96 1/3 and Elvis Andrus leads all infielders with 89 1/3. Jason LaRue leads all catchers with 69 innings. Kyle Lohse and Glen Perkins have pitched fifteen innings, one-third more than Micah Owings.

Micah Hoffpauir has batted the most so far, striding up to home plate 56 times. Despite all the pitchers working on bunting, Brian Barden leads all players with three sacrifices. Jayson Werth has grounded into four double plays despite batting only twenty-six times. Playing a game that's wildly popular for the first week of the regular season, that would put him on pace for about 75 or so this year.

Finally, since I like futility, Chris Nowak is 0 for 12 this spring. He's batted the most without reaching base. With that, it's time to conclude today's roundup of pointless spring trivia.

The WBC Alphabet

Joe Favorito, author of Sports Marketing and PR Roundup, sent me an interesting tidbit about the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Despite consisting of only sixteen teams and no more than 448 players, this year's WBC can claim something Major League Baseball can't. It turns out that each letter of the alphabet begins at least one player's last name in the event. A brief look at the Encyclopedia of Players at Baseball-Reference.com shows there has never been a major leaguer whose last name began with X. The WBC player whose surname begins with X is below, along with one player for every other letter of the alphabet.

A - Giancarlo Alvarado - Puerto Rico
B - Daniel Berg - Australia
C - Francisco Cervelli - Italy
D - Mark DiFelice - Italy
E - Damaso Espino - Panama
F - Nelson Figueroa - Puerto Rico
G - Jason Grilli - Italy
H - Gregory Halman - Netherlands
I - Akinori Iwamura - Japan
J - Gavin Jeffries - South Africa
K - Corey Koskie - Canada
L - Rodrigo Lopez - Mexico
M - Paul Mildren - Australia
N - Dennis Neuman - Netherlands
O - Roy Oswalt - United States
P - Tony Pena - Dominican Republic
Q - Cesar Quintero - Panama
R - Orlando Roman - Puerto Rico
S - Randall Simon - Netherlands
T - Mark Teahen - Canada
U - Tetsuya Utsumi - Japan
V - Javier Vazquez - Puerto Rico
W - Nick Weglarz - Canada
X - Kanghan Xia - China
Y - Kevin Youkilis - United States
Z - Leonardo Zileri - Italy

The World Baseball Classic starts at 4:30 AM ET on Thursday when China and Japan square off in Tokyo (televised on ESPN2). For complete rosters, schedules, scores, stats, and more, visit WorldBaseballClassic.com.

Hope Springs Eternal (Even For #85)

Spring training is firing up in Arizona and Florida and there are plenty of minor leaguers attending big league camp. Usually you can find players with little to no chance of breaking camp with the team by a quick look at the field. They're easy to spot: they're the guys with numbers in the 70's, 80's, or 90's. Different teams have different ways of assigning numbers to their minor leaguers and non-roster invitees, but generally the higher the number, the smaller the chance of making the team. With that in mind, I've gone through the rosters on each team's official site (example) and found the highest numbers. Not every team has numbers for every player posted at this time, but the majority of players are listed. Here are the dozen players in big league camp with numbers in the 90's:

• #90 Ramiro Pena, SS, NYY
• #90 Matt Palmer, RHP, LAA
• #91 Alfredo Aceves, RHP, NYY
• #91 Ryan Brasier, RHP, LAA
• #92 Eduardo Nunez, SS, NYY
• #93 George Kontos, RHP, NYY
• #94 Kanekoa Teixeira, RHP, NYY
• #94 Francisco Rodriguez, RHP, LAA
• #95 Bradley Coon, CF, LAA
• #96 Anel De Los Santos, C, LAA
• #97 Fernando Rodriguez, RHP, LAA
• #99 So Taguchi, LF, CHC

Taguchi has worn #99 in each of his major league seasons, so he's the exception to the rule. As you can tell, the Angels and Yankees are the only teams willing to bust out the two-digit numbers beginning with 9. Most other teams give out numbers in the 70's and 80's. As proof, here is each team's highest number listed:

• Arizona: #74 Gerardo Parra, C
• Atlanta: Missing numbers for 24 players
  
• Baltimore: #86 Brian Matusz, LHP
• Boston: #87 Zach Daeges, RF
• Chicago Cubs: #99 So Taguchi, LF -or- #88 Ken Kadokura, RHP
• Chicago White Sox: #80 Gordon Beckham, SS
  
• Cincinnati: #89 Jordan Smith, RHP
  
• Cleveland: #79 Chris Gimenez, C
• Colorado: #72 Chris Frey, RF
  
• Detroit: #77 Timo Perez, LF
  
• Florida: Missing numbers for 33 players
  
• Houston: Missing numbers for 26 players
  
• Kansas City: #86 Kiel Thibault, C
  
• LA Angels: #97 Fernando Rodriguez, RHP
  
• LA Dodgers: #87 Ivan De Jesus, SS
  
• Milwaukee: #87 Jonathan Lucroy, C
  
• Minnesota: Missing numbers for 26 players
  
• NY Mets: Missing numbers for 8 players
  
• NY Yankees: #94 Kaneoka Teixeira, RHP
  
• Oakland: #77 Sean Doolittle, 1B
  
• Philadelphia: Missing numbers for 14 players
  
• Pittsburgh: #76 Virgil Vasquez, RHP
  
• San Diego: #82 Oneli Perez, RHP
  
• San Francisco: #77 Jake Wald, SS
  
• Seattle: #78 Israel Nunez, C
  
• St. Louis: #88 Jon Jay, CF
  
• Tampa Bay: #76 Winston Abreu, RHP
  
• Texas: #68 Omar Poveda, RHP
  
• Toronto: #86 Ken Takahashi, LHP
  
• Washington: #79 Luke Montz, C

If anyone knows where you can find numerical rosters for those teams that are missing numbers, let me know. I'm sure most of these guys wouldn't mind being able to choose lower numbers as a member of their team's 25-man roster. Until then, they've own the dubious honor of the highest number at spring training. Somehow I think being in big league camp is worth it.

Baseball's Most (and Least) Common Initials

I've put together a list of major league players since 1876 and determined that 16,856 different men have worn the uniform of a major league baseball team and appeared in at least one game. Most, but not all, of those players have first and last names on their player pages. The unlucky ones include guys like Budd, McCaffery, McRemer, and Wiley.

With my list, it's possible to figure out which initials have been shared by the most major league players throughout history. It's not perfect, since players known by nicknames appear by those names in the list and not their given names. An example: Vinegar Bend Mizell has the initials "VM" rather than "WM" for Wilmer Mizell. I figure if the player was known by those nicknames more than their given names, it's okay.

With that in mind, here are the most common initials in major league history. Thirty sets of initials have been shared by 100 or more major league players:

1. JM - 281 players
2. JB - 275
3. JS - 235
4. BB - 200
5. JC - 196
6. JH - 189
7. BS - 186
8. BM - 182
9. BH - 172
10. JD - 152
11. JG - 150
12. JR - 148
13. DM - 147
14. JW - 144
15. JP - 141
16. BC - 135
17. RM - 133
18. RS - 131
19. DS - 130
20. MM - 122
21. JL - 111
22. RB - 111
23. CS - 110
24. DB - 109
25. CB - 108
26. CM - 107
27. JK - 107
28. CC - 102
29. JF - 102
30. DC - 101

It would appear first names beginning with J or B are the most common among baseball players. The initials MB (98), BW (96), and MS (96) are on the cusp of joining the above list.

In addition to the common initials, there have been 57 players who have unique initials in baseball history. Some of them are from so long ago they've been forgotten, but more than a few are from recent years. Here's the full list:

Art Quirk	Dan Quisenberry	Ed Irvin
Eddie Quick	Frank Isbell	Floyd Youmans
Heinie Zimmerman	Ike Eichrodt	Ira Flagstead
Irv Jeffries	Izzy Leon	Irv Noren
Irv Young	Ken Vining	Nick Dumovich
Nate Oliver	Ned Yost	Norm Zauchin
Omar Quintanilla	Oscar Zamora	Pete Incaviglia
Pat Underwood	Queenie O'Rourke	Quincy Trouppe
Quilvio Veras	Scotty Ingerton	Uke Clanton
Uel Eubanks	Ubaldo Heredia	Ubaldo Jimenez
Urbano Lugo	Urbane Pickering	Urban Shocker
Ugueth Urbina	U.L. Washington	Vladimir Nunez
Vern Olsen	Victor Zambrano	Walt Irwin
Wimpy Quinn	Walter Young	Xavier Hernandez
Xavier Nady	Xavier Rescigno	Yunel Escobar
Yovani Gallardo	Youngy Johnson	Yovanny Lara
Yank Robinson	Yohanny Valera	Yats Wuestling
Zeb Eaton	Zack Greinke	Zach Jackson
Zeke Rosebraugh	Zoilo Versalles	Zip Zabel

Branching Out

I don't know how much press it's gotten around the country, but the Pittsburgh Pirates have been up to some interesting things so far this offseason. I'm not talking surprising trades or crafty major league signings, but I am talking about player acquisition.

Most fans know that players sign their first contracts through one of two ways: if a player lives in the United States, Puerto Rico, or Canada, he very often breaks into the minor leagues by being drafted in the June MLB draft. Players living elsewhere in the world are less constrained in their choice of teams. They are allowed to sign with whatever team sees fit to offer them a contract.

This is where the Pirates come in. Looking to establish a presence in areas that are usually passed over by major league organizations, Pittsburgh has signed players from a couple surprising regions of the world. At the beginning of November, news came out that the Pirates had signed a South African infielder named Mpho Ngoepe. There has never been an African-born major league player, so Ngoepe is seeking to make history. Next year he will play for the South African team in the World Baseball Classic before making his debut in the Pirates system.

Ngoepe isn't the only foreign signing for the Pirates this month. Earlier this week the news came out that Indian-born pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel signed with Pittsburgh. For those unfamiliar with their story, Singh and Patel were winners of the "Million Dollar Arm contest," a promotion aimed at finding people who could throw the most pitches 85mph or faster for strikes. After winning, they came to the United States to work out for major league teams. Though very raw in terms of baseball knowledge (they'd never picked up a baseball until last year), they've drawn rave reviews from scouts, coaches, and players. If you're interested in following them more closely, they have a blog chronicling their experiences in the United States.

Though Ngoepe, Singh, and Patel are longshots at best to suit up in a Pittsburgh uniform, it's neat to see teams branch out to new places for talent. Even if the first signings don't pay off, it's never a bad idea to get in on the ground floor in different regions (especially if those regions are home to a billion people). Either way, the low levels of the Pirates system should be interesting to follow next year.

Rookie of the Year Voting Troubles

If you've paid attention to baseball news this week, you saw that Rays third baseman Evan Longoria and Cubs catcher Geovany Soto picked up the Rookie of the Year awards in their respective leagues. Their selections were unsurprising, but the full voting results for the NL award have caused a stir.

From mlb.com:

2008 NL Rookie of the Year Voting
Player, Club	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
Geovany Soto, CHC	31	1		158
Joey Votto, CIN	1	21	8	76
Jair Jurrjens, ATL		6	16	34
Edinson Volquez, CIN*		3		9
Jay Bruce, CIN			7	7
Kosuke Fukudome, CHC		1	1	4
* Volquez received votes despite being ineligible as a rookie.

Yes, Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez got votes despite not being a rookie. The crazy thing about it is that the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), the group that votes for the award, set the criteria. I'm hardly alone in shaking my head at how knowledgable baseball writers could screw up the rules for their own award.

I realize that Volquez was called a rookie in a lot of places all through the season, but I would think there'd be some double- or triple-checking when it comes to voting for such a prestigious award. Imagine if the vote had been closer, say, within nine points. Those three second-place votes going to Volquez would have meant a lot then. Luckily for everyone involved, the race wasn't close.

For a refresher, here is the current definition of rookie status on mlb.com:

A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).

I'll grant the 45 days' service time part is pretty confusing. But the first part of the definition can be checked by looking at the back of a given player's baseball card! The backs of baseball cards still have at bats and innings pitched listed, right? They even total them up at the bottom for you.

Edinson Volquez came into 2008 with a total of 80 career innings pitched. This made him just as ineligible for the Rookie of the Year award as Rick Vanden Hurk, Philip Hughes, Joakim Soria, and Brian Wilson. But you know what? It didn't change anything in the voting, the writers who voted for Volquez are probably feeling pretty down right about now, and this'll all blow over soon.

Here's the thing, though. This isn't the first time an ineligible player got a vote for this award. The current definition of rookie status dates back to 1971. Going through the Rookie of the Year voting totals at baseball-reference.com turns up at least four other times since then that this sort of thing happened.

• 2004: Nate Robertson, Tigers
  Oakland shortstop Bobby Crosby easily won the award, getting 27 of 28 first place votes and 138 points to Shingo Takatsu's 44. Tied for eighth in the voting with a single third-place vote was Tigers lefty Nate Robertson, who came into the season having pitched 53 mostly ineffective innings in 2002 and 2003.
  
  
• 1994: Bobby Jones, Mets
  Raul Mondesi of the Dodgers swept all the first place votes, beating runner-up John Hudek 140 to 27. One second-place vote went to Bobby Jones, who had thrown 61 2/3 innings over nine starts in 1993. He finished tied with Hector Carrasco and ahead of Javy Lopez and Shane Reynolds.
  
  
• 1987: Greg Mathews, Cardinals
  This one is just bizarre. Despite going 11-8 in 145 1/3 innings over 22 starts in 1986, Greg Mathews picked up a third-place vote in the 1987 NL voting. Yes, that's pretty much a full season's worth of pitching the year before he got his third-place vote. Benito Santiago of the Padres swept all the 1987 first place votes, so once again the mix-up didn't matter. For what it's worth, both the 1986 and 1987 voting had the correct number of points (216 = 24 ballots * 9 points per ballot) listed among the finalists on B-R.com.
  
  
• 1985: Tom Henke, Blue Jays
  Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox got 16 first place votes versus runner-up Teddy Higuera's nine. Two other first place votes went to Oddie McDowell and Stew Cliburn. This accounts for 27 of the 28 votes cast for first place. Who got the other? None other than Blue Jays closer Tom Henke...who entered the season having pitched 60 innings for the Rangers over the prior three years. I wonder if the person who cast a vote for Henke simply made an adding mistake and thought he was right on fifty innings. Either way, this vote is the most similar to the 2008 one: Henke became ineligible over the course of three seasons, just like Volquez.

Finally, a look at another interesting vote. This wasn't an error, but in 1997 Scott Rolen won the NL Rookie of the Year award after totaling 130 at bats during the 1996 season. He had 13 walks, 1 hit by pitch, and two sacrifice flies to go with those 130 at bats. If any of those had gone another way and become a normal at bat, he obviously would have exceeded 130 at bats and become ineligible. Sometimes it pays to be willing to take a pitch for the team, huh?

Maybe the three voters who screwed up this year will help BBWAA members in the future to check the eligibility of those placed on Rookie of the Year ballots. I certainly hope so. Unfortunately, history is not encouraging.

The Bryan Harvey Award

After the Steve Carlton Award for the highest percentage of a team's wins by one pitcher and the Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy Award for the highest percentage of a team's losses by one pitcher, it was suggested a similar award be made for saves. This award would be given out to the pitcher who has the highest proportion of saves to team wins.

This award is named after Bryan Harvey, a dominant closer whose career was shortened by elbow injuries. After pitching in three games for the California Angels in 1987, Harvey spent nearly all of 1988 with the Angels. His 2.13 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 76 innings led to 17 saves and a second-place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Walt Weiss. Over the next two seasons he converted 50 of 63 save opportunities while striking out just over 12 batters per nine innings. The 1991 season, however, is when he really burst onto the scene. That year Harvey rode his awesome splitter to 46 saves in 67 games, spanning 78 2/3 innings. He struck out 101 batters while walking only seventeen. His ERA was an impressive 1.60 and his WHIP was a minuscule 0.86. He was rewarded with a spot on the all-star team, a fifth-place finish in the Cy Young voting, and a lucrative four-year deal.

Unfortunately, 1992 was a letdown year. A great start was curtailed by elbow injuries that ended Harvey's season after June. The Angels weren't optimistic about Harvey making a comeback and they hoped to offload his contract, so they left him unprotected in the expansion draft following the season and he was picked up by the Florida Marlins. He quickly made the pick worthwhile for the Marlins, putting together an excellent 1993 campaign: 45 saves in 59 games, 73 K's in 69 innings, an all-star appearance, and votes for the MVP and Cy Young Award. Unfortunately, his elbow problems returned the next year and he would only appear in 13 more major league games.

Harvey gets this award named after him because of that 1993 season with the Marlins. The Marlins won only 64 games in their first season, meaning that Harvey picked up a save in 70.3% of his team's wins, a major league record. No one else has reached even 65%.

Saves in the Highest Percentage of Team Wins, 1901-2008

Rank	Name	Team	Saves	Team Wins	SV%
1	Bryan Harvey	1993 Marlins	45	64	70.3
2	Eric Gagne	2003 Dodgers	55	85	64.7
3	Mike Williams	2002 Pirates	46	72	63.9
4	Randy Myers	1993 Cubs	53	84	63.1
5	Roberto Hernandez	1999 Devil Rays	43	69	62.3
6	Francisco Rodriguez	2008 Angels	62	100	62.0
7	Danys Baez	2005 Devil Rays	41	67	61.2
8	Bobby Thigpen	1990 White Sox	57	94	60.6
9	Ugueth Urbina	1999 Expos	41	68	60.3
10	Jose Mesa	2004 Pirates	43	72	59.7

Obviously, Francisco Rodriguez is the 2008 Bryan Harvey Award winner. It never hurts to look at who else finished in the top ten, though:

2008 Bryan Harvey Award Rankings

1. Francisco Rodriguez, Angels, 62 saves out of 100 wins, 62.0%
2. Brian Wilson, Giants, 41 out of 72, 56.9%
3. Joakim Soria, Royals, 42 out of 75, 56.0%
4. Jose Valverde, Astros, 44 out of 86, 51.2%
5. Trevor Hoffman, Padres, 30 out of 63, 47.6%
6. Francisco Cordero, Reds, 34 out of 74, 45.9%
7. George Sherrill, Orioles, 31 out of 68, 45.6%
8. Brad Lidge, Phillies, 41 out of 92, 44.6%
9. Joe Nathan, Twins, 39 out of 88, 44.3%
10. Mariano Rivera, Yankees, 39 out of 89, 43.8%

Eighty-three pitchers have saved half or more of their team's wins in a season. Before the 1990 season, only five pitchers had done so a total of six times: Rollie Fingers (1977), Dan Quisenberry (1983 & 1984), Bruce Sutter (1984), Dave Righetti (1986), and Steve Bedrosian (1987). Fingers was the only one of those six to do it while saving fewer than forty games.

The Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy Award

The sponsorship message on Hugh Mulcahy's B-R.com page sums up Mulcahy's career pretty well:

Seattle Marinerds sponsor(s) this page.
There are bad pitchers, and there are unlucky pitchers, and then there are men who were neither: they were just cursed to pitch on horrendous Philadelphia teams, the poor souls.

Mulcahy was a regular member of the Phillies for only four seasons, but he wasn't a terrible pitcher. Sure, he walked too many batters. Yeah, his strikeout total is pretty low, even for the late 30's (Mulcahy had 2.51 K/9 from 1937-40 - the NL was at 3.52 for the same period). His ERA was nothing to brag about either. But he was durable, finishing in the NL's top 10 for innings pitched three years in a row. All in all, he wasn't someone you'd find in a key spot for a good team, but he was a capable innings-eater in the majors.

Unfortunately, as the above message says, he was stuck on some terrible Phillies teams. From 1938-1940, the Phillies were worst in the league at scoring runs and worst in the league at preventing them. Philadelphia's NL team lost 100 games in six out of seven seasons after 1935. It wasn't like this was a short-lived time of troubles for Philadelphia: from 1919 to 1948 the Phillies finished in the top half of the NL one time. That was in 1932 when Burt Shotton guided the club to a 78-76 record and a fourth place finish. That was the only winning season the team had over that stretch.

You know what's coming next: the combination of Mulcahy's durability, lack of dominance, and terrible surrounding cast led to a lot of losses on his record. Over his four seasons in the Phillies rotation he lost 76 games. He led the league in losses in 1938 and 1940. His regular placement in box scores gave him perhaps the most unfortunate nickname of any major league player: "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy.

While he was doomed to bad teams and may have even had a respectable record had he pitched for better teams, it only seems fitting that Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy be the namesake of the opposite of the Steve Carlton Award I posted about earlier in the week. Whereas Carlton won plenty of games for a team that didn't win much, the Hugh Mulcahy Award recognizes pitchers who were responsible the highest percentage of their team's losses.

The top ten all-time is again clogged with early 20th-century pitchers, so I'll post a separate 1961-2008 list again.

Highest Percentage of Team's Losses By One Pitcher
1901-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	L%
1	Joe McGinnity	31-20	1903 New York Giants	84-55	36.4
2	Bill Dinneen	21-21	1902 Boston Red Sox	77-60	35.0
3	George Mullin	20-20	1907 Detroit Tigers	92-58	34.5
4	Dolf Luque	13-23	1922 Cincinnati Reds	86-68	33.8
5	Patsy Flaherty	11-25	1903 Chicago White Sox	60-77	32.5
6	Eppa Rixey	16-21	1917 Philadelphia Phillies	87-65	32.3
7	Harry Howell	14-21	1901 Baltimore Orioles	68-65	32.3
8	Jack Powell	23-19	1904 New York Highlanders	92-59	32.2
9	Dummy Taylor	21-15	1904 New York Giants	106-47	31.9
10	Dummy Taylor	18-27	1901 New York Giants	52-85	31.8

Quick, spot the Hall of Famers! Dummy Taylor just couldn't catch a break (or avoid a loss), I guess.

This next list should be more interesting. At the very least, the names should be more familiar.

Highest Percentage of Team's Losses By One Pitcher
1961-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	L%
1	Dennis Martinez	15-16	1979 Baltimore Orioles	102-57	28.1
2	Don Drysdale	19-17	1963 Los Angeles Dodgers	99-63	27.0
3	Steve Rogers	15-22	1974 Montreal Expos	79-82	26.8
4	Ralph Terry	17-15	1963 New York Yankees	104-57	26.3
5	Dave McNally	17-17	1973 Baltimore Orioles	97-65	26.2
6	Mike Moore	13-15	1990 Oakland Athletics	103-59	25.4
7	Wilbur Wood	24-17	1972 Chicago White Sox	87-67	25.4
8	Brian Kingman	8-20	1980 Oakland Athletics	83-79	25.3
9	Jim Bibby	19-19	1974 Texas Rangers	84-76	25.0
10	Dennis Martinez	7-16	1983 Baltimore Orioles	98-64	25.0

Hmm. Maybe I should call it the Dennis Martinez Award instead. Nah, I still like the idea of an award involving losses named after Losing Pitcher Mulcahy, even if he never would've won the award. I don't think Martinez will mind.

So who was responsible for the highest percentage of his team's losses this year? Strangely, the top ten is split evenly between above-.500 and below-.500 teams:

2008 Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy Award Rankings

1. Javier Vazquez, 12-16 for the 89-74 White Sox, 21.6%
2. Aaron Harang, 6-17 for the 74-88 Reds, 19.3%
3. Justin Verlander, 11-17 for the 74-88 Reds, 19.3%
4. Andy Pettitte, 14-14 for the 89-73 Yankees, 19.2%
5. Barry Zito, 10-17 for the 72-90 Giants, 18.9%
6. Brandon Backe, 9-14 for the 86-75 Astros, 18.7%
7. Greg Smith, 7-16 for the 75-86 Athletics, 18.6%
8. Brett Myers, 10-13 for the 92-70 Phillies, 18.6%
9. Braden Looper, 12-14 for the 86-76 Cardinals, 18.4%
10. Brian Bannister, 9-16 for the 75-87 Royals, 18.4%

Vazquez is one of fifteen pitchers to be above 20.0% in a season since 2000. The highest on the list? Livan Hernandez and his 12-16 record for the 2002 Giants. San Francisco lost 66 games that season, meaning Hernandez accounted for 24.2% of his team's losses.

Fun fact: Deacon Phillippe went 20-9 for the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates only lost 36 games that season, making him responsible for one-quarter of his team's losses. That's the highest percentage among pitchers with single-digit losses on the season.

The Steve Carlton Award

In 1972, Steve Carlton had a season for the ages. The Philadelphia lefty started 41 games, completed thirty of them, and had eight shutouts. He struck out 310 batters and walked only 87 in 346 1/3 innings pitched. His ERA was a phenomenal 1.97 and his WHIP (walks plus hits over innings pitched) was a minuscule 0.993. He won 27 games, lost 10, and easily took home the Cy Young Award after the season.

Looking at the team he played for, however, makes his won-loss record even more impressive. The 1972 Philadelphia Phillies were a terrible team. They had the second-worst offense in the National League, scoring 3.22 runs per game. Only two players hit .280 with 200 or more at bats for the team. Only four players with 200+ at bats had an on base percentage above .300. With Carlton, the starting rotation was in the middle of the pack, without him they lagged behind the rest of the league. Obviously any team would struggle without their best pitcher, but the Phillies really had little else besides their ace lefty. The Phillies' bullpen wasn't much relief. All of this added up to an awful 59-97 record and last place in the NL East.

Consider that for a moment: Steve Carlton won 27 games on a team that only won 59 games. He won 45.8% of his team's games - a major league record since 1901. In fact, he's one of only ten pitchers since 1901 to win more than 40% of his team's games in a season and the only one to do so since 1922.

Note: for simplicity's sake, pitchers appearing for two or more teams have their wins for each team treated as if they were with that club all season. For example, if Johnny Goodarm wins 8 games for the 80-82 Pirates and 14 games for the 70-92 Cardinals, he's considered to have won 10% of the Pirates' games and 20% of the Cardinals' games rather than the percentage of the wins each team got with him on the roster. Unfair? Possibly, if the universe conspires against a great pitcher and he's stuck on multiple really bad teams. I can live with that.

Highest Percentage of Team's Wins By One Pitcher
1901-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	W%
1	Steve Carlton	27-10	1972 Philadelphia Phillies	59-97	45.8
2	Ed Walsh	40-15	1908 Chicago White Sox	88-64	45.5
3	Jack Chesbro	41-12	1904 New York Highlanders	92-59	44.6
4	Noodles Hahn	22-19	1901 Cincinnati Reds	52-87	42.3
5	Cy Young	33-10	1901 Boston Americans	79-57	41.8
6	Joe Bush	15-24	1916 Philadelphia Athletics	36-117	41.7
7	Cy Young	32-11	1902 Boston Americans	77-60	41.6
8	Eddie Rommel	27-13	1922 Philadelphia Athletics	65-89	41.5
9	Red Faber	25-15	1921 Chicago White Sox	62-92	40.3
10	Walter Johnson	36-7	1913 Washington Senators	90-64	40.0

As I mentioned before, Carlton started 41 games in 1972. Only three of the pitchers on this list besides Carlton wound up with fewer than 41 decisions in those seasons. That makes Carlton seem even more out of place on the list.

To really show how out there Carlton's 1972 season is, we should look at the same list but with more recent pitchers. Here are how pitchers since expansion in 1961 stack up:

Highest Percentage of Team's Wins By One Pitcher
1961-2008

Rank	Name	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	W%
1	Steve Carlton	27-10	1972 Philadelphia Phillies	59-97	45.8
2	Gaylord Perry	24-16	1972 Cleveland Indians	72-84	33.3
3	Nolan Ryan	22-16	1974 California Angels	68-94	32.4
4	Phil Niekro	21-20	1979 Atlanta Braves	66-94	31.8
5	Larry Jackson	24-11	1964 Chicago Cubs	76-86	31.6
6	Randy Johnson	16-14	2004 Arizona Diamondbacks	51-111	31.4
7	Wilbur Wood	24-20	1973 Chicago White Sox	77-85	31.2
8	Bob Gibson	23-7	1970 St. Louis Cardinals	76-86	30.3
9	Randy Jones	22-14	1976 San Diego Padres	73-89	30.1
10	Denny McLain	31-6	1968 Detroit Tigers	103-59	30.1

Wow. Even in a list dominated by 1970's pitchers, Carlton blows everyone away. I figured there might be someone closer to 40% than 30%, but nope. With current five-man rotations meaning healthy pitchers make around 33 or 34 starts per year, it'll be hard for any pitcher to crack that top 10. A pitcher would have to win 20 games on a team that wins 66 games or less in a season. A 15-game winner would have to toil away on a team that loses 113 or more games. A pitcher would have to win 25 games on an 81-win team. Good luck.

But that doesn't mean we can't issue a Steve Carlton Award today. It simply goes to the pitcher who is credited with the highest percentage of his team's wins. It turns out the race this year went down to the wire:

2008 Steve Carlton Award Rankings

1. Cliff Lee, 22-3 for the 81-81 Indians, 27.2%
2. Brandon Webb, 22-7 for the 82-80 Diamondbacks, 26.8%
3. Tim Lincecum, 18-5 for the 72-90 Giants, 25.0%
4. Roy Halladay, 20-11 for the 86-76 Blue Jays, 23.3%
5. Edinson Volquez, 17-6 for the 74-88 Reds, 23.0%
6. Mike Mussina, 20-9 for the 89-73 Yankees, 22.5%
7. Aaron Cook, 16-9 for the 74-88 Rockies, 21.6%
8. A.J. Burnett, 18-10 for the 86-76 Blue Jays, 20.9%
9. Bronson Arroyo, 15-11 for the 74-88 Reds, 20.3%
10. Roy Oswalt, 17-10 for the 86-75 Astros, 19.8%

The only pitcher between Lee and Randy Johnson's 2004? Would you believe Paul Byrd in 2002? He went 17-11 for Kansas City, a team that finished 62-100.

One more fun fact: the highest percentage of team wins by a pitcher who won fewer than ten games is shared between Jing Johnson and Walt Kinney of the 1919 Athletics. They both went 9-15, each winning 25% of the Athletics' games on the year. When Mike Maroth went 9-21 for the 2003 Tigers, he was responsible for "only" 20.9% of his team's 43 victories.

If His Arm Works, Who Cares What He Wears?

On April 9, 2008, the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 7-1. Following 7 2/3 forgettable innings pitched by Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine and lefty reliever J.P. Howell, a Rays righthander made his season debut. He got Ichiro Suzuki to ground out and pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game. Unfortunately, this mystery reliever was optioned to AAA Durham on April 12. While in Durham, he had elbow troubles that required surgery and now he will miss much of the 2009 season.

So who is this mystery player (and will he be voted a playoff share by the rest of the Rays)? None other than Korean right-hander Jae Kuk Ryu. There's not much remarkable about Ryu's career so far, though his one appearance this year did lower his career ERA below 7.50. The reason I bring him up is not for his on-field exploits but instead because of his number. As you can see here, Ryu wears uniform number 11.

Now, Ryu's not the first pitcher to wear that number (that would be Herb Pennock in 1929), but he is, I believe, the only pitcher to wear #11 this season. Since Josh Towers spent all season "pitching" for the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Ryu wore the lowest uniform number of any pitcher in 2008. Wait...I should say that he wore the lowest number of any regular pitcher: Tony Pena Jr. (wearing #1) pitched a perfect inning for the Royals in July. Note: I haven't found a complete 2008 numerical roster for every team so if I'm wrong about Ryu having the lowest number of any pitcher, let me know. I can tell you, however, that Ryu is only the second pitcher in Rays history to wear a number as low as 11. The other? Hideo Nomo in 2005.

Ryu's National League equivalent is a pitcher who spent the entire year on his team's major league roster. Barring any renegade #10's or #11's (or even other #12's) I missed in the senior circuit, the NL pitcher with the lowest number was Carlos Villanueva, wearing #12 for the Milwaukee Brewers. According to the team media guide, Villanueva is only the fifth pitcher in Brewers history to wear such a low number. Curtis Leskanic wore #00 from 2000 to 2002, Chuck Taylor wore #6 in 1972, Bob McClure wore #10 for ten seasons in the 70's and 80's, and the aforementioned Hideo Nomo wore #11 in 1999.

So why do pitchers usually wear higher numbers? On a related note, why did I suggest only renegade #10's and #11's would be out there? The common answer when it comes to the origin and development of uniform numbers in baseball is that they originally had to do with each player's spot in the lineup. The leadoff batter wore #1, the cleanup hitter wore #4, the backup catcher wore #9, pitchers were given numbers in the teens, and so on. This is how Babe Ruth was assigned #3 and Lou Gehrig was given #4 while pitchers like Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt got #11 and #12, respectively.

The Yankees assigned numbers this way, not every pitcher wore a double-digit number. It wasn't common, but twenty-four pitchers on twelve teams from 1931 (when most teams started wearing numbers) through 1940 took the mound with a number lower than 10. A bunch of those guys played for one team, though: the Phillies in 1939 and 1940 had seven different pitchers wear single digit numbers. During World War II, twenty pitchers did the same.

It wasn't until the 1960's that it truly became rare for pitchers to have single digit numbers on their backs. Since the major leagues expanded in 1961, only twelve pitchers have worn such uniforms. Only two pitchers have done so for more than one season. So what caused such a slowdown?

In the 1950's and early 1960's some National League teams (notably the Reds) attempted to standardize uniform numbers. Under their system, single-digit numbers were reserved for coaches and catchers, infielders got numbers in the teens, outfielders drew the 20's, and pitchers were given uniform numbers 30 through 49. The system eventually fell out of use (except possibly for coaches wearing low numbers), but I suspect it had something to do with pitchers shying away from single-digit numbers.

Then again, was it really up to the players in the first place? Of the seventy-six pitchers to wear single-digit numbers between 1931 and 1960, only six of them had those numbers for more than one season. None of them wore it for more than two. This suggests to me that they were assigned numbers rather than allowed to choose them, or, if they were allowed to choose, they didn't want such low numbers anyway. In any event, it seems that baseball tradition looks askance at pitchers with single digits on their backs. That doesn't mean there won't be any rebels looking to shake things up, however.

To conclude this post, I'm going to put up a list of the pitchers since 1961 to wear uniform numbers lower than ten. To get a feel for where Ryu and Villanueva fit in recently, I'm also going to make a list of pitchers to wear #10, #11, and #12 since the 2000 season. But first, I want to note where I got my information on uniform numbers. My first step was to look at each team's media guide (all available here) to see if they had an all-time numerical roster, figuring that should be pretty accurate. Eleven teams had all-time numerical rosters in their media guide. My next step was to try and locate websites online that had uniform numbers data for different teams. Luckily, I found eight such sites. Their names should make it obvious which teams are covered:

• Cubs by the Numbers
  
• Mets by the Numbers
  
• Orioles Numbers
• Rangerfans.com
  
• RedSoxDiehard.com
• Sports and Bremertonians - Seattle Mariners numbers
  
• Indians Baseball Cards. Always. - has an ongoing series of Indians players' numbers that is through #10 (lucky me!)
  
• YankeeNumbers.com

Baseball fans are awesome. Again, I only looked for these types of sites if a team's media guide didn't already have a numerical roster, so it's entirely possible I missed some for teams with rosters in their guides. Finally, if both those methods failed, I fell back on the rosters available at baseball-almanac.com. That site has uniform data for all teams going back to the 1930's, but I'm not sure where they got their numbers. I haven't found anything crazy, so it's good enough for me.

With all of that in mind, here are the pitchers (excluding position players throwing mop-up innings) since 1961 to wear numbers lower than ten:

• #1 Jack Jenkins - 1962 Senators
• #8 Bob Baird - 1963 Senators
• #4 George Brunet - 1970 Pirates
• #6 Chuck Taylor - 1972 Brewers
  
• #7 Horacio Pina - 1973 Athletics
• #7 Atlee Hammaker - 1985 Giants
• #1 Matt Young - 1990 Mariners
• #00 Omar Olivares - 1993 Cardinals and 1995 Phillies
• #7 Jeff Juden - 1997 Indians
• #00 Curtis Leskanic - 2000-2002 Brewers
• #2 Wayne Gomes - 2001 Giants
• #6 Rob Bell - 2001-2002 Rangers
• #00 Rick White - 2004 Indians, 2005 Pirates, 2006 Reds, and 2006 Phillies
• #3 David Wells - 2005 Red Sox
• #7 Josh Towers - 2003-2007 Blue Jays

I can go either way on the double-zero guys. They are wearing a low number (can't go below zero!), but they aren't wearing a single digit. I suppose you have to have a, well, special mindset to want to slap zeros on your back, so I included them as fellow rebellious souls.

As mentioned above, here are the pitchers (again excluding mop-up position players) to wear #10, #11, or #12 since 2000:

• #12 Denny Neagle - 2000 Yankees
• #11 Hideo Nomo - 2001 Red Sox & 2005 Devil Rays
• #10 Mike Hampton - 2001-2002 Rockies
• #12 Calvin Maduro - 2001-2002 Orioles
• #10 Hideo Nomo - 2002-2004 Dodgers
• #12 Matt Riley - 2004 Orioles
• #10 Shingo Takatsu - 2004-2005 White Sox & 2005 Mets
• #10 Danys Baez - 2006 Dodgers
• #11 Scott Sauerbeck - 2006 Athletics
• #12 Jason Bulger - 2006 Angels
• #11 Jae Kuk Ryu - 2007-2008 Devil Rays
• #12 Carlos Villanueva - 2007-2008 Brewers

There you go. Ryu & Villanueva are the latest in a line of only a couple pitchers every season to wear such low numbers on their uniform. I've checked all the 40-man rosters available on mlb.com, so any other pitchers to take the mound with a number below #12 would have had to either been released, outrighted off their team's roster, or changed their number since they pitched.

At Least He's Remembered, Right?

One hundred years ago today, the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Chicago Cubs were locked in a tight pennant race. The Giants had started the year slowly, falling 6 1/2 games back by mid-June. With the front-running Cubs coming to the Polo Grounds, it seemed as if the Giants were on the cusp of falling out of the race. After dropping the first game of the four-game series, the New York nine rallied to win the final three and pulled within 3 1/2 games of the league lead. From there they began a slow but steady ascent back toward the top of the standings. Meanwhile, Chicago and Pittsburgh continued to battle it out.

The Giants took over first place in late August by taking four games from the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Up 3 1/2 games over both the Pirates and Cubs, the Giants set out for Chicago to try and bury the competition. Instead, Chicago swept them in three games to trim the lead to one half game with a month left to play. From that point on, however, all three teams were on fire. After being swept in Chicago, the Giants won 17 of 18 games. The Cubs won 18 of 24 games to stay in the race. Pittsburgh even got in on the act by taking 18 of 25. By the time the Cubs and Giants were set to play four games at New York's Polo Grounds on September 22, New York was ahead by two games in the standings.

That doesn't tell the whole story, however. The Giants had played six fewer games than the Cubs and actually had one fewer win, along with five fewer losses. Meanwhile, the pesky Pirates were hanging in there, three games (actually six losses) behind the Giants. The Cubs took both games of the series-opening doubleheader on September 22, tying them for the league lead. Coming into play on September 23, the top of the NL standings looked like this:

New York 87 50 .635 --
Chicago 90 53 .629 --
Pittsburgh 88 54 .620 1 1/2

The stage was set for one of the most controversial plays in baseball history. Giants ace Christy Mathewson and Cubs lefty Jack Pfiester had an old-fashioned pitcher's duel going through eight innings. After Mathewson blanked the Cubs in the top of the ninth, the Giants offense mustered up a rally that should've sent them back into sole possesion of first place. With two outs, Moose McCormick stood on first base. Striding to the plate was the youngest player in the league, Fred Merkle. Only nineteen years old, Merkle had started in place of regular Giants first baseman Fred Tenney. Despite his youth and inexperience and the pressure of a pennant race, Merkle singled to put runners on the corners for shortstop Al Bridwell. What happened next has gone down in baseball lore as "Merkle's Boner." There are a few details that change in different versions of the story, but I've tried to stick to the basics.

Bridwell singled, bringing Moose McCormick in from third base. As he touched home plate, jubilant Giants fans started to pour out of the bleachers and onto the field to celebrate the victory. Not wishing to get caught up in a sea of rowdy rooters, Merkle understandably headed for the center field clubhouse without touching second base. Alert Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers noticed Merkle's gaffe and tried to find the game ball. Successfully procuring a baseball*, Evers got the attention of umpire Hank O'Day and stepped on second base. O'Day correctly called Merkle out and ruled that McCormick's run didn't count since the force out ended the inning. With thousands of Giants fans on the field and players strewn about between the dugouts, the field, and the clubhouse, the game was called a tie and postponed.

Giants players and manager John McGraw were (not surprisingly) livid after the game. Their "victory," the now-tied game, was rescheduled after the season if it was still needed. Hoping to avoid playing it, the Giants calmed down enough to win the next day's game. All three teams atop the standings kept close to one another for the next couple weeks, with a three-way tie for first existing as late as October 1.

The Pirates were first to finish their season, ending up with a respectable 98-56 record after October 4th. The Cubs were a half game ahead, at 98-55, with only the make-up game against the Giants to play. Meanwhile, the Giants were 1 1/2 games behind Chicago with three games against the lowly Boston Braves. Needing a sweep to keep their pennant hopes alive, the Giants delivered, tying the Cubs for first place before the make-up game. Had Merkle simply touched second base weeks before and had the season played out the same way, the Giants would have already won the pennant.

Still claiming they shouldn't have to play for something they'd already won, Giants players resignedly took the field at the Polo Grounds on October 8. They had momentum on their side, having just won three in a row. However, the Cubs were well-rested, having not played since the 4th. The rested club won out, as the Cubs edged the Giants by a score of 4-2 to capture the NL pennant. With the Giants' championship hopes dashed, fans didn't have to go far to find a scapegoat for their team's failure. Merkle's Boner has lived on for a century, inspiring ballplayers to know the rules of the game, causing countless numbers of young baseball fans to snicker, and ensuring Fred Merkle's name is remembered in baseball history.

Will anything like Merkle's Boner happen in any baseball game tonight? It's unlikely. For one thing, fans are no longer allowed to swarm the field after a victory, so players really have no need (or excuse) to avoid touching the proper bases on walk-off hits. However, with New York's current NL team hosting the Cubs in the midst of a race for the playoffs, you can't totally ignore the possibility of some crazy play and another unfortunate player going down in baseball history.

*Evers may or may not have wound up with the actual game ball. Some say Evers himself grabbed the ball from the outfield, some say the ball was thrown from the Cubs dugout, and others say the actual game ball was thrown into the crowd and Evers used a different ball to record the out. One account claims it wasn't even Evers who touched second base, saying it was Frank Chance who made the appeal.