Three True Outcomes Per Plate Appearance, 1913-2009

An update to my Three True Outcomes (TTO) posts of January 2008 and July 2009. This version is complete through 2009. Once again, I have expanded the board by five more places.

Most Career TTO/PA, 1913-2009, min. 3000 PA

Rank	Name	PA	SO	BB	HR	TTO/PA
1	Adam Dunn	5417	1433	913	316	.4914
2	Rob Deer	4512	1409	575	230	.4907
3	Ryan Howard	3145	878	406	222	.4789
4	Jim Thome	9463	2313	1619	564	.4751
5	Mark McGwire	7660	1596	1317	583	.4564
6	Carlos Pena	3713	973	495	202	.4498
7	Mickey Tettleton	5745	1307	949	245	.4353
8	Pat Burrell	5864	1392	842	265	.4262
9	Jay Buhner	5927	1406	792	310	.4231
10	Gorman Thomas	5486	1339	697	268	.4200
11	Brad Wilkerson	3753	947	492	122	.4159
12	Danny Tartabull	5842	1362	768	262	.4094
13	Don Lock	3116	776	373	122	.4079
14	Jose Canseco	8129	1942	906	462	.4072
15	Troy Glaus	5872	1277	791	304	.4040
16	Jason Bay	3897	896	491	185	.4034
17	Mickey Mantle	9909	1710	1733	536	.4016
18	Reggie Jackson	11416	2597	1375	563	.3972
19	Nick Swisher	3119	665	439	133	.3966
20	Darryl Strawberry	6326	1352	816	335	.3957
21	Gene Tenace	5525	998	984	201	.3951
22	Pete Incaviglia	4677	1277	360	206	.3941
23	Richie Sexson	5604	1313	588	306	.3938
24	Eric Davis	6147	1398	740	282	.3937
25	Jim Edmonds	7307	1669	974	382	.3924
T-26	Cecil Fielder	5939	1316	693	319	.3920
T-26	Ray Lankford	6674	1550	828	238	.3920
28	Mike Schmidt	10062	1883	1507	548	.3914
29	Harmon Killebrew	9831	1699	1559	573	.3897
T-30	Sammy Sosa	9896	2306	929	609	.3884
T-30	Mike Cameron	7435	1798	825	265	.3884

If you carry it out beyond four decimal places the ties go away but, hey, I wanted an excuse to include another active player.

Russell Branyan is poised to jump atop the table with 176 more plate apperances. Through 2824 career PA, he has 946 strikeouts, 339 walks, and 164 home runs, good for a .5131 TTO/PA. If you add the necessary 176 TTO-less PA to get to 3000, he still places third with .4830. Not bad. Bo Jackson, of all people, pops up between Pete Incaviglia and Richie Sexson by the same method.

Another player who should make his way into the table next year is Brad Hawpe. He sits at .3983 after 2807 career plate appearances. If Tony Clark signs on somewhere next season, he might work his way back onto the list. He's currently 32nd at .3881.

Grand Slams by Pitchers

Here is a list of all the grand slams hit by pitchers since 1954:

Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Inn	Score
4/22/1956	Don Larsen	NYY	BOS	Frank Sullivan	4	2-1
7/10/1958	Lew Burdette	MLN	@LAD	Johnny Podres	4	0-0
4/15/1959	Bob Grim	KCA	@CHW	Barry Latman	3	4-0
8/1/1959	Bob Purkey	CIN	CHC	John Buzhardt	3	5-2
8/14/1960	Camilo Pascual	WSH	@NYY	Bob Turley	6	1-1
8/9/1961	Don Drysdale	LAD	MLN	Don Nottebart	2	1-1
5/30/1962	Pedro Ramos	CLE	@BAL	Chuck Estrada	6	3-0
8/2/1962	Art Mahaffey	PHI	@NYM	Craig Anderson	3	2-1
5/31/1963	Orlando Pena	KCA	WSA	Claude Osteen	5	4-3
7/15/1963	Carl Willey	NYM	HOU	Ken Johnson	2	1-2
4/27/1965	Camilo Pascual	MIN	@CLE	Stan Williams	1	3-0
7/20/1965	Mel Stottlemyre	NYY	BOS	Bill Monbouquett	5	2-1
9/29/1965	Bob Gibson	STL	@SFG	Gaylord Perry	8	4-0
7/3/1966	Tony Cloninger	ATL	@SFG	Bob Priddy	1	3-0
7/3/1966	Tony Cloninger	ATL	@SFG	Ray Sadecki	4	9-0
8/13/1966	Earl Wilson	DET	@BOS	Dan Osinski	7	6-1
5/20/1967	Jack Hamilton	NYM	STL	Al Jackson	2	0-0
6/1/1967	John O'Donoghue	CLE	@DET	Denny McLain	6	2-0
5/5/1968	Gary Peters	CHW	NYY	Al Downing	4	1-0
7/28/1968	Al McBean	PIT	STL	Larry Jaster	5	3-1
8/26/1968	Dave McNally	BAL	OAK	Chuck Dobson	1	3-0
7/9/1969	Fred Talbot	SEP	CAL	Eddie Fisher	6	3-0
9/4/1970	Mike Corkins	SDP	@CIN	Jim Merritt	4	3-0
5/11/1971	Steve Dunning	CLE	OAK	Diego Segui	2	1-0
8/28/1971	Rick Wise	PHI	SFG	Don McMahon	7	3-3
9/16/1972	Burt Hooton	CHC	NYM	Tom Seaver	3	4-1
7/26/1973	Bob Gibson	STL	NYM	John Strohmayer	5	6-1
8/21/1973	Rick Wise	STL	@ATL	Roric Harrison	3	3-0
6/24/1974	Jim Lonborg	PHI	@MON	Chuck Taylor	3	4-0
7/6/1977	Don Stanhouse	MON	@CHC	Bill Bonham	2	1-1
9/27/1977	Larry Christenson	PHI	@CHC	Dennis Lamp	7	7-2
8/26/1979	Bruce Kison	PIT	@SDP	Bob Shirley	2	1-0
10/1/1980	Enrique Romo	PIT	@NYM	Roy Lee Jackson	8	6-3
9/11/1982	Scott Sanderson	MON	@CHC	Randy Martz	3	3-1
5/15/1984	Joaquin Andujar	STL	ATL	Jeff Dedmon	8	5-1
5/16/1984	Steve Carlton	PHI	@LAD	Fernando Valenzu	4	1-1
9/12/1985	Don Robinson	PIT	CHC	Warren Brusstar	8	6-2
8/10/1986	Bob Forsch	STL	PIT	Mike Bielecki	5	1-0
5/29/1995	Chris Hammond	FLA	HOU	Shane Reynolds	2	0-2
6/27/1995	Denny Neagle	PIT	@CHC	Jim Bullinger	6	2-2
8/25/1995	Jeff Juden	PHI	LAD	John Cummings	4	10-2
9/7/1996	Donovan Osborne	STL	SDP	Andy Ashby	5	1-1
7/20/1998	Kevin Tapani	CHC	@ATL	Denny Neagle	3	1-0
9/2/1998	Kent Mercker	STL	@FLA	Jesus Sanchez	4	3-0
5/24/2000	Shawn Estes	SFG	MON	Mike Johnson	5	7-0
9/29/2001	Denny Neagle	COL	MIL	Jimmy Haynes	4	9-6
6/2/2002	Robert Person	PHI	MON	Bruce Chen	1	3-0
7/7/2006	Dontrelle Willis	FLA	@NYM	Jose Lima	4	3-0
6/23/2008	Felix Hernandez	SEA	@NYM	Johan Santana	2	0-0
9/22/2008	Jason Marquis	CHC	@NYM	Jonathon Niese	4	2-2
10/1/2009	Chris Carpenter	STL	@CIN	Kip Wells	2	1-0

UPDATE: Two pitchers have hit postseason grand slams. Both were on the same team in the same year. On October 3, 1970, Baltimore's Mike Cuellar hit one off Minnesota's Jim Perry in Game 1 of the ALCS. Ten days later, Dave McNally hit one in Game 3 of the World Series off Cincinnati's Wayne Granger.

20+ Home Runs

A friend of mine brought this to my attention. Robinson Cano hit his twentieth home run of the season last night, making him the sixth Yankees hitter to reach that number in 2009. With one more 20 HR player, the Yankees will tie the record for most players with 20+ HR on one team. The current record holders:

• 1996 Baltimore Orioles
  Brady Anderson - 50
  Rafael Palmeiro - 39
  Bobby Bonilla - 28
  Cal Ripken, Jr. - 26
  Chris Hoiles - 25
  Roberto Alomar - 22
  B.J. Surhoff - 21
  
  
• 2000 Toronto Blue Jays
  Carlos Delgado - 41
  Tony Batista - 41
  Brad Fullmer - 32
  Jose Cruz, Jr. - 31
  Raul Mondesi - 24
  Shannon Stewart - 21
  Darrin Fletcher - 20
  
  
• 2005 Texas Rangers
  Mark Teixeira - 43
  Alfonso Soriano - 36
  David Dellucci - 29
  Kevin Mench - 25
  Hank Blalock - 25
  Michael Young - 24
  Rod Barajas - 21

The Yankees have two more players who may well end up with 20 home runs. Derek Jeter has 16 and Jorge Posada hit his 17th earlier tonight.

Fewest Team HR at a Position in 2009

Nearly two-thirds of the way through the season, Jason Kendall of the Brewers is hitting .239 and slugging .283. As you might guess, he doesn't have many extra base hits. He has twelve, to be exact, eleven doubles and one triple. He has started 86 of the Brewers 101 games and backup Mike Rivera also is homerless on the year, meaning the Brewers haven't had a single round-tripper from their backstops. What other teams have suffered a homer drought at one position on the diamond? I did not include NL DHs or pitchers.

Fewest Team HR at a Position in 2009
(through 7/28)

• Milwaukee Brewers, C - 0
• New York Mets, 2B - 0
• San Diego Padres, 2B - 1
• Baltimore Orioles, SS - 2
  
• Cincinnati Reds, CF - 2
  
• Florida Marlins, 3B - 2
• Kansas City Royals, SS - 2
  
• Minnesota Twins, 2B - 2
• Minnesota Twins, CF - 2
  
• New York Mets, SS - 2
• San Francisco Giants, SS - 2
• Washington Nationals, 2B - 2

First Career Home Runs

Mark Buehrle hit his first career home run today. Later in the same game, he gave up Casey McGehee's first major league home run. I tried looking it up and I believe it's the first time since August 23, 2004 that a pitcher hit his first career home run and gave up another player's first career home run in the same game. That 2004 game featured John Van Benschoten hitting a homer and giving one up to Chris Snyder.

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.

A Couple Quick Notes

Just a couple things to pass along:

• Plunk Everyone is a blog dedicated to the humble hit by pitch. It's well worth reading. The author mentioned both on his blog and in a post at Brew Crew Ball on Tuesday that Jason Kendall became only the second player to be hit by all 30 major league teams (can you guess the first without looking? I'm guessing you'll be surprised). The Brewers backstop has now been hit 235 times by 184 pitchers.
  
  
• Elias Says..., a column at ESPN.com, notes that nine different Mets have tripled over the teams last nine games coming into today. The Mets are the first team to do that since 1983. Right on cue, Jeremy Reed hit his first triple of the season today to become the tenth player in ten games, but it wasn't enough to stop New York from losing to Florida.
  
  
• Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers was the winning pitcher in his team's 1-0 victory. He also hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 7th inning. He departed after the 8th inning, having thrown 116 pitches. Had he pitched a scoreless ninth, he would have joined the following pitchers since 1954 who homered in all their team's runs while throwing a shutout:
  
  
  • Bob Welch (LAD) on June 17, 1983 - won 1-0
  • Juan Pizarro (CHC) on September 16, 1971 - won 1-0
  • Sonny Siebert (BOS) on September 2, 1971 - won 3-0
    
  • Jim Bunning (PHI) on May 5, 1965 - won 1-0
  • Early Wynn (CHW) on May 1, 1959 - won 1-0
  
  There are a couple honorable mentions as well. Juan Pizarro drove in both Cubs runs during his 2-0 shutout on May 10, 1963 but only one came via the long ball. Also, though Roger Freed drove in one run, that shouldn't take away from Rick Wise's 3 RBI on 2 HR for the Phillies on June 23, 1971 -- all while he was no-hitting the Reds.
  

Giving Up Home Runs To Pitchers

In the third game of the season, Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo hit a home run off Giants starter Randy Johnson. It was quickly noted that this was the first homer hit by a pitcher off the Big Unit. Pitchers had faced Johnson 500 times in his twenty-two year career and not a single one had hit a home run. No opposing pitcher had ever knocked one of Randy Johnson's offerings over the fence. Are you impressed yet?

It turns out other pitchers have faced opposing pitchers 500 times without giving up a home run. Since 1954, thirteen different hurlers have done so. Two of those pitchers were active in 2008.

500+ PA Against Pitchers, Zero Home Runs Allowed

1. Don Drysdale, 1016 PA
2. Tommy John, 861
3. Andy Benes, 757
4. Dwight Gooden, 622
5. Jon Lieber, 603
6. Sonny Siebert, 573
7. Jack Billingham, 550
8. Shawn Estes, 548
9. Bob Welch, 542
10. Jim Rooker, 534
11. Bob Walk, 520
12. Gary Nolan, 514
13. Vida Blue, 511

Somehow Randy Johnson facing pitchers 500 times and not giving up a home run seems less impressive when you realize Jon Lieber and Shawn Estes have done the same thing. Actually, I take that back: the real question is how guys like Lieber and Estes made it onto this list of pretty darn good pitchers.

There have been plenty of pitchers who missed that list by only one home run. Thirty-three pitchers allowed only one home run to an opposing pitcher in 500 or more plate appearances since 1954:

• Greg Maddux, 1451 PA
• Jerry Reuss, 972
• Juan Marichal, 961
• John Smoltz, 913
• Jerry Koosman, 843
• Whitey Ford, 841
• Burt Hooton, 754
  
• Darryl Kile, 685
  
• Rick Rhoden, 671
  
• Pedro Astacio, 664
  
• Rick Wise, 660
  
• Dean Chance, 627
  
• Terry Mulholland, 616
  
• Ray Burris, 582
  
• Ray Herbert, 577
  
• Joaquin Andujar, 567
  
• Zane Smith, 566
  
• Bob Shaw, 559
• Bob Veale, ~557
  
• Al Leiter, 554
  
• John Candelaria, 553
  
• Mike Morgan, 550
  
• Denny Neagle, 537
  
• Steve Renko, 532
  
• John Denny, 528
  
• Pete Harnisch, 526
  
• Sid Fernandez, 525
  
• John Burkett, 523
  
• Mike LaCoss, 514
  
• Bob Miller, 512
• Dave Roberts, ~511
  
• Randy Johnson, 509
  

Whitey Ford and Ray Herbert both pitched before 1954, so it's possible they don't actually belong on the list. Bob Veale and Dave Roberts both made appearances that lack play-by-play accounts and it's hard to estimate how many times they faced opposing pitchers in those games, so their exact place on the list is a little uncertain.

Finally, there is one more pitcher who averaged 500 PA or more between opposing pitcher home runs: Bob Gibson. The Cardinals ace faced opposing hurlers 1150 times and gave up a home run only twice.

Here are some pitchers who may join one of these lists in the relatively near future:

• Royals RHP Jamey Wright has faced 494 pitchers without giving up a home run.
• Brewers RHP Jeff Suppan has faced 394 pitchers without giving up a home run. It will take the better part of two seasons for him to reach 500.
• Veteran RHP Brett Tomko has allowed one homer to an opposing pitcher in 483 career PA against. He's currently playing for the Yankees' AAA club.
  

That's it.

Opening Day Oddity

You may have heard about Felipe Lopez and Tony Clark's performance in today's Rockies-Diamondbacks game. The two switch-hitters each had two home runs and they both hit one from each side of the plate. As the AP recap noted,

Lopez and Clark became the first switch-hitting teammates to homer from both sides of the plate in a game since Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams did it for the New York Yankees on April 23, 2000. It had never been done on opening day.

In fact, today and that Yankees game are the only two times that's happened since 1954. More generally, two switch-hitters have each homered twice in the same game only five times in that span:

• Today, obviously - Lopez homered off RHP Aaron Cook in the 1st inning and LHP Glendon Rusch in the 4th inning. Clark homered off Cook in the 3rd and Rusch in the 5th.
  
  
• September 25, 2008 - The Rays' Ben Zobrist hit two home runs off RHP Armando Galarraga, one in the first inning and one in the eighth. Meanwhile, the Tigers' Ramon Santiago homered off LHP Scott Kazmir in the 1st inning and the 3rd inning. Obviously each guy's home runs were from the same side of the plate.
  
  
• July 4, 2003 - Bill Mueller and Jason Varitek both homered twice for the Red Sox against the Yankees. Mueller homered off LHP David Wells in the 6th inning and RHP Dan Miceli in the 9th inning. Varitek homered off Wells in the 3rd and 6th.
  
  
• The aforementioned April 23, 2000 game - Bernie Williams homered off Blue Jays RHP Frank Castillo in the first inning and LHP Clayton Andrews in the fourth inning. Jorge Posada hit round-trippers off the same pitchers but in the second and fourth innings.
  
  
• August 14, 1996 - In the second-last season of his career, Eddie Murray hit a home run off RHP Jeff D'Amico in the third inning of a game against Milwaukee. He followed it up with a home run off RHP Ricky Bones in the 8th inning. His teammate Roberto Alomar drove one out off D'Amico in the 2nd inning and hit a homer off LHP Ron Villone in the 8th.

The long and short of it: for at least forty years there weren't any games featuring 2 HR by two switch-hitters but today saw the fifth one since 1996.

Weird Batting Line...On Consecutive Nights

This comes via today's "Frosty Mug" on Brew Crew Ball which in turn gives a hat tip to the Pirates blog "Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?"

The post that started this chain noted that Rajai Davis was inserted into Oakland's Friday night game as a pinch-runner, subsequently scored, and later in the same inning hit a grand slam. The post looks at his batting line:

That gave him this awesome line for the night:

Davis, PR-DH 1 2 1 4 0 0 0 .247

That's 1/1 with two runs scored, four RBIs, no walks and no strikeouts. That's just not something you see every day.

You don't see that often, that's for sure. In fact, before Friday, only one player since 1956 had scored two runs while hitting a grand slam in his own plate appearance. That player? None other than Brewers outfielder Darrin Jackson on July 28, 1998. After replacing Dave Nilsson on the bases and scoring in the top of the 8th inning, Jackson hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the ninth.

So, yes, Davis was only the second player in over fifty seasons to have a batting line like that, but that fact alone doesn't make this notable. What's really amazing is that the very next night a different player managed to put up the exact same line! In the eighth inning of Saturday's Cubs-Reds game, Cincinnati's Jolbert Cabrera pinch-ran for Edwin Encarnacion. He wound up scoring before the inning ended. In the ninth inning, he came up with the bases loaded and hit a grand slam off Carlos Marmol in his only plate appearance of the game.

So, after going 50+ seasons with only one such batting line in a game, MLB saw two players do it on consecutive nights. Baseball's a crazy game sometimes.

Most Home Runs with Zero Grand Slams

The 2008 Home Run Derby is going on while I put this post together, so it's only appropriate I write about hitters with power. Hitting a grand slam involves more than just a hitter with power. First his team has to load the bases in front of him. That in itself can limit the grand slam numbers of players on bad teams. Of course, it's pretty likely that a guy with 200 or more home runs will have at least one with the bases loaded. That said, I was curious about who had the most career home runs without a grand slam.

It's harder to find information on grand slams by hitters before 1956 (before Retrosheet's play-by-play recaps of almost every game). I used the lists of grand slam records at Baseball Almanac to try and find some information on earlier home run hitters and also tried Googling names of hitters I was unsure about. I narrowed down the list quite a bit but it got harder as I got to players with fewer career home runs. I've made one list of players I know never hit a grand slam (generally guys who played their entire career since 1956) and put the players I'm unsure about in another list. If anyone has information about grand slams hit by players on the second list, let me know.

Most Career Home Runs Hit Without a Grand Slam
(confirmed through Retrosheet data)

1. Glenn Davis, 190
2. Ron Kittle, 176
3. Claudell Washington, 164
4. Willie Kirkland, 148
5. Alex Gonzalez, 137
6. Norm Siebern, 132
   
7. Sean Casey*, 130
8. Bernard Gilkey, 118
9. Ed Kranepool, 118
10. Shannon Stewart*, 115

* - active player
Most Career Home Runs Hit Without a Grand Slam
(unconfirmed)

1. Goose Goslin, 248
2. Enos Slaughter, 169
3. Pinky Higgins, 140
4. Hector Lopez, 136
5. Jack Fournier, 136
6. George McQuinn, 135
7. Ripper Collins, 135
8. Dale Long, 132
9. Joe Kuhel, 131
10. Frank McCormick, 128

EDIT: An anonymous commenter says Goose Goslin hit a home run on June 21, 1932, off Red Ruffing. That leaves Glenn Davis atop the list for sure.

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

Career HR Leaders by State

A few weeks ago I put together a list of career home run leaders by height. Today I want to do the same for players born in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia.

State	Player	HR	Active Leader	HR
Alabama	Hank Aaron	755	Marlon Anderson	63
Alaska	Josh Phelps	64	Josh Phelps	64
Arizona	Shea Hillenbrand Jack Towell	108	Chris Duncan	46
Arkansas	Brooks Robinson	268	Pat Burrell	227
California	Barry Bonds	762	Jason Giambi	369
Colorado	Johnny Frederick	85	Mark Johnson	16
Connecticut	Mo Vaughn	328	Brad Ausmus	76
Delaware	John Mabry Randy Bush Dave May	96	Kevin Mench	89
District of Columbia	Don Money	176	Emmanuel Burriss	0
Florida	Fred McGriff	493	Gary Sheffield	482
Georgia	Frank Thomas	516	Frank Thomas	516
Hawaii	Mike Lum	90	Shane Victorino	20
Idaho	Harmon Killebrew	573	Jason Schmidt	7
Illinois	Jim Thome	513	Jim Thome	513
Indiana	Gil Hodges	370	Scott Rolen	262
Iowa	Hal Trosky	228	Casey Blake	109
Kansas	Tony Clark	244	Tony Clark	244
Kentucky	Jay Buhner	310	Brad Wilkerson	118
Louisiana	Mel Ott	511	Vernon Wells	161
Maine	Del Bissonette	66	Tim Stauffer	0
Maryland	Babe Ruth	714	Mark Teixeira	174
Massachusetts	Jeff Bagwell	449	Mark Sweeney	42
Michigan	Kirk Gibson John Mayberry	255	Jason Varitek	151
Minnesota	Dave Winfield	465	Dan Johnson	42
Mississippi	Ellis Burks	352	Dmitri Young	167
Missouri	Yogi Berra	358	Ryan Howard	135
Montana	John Lowenstein	116	Rob Johnson	0
Nebraska	Wade Boggs	118	Alex Gordon	18
Nevada	Marty Cordova	122	Justin Leone	6
New Hamphire	Phil Plantier	91	Sam Fuld	0
New Jersey	Eric Karros	284	Derek Jeter	195
New Mexico	Ralph Kiner	369	Cody Ross	27
New York	Alex Rodriguez	522	Alex Rodriguez	522
North Carolina	Ray Durham	187	Ray Durham	187
North Dakota	Travis Hafner	145	Travis Hafner	145
Ohio	Mike Schmidt	548	Aubrey Huff	161
Oklahoma	Mickey Mantle	536	Matt Holliday	107
Oregon	Dave Kingman	442	Richie Sexson	300
Pennsylvania	Ken Griffey Jr.	597	Ken Griffey Jr.	597
Rhode Island	Paul Konerko	281	Paul Konerko	281
South Carolina	Jim Rice	382	Orlando Hudson	63
South Dakota	Mark Ellis	60	Mark Ellis	60
Tennessee	Todd Helton	306	Todd Helton	306
Texas	Frank Robinson	586	Lance Berkman	268
Utah	Duke Sims	100	Chris Shelton	35
Vermont	Carlton Fisk	376	Chris Duffy	6
Virginia	Willie Horton	325	David Wright	102
Washington	Ron Santo	342	Geoff Jenkins	213
West Virginia	George Brett	317	J.R. House	3
Wisconsin	Al Simmons	307	Eric Hinske	91
Wyoming	Mike Devereaux	105	John Buck	55

A few things to note about the active list:

• The active leader for California could potentially change a number of times this year. Though Giambi currently has 369 home runs, Jeff Kent is right behind him at 368, and Jim Edmonds has 363.
• I listed the active leader for Colorado as Mark Johnson even though he hasn't been in the majors since 2004 because he's currently catching for AAA Memphis in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system. See the quote under the site title above to see how much they think of him. The only other Colorado-born player to have played in the majors since 2004 with a home run is pitcher Brian Lawrence who now pitches for the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League.
• Only two people born in Maine have played in the majors and are still active: Tim Stauffer, on the list, is on the Padres' 60-day disabled list and Matt Kinney pitches for the Seibu Lions in Japan.
• Pitchers Brian Wilson, Chris Carpenter, and Chad Paronto are tied with Sam Fuld among active players born in New Hampshire. Lefthander Taylor Tankersley is tied with Rob Johnson among Montanans.
• Orlando Hudson is tops among active South Carolinians so long as Reggie Sanders and Preston Wilson stay unsigned.
• Daric Barton is right behind Chris Duffy among Vermonters with five home runs.
  

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 Career Home Runs by Height

Not much of an introduction here. Below is a list of the career home run leaders at each listed height. At least one major league player in history was listed at each height below.

Most Career Home Runs by Height, 1876-2007

Height	Name	HR	Career
3'7"	Eddie Gaedel	0	1951
5'3"	Cub Stricker	12	1882-1893
5'4"	Hugh Nicol	5	1881-1890
5'5"	Freddie Patek	41	1968-1981
5'6"	Hack Wilson	244	1923-1934
5'7"	Joe Morgan	268	1963-1984
5'8"	Yogi Berra	358	1946-1965
5'9"	Mel Ott	511	1926-1947
5'10"	Rickey Henderson	297	1979-2003
5'11"	Willie Mays	660	1951-1973
6'0"	Hank Aaron	755	1954-1976
6'1"	Barry Bonds	762	1986-2007
6'2"	Babe Ruth	714	1914-1935
6'3"	Ken Griffey Jr.	593	1989-2007
6'4"	Willie McCovey	521	1959-1980
6'5"	Mark McGwire	583	1986-2001
6'6"	Dave Winfield	465	1973-1995
6'7"	Frank Howard	382	1958-1973
6'8"	Richie Sexson	294	1997-2007
6'9"	Mark Hendrickson	1	2002-2007
6'10"	Randy Johnson	1	1988-2007
6'11"	Jon Rauch	1	2002-2007

Here are the active career home run leaders at each listed height, provided a current major league player is listed at that height.

Most Career Home Runs Among Active Players, By Height

Height	Name	HR	HR Behind Leader
3'7"	N/A	N/A	N/A
5'3"	N/A	N/A	N/A
5'4"	N/A	N/A	N/A
5'5"	N/A	N/A	N/A
5'6"	David Eckstein	30	214
5'7"	Fabio Castro	0	268
5'8"	Ray Durham	186	172
5'9"	Ivan Rodriguez	288	223
5'10"	Brian Giles	273	24
5'11"	Gary Sheffield	480	180
6'0"	Sammy Sosa	609	146
6'1"	Barry Bonds	762	0
6'2"	Jason Giambi	364	350
6'3"	Ken Griffey Jr.	593	0
6'4"	Jim Thome	507	14
6'5"	Frank Thomas	513	70
6'6"	Adam Dunn	238	227
6'7"	Tony Clark	244	138
6'8"	Richie Sexson	294	0
6'9"	Mark Hendrickson	1	0
6'10"	Randy Johnson	1	0
6'11"	Jon Rauch	1	0

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.

Most Home Runs, SLG < .300

It's getting harder to have a slugging percentage under .300 and play a lot in a single season. Only four players since 2000 have qualified for the batting title (502+ PA) with a slugging percentage under .300; only twenty-one got as many as 300 plate appearances. That makes it unlikely these records will be broken anytime soon, but you never know.

I thought it would be interesting to see the highest home run totals among players with slugging percentages of .300 or below. It's obvious that there's no way to increase your slugging percentage faster than to hit a home run, so anyone who hits a decent number of home runs would have to be pretty bad at getting any other hits to qualify. The guys below certainly hit badly.

Most HR in a Season, SLG < .300

Rank	Name	Year	HR	SLG
1	Don Wert	1968	12	.299
2	Dave Valle	1991	8	.299
	Roger Repoz	1969	8	.288
4	Jose Oliva	1995	7	.284
	Mike Pagliarulo	1989	7	.299
	Barry Foote	1975	7	.295
	Mike Andrews	1972	7	.297
	Jimmy Wynn	1971	7	.295
	Ray Oyler	1969	7	.267
	Dave Duncan	1968	7	.293
	Bill Robinson	1967	7	.281
	Sam Bowens	1965	7	.296
	Bobby Knoop	1964	7	.280
	Roy McMillan	1961	7	.293
	Harry Chiti	1960	7	.296
	Jack Dittmer	1952	7	.291
	Travis Jackson	1936	7	.297

In his twelve home run season, Wert had 107 hits in 536 at bats, for a .200 batting average. He had 15 doubles and 1 triple to go with his dozen homers. To me, the most impressive season on the list is Ray Oyler's 1969 for the Seattle Pilots. I already knew he was an incredibly bad hitter, showing up three times on this list of futility. In 1969, however, he reached a career high in home runs while putting up a .165/.260/.267 line in 255 at bats.

The career list for home runs while slugging below .300 is more interesting. There are a lot of pitchers on the list, which makes sense because they tend to have longer careers than position players who don't hit well. The names of the players on the list who weren't pitchers are written in red text.

Most Career HR, SLG < .300

Rank	Name	HR	SLG
1	Warren Spahn	35	.287
2	Bobby Wine	30	.286
3	Don Drysdale	29	.295
4	Mike Ryan	28	.280
5	Julio Cruz	23	.299
6	Johnnie LeMaster	22	.289
	Tom Egan	22	.299
7	Dick Schofield	21	.297
8	Mark Belanger	20	.280
	Milt Pappas	20	.197
10	Bruce Benedict	18	.299
	Hector Torres	18	.281
12	Early Wynn	17	.285
13	Jim Kaat	16	.267
	Billy Hunter	16	.294
14	Gene Michael	15	.284
	Don Cardwell	15	.216
	Ray Oyler	15	.251
	Pedro Ramos	15	.240
	Joe Nuxhall	15	.292
	Dick Donovan	15	.248
	Johnny Antonelli	15	.271
	Claude Passeau	15	.274
	Al Glossop	15	.291
	Hal Schumacher	15	.287
	Lefty Grove	15	.207