Blog Archives
MIlwaukee Is Making A Boneheaded Move If Non-Tendering Chris Carter: Should Have Learned From Houston Last Year

Chris Carter would be the perfect ‘cheap’ addition to compete on a lot of American League Rosters. This man has been criminally underrated for the power and walks he has put forth over the last 4 campaigns. With the ability to DH/play 1B or LF, with Milwaukee having 2 years left of team control in Arbitration, the club has DFA’d him, and likely will be forced to release him outright as A Free Agent. The management also signed an unproven MLB’er (Eric Thames) to a guaranteed $15 MIL over 3 years. Pretty bad on all front in my opinion!
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer/Part Owner) Follow @stokes_hunter21
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Last year at this time I made the point that the Houston Astros made a big mistake in non-tendering Chris Carter. At that juncture, the man has clubbed 90 HRS over the previous 3 campaigns with the Astros.
Houston struggled at the First Base Position all year in 2016 – with a collection of Tyler White, Marwin Gonzalez, Luis Valbuena and Yulieski Gurriel. With just bringing forth 84 wins. with the cutoff for the playoffs at 89 victories, one could say the franchise could have used the slugger ( and his .821 OPS, 41 HRs and 94 RBI).
The ‘Stros’ finished with production of .232/.299/.381 – 19 HRs, 62 RBI out of the position – which had a huge factor in them not reaching the playoffs, having the 2nd worst offensive output for the American League (Yankees – the worst).
Carter is a powerful dude who is a kind of the new Adam Dunn of the Majors. If he qualified for HR/PER AB ALL – Time with 3000 PA (he has 2645 his 14.97 AB per homer would rank him 13th in Major League Baseball History. So where is the love? Read the rest of this entry
Bryce Harper Will Look Good In Yankee Pinstripes For 2019
Trey Rose (Featured Fantasy Baseball Writer/Owner – dynastydigest.sportsblog.com) Follow @Dynasty_Digest
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Bryce Harper is widely considered as one of best, if not the best, players in Major League Baseball. At only 23 years old, Harper is already being compared to baseball legends such as Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, and many others.
Harper made his Major League Baseball debut at the age of 19 in 2012, because of that, his team control will expire at a much younger age than the average player. He will be a free agent in 2019 at the age of 26.
After his incredible 2015 campaign at the age of 22, people think he will only improve as he gets older. Nobody has ever had expectations quite like Harper has, so there is no way to predict how much money he will make if he meets and exceeds these expectations.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Harper sign a contract worth $400-500 million dollars in 2019, which will break almost every monetary record in baseball history.
The Phillies State Of The Union: Hitters Edition + They Should Give A Full Chance To Darin Ruf In 2014

The Phillies are to the NL what the Yankees are to the AL, and old and expensive team. They had their 1st losing campaign in over a decade, and are without a 3rd Baseman, Catcher and possibly an OF to fill the holes. That is if they end up resigning Doc Halladay. But 2013 wasn’t an entire loss. Performances by Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf have to give the management some hope. Playing guys under team control, low payroll deals will enable the franchise the flexibility to pursue high end talent in Free Agency. Today, I explain how the Phightins’ can do this. How will the team fare under 2nd year skipper Ryne Sandberg – after a 20 – 22 finish?
Hunter Stokes (Chief Writer): Follow @stokes_hunter21
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2014 was a tough year on the Phillies. For one, the fact that the MLB Reports is having an Awareness Day for them today, based on them having the 7th worst record (73 – 89) in the Majors during 2013 is mind – boggling.
We are talking about a team that had 5 Division Titles in a row (2007 – 2011), a huge payroll, and a bountiful nest of ALL – Stars to hit in the lineup, and in the Starting Rotation.
Much like the Yankees though, their core is all hitting their waning years. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins are having a tough time staying on the field to be productive.
2013 was always going to be about the team resurrecting its status as an NL Elite, instead they saw Roy Halladay blow up before their eyes, Cole Hamels struggle, and nobody was there to save them.
For all of the Rosters, Depth Charts, State of the Unions and Salaries Posts that we do, please visit our dedicated page link here.
Darin Ruf’s Towering Shot in Aug of 2013
2 And A Hook Podcast #7: Ranking The 30 Ball Parks In The MLB + Giants And Red Sox Correspondent Interviews
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‘2 And A Hook’ is an expression from Baseball: ‘Throw the guy 2 Fast balls and then a Hook’ (AKA Curve Ball, Wiggly one, Chair etc..)
By James Acevedo – Host (Podcast Veteran News and Stats – 1st minute to 7 minute mark, 26 Minute Mark to 36 Minute Mark, and 1 Hour 4 Minute Mark to 1 Hour Minute 8.) Follow @yankeeman1973
People in this Podcast:
Jonathan Schifferle (MLB Reports Giants Correspondent – 7 Minutes in and a 18 Minute Segment) Follow @jonschifferle
Ryan Dana (MLB Reports Boston Red Sox Correspondent – 36 Minute Mark and a 27 Minute Segment) Follow @ryandana1
Chuck Booth (MLB Reports Owner and Lead Baseball Analyst – 1 Hour and 10 Minutes In and a 43 Minute Segment) Follow @chuckbooth3024
On today’s show, brought to you by MLB Reports (www.mlbreports.com) & yours truly The Bench Warmers, I get into the Alex Rodriguez/Anthony Bosch soap opera very briefly.
I then interviewed our (MLB Reports) Giants correspondent Jonathan Schifferle to talk about the giants team,”The Peapods” in the stands for Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence also known as “The Killer Peas”. Read the rest of this entry
An American Hobby: Baseball Memorabilia – Roberto Clemente’s 1955 Topps Rookie Card
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Roberto Clemente was a 13 Time ALL – Star and a 12 time Gold Glove Award Winner. He also led the NL in Batting Average 4 X – and in hits 2 X. He was the 1966 NL MVP – setting Career highs in HRs, (29) Runs, (105) and RBI (119). In the 13 years from 1960 – 1972, he hit under .312 only in 1 season – (.291 in 1968). Sadly, he died in an aviation accident on New Years Eve 1973, while he was delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua at the age of 38. He and Lou Gehrig hold the distinctive honors of having the 5 year wait period waived for the Baseball Hall Of Fame.
By Lee Edelstein (‘Baseball Memorabilia Enthusiast’ – visit his website here) Follow @chinmusicstory
MLB Reports: We are pleased to present you with Baseball Author Lee Edelstein as the newest writer with us at the Reports. Lee will be providing us with great stories about baseball memorabilia on a regular basis.
MLB Reports
An American Hobby
Blog 10
This week’s article features a member of the 3,000 Hit Club.
Roberto Clemente is a beloved figure in baseball history, one of the greatest defensive right fielders of all time, and, in many ways, a pioneer – the Jackie Robinson of Hispanic and Latin ballplayers.
While Robinson faced the monumental hurdle of integrating baseball, Clemente’s challenges included overcoming pervasive language and cultural barriers.
Consider this – he is the first Latin American in the Hall of Fame, the first Hispanic ballplayer to win a World Series as a starter (1960), win an MVP award (1966), and win a World Series MVP Award (1971).
He played in the era of Aaron, Mays, and Mantle and, for much of his career, was under-appreciated.
An American Hobby: Baseball Memorabilia – Harmon Killebrew’s 1955 Topps Rookie Card
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Killer was an 11 Time All – Star and an 6 time HR King and led the AL in RBI 3 times as well. He also hit 40+ HRs 8 times. The man had a Hall Of Fame Career. Killenbrew also had a great eye – in leading the American League in Walks in 4 separate years. Overall, he Walked 1559 times in 2435 Games Played. His 3 Career Slash was .256/.376/.884.
By Lee Edelstein (‘Baseball Memorabilia Enthusiast’ – visit his website here) Follow @chinmusicstory
MLB Reports: We are pleased to present you with Baseball Author Lee Edelstein as the newest writer with us at the Reports. Lee will be providing us with great stories about baseball memorabilia on a regular basis.
MLB Reports
An American Hobby
Blog 10
This week’s article features a member of the 500 Home Run club.
During the decade of the 1960’s, sluggers named Hank Aaron,Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Willie McCovey, Ernie Banks, and Frank Robinson, in the prime of their careers, bashed balls out of the ballpark in record fashion.
In 1961, Mantle and Maris duked it out as the baseball world watched their assault on Babe Ruth’s single season Home Run record. But after the dust had settled on the 60’s, it was a quiet gentleman named Harmon Killebrew who wound up hitting more Home Runs in the decade than anyone else.
Nicknamed “The Killer”, although he was anything but, he pounded 393 Home Runs in that ten year period:
Harmon Killebrew Tribute:
An American Hobby: Baseball Memorabilia – ‘Mel Ott’ Card From 1935
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Mel Ott was a Hall Of Fame Player that spent his whole Career with the New York Giants. He ranks 4th in ALL – Time HRs for players that played for just 1 team behind Schmidt – PHI (548), Mickey Mantle – NYY (536), and Ernie Banks – CHC (512). Ott made every ALL – Star Game (33 – ’44}. He led the NL in Home Runs and Walk 6 times each. Ott had 8 straight 100 + RBI years from Age 20 – 28. At the Age of 20 (1929), he had his best year with 42 HRs, 151 RBI and a 3 Slash Line of .328/.449/1.084.
By Lee Edelstein (‘Baseball Memorabilia Enthusiast’ – visit his website here) Follow @chinmusicstory
MLB Reports: We are pleased to present you with Baseball Author Lee Edelstein as the newest writer with us at the Reports. Lee will be providing us with great stories about baseball memorabilia on a regular basis.
MLB Reports
An American Hobby
Blog 6
Collecting baseball cards is a uniquely American hobby. As a kid growing up in the 1950’s I had shoeboxes full of them. All of my friends did, too. We had so many cards that, when we got older and our interests shifted to teenage pursuits, our moms decided to clean house. Literally. Out went the cards which they considered to be nothing more than junk. Today, we wax nostalgic over those cardboard canvasses of our heroes that we treated so casually. That’s also why, in good condition, they are worth small fortunes.
I renewed my interest in card collecting a few years ago when I decided to build a collection of the elites of the game – the ballplayers who are members of three very exclusive clubs: 300 Wins, 3,000 Hits, and 500 Home Runs. It’s an exclusive membership that includes players from before the turn of the twentieth century (Kid Nichols #7 with 361 wins) through players who are active today (Derek Jeter is currently #10 on the all-time hit list with 3,304 hits):
- 300 Wins – 24 players
- 3,000 Hits – 28 players
- 500 Home Runs – 25 players
Each week, I’ll feature a baseball card of one of these all-time greats. Along the way, we’ll talk about other aspects of America’s Hobby, why it continues to grow in popularity, and answer any questions you may have.
1933 World Series Recap – Including a HR by Mel Ott!
An American Hobby: Baseball Memorabilia – Mickey Mantle: “The Mick” Card
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Mickey Mantle is the ALL – Time HR leader amongst switch hitters. He was a 3 Time AL MVP with 6 other top 5 finishes. He won the Triple Crown in 1956 for the Yankees. In an era that was not known for Stealing, he held himself back – or he could have been Baseballs first 40/40 Man. Mantle slugged over 1.000 OPS in 8 years and held a Career 3 Slash line of .298/.421/.977. Mantle won 7 World Series and appeared in a total of 12 Fall Classics – hitting 18 HRs (a record that stood for 3 decades by a Post Season Career and still is a WS Record.) Mantle made just over $1 MIL in earnings for his 18 years.
By Lee Edelstein (‘Baseball Memorabilia Enthusiast’ – visit his website here) Follow @chinmusicstory
MLB Reports: We are pleased to present you with Baseball Author Lee Edelstein as the newest writer with us at the Reports. Lee will be providing us with great stories about baseball memorabilia on a regular basis.
MLB Reports
An American Hobby
Blog 5
Just as Joe DiMaggio was winding down his career in 1951, a nineteen-year-old wunderkind burst upon the MLB scene. His name was Mickey Mantle, he hailed from Commerce, Oklahoma, and he was the walking, talking personification of the All-American boy. The Mick was boyishly handsome, strong, sleek, and fast as the wind.
And he could hit Home Runs further than anyone in the game. When he won the Triple Crown in 1956 he captured the hearts and souls of an entire generation of youngsters who would go on to be known as the Baby Boomers. But just like Roy Hobbs, The Natural, in Bernard Malamud’s 1952 story, his personality flaws along with injuries, would keep Mantle from realizing his full potential.
The Yankees seemed to be blessed with sterling talent that showed up at just the right time. As Babe Ruth’s career with the Bronx Bombers wound down, Lou Gehrig was there to carry the team forward. When Gehrig’s career came to an abrupt and tragic end, Joe DiMaggio was just establishing himself as the preeminent Center Fielder of his day.
Mickey Mantle’s 500th HR(3rd one in) is amongst these 7 Mantle videos :
Yoenis Cespedes: While Cuba Misses Their Star in the 2013 WBC – the A’s Slugger Looks to be an A.L. MVP Candidate
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From Cuba to A.L. MVP? Despite not being able to represent his native country in the WBC, Cespedes is a year older and wiser. The more he adjusts to North America life and baseball, opposing pitchers will shudder even more each time Cespedes comes to the plate.
Jonathan Hacohen (Lead Baseball Columnist, Oakland A’s Correspondent and Website Founder): Follow @Jhacohen
It’s pretty ironic if you ask me. The 2013 World Baseball Classic is here and Cuba is off to a huge start. I had to pick a winner and went with Cuba as my pre-tournament favorite. Considering that Japan has won both editions of the WBC, Cuba was definitely going to be in tough. To top it all off, they are starting off the first two rounds in Japan. Why is it ironic? For Cuba is missing its biggest star for the tournament. Yoenis Cespedes, the Oakland A’s star outfielder is in Arizona for Spring Training.
Far away from the bright lights of Japan, where Cuba finally beat its nemesis this week in WBC play after several failed attempts in the past. With that monkey off their back, Cuba has made the statement that they are ready to win it all. But yet without their biggest star. For when one defects from Cuba, they are forever banished from representing their country again in any baseball capacity.
I couldn’t help but think watching Cuba play in Japan this week that in fact Cespedes and the A’s opened their season last year in Japan. Cespedes actually started off his season with a bang out there and never looked back. On March 29th last year, Cespedes had a home run in the 2nd game of the A’s young season. That bomb in Japan was the start of the legend. Who knew that Cespedes would actually be in Japan a year too early? For all the success that Cuba has enjoyed thus far in the 2013 WBC, imagine if they had Cespedes anchoring that lineup?
Cuba may very still win the 2013 WBC. My money is on that happening. But if Cuba falls short yet again, the what if scenarios will endlessly get bounced around. What if the team had Aroldis Chapman? Alexei Ramirez? And most of all, Yoenis Cespedes? Until Cuba allows its defectors to come home again, the talent drain will continue to affect the country in international tournaments.
Yoenis Cespedes 2012 Highlights Mature Lyrics so Parental Guidance is Advised:
Baseball Book Review: “The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History” – By Robert W. Cohen
Sunday November 11th, 2012
“THE 50 GREATEST PLAYERS IN NEW YORK YANKEES HISTORY” – BY ROBERT W. COHEN
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.: 2012
Jonathan Hacohen: I’m going to start off this review with a little disclaimer. Despite the similarities of our last names, there is no relation between myself and author Robert W. Cohen. He is a Cohen, I am Ha-Cohen. Fortunately, our surnames is not the only thing that links myself to Robert. After reading his prized book “The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History” (or as I shall call the “50 Greatest Yankees” for the rest of this review), we have a common admiration for the team in pinstripes. Truth be known, for a person loves baseball- they can’t help but respect and follow the Yankees. The history, traditions and of course, the superstars that have played in the Bronx over the years. Love ’em or hate ’em, you can’t stop talking about the Yankees when a baseball history conversation is in play.
With the final pitch of the 2012 World Series having recently been thrown (and watched for a called third strike to end the game…and season), I found myself with the opportunity to complete the 50 Greatest Yankees. We were fortunate to have Robert W. Cohen appear on MLB reports back in July with a Guest MLB Blog to discuss the book. Now it was time for me to complete the book and discuss it with you, the readers. The timing couldn’t be better, considering that the Christmas holiday shopping season is around the corner. If you want to really impress the baseball fan in your life with a great gift, the 50 Greatest Yankees will certainly be a home run for you. A detailed history of the 50 greatest players to ever put on a Yankees uniform? This is a subject that every baseball fan will want to cover in great detail. Read the rest of this entry
Roger Clemens and the Sugar Land Skeeters
Wednesday August 29th, 2012
Sam Evans: Roger Clemens deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. If Cooperstown picked candidates with regard to their off-field activities, players like Dick Williams and Mickey Mantle might have never been chosen to the elite class that is the Hall of Fame. If Hall of Fame voters look at Clemens’ career numbers, they’ll find it hard to not see him as having one of the best starting pitching careers we’ve ever seen. Clemens is currently pitching with the independent league Sugar Land Skeeters after five years away from the game. It’s been only one game so far, with more possibly to come. Let’s look at Clemens, his first start, and how he stacks up against some of his teammates.
Roger Clemens ranks eighth all-time among major leaguers in WAR, and second among starting pitchers (145.5). His upper 90’s fastball, nasty splitter, and above-average changeup led him to over 300 wins and a twenty-four year career in the majors. His last season, in 2007 with the New York Yankees, Clemens still managed to pitch at a fairly high level, posting a 4.14 FIP in seventeen starts. His average fastball velocity was just over 90 MPH for the 2007 season.
After Clemens figured out a bunch of legal things, he “tried out” for the Sugar Land Skeeters, who play in the independent Atlantic League, and made the team. In his first start on Saturday, August 25th, Clemens lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing only one hit, not walking a batter, and striking out two. Facing a Bridgeport team that features former major leaguers Joey Gathright and Shea Hillebrand, Clemens topped out at 88 MPH and got a few outs via his splitter. Read the rest of this entry
The Underrated Greatness of Yoenis Cespedes: The Stats Don’t Lie
Monday August 20th, 2012
(Image Courtesy of Businessinsider.com)
Jonathan Hacohen: For all the talk of Mike Trout as the sure bet for this year’s A.L. ROY and possibly MVP awards, a name that does not get thrown around enough is that of Yoenis Cespedes. Heard of him? I’m sure you have. The Cuban sensation, who went almost overnight from a YouTube prospect star to the A’s best hitter. The baseball world has not forgotten about Cespedes. But it seems like for all the attention Mike Trout is getting, Cespedes is not getting enough baseball love. Given Trout’s numbers, it’s not hard to see why. The kid hailed as the next Mickey Mantle has delivered and then some. Trout leads the league with a .343 average. Scored 96 runs and stole 39 bases. Obscene numbers for any MLB player in August, let alone a 21-year old. What makes Trout even more incredible is that he is doing it at home and on the road. Check his splits- almost identical. But then Trout does get to enjoy the lineup protection of Albert Pujols, Kendrys Morales, Torii Hunter and the rest of the Angels lineup.
I am not even going to begin to try to compare Trout and Cespedes. Apples and oranges. Trout is much younger (6 years) and he clearly has the superior numbers. In any other year though, Yoenis Cespedes would have been the shoo-in Rookie of the Year in the A.L. and would have garnered MVP votes as well. But just because Trout is so good, we shouldn’t let Cespedes not get his time in the sun. The man has been a one-man wrecking crew for the A’s and the team’s overall record with him in the lineup is part of the proof of his greatness. Read the rest of this entry
“The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History” – By Robert W. Cohen: Guest MLB Blog
Thursday July 12th, 2012
“THE 50 GREATEST PLAYERS IN NEW YORK YANKEES HISTORY” – BY ROBERT W. COHEN
A sneak peek, courtesy of Amazon.com:
The New York Yankees are Major League Baseball’s most renowned and successful franchise. Baseball greats such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Derek Jeter have all worn the famous navy blue and white pinstripes. The Yankees have won 27 World Series championships, and 29 players who spent at least a year with the team have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. With so many Hall of Famers to choose from, selecting the best players in the history of the franchise might seem impossible; yet that is exactly what Robert W. Cohen has done in The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History.
This book carefully examines the careers of the players who made the greatest impact on the most successful franchise in the history of professional sports. The ranking was determined based on such factors as the extent to which each player added to the Yankees legacy, the degree to which he impacted the fortunes of his team, and the level of dominance he attained while wearing the Yankee uniform. Features of The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History include
- Each player’s notable achievements
- Recaps of the player’s most memorable performances
- Summaries of each player’s best season
- Quotes from opposing players and former teammates
Yankees fans and baseball fans in general will find The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History a fascinating collection of bios, stats, recaps, quotes, and more. And with such iconic figures as Yogi Berra, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Alex Rodriguez, and Andy Pettitte, this book is sure to inspire debate and controversy among true Yankees fans.
Robert Cohen: Although I have been interviewed on numerous occasions to discuss my previously published works, I have never before been presented with an opportunity to speak directly to baseball fans – a group with which I closely identify. Therefore, I would first like to thank MLB Reports for giving me this chance to address those fans of the game that frequent their website.
Considering the fact that I first began writing professionally some 10 years ago, it probably came as a surprise to those people who know me best that it took me this long to write my latest book, The 50 Greatest Players in New York Yankees History. A huge fan of the Yankees since my childhood days, my earliest memories of the sport center around the team’s fall from grace during the mid-1960s. While I have vague memories of watching the 1964 World Series on my family’s old black and white television, I recall far more vividly the dark period that followed, when the Yankees typically finished in the American League’s second division with a roster littered with mediocre players.
Nevertheless, even those Yankee teams featured a few standout performers, with players such as Mel Stottlemyre, Bobby Murcer, Roy White, and Thurman Munson helping to keep them respectable. And some of the great players from New York’s glory years still remained on the team at the beginning of that period, including Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, and Elston Howard. Read the rest of this entry
Forget Strikeouts: Hit ’Em Where They Ain’t!
Monday January 23, 2012
Douglas “Chuck” Booth- Baseball Writer: Back in the turn of the 20th century, baseball was a different game. Players had second jobs to supplement their baseball salaries, teams carried few pitchers and they used the same baseball for as much of the game as they could. There was a player named Willie Keeler who coined the phrase: “Hit ’em where they ain’t!” It was a slang term for hitting the baseball where outfielders were not located. This term would hold up for baseball players until Babe Ruth graced the baseball world with the retort, “I like to him them over the fence because the fielders are definitely not there.” Strikeouts were a different situation back then as opposed to the modern-day game.
Old time baseball players were ashamed of strikeouts. To them, you had done nothing to help your team in advancing the offence. While I never played baseball at a higher level than age 19, I came from this very philosophy and this was twenty years ago. My teammates and I all took turns throwing temper tantrums over striking out in Little League Baseball. Some kids even resorted to crying. The coaches of the teams all preached young men to cut down their strikeouts in favor of just making some contact. For the longest time I believed that the Major League Players thought along these lines. Media articles and sports broadcasters still interview retired players about striking out. All of them say that it bothered them a great deal. So what happened to change the philosophy? Was it Money Ball? How about Sabermetrics? I think that these both had a role in the ever rising strikeout totals the current players are experiencing each and every year. There are other factors like hard throwing relief pitchers and teams spending more money to keep aging veterans who have lost plate coverage, thus increasing their k rates.
In the 1990’s we also experienced the steroid era, where the bandbox stadiums were built and MLB went with the advertising campaign, “chicks dig the long ball!” It all had led to the increased strikeout total. To see just how far the epidemic had come, let’s go back 85 years; in 1927 Babe Ruth led the Major Leagues with 89 strikeouts. Oh yeah, he also hit .356 with 60 HRs and drove in 164 RBIs in 540 ABs. Lou Gehrig finished in 2nd that year with 84 strikeouts- but he hit .373 with 47 HRs and a whopping 175 RBIs in 580 ABs. Both men walked over 100 times each and slugged over .750. Yes pitching was not as tough as it is today. But these guys played in the dead ball era with humongous baseball stadiums.
Fast forward to 1961. 10 players had over 100 strikeouts that year. Much like 1927, the New York Yankees had two players leading the charge in offense with Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Despite hitting a record 61 HRs that season, Roger Maris had a keen eye for the plate in only striking out 67 times. There was a shift starting with the other players in league. A player by the name of Jake Wood stuck out a league leading 141 times. Amongst the other players to top the 100 strikeouts mark were Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew. It was a change in contrast to the power hitters of the league striking out on a more frequent basis. Players like Joe Dimaggio (369 SO, 361 HRs), Ted Williams (760 SO and 521 HRs) and Stan Musial (696 SO and 475 HRs) were standing out on the pier as players who adopted the contact concept. But they were becoming a rare breed of player.
In 1986, the number of players with 100 strikeouts escalated to 40. Yes there were an increase in the number of teams due to expansion. However, the rate of the players striking out 100 times a year far outweighed those added teams. There were definitely a few exceptions to the rule. Don Mattingly only struck out 444 times in 7721 Plate Appearances during his career. Wade Boggs only struck out only 745 times in nearly 11000 Plate Appearances. It should be noted the Boggs walked 1412 times and routinely fouled off pitches with two strikes deliberately to wear down opposing pitchers; otherwise his whiffs would have been much lower. The best of this era was Tony Gwynn, who only struck out 434 times in 10200 Plate Appearances. All 3 of these players were part of a baseball decade in which the 1-2 hitters were purely average contact hitters who did not strikeout very much and stole bases, while playing hit and run ball. Your power hitters belonged in the 3-4-5 slots and that was the only place to have an acceptable amount of high strikeout totals. The 6-8 hitters were also average contact hitters with speed.
In 2011, 80 players finished with over 100 strikeouts. There is one thing though that has remained constant. The home runs are still up way higher from the rate of the 1980’s. Now steroid testing has slowed down the balls leaving the yard from 10-15 years back, but more players still hit 30 homers a year than in the 25 years before the steroid era. You might want to also throw in the decreasing strike zone the umpires seem to implement each progressive season. Do not count on the umpires calling more strikes either, as it easier to pinpoint the botched strike calls now more than ever with technology. Umpires are simply not willing for the most part to give much leniency to the pitchers. Higher counts in ABs as a result will reflect in both more strikeouts and walks.
The baseball world has come to this. It is now acceptable for players (including the management and front office backing of the idea), to carry high strikeout totals and low batting averages- if the on base percentage/power numbers are still there. Leadoff hitters are not even immune to striking out on a regular basis. It is a mentality that has changed the game forever. So the next time you are wondering why all of the baseball games seem to last forever now: remember that more strikeouts equals more pitches seen. Which means the length of time each game lasts will be affected.
*** Thank you to our Baseball Writer- Doug Booth for preparing today’s feature on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Doug Booth, you can follow Doug on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and click here for Doug’s website, fastestthirtyballgames.com***
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