MARK Mcgwire's 1998 HOME RUN RECORD CHASE
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Fair Ball! Why Adjustments Are Needed
© Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. CHAPTER 1 Fair Ball! Why Adjustments Are Needed King Arthur’s quest for it in the Middle Ages became a large part of his legend. Monty Python and Indiana Jones launched their searches in popular 1974 and 1989 movies. The mythic quest for the Holy Grail, the name given in Western tradition to the chal- ice used by Jesus Christ at his Passover meal the night before his death, is now often a metaphor for a quintessential search. In the illustrious history of baseball, the “holy grail” is a ranking of each player’s overall value on the baseball diamond. Because player skills are multifaceted, it is not clear that such a ranking is possible. In comparing two players, you see that one hits home runs much better, whereas the other gets on base more often, is faster on the base paths, and is a better fielder. So which player should rank higher? In Baseball’s All-Time Best Hitters, I identified which players were best at getting a hit in a given at-bat, calling them the best hitters. Many reviewers either disapproved of or failed to note my definition of “best hitter.” Although frequently used in base- ball writings, the terms “good hitter” or best hitter are rarely defined. In a July 1997 Sports Illustrated article, Tom Verducci called Tony Gwynn “the best hitter since Ted Williams” while considering only batting average. -
The Astros' Sign-Stealing Scandal
The Astros’ Sign-Stealing Scandal Major League Baseball (MLB) fosters an extremely competitive environment. Tens of millions of dollars in salary (and endorsements) can hang in the balance, depending on whether a player performs well or poorly. Likewise, hundreds of millions of dollars of value are at stake for the owners as teams vie for World Series glory. Plus, fans, players and owners just want their team to win. And everyone hates to lose! It is no surprise, then, that the history of big-time baseball is dotted with cheating scandals ranging from the Black Sox scandal of 1919 (“Say it ain’t so, Joe!”), to Gaylord Perry’s spitter, to the corked bats of Albert Belle and Sammy Sosa, to the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in the 1990s and early 2000s. Now, the Houston Astros have joined this inglorious list. Catchers signal to pitchers which type of pitch to throw, typically by holding down a certain number of fingers on their non-gloved hand between their legs as they crouch behind the plate. It is typically not as simple as just one finger for a fastball and two for a curve, but not a lot more complicated than that. In September 2016, an Astros intern named Derek Vigoa gave a PowerPoint presentation to general manager Jeff Luhnow that featured an Excel-based application that was programmed with an algorithm. The algorithm was designed to (and could) decode the pitching signs that opposing teams’ catchers flashed to their pitchers. The Astros called it “Codebreaker.” One Astros employee referred to the sign- stealing system that evolved as the “dark arts.”1 MLB rules allowed a runner standing on second base to steal signs and relay them to the batter, but the MLB rules strictly forbade using electronic means to decipher signs. -
Baseball Classics All-Time All-Star Greats Game Team Roster
BASEBALL CLASSICS® ALL-TIME ALL-STAR GREATS GAME TEAM ROSTER Baseball Classics has carefully analyzed and selected the top 400 Major League Baseball players voted to the All-Star team since it's inception in 1933. Incredibly, a total of 20 Cy Young or MVP winners were not voted to the All-Star team, but Baseball Classics included them in this amazing set for you to play. This rare collection of hand-selected superstars player cards are from the finest All-Star season to battle head-to-head across eras featuring 249 position players and 151 pitchers spanning 1933 to 2018! Enjoy endless hours of next generation MLB board game play managing these legendary ballplayers with color-coded player ratings based on years of time-tested algorithms to ensure they perform as they did in their careers. Enjoy Fast, Easy, & Statistically Accurate Baseball Classics next generation game play! Top 400 MLB All-Time All-Star Greats 1933 to present! Season/Team Player Season/Team Player Season/Team Player Season/Team Player 1933 Cincinnati Reds Chick Hafey 1942 St. Louis Cardinals Mort Cooper 1957 Milwaukee Braves Warren Spahn 1969 New York Mets Cleon Jones 1933 New York Giants Carl Hubbell 1942 St. Louis Cardinals Enos Slaughter 1957 Washington Senators Roy Sievers 1969 Oakland Athletics Reggie Jackson 1933 New York Yankees Babe Ruth 1943 New York Yankees Spud Chandler 1958 Boston Red Sox Jackie Jensen 1969 Pittsburgh Pirates Matty Alou 1933 New York Yankees Tony Lazzeri 1944 Boston Red Sox Bobby Doerr 1958 Chicago Cubs Ernie Banks 1969 San Francisco Giants Willie McCovey 1933 Philadelphia Athletics Jimmie Foxx 1944 St. -
San Francisco Giants Homestand Release | September 29 – October 1, 2017
San Francisco Giants Homestand Release | September 29 – October 1, 2017 Sept. 29 – Oct. 1 vs. San Diego Padres sfgiants.com • sfgigantes.com • twitter/SFGiants • facebook/Giants • instagram/sfgiants • snapchat/sfgiants HOMESTAND HIGHLIGHTED BY MATT CAIN RETIREMENT, WILLIE MAC AWARD, FAN APPRECIATION DAY, OKTOBERFEST AND STAR WARS® DAY FRI., SEPT 29 | 7:15 P.M. | SAN DIEGO PADRES GIVEAWAY – BB-8 BEANIE – Presented by PG&E – First BROADCASTS: KNBR 680AM, SPANISH RADIO KXZM 93.7FM, NBC 20,000 fans SPORTS BAY AREA PROMOTION – FAN APPRECIATION MONTH: To NATIONAL ANTHEM: Jordyn Diew celebrate Fan Appreciation CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCH: Presented by Konica Minolta Month, the Giants will give out prizes during each home game to lucky PROMOTION – FAN APPRECIATION MONTH: fans. Prizes include Star Wars VIP screening, To celebrate Fan Appreciation Month, the $100 Jack in the Box Cash Card, $50 Giants will give out prizes during each home Chevron Gas Card and more. game to lucky fans. Prizes include Silver Oak Wine Tour & Tasting, Steal 2nd Base SPECIAL PROMOTION – SF/MARIN FOOD BANK FOOD DRIVE: experience, Altec Lansing Bluetooth Presented by Visa: First 3,000 fans who donate $5 or 5 cans of food headphones and more. will receive a Giants drawstring bag. SPECIAL PRE-GAME CEREMONY – WILLIE MAC AWARD: Each year the SPECIAL EVENT – STAR WARS® DAY: The Giants will Willie Mac Award is given to a Giants player who best exemplifies the host the annual STAR WARS® day at AT&T Park. This inspiration, character and leadership that Willie McCovey special event ticket includes a Giants-themed BB-8 demonstrated during his playing days in San Francisco. -
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TROUT AT 1,000 CAREER GAMES On June 21st, Angels outfielder Mike Trout played in his 1,000th career game. Since making his debut July 8, 2011, the Millville, NJ native amassed a .308 (1,126/3,658) average with 216 doubles, 43 triples, 224 home runs, 617 RBI, 178 stolen bases and 754 runs scored during his first 1,000 games. Below you will find a summary of some of Trout’s accomplishments: His 224 career home runs were tied with Joe DiMaggio for 17th most all- MLB ALL-TIME LEADERS & THEIR time by an American Leaguer in their first 1,000 career games…MLB TOTALS AT 1,000 GAMES* home run leader, Barry Bonds, had 172 career home runs after his LEADER TROUT 1,000th career game. H PETE ROSE, 1,231 1,126 HR BARRY BONDS, 172 224 R RICKEY HENDERSON, 795 754 754 runs are the 20th most in Major League history by a player in their BB BARRY BONDS, 603 638 th TB HANK AARON, 2,221 2,100 first 1,000 career games and 14 in A.L. history…Trout scored more runs WAR BARRY BONDS, 50 60.8 in his first 1,000 career games than Stan Musial (746), Jackie Robinson * COURTESY OF ESPN (743), Willie Mays (719) and Frank Robinson (706), among others…Rickey Henderson, who has scored the most runs in Major League history, had 795 career runs at the time of his 1,000th career game. Trout has amassed 2,100 total bases, ranking 17th all-time by an PLAYERS WITH 480+ EXTRA-BASE HITS American Leaguer in their first 1,000 career games, ahead of Ken Griffey & 600 WALKS IN FIRST 1,000 G Jr. -
Baseball Math (Cont.)
Student Activity Sheet Baseball Math (cont.) Name:___________________________ Date:____________Per:_____________ If you have ever watched or played in a baseball game, you have probably noticed that there are a lot of numbers involved. Think for a moment about what it would be like to play without using numbers. It would seem pretty strange, wouldn’t it? For instance, how would you know how many outs there are, or how many runs were scored, or even who won? Baseball is packed full of numbers. Explore how numbers are used by completing the investigation that follows. Extra Bases The distance from home plate to first base and between all the bases on a major league baseball field is equal to 90 feet. 1. When you hit a double, how far do you have to run? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 2. How much further is a triple than a single? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 3. When you hit a home run, how many times longer is that than a single? _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ 4. Write a number sentence showing that a double is 1/2 the distance of a home run. _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ -
Weekly Notes 072817
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WEEKLY NOTES FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2017 BLACKMON WORKING TOWARD HISTORIC SEASON On Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Coors Field, Colorado Rockies All-Star outfi elder Charlie Blackmon went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and his 24th home run of the season. With the round-tripper, Blackmon recorded his 57th extra-base hit on the season, which include 20 doubles, 13 triples and his aforementioned 24 home runs. Pacing the Majors in triples, Blackmon trails only his teammate, All-Star Nolan Arenado for the most extra-base hits (60) in the Majors. Blackmon is looking to become the fi rst Major League player to log at least 20 doubles, 20 triples and 20 home runs in a single season since Curtis Granderson (38-23-23) and Jimmy Rollins (38-20-30) both accomplished the feat during the 2007 season. Since 1901, there have only been seven 20-20-20 players, including Granderson, Rollins, Hall of Famers George Brett (1979) and Willie Mays (1957), Jeff Heath (1941), Hall of Famer Jim Bottomley (1928) and Frank Schulte, who did so during his MVP-winning 1911 season. Charlie would become the fi rst Rockies player in franchise history to post such a season. If the season were to end today, Blackmon’s extra-base hit line (20-13-24) has only been replicated by 34 diff erent players in MLB history with Rollins’ 2007 season being the most recent. It is the fi rst stat line of its kind in Rockies franchise history. Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig is the only player in history to post such a line in four seasons (1927-28, 30-31). -
February, 2008
By the Numbers Volume 18, Number 1 The Newsletter of the SABR Statistical Analysis Committee February, 2008 Review Academic Research: The Effect of Steroids on Home Run Power Charlie Pavitt How much more power would a typical slugger gain from the use of performance-enhancing substances? The author reviews a recent academic study that presents estimates. R. G. Tobin, On the potential of a chemical from different assumption about it. Tobin examined the Bonds: Possible effects of steroids on home implications of several, with the stipulation that a batted ball would be considered a home run if it had a height of at least nine run production in baseball, American Journal feet at a distance of 380 feet from its starting point. of Physics, January 2008, Vol. 76 No. 1, pp. 15-20 Computations based on these models results in an increase from about 10 percent of batted balls qualifying as homers, which is This piece is really beyond my competence to do any more than the figure one would expect from a prolific power hitter, to about summarize, but it certainly is timely, and I thought a description 15 percent with the most conservative of the models and 20 would be of interest. Tobin’s interest is in using available data percent for the most liberal. These estimates imply an increase in and models to estimate the increase in home runs per batted ball homer production of 50 to 100 percent. that steroid use might provide. After reviewing past physiological work on the impact of steroids on weightlifters, he Tobin then takes on the impact on pitching, with a ten percent decided to assume an increase in muscle increase in muscle mass leading to a mass of ten percent five percent rise in from its use, leading In this issue pitching speed, to an analogous which is close to increase in kinetic Academic Research: The Effect of Steroids five miles an hour energy of the bat on Home Run Power ...................Charlie Pavitt ....................... -
National Pastime a REVIEW of BASEBALL HISTORY
THE National Pastime A REVIEW OF BASEBALL HISTORY CONTENTS The Chicago Cubs' College of Coaches Richard J. Puerzer ................. 3 Dizzy Dean, Brownie for a Day Ronnie Joyner. .................. .. 18 The '62 Mets Keith Olbermann ................ .. 23 Professional Baseball and Football Brian McKenna. ................ •.. 26 Wallace Goldsmith, Sports Cartoonist '.' . Ed Brackett ..................... .. 33 About the Boston Pilgrims Bill Nowlin. ..................... .. 40 Danny Gardella and the Reserve Clause David Mandell, ,................. .. 41 Bringing Home the Bacon Jacob Pomrenke ................. .. 45 "Why, They'll Bet on a Foul Ball" Warren Corbett. ................. .. 54 Clemente's Entry into Organized Baseball Stew Thornley. ................. 61 The Winning Team Rob Edelman. ................... .. 72 Fascinating Aspects About Detroit Tiger Uniform Numbers Herm Krabbenhoft. .............. .. 77 Crossing Red River: Spring Training in Texas Frank Jackson ................... .. 85 The Windowbreakers: The 1947 Giants Steve Treder. .................... .. 92 Marathon Men: Rube and Cy Go the Distance Dan O'Brien .................... .. 95 I'm a Faster Man Than You Are, Heinie Zim Richard A. Smiley. ............... .. 97 Twilight at Ebbets Field Rory Costello 104 Was Roy Cullenbine a Better Batter than Joe DiMaggio? Walter Dunn Tucker 110 The 1945 All-Star Game Bill Nowlin 111 The First Unknown Soldier Bob Bailey 115 This Is Your Sport on Cocaine Steve Beitler 119 Sound BITES Darryl Brock 123 Death in the Ohio State League Craig -
Using Mathematics and Statistics to Analyze Who Are the Great Sluggers in Baseball
ICOTS-7, 2006: Taylor and Krevisky USING MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS TO ANALYZE WHO ARE THE GREAT SLUGGERS IN BASEBALL Randy Taylor Las Positas College, United States Steve Krevisky Middlesex Community College, United States [email protected] In this presentation, we share the results of statistical work that we have done over several years, in order to determine who are the best sluggers in the game of baseball in the US. Using z scores, we examined yearly home run and slugging average figures, so as to analyze which batters were the most SD’s above the mean. We used cutoffs of 200 at bats or 250 plate appearances before expansion, and increased this by about 5%, to account for the increased number of games played after the expansion in the early 1960s. Since real data are involved, we feel that this would be a very good application for students in a basic statistics class, and we will present various charts in the following discussion, and summarize our findings. This is a shortened version of what we have presented at numerous conferences in the US. Please let us know if you wish to see the full version of our paper! INDIVIDUAL YEAR HOME RUN RESULTS Gathering the statistics was much more time consuming than imagined. Data was obtained for all years 1920-2003 from The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2004 by David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. This book contained all the information required, but the print was very small. It also used numbers to indicate players who were traded, which was important in counting players totals in both leagues if they played in both leagues. -
2003 Cubs Just Keep on Giving Via CSN Chicago's Longest-Ever
2003 Cubs just keep on giving via CSN Chicago’s longest-ever documentary By George Castle, CBM Historian Posted Tuesday, October 8th, 2013 The 2003 Cubs are the one Chica- go baseball team that just keeps on giving through the ages via shocks and surprises. Latest is left fielder Moises Alou, one half of L’Affair Bartman, making a startling admission on a new 90-minute Comcast SportsNet Chicago documentary on the most hopeful, and in the end most frustrating, season- climax in post-1945 Cubs annals. After alternately claiming he "5 Outs..." is the longest original documentary production Comcast SportsNet Chicago has ever done. would have caught or did not have a realistic shot at the infamous Luis Castillo pop foul Steve Bartman deflected just out of his reach, Alou now said he and third baseman Aramis Ramirez quickly prepared to get out of Dodge after the you- know-what hit the fan in Game 6. “I didn’t really like our chances after what happened (in Game 6),” Alou said in an inter- view in “5 Outs…”, the documentary airing at 9 p.m. (CT) Oct. 15 on CSN Chicago. The date is significant – the 10th anniversary of the Game 7 in which Alou and Kerry Wood homered, but also one in which the Cubs caved in during the middle innings to complete the greatest postseason collapse in team history. “I had a gut feeling or a weird feeling,” Alou continued. “They kept coming back...even in that game and the game before....series was 3-1 and tied up 3-3. -
Baseball All-Time Stars Rosters
BASEBALL ALL-TIME STARS ROSTERS (Boston-Milwaukee) ATLANTA Year Avg. HR CHICAGO Year Avg. HR CINCINNATI Year Avg. HR Hank Aaron 1959 .355 39 Ernie Banks 1958 .313 47 Ed Bailey 1956 .300 28 Joe Adcock 1956 .291 38 Phil Cavarretta 1945 .355 6 Johnny Bench 1970 .293 45 Felipe Alou 1966 .327 31 Kiki Cuyler 1930 .355 13 Dave Concepcion 1978 .301 6 Dave Bancroft 1925 .319 2 Jody Davis 1983 .271 24 Eric Davis 1987 .293 37 Wally Berger 1930 .310 38 Frank Demaree 1936 .350 16 Adam Dunn 2004 .266 46 Jeff Blauser 1997 .308 17 Shawon Dunston 1995 .296 14 George Foster 1977 .320 52 Rico Carty 1970 .366 25 Johnny Evers 1912 .341 1 Ken Griffey, Sr. 1976 .336 6 Hugh Duffy 1894 .440 18 Mark Grace 1995 .326 16 Ted Kluszewski 1954 .326 49 Darrell Evans 1973 .281 41 Gabby Hartnett 1930 .339 37 Barry Larkin 1996 .298 33 Rafael Furcal 2003 .292 15 Billy Herman 1936 .334 5 Ernie Lombardi 1938 .342 19 Ralph Garr 1974 .353 11 Johnny Kling 1903 .297 3 Lee May 1969 .278 38 Andruw Jones 2005 .263 51 Derrek Lee 2005 .335 46 Frank McCormick 1939 .332 18 Chipper Jones 1999 .319 45 Aramis Ramirez 2004 .318 36 Joe Morgan 1976 .320 27 Javier Lopez 2003 .328 43 Ryne Sandberg 1990 .306 40 Tony Perez 1970 .317 40 Eddie Mathews 1959 .306 46 Ron Santo 1964 .313 30 Brandon Phillips 2007 .288 30 Brian McCann 2006 .333 24 Hank Sauer 1954 .288 41 Vada Pinson 1963 .313 22 Fred McGriff 1994 .318 34 Sammy Sosa 2001 .328 64 Frank Robinson 1962 .342 39 Felix Millan 1970 .310 2 Riggs Stephenson 1929 .362 17 Pete Rose 1969 .348 16 Dale Murphy 1987 .295 44 Billy Williams 1970 .322 42