Baseball History Through Stats and Pics

Happy Birthday to Giancarlo Stanton. A 5X All Star, 2X Silver Slugger, 1X MVP (‘17), 1X Runner Up MVP (‘14), 2022’ ASG MVP, 2024’ ALCS MVP and 2X Hank Aaron Award (‘14,‘17), he’s played 17 seasons (2010-). He’s hitting .258/.345/.527, .871 OPS, 136 OPS+, 456 HR, 1183 RBI, 951 Runs, 811 Walks, 319 Doubles, 1642 Hits, 3351 TB, 47.0 WAR. He’s led the NL in HR 2X, RBI 1X, Slugging 3X, OPS+ 1X, Total Bases 1X and WAR 2X. He’s hit 30+ HR 7X, 100+ RBI 3X and 100+ Runs 2X. In 50 career Postseason games, he has posted a .598 Slugging % and .916 OPS with 18 HR and 44 RBI. He currently ranks 40th on the All Time HR list.

New Rankings: 1-Georgia (Clear Best Team) 2-Utah 3-Notre Dame 4-Alabama 5-Miami 6-Indiana 7-UCLA 8-Texas 9-Texas Tech 10-Tennessee

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Jim Kaat. A 3X All Star, 16X Gold Glove and 1X WS Champion (‘82), he played 25 seasons (1959-83’). He had a record of 283-237, 3.45 ERA, 898 G, 625 GS, 180 CG, 31 SHO, 4530.1 IP, 2461 K, 3.41 FIP, 1.259 WHIP, 108 ERA+, 4.9 K/9, 50.5 WAR. He led the AL in Wins 1X, Starts 2X, CG 1X, Shutouts 1X, IP 1X and FIP 1X. He won 20+ Games 3X and was considered one of the best Fielding Pitchers of All Time. He ranks 31st All Time in Wins, 45th in Strikeouts and 25th in Innings Pitched. After he retired, he had a lengthy career as a Broadcaster with the New York Yankees on MSG and also with CBS, NBC and TBS. His #36 is retired with the Minnesota Twins and is in the team’s Hall of Fame.

Happy Birthday to Jim McCormick. A 2X ERA Champion (83-84’), he played 10 seasons (1878-87’). He posted a record of 265-214, 2.43 ERA, 485 GS, 466 CG, 33 SHO, 4275.2 IP, 1704 K, 2.88 FIP, 1.132 WHIP, 118 ERA+, 3.6 K/9, 76.2 WAR. He led the league in Wins 2X, Starts 2X, CG 3X, Shutouts 1X, IP 2X, ERA+ 2X, WHIP 1X and WAR 3X. He won 30+ Games 4X, including 40+ 2X. He posted 3 seasons of a Sub 2.00 ERA, made 60+ Starts 4X and tossed over 500+ IP 5X. He ranks 40th on the All Time Wins list, 34th in IP, 11th in CG, 59th in Starts and 34th in ERA.

Happy Birthday to Dwight Evans. An 8X All Star, 2X Silver Slugger, 8X Gold Glove and 4X Top-10 MVP, he played 20 seasons (1972-91’). He hit .272/.370/.470, .840 OPS, 127 OPS+, 385 HR, 1384 RBI, 1470 Runs, 1391 Walks, 78 SB, 483 Doubles, 2446 Hits, 4230 TB, 67.2 WAR. He played all but 1 of his seasons with the Boston Red Sox. He led the AL in Games Played 2X, Plate Appearances 2X, Runs 1X, HR 1X, Walks 3X, OBP 1X, OPS 2X, Total Bases 1X and WAR 1X. He was an excellent defensive Right Fielder, who hit 30+ HR 3X, 100+ RBI 4X, 100+ Runs 4X and 100+ Walks 3X. He ranks T-72nd All Time in HR, 83rd in RBI, 80th in Runs, 29th in Walks, T-83rd in Doubles, 121st in Hits and 72nd in Total Bases. He is in the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

There was talk at the end of the season that Cam Schlittler should be in the MVP conversation. Well, he’s not in the Top-3. The finalists for AL MVP are Alvarez, Caminero and Witt Jr…surprised that Witt will finish 3rd.

The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot is out for Non-Players. The list consists of: 1-Sandy Alderson 2-Dusty Baker 3-Bruce Bochy 4-Joe Maddon 5-Lou Pinella 6-Brian Sabean 7-Ted Turner 8-Bill White This is really tough. I think that Baker and Bochy are locks, but a compelling case can be made for everyone. It’s very difficult to get 3 elected on these Committees. I really hope that there isn’t a lot of vote splitting.

What a brutal loss by the Cowboys. They are now 3 games behind the Giants in the loss column with 9 to go. I don’t know how anyone can take that franchise seriously.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Fred McGriff. A 5X All Star, 3X Silver Slugger, 1994’ ASG MVP, 6X Top-10 MVP and 1X WS Champion (‘95), he played 19 seasons (1986-04’). He hit .284/.377/.509, .886 OPS, 134 OPS+, 493 HR, 1550 RBI, 1349 Runs, 1305 Walks, 441 Doubles, 2490 Hits, 4458 TB, 52.6 WAR. He led the league in Games Played 1X, HR 2X, OPS 1X and OPS+ 1X. He hit over .300 4X, hit 30+ HR 10X, 100+ RBI 8X, 100+ Runs 2X and 100+ Walks 2X. He was the 1st player in MLB History to hit 30+ HR with 5 different teams. He ranks T-29th All Time in HR, 47th in RBI, 112th in Runs, 48th in Walks, 105th in Hits and 54th in Total Bases. He is in the Tampa Bay Rays Hall of Fame.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty. A 2X Batting Champion (‘99,‘02), he played 16 seasons (1888-03’). He hit .346/.411/.505, .917 OPS, 152 OPS+, 101 HR, 1466 RBI, 1600 Runs, 742 Walks, 456 SB, 522 Doubles, 186 Triples, 2597 Hits, 3794 TB, 70.4 WAR. He led the league in Hits 1X, Doubles 5X, Triples 1X, HR 2X, RBI 3X, SB 1X, OBP 2X, Slugging 5X, OPS 5X, OPS+ 4X, Total Bases 2X and WAR 2X. He played all but 3 of his seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. He hit over .300 12X, including over .400 3X. He recorded 100+ RBI 7X, scored 100+ Runs 10X and slashed 200+ Hits 4X. On July 13, 1896’, he became the 2nd player in MLB history to hit 4 HR in the same game. He ranks 8th All Time in Batting Average, T-60th in RBI, 49th in Runs, 86th in Hits, T-50th in Doubles and 13th in Triples. He is on the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame.

How can the fans in Florida and Tampa Bay allow fans from the Milwaukee Brewers——not the Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees or Red Sox, over take their Stadium in a World Series game? It literally sounds like they’re playing in Milwaukee.

Happy Birthday to Future Hall of Famer Juan Soto. A 5X All Star, 6X Silver Slugger, 4X 1st Team All-MLB (20-21’, 24-25’), 1X Batting Champion (‘20), 6X Top-10 MVP and 1X WS Champion (‘19), he’s played 9 seasons (2018-). He’s hitting .281/.415/.530, .945 OPS, 160 OPS+, 271 HR, 765 RBI, 838 Runs, 974 Walks, 104 SB, 210 Doubles, 1196 Hits, 2255 TB, 45.6 WAR. He’s led the league in Games Played 1X, Runs 1X, Stolen Bases 1X, Walks 4X, OBP 3X, Slugging 1X, OPS 1X, OPS+ 1X and WAR 1X. He’s hit .300 2X, recorded a .400+ OBP 7X, hit 30+ HR 4X, 100+ RBI 4X, 100+ Runs 4X and 100+ Walks 6X.

JJ McCarthy may turn out to be the biggest steal in a long time if he is what he has been the last 6 Quarters.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez. An 8X All Star, 5X ERA Titles (‘97, 99-00’, 02-03’), 1X Triple Crown (‘99), 1999’ ASG MVP, 3X Cy Young (‘97, 99-00’), 7X Top-4 Cy Young, 2X Top-5 MVP and 1X WS Champion (‘04), he played 18 seasons (1992-09’). He posted a record of 219-100, 2.93 ERA, 409 GS, 46 CG, 17 SHO, 2827.1 IP, 3154 K, 2.91 FIP, 1.054 WHIP, 154 ERA+, 10.0 K/9, 83.9 WAR. He led the league in Wins 1X, CG 1X, Shutouts 1X, Strikeouts 3X, ERA+ 5X, FIP 5X, WHIP 6X, K/9 5X and WAR 3X. One of the greatest Pitchers of All Time, his intimidating presence on the mound catapulted him to greatness. He won 20+ Games 2X, posted a Sub 2.00 ERA 2X, made 30+ Starts 7X and Struckout 250+ hitters 4X. He is 1 of 3 Pitchers in MLB History to record 3,000 Strikeouts in less than 3,000 IP (Scherzer, Kershaw). He ranks 15th on the All Time Strikeout list. His #45 is retired with the Boston Red Sox and is in the team’s Hall of Fame.

I love when people post stuff on social media and then delete it bc they’re embarrassed.

BYU probably just cost themselves the Playoffs. I don’t see them beating Utah in a few weeks. The committee would put a 3 loss SEC team in before them.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki. A 10X All Star, 3X Silver Slugger, 10X Gold Glove, 2X Batting Champion (‘01,‘04), 2007’ ASG MVP, 2001’ AL ROY, 1X MVP (‘01) and 4X Top-10 MVP, he played 19 seasons (2001-19’). He hit .311/.355/.402, .757 OPS, 107 OPS+, 117 HR, 780 RBI, 1420 Runs, 647 Walks, 509 SB, 362 Doubles, 96 Triples, 3089 Hits, 3994 TB, 60.0 WAR. He led the AL in Games Playef 4X, Plate Appearances 4X, At-Bats 8X, Hits 7X and Stolen Bases 1X. Before coming to the Majors, he played 9 seasons in the NPB in Japan (1992-00’). While there, he was a 7X AS, 7X GG, 3X MVP and 7X Batting Champion. In MLB, he hit .300+ 10X, scored 100+ Runs 7X and recorded 200+ Hits 10X. He holds the All Time Single season record for Hits with 262 in 2001’. His #51 is retired with the Seattle Mariners and is in the team’s Hall of Fame.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx. A 9X All Star, 2X Batting Champion (‘33,‘38), 1X Triple Crown (‘33), 3X MVP (32-33’,‘38), 7X Top-10 MVP and 2X WS Champion, he played 20 seasons (1925-42’,44-45’). He hit .325/.428/.609, 1.038 OPS, 163 OPS+, 534 HR, 1922 RBI, 1751 Runs, 1452 Walks, 458 Doubles, 125 Triples, 2646 Hits, 4956 TB, 92.7 WAR. He led the AL in Games Played 1X, Runs 1X, HR 4X, RBI 3X, Walks 2X, OBP 3X, Slugging 5X, OPS 5X, OPS+ 5X, Total Bases 3X and WAR 3X. He hit over .300 13X, hit 40+ HR 5X, 100+ RBI 13X, 100+ Runs 11X, 100+ Walks 7X, 200+ Hits 2X and 400+ TB 2X. Considered one of the best Hitters of All Time, he had 13 straight seasons of 100+ RBI, 9 straight of 100+ Runs and 12 straight with 30+ HR. He ranks 19th All Time in HR, 10th in RBI, 23rd in Runs, 23rd in Walks, 79th in Hits and 23rd in Total Bases. He is in the Athletics and Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.

Happy Birthday to Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle. A 20X All Star, 1X Gold Glove, 1X Batting Champion (‘56), 1X Triple Crown (‘56), 3X MVP (56-57’,‘62), 9X Top-5 MVP and 7X WS Champion (51-53’,‘56,‘58, 61-62’), he played 18 seasons (1951-68’), all with the New York Yankees. He hit .298/.421/.557, .977 OPS, 172 OPS+, 536 HR, 1509 RBI, 1676 Runs, 1733 Walks, 153 SB, 344 Doubles, 2415 Hits, 4511 TB, 110.3 WAR. He led the AL in Runs 5X, Triples 1X, HR 4X, RBI 1X, Walks 5X, OBP 3X, Slugging 4X, OPS 6X, OPS+ 8X, Total Bases 3X and WAR 6X. One of the greatest All around players in MLB History, he hit .300+ 10X, hit 30+ HR 9X, including 40+ 4X, posted 100+ RBI 4X, scored 100+ Runs 9X, drew 100+ Walks 10X and recorded a 200+ OPS+ 3X. In his Triple Crown season of 1956’, he hit .353/.464/.705, 1.169 OPS, 210 OPS+, 52 HR, 130 RBI, 132 Runs, 112 Walks and 376 TB. He ranks 18th on the All Time HR list, 56th in RBI, 30th in Runs, 8th in Walks, 125th in Hits, 49th in Total Bases, 9th in OPS+ and 21st in WAR. His #7 is retired with the New York Yankees.

This World Series between Tampa Bay and Milwaukee will most likely be the least viewed one of All Time, surpassing 2023’ between Texas and Arizona… going into a Lockout too.