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HINDSIGHT IS 20-20
Q: Has there ever been a pitcher with 20 wins and 20 losses in the same season?
-- Steve
A: Since 1900, there have been 11 instances of a pitcher having 20 wins and 20 losses in the same season. Nine of those occurred before 1916. In the early days of baseball, starting rotations were not as big as they are today, so pitchers made many more appearances per year. In 1904, 10 men started 40 games or more, including the Giants’ Jack Chesbro, who started a record 55. In 2000, no pitcher made 40 starts. In fact, no one has started 40 contests since 1987, when knuckleballer Charlie Hough did it for the Rangers. (Knucklers are generally able to throw more innings than their fastballing fellows because of their easy delivery.) Phil Niekro and Wilbur Wood, the two men to win and lose 20 since 1916, were both knuckleheads by trade. Here is the complete list, along with the pitcher’s record and year: Joe McGinnity 26-20 1901 Bill Dineen 21-21 1902 Vic Willis 27-20 1902 Joe McGinnity 31-20 1903 George Mullin 21-20 1905 Irv Young 20-21 1905 George Mullin 20-21 1907 Jim Scott 20-20 1913 Walter Johnson 25-20 1916 Wilbur Wood 24-20 1973 Phil Niekro 21-20 1979
Back to top	-- Jake Thomases

REPLACING A LEGEND
Q: After the tragic death of Thurman Munson on August 2, 1979, who took over the catching chores for the New York Yankees?
-- Robert Towers
A: Unfortunately for the city of New York and the Yankees in particular, the team had a game against Baltimore the day after their captain’s death. Yankee Stadium workers hastily prepared a tribute, and the fans gave Munson’s image an eight-minute standing ovation. His teammates stood at their positions on the field throughout the tribute, all except for backup catcher and current Rangers manager Jerry Narron. Narron waited until just before the first pitch to approach the plate that his predecessor had crouched behind for the last decade.
Back to top	-- Jake Thomases

TODD ZEILE IS ON PACE TO PASS BIG MAC IN THE YEAR 2057
Q: Who has the most career home runs at each position?
-- Randi
A: Mark McGwire is sixth on the all-time home run list, and first among first-basemen. 547 of his 566 career homers have come while he was playing first. Second base is not a traditional power position, and even the greatest to play it have not exactly racked up the dingers. Possible Hall-of-Famer Ryne Sandberg is the leader with 277. All-time great Rogers Hornsby has 302, but enough of them came while he played shortstop to put him behind Sandberg. One would naturally expect Ernie Banks to be the leader at short. After all, the man has 512 career long balls and is enshrined in Cooperstown as a shortstop. In actuality, Banks played less than half his games at short; the rest were at first base. As a result, only 277 of his homers came at short. The real leader here is Cal Ripken Jr., who jacked 345 until he was shifted to third in 1997 to make room for Mike Bordick. At the hot corner, only Eddie Mathews comes within shouting distance of Mike Schmidt’s 509. Carlton Fisk is not usually thought of as a slugger, but his sheer longevity gives him the home run title for catchers. He hit 30 only once, but his 24 seasons as a backstop allowed him to pile up the numbers. Were he to look in his rearview mirror, however, he would see Mike Piazza approaching fast. Piazza has just under 300 jacks as a catcher, and has recently vowed to play at least one more season there. By the time he’s done, he will have passed Fisk. In the outfield, home run king Hank Aaron is surprisingly not the leader. He hit a large enough portion of his homers at first base to put him slightly behind Babe Ruth, the man he passed for the overall crown. Ruth hit 692 after moving from the pitchers’ mound to the outfield. For the most home runs by a pitcher, click here.
Back to top	-- Jake Thomases

SOMEBODY BUNT ALREADY!
Q: What pitcher holds the record for consecutive strikeouts?
-- Bob Hamel
A: Tom Seaver struck out 10 consecutive Padres on April 22, 1970, leading the Mets to a 2-1 victory over San Diego. He set another record by whiffing 19 total batters, though that has since been broken by Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood. The 10 straight Pads to go down were the final 10 of the game, so who knows how long Tom Terrific could have kept the streak going had the game continued.
Back to top	-- Jake Thomases

FORD FRICK ASTERISKED THIS RECORD TOO, JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT
Q: Who is the only American League player to be intentionally walked four times in one game?
-- Don Duffy
A: Roger Maris is the only American Leaguer to draw four intentional walks in a game. On May 22, 1962, the opposition pitched around Maris most of the day, in a game eventually decided in 12 innings. Though the recently crowned home run king was in the midst of a good season (he finished with 33 homers), it was nothing compared to his record-setting 1961. However, the four free passes he received in this game were four more than he had gotten all of 1961. With Mickey Mantle batting behind him all year, pitchers had been willing to take their chances with Maris. None were about to put him on base and pitch to the Mick, especially since Mantle had a higher slugging percentage, despite Maris’s 61 home runs. Maris was denied the opportunity to take his hacks on May 22, 1962, however, because Mickey was injured and out of the lineup.
Back to top	-- Jake Thomases

CHECK OUT THAT BABE
Q: Who had the highest OPS in one season (among players who qualified for the batting title)?
-- Sitij
A: OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, and is considered the best measure of a player’s hitting prowess. Each year, the teams with the highest collective OPS are near the top of the runs scored list. In 2000, the average OPS was 784. Players with an 800-plus are considered good, 900-plus are great, and 1000-plus are outstanding. Without a doubt, Babe Ruth is the king of OPS. He clearly had the power, with 714 career home runs. But he also knew how to get on base, as his all-time walks record stood until Rickey Henderson broke it this year. He could get on with a hit too, as his .342 lifetime batting average is higher than Tony Gwynn’s. Together, these factors made him an incredible hitter. And his single-season OPSs reflect this. Six of the top eight seasons in history belong to Ruth, and he managed them all in an eight year span. The first of those, 1920, tops the list. That year he got on base 53% of the time (one of only 11 times since the turn of the century that a player has reached base at a .500 clip or better) and slugged a whopping .847, which tops that list. Those numbers add up to a 1379 OPS. He nearly bested himself the very next season, when he reached base at a .512 rate and slugged .846 for a 1359 OPS. The Bambino added more spectacular seasons in 1923, ‘24, ‘26, and ’27. His feats are even more impressive when you consider that average OPS in his day was at least 30 points lower than it is today. Other notables on the OPS list includes Ted Williams, whose 1941 and ’57 seasons are good for fourth and fifth place all-time, respectively. But whereas Ruth's great years are all over the top 50, Teddy Ballgame does not appear again until number 33. Rounding out the top 10 are Rogers Hornsby, with a 1245 OPS in 1925, and Lou Gehrig, with a 1240 in 1927. The active player with the most appearances in the top 100? Mark McGwire, whose 1996, ’99, and historic ’98 season all qualify.
Back to top	-- Jake Thomases

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