More of those extraordinary, wonderful Mauer numbers
by Jon Marthaler on Aug 24, 2009 2:00 PM EDT
in By the Numbers
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PrintTired of hearing about how great Joe Mauer is? I suspect not. Chew on this one, for awhile:
Mauer is leading the American League in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He's actually doing so by fairly wide margins in each category.
If he finishes out the year like this, it'll be the eighteenth season in league history it's happened. The others:
Nap Lajoie, 1901
George Stone, 1906
Ty Cobb, 1909
Tris Speaker, 1916
Ty Cobb, 1917
Babe Ruth, 1924
Lou Gehrig, 1934
Jimmie Foxx, 1938
Ted Williams, 1941
Ted Williams, 1942
Ted Williams, 1947
Ted Williams, 1948
Ted Williams, 1957
Frank Robinson, 1966
Carl Yastrzemski, 1967
Fred Lynn, 1979
George Brett, 1980
In light of the current MVP debate, I also thought I'd check to see which of these gentlemen won the MVP award. Note that until 1930, voting was sporadic, and even then previous winners were ineligible. So, for the eleven since 1930:
Won: Foxx, Robinson, Yastrzemski, Brett
2nd: Williams '41, Williams '42, Williams '47, Williams '57
3rd: Williams '48
4th: Lynn
5th: Gehrig
The conclusions we can draw from this:
- Just being a historically outstanding hitter is not necessarily guarantee of winning the MVP;
- Sportwriters really couldn't stand Ted Williams;
- How Fred Lynn didn't win the MVP in 1979 is beyond me;
- Joe Mauer is awesome.
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Scoot over Albert Pujols
I think it’s safe to say that Joe needs to get his own “This is more than baseball commercial” because watching Joe bat is just as exciting.
by the way, I can not see him in any other jersey, I just can’t.
If he goes to Boston
that picture will have him:
not smiling
FU mirror shades
bling chain and earing
It'll never happen
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Aug 24, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Shudder
This is my wife’s take on that: “He’s cute and all, but what’s with the hair? He looks like he put his catchers helmet on and Redmond came by with a clippers for a bowl cut.”
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Hahahaha
Never let Reddog cut your hair!
Thanks for the link caluofm, I don’t even remember that one. Batgirl was always amazing at finding stuff like that. But obviously Mauer could never go to the hated yankees, Jeter would be way too jealous.
"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett
by less cowbell, more 'neau on Aug 24, 2009 5:18 PM EDT up reply actions
or there could be a 3-way bromance
btwn Jeter + Arod + Mauer… I think I just threw up a little in my mouth… even the thought of Mauer as a Yankee is too much…
Oh, man...that's painful to even think about.
but, like it’s been said…Yankee Joe Mauer>ChiSox Joe Mauer. :\
Missed Cobb 1914
I think the PA-bar for qualifying was a bit lower back then.
Wow… George Stone has certainly been forgotten by history.
Ted did manage two MVP’s… should have won a couple of more, but some of those losses were at least semi-legit. Boston was a hitter’s park and Ted wasn’t much of a fielder. Mantle-57 was amazing… .365/.512/.665 in CF. Boudreau-48 hit .355/.453/.534 at SS. No excuse for 1947 though. That wasn’t even one of Dimaggio’s better seasons. 1942 is also suspect. Gordon was great and played GG-level 2B but that doesn’t trump a triple crown.
I'm actually surprised that it's happened that often
Roughly 15% of all American League seasons. Of course, a lot of that has to do with Ted Williams.
And of course almost all of those guys were left-side of the defensive spectrum guys. A catcher doing it is completely absurd.
by Eric in Madison on Aug 24, 2009 3:30 PM EDT reply actions
That is one incredible list...
…of the biggest names in the history of the game. To be associated with that group is one hell of a compliment. I hope he makes it, because in my opinion we are watching the greatest player of this current period of baseball.
That's some list
It’s also pretty impressive that it hasn’t been done in almost 30 years.
Considering that no one except Ted Williams and Bill James cared about OBP before about 1999, though, it’s not so shocking that so many failed to win the MVP award – some HR/RBI guy with a passable average (like, say, Justin Morneau) could pretty easily swoop in and steal the award.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
Branch Rickey knew about OBP
You could say he was the original Moneyball GM.
Branch Rickey was awesome
Invented the minor league system and broke the color barrier… it’s probably not much of a stretch to say he made more positive impact on professional baseball than anyone else in history.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
Anyone have the NL list?
I have Wagner doing it four times, Hornsby seven (including a 1920-25 sixpeat!), Bonds did it 2-3 times in the 2000s, Helton & Walker in Colorado, Musial twice, Brouthers twice in the 1800s, Magee,Klein…
I’m taking stabs in the dark though, anyone have a longer list?
Other lists
NA
1871-Meyerle
1873-Barnes
AA
1882-Browning
1887-O’Neill
1891-Brouthers
UA
1884-Dunlap
FL
1915-Kauff
NL
1876-Barnes
1880-Gore
1882-Brouthers
1883-Brouthers
1904-Wagner
1907-Wagner
1908-Wagner
1909-Wagner
1910-Magee
1920-Hornsby
1921-Hornsby
1922-Hornsby
1923-Hornsby
1924-Hornsby
1925-Hornsby
1928-Hornsby
1933-Klein
1935-Vaughn
1943-Musial
1948-Musial
1999-Walker
2000-Helton
2002-Bonds
2004-Bonds
Forget about AL
Maybe he has a chance at the MLB lead in all three. BA is an obvious, but he’s .008 ahead in OBP and .030 behind Pujols in Slugging. And Pujols is in a Pujols-slump (it has fallen from .720 on July 21).
It’s highly improbable that Mauer overtakes Pujols, but how often has that feat been accomplished? I don’t know how to look that up.
Gotta preserve the leagues...
Different opponents, different rules, different parks. This isn’t the NFL.
I was going to say...
Most pitchers before Big Train would be considered soft tossers by today’s standards. Bob Feller was the first real hard thrower in the game. He threw 90, if the motorcycle test is to be believed. Nolan Ryan would have been an anomaly in that game. He threw 95. Now we have guys like Verlander, who throw in the upper 90s and feature four quality pitches. And we have at least a dozen guys who throw over 95 on a regular basis, not counting relievers. Those guys would have thrown a no hitter several times a year in the old days. Santana has way better stuff than Koufax, who was a two-pitch pitcher. Several pitchers feature stuff and attitude to match Bob Gibson. I wonder how Bert would do against this generation of hitters.
My point: The game is much harder now than it was in those days. The fact that a catcher is thriving to this degree in the game as it is today is truly a marvel.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Reponse to my post?
I was only saying I strongly prefer separate stat crowns for the AL and NL. The fact that baseball’s official site doesn’t have separate leaderboards for the leagues:
is horrible. None of us consider Mauer’s 2008 AL batting title in any way different because he wouldn’t have led the NL.
I know
Just amplifying. Your point is about leagues. My point is about generations.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Well, the generations is a bit of a different story
Greatness is always considered relative to your contemporaries. Children today have better nutrition and grow up taller than previous generations. And everyone has access to modern training and medicine. Mauer has certainly benefitted from both of those. I’m sure Tony O would have liked to have had Mauer’s knee surgeon.
Your speeds for Feller & Ryan are a bit pessimistic. WWII-era military radar equipment had Feller over 98 mph. Ryan topped 100 routinely on 70s-era guns and even topped 100 occasionally with the Rangers. I don’t know where you are getting your discounts. Koufax was a lot bigger than Santana is and threw much harder from a higher mound in the dead air of Chavez Ravine. Actually, Santana and Pedro are actually examples of how smaller guys can still have overpowering stuff.
None of that has anything to do with Mauer though. Better pitchers, better hitters, its all relative and its all about outperforming your contemporaries.
Fair enough
I was not aware of Feller getting a radar reading. I just remember the the motorcyclist, who traveled 90 and arrived at the same spot at the same time as Feller’s fastball. Then again, that might be an average speed. Coming out of the hand, the radar might have said 98.
As for Ryan, I watched him pitch in the 80s and 90s. He rarely hit over 95 on those guns. He certainly wasn’t the flame thrower that Zumaya is, for example. What he had was a combination of deception, movement (his fastball had hair on it) and a great breaking ball.
I remember a recent discussion by Jack Morris that discounted today’s radar readings because “nobody will ever throw harder than Nolan Ryan. If these guys are throwing 95, Ryan must have been throwing 110.” Maybe the radar guns are faster now because Selig wants that to pump up the volume. Maybe Ryan had a little Mitch Williams in him. Williams never threw harder than 88, but it looked like 100 on TV. I don’t know.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Among the great catcher seasons...
…by Piazza, Bench and Campanella, MVP awards were pretty easy to come by.
Bloggin' the bloggers since 1938.
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