THE Statman
 

Some people never get acknowledged for their contributions to our understanding and fascination with baseball.  The most often over-looked are the stat guys.  True, sometimes we can get a little crazy with minutia - "he batted .436 with runners on second on odd Tuesdays..." but for the most part, the stats tell an interesting, if not important, story.

One such guy that never ceases to amaze me is Bill Deane.  While he comes up with some pretty wild stats, he also fills in the story behind the stats.  To my mind, he's the best one out there.  Chances are, if you've seen or heard a particularly interesting stat on ESPN or Fox, Deane is the guy responsible.  Here are a few he's produced just over the last couple of weeks, which came from a SABR discussion group:
 

Ichiro Suzuki

        On June 27, 2002, Ichiro Suzuki was struck out by Barry Zito to lead off a Mariners-Athletics game (thanks to Dave Smith for confirming this).  It was the tenth straight hitless at bat for Suzuki.

        Nevertheless, the AB put Ichiro in rarefied company.  It was the 1,000th of his major league career, and he had amassed 352 hits to that point.  Only four players since 1900 - and none since 1930 - had more.  The players with at least  350-for-their-first-1,000:  Joe Jackson (389), Benny Kauff (362), Chuck Klein (360), Paul Waner (358), Lefty O'Doul (352), Suzuki (352), Kiki Cuyler (351), Jimmie Foxx (351), and Wade Boggs (351).
 

Rogers Hornsby

May 30, 1930 - Rogers Hornsby, with 2731 hits and a .362 career average at age 34, suffers an injury that effectively ends his reign as the National League's best hitter. According to The Sporting News, "Hornsby broke his ankle in the same way that a dozen others have suffered similar mishaps. He started to slide and didn't go through with it . Going into the (third base) bag he started the feet first slide, then remembered that his (troublesome) right heel needed protection and tried to go into the bag standing up. As he changed his mind his legs curled up under him, he twisted around and the left ankle snapped." Missing most of the league's greatest offensive season of the century, the defending MVP would collect only six more hits this year and 199 more in his career.
 

Bill Madlock

Last week, promising to back it up in a later post, I mentioned that "Bill Madlock had a curious habit of sitting out much of September whenever he was in contention (and had enough plate appearances) for the batting title."  The batting crown, of course, is one of the few prestigious titles which can be won despite missing a lot of action.

Madlock won four batting titles in his first ten full seasons in the majors: in 1975, '76, '81 and '83.  In the six non-title years, he averaged 3.15 at bats per scheduled game through August, 3.02 AB/G thereafter, a 4% decline (which, in view of expanding rosters and mostly non-contending teams, doesn't seem unusual).

But, in the four title years, he dropped from 3.30 at bats per scheduled game through August, to 1.95 after, a 39% reduction.  If I chose a slightly later cutoff date, the difference would be even higher.

Is this based on one or two aberrant seasons?  No.  Madlock's lowest post-August AB/G figure during this period was 1.19 in 1983, a title year. His second-lowest was 1.92 in 1975, a title year.  His third-lowest was 2.15 in 1981, a title year.  His fourth-lowest was 2.19 in 1977, a non-title year.  His fifth-lowest was 2.53 in 1976, a title year.  His sixth-lowest was 2.87 in 1982, the only year he contended for the title but didn't win it.  That leaves his four seasons with the most at bats per game after
August, all non-title years.

What were the reasons for his absence from the lineup during title years?  Here's the rundown:

        1975 - Madlock suffered an "incomplete fracture" (another source said a bad bruise) of the right thumb when hit by a Bruce Kison pitch on September 10, and had only 19 at bats after that date.  Mad Dog also earned a three-day suspension that month, following an altercation with an umpire.

        1976 - Madlock had a cyst removed from his right knee on September 3, and was out of the lineup for five days.  He missed another game after being hit on the right elbow by J. R. Richard.  On September 24, Madlock was allegedly mugged and robbed in New York, suffering a bruised head and slight concussion.  He, of course, won the title on the last day of the season by
stroking four hits, two of the infield variety.

        1981 - On September 18, Madlock injured his left thumb while fielding a ball.  He didn't return to the lineup until September 24, and was promptly ejected for arguing with an umpire.  Madlock needed 316 plate appearances to qualify for the batting title in this strike-shortened season; he got 320.

        1983 - Madlock suffered a torn tendon in his left calf while running the bases on September 5.  He never played nine innings in a game after that, collecting only 16 more at bats.

Madlock never was put on the Disabled List in any of these instances, so he could always hobble to the plate, if necessary.

Granted, Bill Madlock was a fine hitter, but there were a lot of fine hitters who didn't win four batting titles.  It could very easily have been one or two.
 

Owen Wilson

Discussing Owen Wilson's modern record of 36 triples in the 1912 season, Bart Ripp wrote/asked, "Please note that Wilson didn't always stop at third. He hit 59 home runs -- and 31 were inside-the-park. Who holds the career record for inside-the-park homers?"

According to SABR PRESENTS THE HOME RUN ENCYCLOPEDIA, Sam Crawford is the known leader with 51 inside-the-park home runs.  Wilson's 31 rank seventh, and each of the top 25 men in this category played before World War II - a product of certain big parks and lots of slow outfielders.

Someone, I forget who, did a thorough analysis of Wilson's 1912 season, and found three instances (two on the road) where the Chief was thrown out trying to stretch a triple into a homer; he was also successful three times.  My research on Wilson's home/road splits shows that he had 24 of his triples in spacious Forbes Field.  What's really odd is that, despite those, plus 48 singles, 10 doubles, two homers, 20 walks, and 10 steals, Wilson scored only 31 runs at home that year.
 

Great stuff.  If you're not a member of SABR already, I heartily recommend joining, if only to discuss all things baseball with guys like Bill Deane.