*** VD 12 Commentary Thread ***

[Kevin Seitzer]

working with a marketing lead list of a little over 90k names... thought I'd sort them all by last initial just to see how it panned out... Surprised to see W as low as it is...

S 9.66%
M 9.37%
B 9.18%
C 8.05%
H 6.95%
G 5.36%
D 5.17%
R 5.02%
P 4.96%
L 4.85%
W 4.74%
K 4.39%
F 3.76%
A 3.63%
T 3.17%
J 2.52%
N 1.97%
E 1.93%
V 1.56%
O 1.56%
Z 0.65%
Y 0.57%
I 0.47%
U 0.27%
Q 0.21%
X 0.04%

Does ethnicity/national origin have anything to do with that? Historical MLB has a lot of Williams, Wilson, White, etc., maybe that isn't representative of the population in your marketing list?

[heyelander]

Does ethnicity/national origin have anything to do with that? Historical MLB has a lot of Williams, Wilson, White, etc., maybe that isn't representative of the population in your marketing list?

I had started to write that in, but then noticed that all the companies on the list were US based. I still agree that multiculturalism is playing a big part. Is there a place to get a list of everyone who is signed to a MLB team/Affiliate? I'd be interested to see the counts of active players.

[Kevin Seitzer]

On current rosters:

initial count
M 934
S 748
B 655
C 644
R 590
G 563
P 482
A 454
H 446
D 413
L 371
T 296
F 275
W 269
V 245
J 209
K 198
O 164
N 159
E 151
Z 60
Y 54
U 37
I 37
Q 33
X 1

[Kevin Seitzer]

With birth country = USA:

initial count
M 466
S 434
B 428
H 307
C 283
G 261
R 256
W 244
D 195
L 194
P 182
K 170
T 165
F 156
A 146
J 131
O 77
V 77
N 76
E 74
Z 38
Y 27
U 12
I 12
Q 8

[Kevin Seitzer]

With birth country not USA:

initial count
M 467
C 360
R 334
S 314
A 308
G 302
P 300
B 227
D 218
L 177
V 168
H 139
T 131
F 119
O 87
N 83
J 78
E 77
K 28
Y 27
U 25
Q 25
W 25
I 25
Z 22
X 1

[Kevin Seitzer]

From Retrosheet database:

initial count
M 2077
S 1927
B 1907
C 1543
H 1447
W 1108
R 1102
G 1056
D 994
P 943
L 916
K 731
F 710
T 651
A 584
J 522
O 372
E 368
N 344
V 266
Y 113
Z 94
U 63
I 62
Q 55

[Kevin Seitzer]

Most common last names on current rosters:

last_name count
Rodriguez 89
Gonzalez 78
Garcia 77
Martinez 71
Perez 71
Hernandez 68
Diaz 61
Sanchez 55
Lopez 50
Ramirez 44
Smith 40
Jimenez 35
Jones 32
Castillo 31
Torres 31
Nunez 31
Reyes 31
Pena 31

[Kevin Seitzer]

Most common last names on current rosters where birth country = USA:

last_name count
Smith 37
Jones 30
Davis 26
Brown 23
Johnson 23
Anderson 22
Williams 22
Miller 20
Taylor 19
Garcia 17
Thompson 16
Martin 15
Murphy 12
Rodriguez 12
Hill 12
Young 12
Wilson 11
Gonzalez 11
Peterson 11
Moore 11

[Kevin Seitzer]

Most common last names in Retrosheet database with MLB debut before 1950:

last_name count
Smith 84
Miller 51
Jones 45
Brown 41
Johnson 39
Sullivan 37
Wilson 34
Williams 33
Murphy 30
Moore 28
Walker 24
Wright 23
Taylor 22
Thompson 22
White 22
Davis 21
Adams 20
O'Brien 20
Kelly 20
Collins 20

[Kevin Seitzer]

Most common last names in Retrosheet database with MLB debut since 1950:

last_name count
Johnson 75
Smith 74
Jones 58
Brown 53
Williams 51
Davis 50
Rodriguez 48
Hernandez 44
Martinez 44
Miller 42
Wilson 41
Garcia 37
Perez 37
Gonzalez 36
Anderson 33
Jackson 31
Taylor 31
Ramirez 29
Young 27
Thompson 26

[Kevin Seitzer]

Interesting that Sullivan has dropped all the way from #6 before 1950 to #151 after 1950.

There are only two Sullivans on current rosters: Brett (Rays org) and Zach (Marlins org).

[Kevin Seitzer]

There is one Rodriguez in MLB prior to 1950. Jose Rodriguez, from Cuba, played for the New York Giants in 1916-18. I wonder what his story was.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rodrijo01.shtml

[Long John]

This rabbit hole was brought to you by having too much time on your hands.

[heyelander]

Oven becoming Woven...

[amcg]

KS - that is really interesting...