Trivia-worthy seasons

[Controller Jacobs]

Herb Washington Oakland 1974: 29 runs, 29 sb, 0 ab

This appears to be a thing with manager Al Dark, the only player remotely close to that record with 0 AB is Allan Lewis (16 r, 7 sb), playing for Oakland & Dark the year before.

Can't call it a novelty act - Oakland won the World Series in '74 (though Washington wasn't a factor, 0/0 with 2 CS in the AL championship).

[revo]

The biggest play of Washington's career:

He was a world-class sprinter who hadn't played baseball since high school. He now owns about a dozen or so McDonald's franchises around the country, so he did pretty well for himself.

[Controller Jacobs]

Since 1900, only one player has managed to tally 150+ rbis with less than 30 HRs.
Tommy Davis did it in 1962, and it took him 163 games and 230 hits (he batted .346). Davis had just 33 BB, 65 Ks in 711 PA.

Davis did not lead the league in games played, however. That was teammate Maury Wills - with 165 games (164 starts) - the #1 total all-time. (There was a 3-game playoff for the NL pennant.)

[madducks]

He now owns about a dozen or so McDonald's franchises around the country, so he did pretty well for himself.

I find this even more impressive than his baseball achievements. Herb Washington probably made less than a hundred grand total over his entire baseball career. And some players who made millions are broke today!

[Pogues]

To go with the HR/RBI relationship...only two players since 1947 have 110 or more RBI while hitting less than 10 home runs.

Tom Herr: 1985 8HR 110 RBI
Paul Mollitor: 1996 9 HR 113 RBI

[rhd]

How about a "trivia-worthy season" question?

Two players in MLB history have had 50 HRs and 50 SBs in a season (not the same season). Barry Bonds was one. Who was the other? (Can you guess w/o looking it up?).
Hint: Each one had just one season of each.

[joncarlos]

It's Brady Anderson isn't it?

[joncarlos]

In 1992 Deion Sanders 28 extra base hits. Half of them were triples.

14 3b, 8 hr, 6 2b

[Controller Jacobs]

Currently there is one player with more career SBs than Runs (minimum: 50 SBs). Filtering by 20 SBs, he's the first player in 100 years.
It's Tony Campana of the DBacks, whom they should give 162 starts to next year (and not just because I could keep him for $1 either)

[Judge Jude]

the last MLB position player to hit at least .400 while spending an entire season on an active roster did it for the Boston Red Sox.

No, not Ted Williams.

I'll give the answer later if no one gets it.

P.S. His career AVG is also .400, and he's still alive.

[revo]

I find this even more impressive than his baseball achievements. Herb Washington probably made less than a hundred grand total over his entire baseball career. And some players who made millions are broke today!

Actually, I just read an article saying he owns 25 McDonald's franchises. Damn! He was also the Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY too!

[rhd]

It's Brady Anderson isn't it?

Correct!

[Judge Jude]

last position player to hit .400 or better while being active all season was..... Roger LaFrancois

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lafraro01.shtml

Roger was the 1982 3rd-string catcher of the Red Sox, and he appeared in 4 games while going 1 for 4 entering September. Then he boosted his avg to .400 with a single on Sept. 14, then made 2 more appearances without batting.

In true Ted Williams fashion, Roger risked his .400 AVG in the final game of the season and the only MLB game he ever started, going 2 for 5 in a 5-3 win over the Yankees in 11 innings.

final tally: 4 for 10.

The Red Sox that year 13 hitters with 200+ PA, but no one with 25-199 PA. Manager was Ralph Houk, and old-school guy who had 8 regulars qualify for the batting title. Ralph was a member of the great Yankees teams of 1947-54 - as a, you guessed it, 3rd-string catcher who in a span of 5 years got only 36 total PA. So he was the one manager who might use a kid just that way, I suppose....

Roger never played in the majors again, preserving that .400 AVG forever.