Baseball notes: a brief look at some interesting facts and figures from the 2007 season

Baseball Digest, May, 2008 by Bill Deane

* The Diamondbacks won the N.L. West Division title with a 90-72 (.556) record, in spite of allowing more runs (732) than they scored (712). They became only the fifth team in major league history to post a .550 winning percentage despite being outscored:

Year    Team                    W     L     Pct.    R     OR

1932    Pittsburgh Pirates      86    68    .558    701   711
1981    Baltimore Orioles       59    46    .562    429   437
1984    New York Mets           90    72    .556    652   676
1997    San Francisco Giants    90    72    .556    784   793
2007    Arizona Diamondbacks    90    72    .556    712   732

* The Rockies just missed having two pitchers with 20 saves apiece in 2007. Brian Fuentes notched 20 before giving up the team's closer role. Manny Corpas took it over and wound up with 19 saves of his own. Following are the five teams that have had two pitchers save 20-plus games apiece:

Teams With Two Pitchers Who Had 20 Saves, Season (1876-2007)

Year    Club                    Pitchers          Svs.

1965    Chicago White Sox       Eddie Fisher      24
                                Hoyt Wilhelm      20
1983    San Francisco Giants    Greg Minton       22
                                Gary Lavelle      20
1986    New York Mets           Roger McDowell    22
                                Jesse Orosco      21
1991    Toronto Blue Jays       Tom Henke         32
                                Duane Ward        23
1992    Cincinnati Reds         Norm Charlton     26
                                Rob Dibble        25

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* What do the following players have in common: Walter Johnson, Ivan Rodriguez, Eddie Murray, Eddie Collins, George Brett, Honus Wagner, Carl Yastrzemski, Ty Cobb and Hank Aaron? They are the players at each field position (having played the majority of their games at those positions) with the most career hits. Eight are in the Hall of Fame, and the other--Rodriguez--is still active. The Tigers' catcher finished the season with 2,495 career hits, enabling him to claim the number one spot. Before he gets too swelled a head, though, we should remind Pudge that the previous record-holder--Ted Simmons (2,472)--was eliminated from BBWAA Hall of Fame consideration for failing to get even five percent of the vote in 1994. With 504 career doubles, I-Rod also broke Simmons' backstop mark of 483.

* Joe Torre finished his Yankees' managerial career, moving to the Dodgers after the '07 season. Torre's stint with the club bears striking similarities with Casey Stengel's from 1949-60. Both managed the team for 12 seasons. Both had ten first-place finishes. Stengel won 1,149 games, Torre won 1,152. Casey led the Yanks to world championships in each of his first five seasons at the helm, then "just" two in the next seven years; Joe managed the club to world titles in four of his first five seasons, then none in his last seven years. Although Stengel's managerial career dated back to 1934, and Torre's is still going in 2008, there is one man who played for both managers: the Mets' Ed Kranepool, for Casey in 1962-65, and Joe in 1977-79.

* Tampa Bay brought up pitcher Jeff Ridgway in September, but the rookie didn't fare very well. In three appearances, he recorded only one out, while allowing seven hits (including a homer), a walk, and a hit batsman, producing seven earned runs. This gave Ridgway a stratospheric 189.00 ERA for the season. If he fails to return to the majors, he will have fled Joe Cleary's all-time record for highest measurable career ERA. Cleary pitched his only big league game for the Senators on August 4, 1945, retiring just one of nine batters, while surrendering five hits, three walks, and a wild pitch.

* The Rockies' Todd Helton joined the list of players with at least 300 career home runs and a .300-plus batting average, finishing the year with 303 dingers and a .332 mark. Seven other active players are among the 25 in the "300/.300 Club," and the Cards' Albert Pujols (282/.332), the Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez (288/.303), and the Astros' Lance Berkman (259/.300) could join them in 2008:

Players With 300 HR/.300 AVERAGE
1876-2007

Player               HR          Avg.

Hank Aaron           755         .305
Babe Ruth            714         .342
Willie Mays          660         .302
Jimmie Foxx          534         .325
Ted Williams         521         .344
Alex Rodriguez       518         .306
Frank Thomas         513         .303
Mel Ott              511         .304
Lou Gehrig           493         .340
Manny Ramirez        490         .313
Stan Musial          475         .331
Mike Piazza          427         .308
Chipper Jones        386         .307
Larry Walker         383         .313
Vlad. Guerrero       365         .325
Joe DiMaggio         361         .325
Johnny Mize          359         .312
Moises Alou          332         .303
Hank Greenberg       331         .313
George Brett         317         .305
Edgar Martinez       309         .312
Al Simmons           307         .334
Todd Helton          303         .332
Rogers Hornsby       301         .358
Chuck Klein          300         .320