I have always wondered about a bunch of these obscure records:
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Which pitcher has pitched a complete game in the least amount of pitches? Conceivably he could only throw 27, but has that ever happened?
Has a player ever made every single out? Example: has a left fielder caught every out? What are the most by one player in a game?
What are the most errors by one player in a game?
What are the most errors by one team in a game?
What are the most errors by two teams combined in a game?
How many innings has the longest game had?
How long was the longest game timewise that didn’t have a rain delay?
What are the most runs scored in by one team in a single game?
What are the most runs scored by two teams combined in a single game?
What are the most runs scored in which the pitcher still got a no-hitter?
Has a played ever been killed on the field? As in died running into the dugout or something? (I know about the “real” Bump Bailey crashing intp the wall).
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They didn’t keep official track of the number of pitches until quite recently, so no one knows the fewest pitches in a perfect game (actually, the game with the fewest pitches thrown would not have to be a perfect game – 31 batters all swinging on the first pitch, for instance).
Only one death on the field in MLB: Ray Chapman of the Indians was killed by a pitch from Carl Mays of the Red Sox in 1920. He evidently didn’t see the pitch, and it bounced off his head hard enough that Mays at first though he had hit it with his bat.
Longest game by innings: 26 innings, Brooklyn vs. Boston, 5/1/1920. It was called due to darkness with the score tied 1-1. Both starting pitchers pitched the entire game. More info on longest games at http://www.baseball-almanac.com/recbooks/rb_gmlg.shtml
I’d be curious about absolutely unique records trivia. I.e., not the most/least stuff of normal records, but people who committed a feat that cannot or is almost certain never to be duplicated.
Two examples:
[ul][li]Stealing of first base – Herman “Germany” Schaefer did this once – stealing first from second. It was strategy – Ty Cobb stole home while they were throwing in an effort to put Schaefer out at first. This will be unique since running the base paths backward is now illegal, largely due to this play.[/li]Ernie Shore – a perfect game that included a pickoff. G.H. Ruth, pitching, had walked the leadoff batter, argued the call, and was ejected. Shore came in in his place, with no outs, picked off the man on first, and retired 26 straight men for what records keepers deem a perfect game. Possible to duplicate, but it’s also possible that Toronto will be engulfed by lava from a volcano before Labor Day – and I suspect the odds are somewhere near equal.[/ul]
Charles “Red” Barrett threw only 58 pitches for the Boston Braves to shutout the Cincinnati Reds in 75 minutes at night on August 10, 1944 at Crosley Field. More here.
Here’s one-Toby Harrah played 18 innings of a double header & was never credited w/ an assist, put out ,or error. Truly amazing-but nothing Harrah did -he just stood there. Anybody who played baseball is shocked at this "feat."In addition his last name is a palindrome. The 1965 LA Dodgers had an all switch hitting infield: Parker at 1st, Lefevre 2b, Wills short & Gilliam 3b. Doubt this was repeated.
Also, no player has made every out-the closest would be a catcher in a 21 strike out effort. Catcher gets a put out for a “K.”
The official record for fewest pitches in a nine inning complete game is 58 by Charley “Red” Barrett of the Boston Braves against the Reds on Aug. 10, 1944. Here’s the story about that game. It was a two hit shutout.
The highest score in a game in modern times (post 1900) is 29, which was done twice. Once by the Red Sox vs. the St. Louis Browns (29-4) on Jun. 8, 1950. A picture of the Fenway Green Monster scoreboard during the top of the 9th at that Red Sox game appears inside the back cover of David Halberstam’s book The Teammates. The White Sox matched the 29 runs vs. the Kansas City A’s (29-6) on Apr. 23, 1955. The all time record is 36 runs by the Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs) vs. Louisville (36-7) on Jun. 29, 1897.
Unfortunately for Ernie Shore and his descendents, after years of being included in the record books, typically with a nice long asterisked note about the feat, baseball cleaned out all of the non-standard no-hitters from the record books a few years back. Used to be that if you pitched 9 innings of no hit ball but the game went into extras and you lost the no hitter you still got credit. Not anymore. So Pittsburgh’s Harvey Haddix who pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves but lost the game in the 13th is no longer in the books. Also, all the rain & darkness shortened no hitters are gone, as well as the rare 8 inning no hitters where the visiting pitcher didn’t get to pitch in the ninth because his team lost (most notably Andy Hawkins of the Yankees, who lost a no hitter 4-0 to White Sox at Comiskey in 1990).
TW-you of course implied pro-major league records. Chapman is the 1st to be killed, but was it on the field as you asked, or later ? Also, MANY amateur-Little League to high school have died- hit in the head, or in the chest w/ a line drive that stopped the heart. I have no stats on this though.
Longest game by time was 8:06 between the White Sox and Brewers on May 9, 1984.
The game actually started on May 9. It finished on May 10. The game was suspended at the end of 17 innings as there was a curfew in the AL then where you couldn’t start an inning after 1 am. The game finished the next day and went 25 innings total. The White Sox won 7-6.
Rain delays are never figured into the official times of games anyway.
The longest 9-inning game by time was between the Dodgers and Giants on 10/5/2001. The Dodgers won 11-10, but Barry Bonds broke the single season home run record in that game.
The most putouts in a 9 inning game is 22 by five different first basemen, most recently Don Mattingly.
What makes Harrah’s non-feat astounding is that he was playing SHORTSTOP. It would not have been particularly notable if he had been playing, say, left field. But for a shortstop to go 18 straight innings without making any play is quite amazing.
The game with the fewest total hits was on September 19, 1965. Both teams combined to get exactly one hit. Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game for the Dodgers, while Bob Hendley only gave up a 7th-inning double to Lou Johnson (Johnson scored in the fifth on a walk, a sacrifice, a steal of third and a bad throw by the catcher, allowing him to score). It’s highly unlikely that will ever be surpassed.
But Schaffer was not credited with a SB for his return trip…
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[li]Ernie Shore – a perfect game that included a pickoff. G.H. Ruth, pitching, had walked the leadoff batter, argued the call, and was ejected. Shore came in in his place, with no outs, picked off the man on first, and retired 26 straight men for what records keepers deem a perfect game. Possible to duplicate, but it’s also possible that Toronto will be engulfed by lava from a volcano before Labor Day – and I suspect the odds are somewhere near equal.[/ul] **[/li][/QUOTE]
And Shore’s perfect game credit was taken away from him too…
Tommie Aaron hit 13 homers, and Henry hit 755, giving them a record total of 768.
Other brother combos:
DiMaggios - 573 (Joe 361, Vince 125, Dominic 87)
Ripkens - 451 (Cal 431, Billy 20)
Boyers - 444 (Ken 282, Clete 162)
Mays - 444 (Lee 354, Carlos 90)
Johnsons - 346 (Indian Bob 288, Roy 58)
Bretts - 327 (George 317, Ken 10)
Alomars - 305 (Roberto 201, Sandy Jr. 104)
Giambis - 275 (Jason 228, Jeremy 47)
Alous - 269 (Felipe 206, Jesus 32, Matty 31)
Torres - 265 (Joe 252, Frank 13)
Boones - 254 (Bret 186, Aaron 58)
Coopers - 179 (Walker 173, Mort 6)
Waners - 140 (Paul 113, Lloyd 27)
Jose Canseco’s twin brother Ozzie played briefly in the majors but never hit a homer so I disqualified them, but I think Jose hit 463 homers so if you want to add them they’re high on the list.
On a related note, Christy & Henry Mathewson held the record for the most wins by brothers for most of the 20th century until Gaylord & Jim Perry and Joe & Phil Niekro caught up and blew past them. Christy had 373 and Henry 0. Henry only pitched 11 innings in 3 games in the bigs, including a complete game where he walked 14, which I think is still the post 1900 NL record.
So guess, there’s no reason not to include the Flying Canseco Brothers from the home run list.
(By the way, the John McGraw/Christy Mathewson feature story in this week’s SI is great reading!)
