I’m sure most of us are aware of The Oracle of Bacon. I just visited baseball-reference.com where I found that they have licensed the Oracle’s technology. Guess I have another way to stay awake while I’m at work.
Most central player I’ve found so far is Hank Aaron at 3.19.
Most distant so far is Charley “Old Hoss” Radbourn at 4.819.
I can’t imagine any player being more connected than Minoso.
On the other end, the highest score I can find for a well known player is
Candy Cummings - 5.600.
for not well known…
Charlie Mills - 5.789. I’m sure you could do better with someone who only played in 1871.
Dick Hurley - 6.241. It helps when you only play 2 games in 1872 for a team that lasted only two years.
I was really surprised that Mike Morgan only came in at 3.598 considering his longevity and number of teams.
Perennial nobodys Faye Throneberry, Mave Trhoneberry, and Bob Uecker all have a similar average (around 3.38).
I just did the ‘connections’ thing.
HOF Catcher Roger Bresnahan (1897-1915) to Rick Wrona (most decidedly NOT HOF catcher for the 1989 Cubs)
5 links. All of which played for one or the other Chicago teams.
Hell, Midget Gaedel averages 3.722.
And he only made one appearance.
It seems that the players with the lowest numbers are the ones from the '40s and '50s. Pee Wee Reese averages 3.068.
I’d have thought that the numbers would be higher prior to the elimination of the reserve clause.
Wouldn’t Jeff’s hypothesis indicate that there was greater player movement in the 40s and 50s than now?
King Kelly. 4.563
Moses “Fleet” Walker. 4.740
Matty Alou. 3.198
Better still, Al Dark. 3.144
Recent pitcher Matt Miller is probably the best recent one you’re going to get. 4.855.
On a lark, Mike Jordan (guess who I was trying to find?). 4.904, baby.
I’m gonna be playing a lot with this later:D
I think it has something to do with Minoso’s 6222 common teammates. The man had a plate appearance in four different decades, five if you consider 1980 to be the start of the '80s.
Also, given that Early Wynn maxes out at 6 steps, and Minnie Minoso at 7, it’s highly unlikely anyone could be as high as 7 on average. Minnie Minoso only has 3 players at 7 steps:
Tom Foley - 6.443,
Ed Duffy - 6.443, and
Ed Pinkham - 6.443.
I suspect those are our winners for least connected (and they were all teammates).
Walt Walker: 5.206 and Frank Bell: 5.433. Furthermore, Steve Bellan: 5.764. Squeezing the marrow out of this thing, Quinlan: 5.784.
In summary (I think this makes sense, feel free to let me know otherwise):
To get the lowest connection number, find a major leaguer from the 40’s to 60’s that had a lengthy career. The number will be lower due to the number of teammates/years and the fact that they split the difference between current and classic players, thus minimizing the steps needed to reach each yearly extreme.
To find the highest number: Pick a player that had minimal games in the earliest couple of years represented on the website. The lack of games and lack of teams will translate to vast numbers of steps to reach the players of today.
I don’t think it matters how many games they played - just the number of years. For example, Esix Snead and Mark Little are listed as teammates on the 2002 Mets, but I’m fairly certain they were not on the roster at the same time.