Here’s something I learned today from The Athletic.
Who is the only MLB player to record at least 500 hits with four different clubs?
Rusty Staub
If you want a hint, the teams were the Colt .45s/Astros, Expos, Mets, and Tigers.
I wouldn’t have had a clue.
That’s a good one - I went with Eddie Murray, because he’s in the 3000 hit club, and moved around some. Nope!
Orioles 2080
Dodgers 483
Indians 339
Mets 318
Great guess. I totally forgot that Murray played for that many different teams.
This is a fun category - I’ve been looking up the other usual suspects to see where they fell short. Rickey Henderson had the total hits, but moved around too much, and didn’t get much accumulation outside of NY or Oakland. Same with Pete Rose. Ichiro, Boggs and Griffey only had 2 teams with 500, and a small amount in a 3rd, let alone a 4th.
So far, my next best miss is Dave Parker.
I wonder if it works for other numbers. Has anyone had 750 hits for three different teams, or 1,000 for two teams?
Ichiro is good for the last one, if you include his career in Japan.
Not a question, but an interesting fact I just learned.
On August 11, 2015, there was a full slate of MLB games, so 15 in all. The home team won every game, 15-0. That is the only time that has ever happened on a day when every team played in the expansion era.
Andre Beltre just barely makes the three team/750.
Albert Pujols makes the 2 team/1000 hit club
That’s a lot of runs!
Left-handed catchers are really rare. When was the last lefty behind the plate in MLB?
August 18, 1989 – Benny Distefano for the Pirates.
Good one. Here’s a fun one that people might remember: who was the last lefty to play 2nd base in a MLB game?
Don Mattingly in 1983, when the Yankees and Royals met back up to resume the famed Pine Tar Game. Ron Guidry was put in center!
Johnny Damon would have qualified for the original question if he stopped moving around.
KCR: 894
BOS: 730
NYY: 636
And 509 hits split between Oakland, Cleveland, Detroit and Tampa Bay.
Raphael Palmeiro:
Dave Winfield:
I just checked the 3000 hit club members, I’m guessing there are others.
Eddie Collins and Tris Speaker, for sure.
I assumed Pete Rose too, but he didn’t get to a thousand hits in Philadelphia.
The Googles have provided - note this was compiled in 2009 so there may be additions. I think the Red Sox have the most mentions.
I just came across one.
Only 1 team has ever drafted 2 hall of fame quarterbacks in the same draft. Name the franchise.
The Kansas City Royals drafted John Elway and Dan Marino in the 1979 amateur baseball draft
What major league pitcher went 207-126 lifetime, was a key part of World Series-winning teams for two different clubs, and had five 20+ win seasons, but was never seriously considered for the Hall of Fame?
Carl Mays, one of the best pitchers of the late dead ball and early “live” ball eras, with stats equivalent to or better than contemporaries who ended up in the Hall of Fame. Even if he hadn’t thrown the pitch that killed Ray Chapman, he was regarded as the most disliked player of his time (quite an accomplishment, since his career substantially overlapped that of Ty Cobb), and was accused by a sportswriter of throwing a 1921 World Series game (never proven).
Tim Raines misses - unless you add up all his non-Expos hits (over 1000), plus over 1600 with the Expos.
Who was the last MLB position player to go an entire season without grounding into a double play?
Craig Biggio in 1997
What makes that even more remarkable: the player in question played in every single game and led the league in plate appearances.
Yes you want to qualify the question in some way such as “player with sufficient plate appearances to qualify for batting title” I’m sure there are many players with just a few at bats each season who do’nt ground into double plays.