2010 OQ REPORT

What is the Offensive Quotient?

The Offensive Quotient (OQ) is a formula for measuring a batter’s productivity and dominance. The concept was devised by the late Leo Leahy and introduced in his book Lumber Men (McFarland & Company, 1994). It is easy to calculate and understand.

Three simple steps lead to the OQ.

1. Outs = At Bats minus Hits

2. Base-To-Out Ratio (BTOR) = (Total bases + walks) divided by Outs

3. Offensive Quotient (OQ) = Player BTOR divided by League BTOR

The OQ is expressed without the decimal point.

A player whose BTOR is exactly the same as the league’s is, by definition, an average batter. His OQ would be 1.00, or 100 when we drop the decimal point. The OQ, then, uses the figure 100 to indicate average batting skill. Above 100, above average. Below 100, below average.

The OQ is a ratio-type statistic that makes two comparisons. It compares what a batter gives you to what he takes away, and compares that accomplishment with those of his peers.

Why is it valuable to know this? Because more bases = more runs = more wins. The guys you want are the guys who give you the most bases per out.

It seems sensible to me. That’s why it amazes me that teams like the Astros and White Sox bat weak sisters Willy Taveras (78 OQ) and Scott Podsednik (85 OQ) at or near the top of the order, where they make out after out without generating nearly enough bases. Managers Phil Garner and Ozzie Guillen have been doing that for two seasons now, and while it’s hard to second-guess two teams that have winning records, I’d argue that they’d have won more games if they’d deployed these guys differently. Sub-90 batters do not belong at the top of the batting order. Managers who place them there are burdening their team with more outs and fewer bases. They’re sacrificing runs, which means they’re sacrificing wins.

Back to the top

LEAHY EXPLAINS THE OQ

Lumber Men appeared in the spring of 1994. By odd coincidence, that same spring Penguin Books published Essential Baseball by Norm Hitzges and Dave Lawson.Essential Baseball promotes an approach to offensive statistics that is eerily similar to Leahy’s, although the authors did not know one another at the time. Essential Baseball's formulae are more complicated and, I believe, less valid than the OQ.

Below is Leahy’s rationale for the OQ, from his introduction to Lumber Men:

“Roger Maris’ quest for the single-season home run record in 1961 is generally regarded today as heroic. But while it was happening, Maris, to his bewilderment and frustration, found himself more denigrated than praised. Maris’ talents were substantial; he was a skilled and intelligent defensive player, a dangerous hitter, and a major all-round contributor to a championship team. That he was no Babe Ruth was self-evident, for nobody ever was or will be. Yet many of the sportswriting experts of the day felt they needed to underscore the point by belittling Maris’ accomplishments. The Yankee right fielder, they wrote, was just a mediocre ballplayer. The proof? His .269 batting average!

“Implicit in this judgment was the notion that one could reasonably compare the players of the present to those of the past by merely checking the AVG column in the table of batting statistics. There were giants on the earth in those days, the scribes wrote in 1961, referring to the 1920s and 1930s. Maris? Rocky Colavito? Harmon Killebrew? Don’t mention them in the same breath as Al Simmons or Paul Waner or Ki Ki Cuyler!

“Since then the conventional wisdom has changed. Now one hears the assertion that players of different eras cannot be compared; playing conditions were different in the old days, so it’s a case of apples and oranges. Ironically this refrain, too, is employed to disparage the modern crop of baseball stars. One hears that although Hank Aaron hit more home runs than Ruth and Pete Rose banged out more hits than Ty Cobb, comparisons are not possible. The old stars, after all, had to travel by train, wear flannel uniforms, play doubleheaders and day games…

“Until now no effective statistical yardstick has existed to measure performance consistently in the face of evolving and fluctuating playing conditions. The issue is important because baseball fans want to compare. They want to know whether Pete Rose was a modern Ty Cobb. They look at today’s players and ask, who are the best of them, and how good are they?

“Baseball is competition, which is another way of saying comparison. Teams compete for supremacy, and managers, seeking a competitive edge, compare players every day as they choose their lineups. Who plays? Who sits on the bench? Who gets sent to the minors? Who gets called up? Fans second-guess these decisions, agreeing or disagreeing. All-Star selections are hotly argued, and opinion is rarely unanimous on the relative merits of contemporary third basemen or center fielders. Comparison is essential to fan interest, and particularly so in the area of batting, the most essential of all baseball skills.

“Players who never make it to the big leagues are usually those who can’t hit; there is always a place for a good hitter. Hits and runs stimulate and satisfy the appetites of baseball fans because they signify success. Scoring is more exciting than failing to score in a game like baseball, where an approximate equilibrium has always existed between offense and defense.

“Most baseball games are decided by just a few runs, many by one. A team is rarely so far behind that it cannot catch up with some judicious batting. Runs are not scored so frequently that they become meaningless, nor so infrequently that action and drama are wanting. The potential for scoring is always present, but not always fulfilled. Batting skill produces runs, but there is only so much of that skill to go around. As pundits often point out, even .300 hitters fail 70 percent of the time. A hitter’s job is to make something happen, and the great hitters are always bigger stars, more fascinating to the public, than the great pitchers, whose job it is to prevent something from happening. As General Francis A. Walker commented about the Civil War, “The sword is ever of higher honor than the shield.”

“It is true, of course, that playing conditions have changed. Stadium dimensions, the height of the pitcher’s mound, and the size of the strike zone have often been altered. Night games and hard artificial surfaces are modern phenomena which affect the physical environment of the game. Equipment has changed over the years, too. Even slight variations in the manufacture of the baseball have profound effects on baseball offense, and such changes have occurred many times in the game’s history. Meanwhile improved glove design has led to better fielding.

“New strategies have evolved. At one time managers expected their pitchers to go nine innings; later it became acceptable to remove pitchers who got tired. Today starting pitchers are relieved as a matter of course, and a batter may see a different pitcher every time he comes to bat. And there have been important rule changes, most notably the legalization of overhand pitching (1884), the lengthening of the pitching distance (1893), the foul-strike rule (1901 in the National League, 1903 in the American), the banning of the spitball (1920), and the introduction of the designated hitter (American League, 1973).

“Home Run Baker hit 9 home runs for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1914 and led the American League. The entire league hit 148 home runs that year in 631 games, with a batting average of .248. The explanation for these low totals is not that the American League hitters that year were a bunch of weaklings. They weren’t. In 1914 the baseball was wound more loosely than today’s article, and old balls were kept in the game much longer, even if battered and discolored. It was so difficult to hit one of these balls out of the park that few batters attempted such a low-percentage play, preferring instead to choke up on the bat and punch the ball to precise areas of the field.

“But every season has its dominant players, the ones who rise above the competition. The Offensive Quotient, or OQ, is a statistic that reveals who they were and are. It enables baseball fans to compare the productivity of players from different eras. Baker’s OQ of 141 (fifth in the league) shows that he was a greater offensive force in 1914 than Reggie Jackson was in 1975, when “Mr October” led the American League with 36 home runs (129 OQ, tenth in the league). Fans can use the OQ, introduced in this book, to answer questions about the batting abilities of all of baseball’s great stars…

“A player fails at bat by making an out. His team gets only three outs an inning, and each out that is made diminishes the team’s chances to score runs. A player succeeds at bat by getting on base. A player who reaches base may score a run (although his chances of doing so depend largely on the actions of players who follow him in the batting order), and he has not made an out. Anything he does to get on base and avoid making an out is desirable, and the more bases he earns, the better.

“A player can reach base by hitting safely, drawing a walk, getting hit by a pitched ball, or by benefiting from catcher’s interference. He may also reach base when an opponent makes an error or chooses to retire another baserunner. The OQ counts hits and walks because they are earned by the batter, and because they are statistically significant events for which individual player totals are available all the way back to 1876. Likewise, the OQ’s formula for outs is uncomplicated: Outs = At Bats minus Hits.

“Runs scored and driven in, while meaningful to record, are situational statistics that are less directly under the control of the individual batter. If there is no one on base, his hit will not produce an RBI; if no one drives him in, he won’t score a run. But whether he gets on base or makes an out depends largely on his own abilities. This is what the OQ considers. Stolen base/caught stealing data are also ignored. Baserunning, although it is offensive in nature, is a separate skill from batting, in much the same way that pitching and fielding are separate facets of defensive play.

“A baseball maxim (not universally endorsed) is that a walk is as good as a hit. The OQ accepts this principle as true. The player who has the patience to let four wide balls go by helps his team in two ways. He gets on base (from which position he may score a run), and he does not make an out. Hitting coaches who counsel players to “wait for their pitch” know that swinging at bad balls is, in general, a low-percentage play. Batters get few hits swinging at pitches outside the strike zone; they are more likely to make outs.”

Back to the top

FRONTIERS OF FUTILITY

In the long history of baseball, Ozzie Guillen was the weakest-hitting player ever to have played regularly (at least 3 at bats + walks for each game his team played) for 5 or more seasons. Here are his lifetime OQs:

	1985	78
	1986	65
	1987	76
	1988	74
	1989	71
	1990	83
	1991	74
	1992	73
	1993	79
	1994	73
	1995	63
	1996	68
	1997	69
	1998	89
	1999	70
	2000	68

BOLD = Qualified as a regular.

Guillen’s career totals: 10 qualifying seasons with an average OQ of 73. Guillen’s offensive futility shattered conclusively the mark of the previous record holder, Alfredo Griffin, who registered a 76 OQ in 10 qualifying seasons, 1976-1993.

Infielder Hal Lanier just missed earning the distinction as worst-hitting regular ever. Lanier was far less accomplished a hitter than Griffin or even Guillen was, but he didn’t qualify as a regular for five or more seasons.

The 1964 San Francisco Giants must have thought they were getting a top-of-the-order guy when they summoned Lanier to the majors in mid-June. Lanier, who was just 21, had hit .305 in 405 minor league games, but no one seemed to notice (or care) that he had zero power and was a first-pitch swinger who rarely drew a walk. Manager Alvin Dark batted him first or second for the remainder of 1964, but the season was too far advanced for Lanier to earn the necessary at-bats to qualify for the batting title.

As a defensive infielder Lanier carried a glove too good to sit on the bench. But by 1966 he was batting at the bottom of the order, where he clearly belonged, and was often pinch hit for in the late innings of close games. Even in an era famous for ineffectual stickwork, Lanier stood out.

	1964	78
	1965	69
	1966	70
	1967	63
	1968	59
	1969	62
	1970	66
	1971	76
	1972	58
	1973	54

Lanier’s career totals: 4 qualifying seasons with an average OQ of 63.

Weak-hitting Felix Fermin played shortstop for four teams, most notably the Cleveland Indians, from 1987 through 1996. Fermin registered these OQs:

	1987	60
	1988	95
	1989	70
	1990	75
	1991	74
	1992	85
	1993	71
	1994	80
	1995	43
	1996	52

Fermin’s career totals: 2 qualifying seasons, with an average OQ of 71.

That's pretty feeble. Imagine my surprise when I read early in 2005 that the Indians had named Fermin hitting coach at Triple-A Buffalo! I guess it was a case of “Do what I say, not what I did.”

In Fermin's favor, he was a tough guy to strike out, with just 147 whiffs in 2,767 at bats (a 1 per 19 ratio).

Back to the top

SUB-80 OQs WITH 600+ AT BATS

Their lack of productivity was embarrassing. Why, then, did they bat at the top of the order for an entire season?

	Ivy Olson, 1920 Brooklyn Robins	79
	Eddie Mulligan, 1921 Chicago White Sox	72
	Hughie Critz, 1930 Cin/NY	70
	Oscar Melillo, 1932 St Louis Browns	72
	Mark Koenig, 1934 Cincinnati Reds	69
	Frank Crosetti, 1939 New York Yankees	79
	Bob Kennedy, 1940 Chicago White Sox	73
	Woody Williams, 1944 Cincinnati Reds	76
	Sam Dente, 1950 Washington Senators	66
	Bobby Young, 1951 St Louis Browns	78
	Bill Bruton, 1953 Milwaukee Braves	77
	Nellie Fox, 1961 Chicago White Sox	78
	Bobby Richardson, 1961 New York Yankees	72
	Glenn Beckert, 1965 Chicago Cubs	74
	Cookie Rojas, 1968 Philadelphia Phillies	78
	Sandy Alomar Sr, 1969 Chi/Cal	72
	Sandy Alomar Sr, 1970 California Angels	76
	Horace Clarke, 1970 New York Yankees	75
	Larry Bowa, 1971 Philadelphia Phillies	76
	Roger Metzger, 1972 Houston Astros	74
	Gary Sutherland, 1974 Detroit Tigers	76
	Larry Bowa, 1976 Philadelphia Phillies	77
	Robin Yount, 1976 Milwaukee Brewers	79
	Dave Cash, 1978 Montreal Expos	79
	Rick Bosetti, 1979 Toronto Blue Jays	78
	Alfredo Griffin, 1980 Toronto Blue Jays	77
	Alfredo Griffin, 1985 Oakland A’s	74
	Vince Coleman, 1986 St Louis Cardinals	77
	Doug Glanville, 2000 Philadelphia Phillies	79
	Doug Glanville, 2001 Philadelphia Phillies	78
	Carl Crawford, 2003 Tampa Bay Bucs	79
	Angel Berroa, 2005 Kansas City Royals	79

9 of the American League’s 31 pitchers with 50 or more AB had OQs higher than Sam Dente’s 66 in 1950. Keeping him in the #2 hole all season cost manager Bucky Harris a lot of runs. Dente’s 1949 OQ for Washington was a miserable 76, but that was Ruthian compared to his 1950 output. When he didn’t improve significantly in 1951 (71 OQ) the Senators benched him, then traded him to the White Sox. He never played regularly in the majors again.

When in Bennington, stay at the Knotty Pine Motel.

December 2005

2010 OFFENSIVE LEADERS BY POSITION

AMERICAN LEAGUE

C	Joe Mauer
1B	Miguel Cabrera
2B	Robinson Cano
SS	Alexei Ramirez
3B	Adrian Beltre
LF	Josh Hamilton
CF	Vernon Wells
RF	Jose Bautista
DH	David Ortiz

NATIONAL LEAGUE

C	Brian McCann
1B	Joey Votto
2B	Dan Uggla
SS	Troy Tulowitzki
3B	Ryan Zimmerman
LF	Matt Holliday
CF	Carlos Gonzalez
RF	Jayson Werth

Bold indicates 2009 leaders.

To qualify for this list, a player must play at least half his team’s games at the defensive position indicated.

2010 AMERICAN LEAGUE OQ LEADERS

Rank	Player	Team	OQ

1	Cabrera	DET	172
2	Hamilton	TEX	165
3	Bautista	TOR	158
4	Konerko	CHI	153
5	Ortiz	BOS	139
6	Scott	BAL	137
7	Cano	NY	135
8	Beltre	BOS	135
9	Choo	CLE	134
10	Longoria	TAM	132

11	Mauer	MIN	131
12	Swisher	NY	127
13	Butler	KC	126
14	Teixeira	NY	126
15	Rodriguez	NY	125
16	Barton	OAK	122
17	Wells	TOR	122
18	Crawford	TAM	122
19	Matsui	LA	121
20	Martinez	BOS	121

21	Hunter	LA	117
22	Guerrero	TEX	117
23	Abreu	LA	116
24	Markakis	BAL	116
25	Quentin	CHI	115
26	Drew	BOS	114
27	Young	MIN	114
28	Granderson	NY	114
29	Gardner	NY	111
30	Overbay	TOR	109

31	Napoli	LA	109
32	Rios	CHI	108
33	Pena	TAM	108
34	Young	TEX	107
35	Damon	DET	107
36	Upton	TAM	106
37	Kubel	MIN	105
38	Cuddyer	MIN	104
39	Zobrist	TAM	101
40	Boesch	DET	100


41	Jones	BAL	99
42	Jackson	DET	99
43	Suzuki	SEA	99
44	Inge	DET	98
45	Wigginton	BAL	98
46	Ramirez,A	CHI	98
47	Scutaro	BOS	96
48	Peralta	CLE/DET	96
49	Hudson	MIN	95
50	Lind	TOR	95

51	Wieters	BAL	95
52	Jeter	NY	94
53	Kendrick	LA	93
54	Pennington	OAK	92
55	Span	MIN	89
56	Betancourt	KC	89
57	Gutierrez	SEA	89
58	Bartlett	TAM	88
59	Davis	OAK	88
60	Hill	TOR	87

61	Callaspo	KC/LA	86
62	Kouzmanoff	OAK	86
63	Figgins	SEA	85
64	Pierzynski	CHI	85
65	Suzuki	OAK	84
66	Andrus	TEX	82
67	Pierre	CHI	78
68	Aybar	LA	78
69	Lopez	SEA	73
70	Izturis	BAL	62

The 2010 American League base-to-out ratio was .678, the lowest mark since 1992.

This list includes every player who had at least 3 (at bats + walks) for each game his team played.

OQs of selected nonqualifiers, American League: Mike Aviles KC 97, Gordon Beckham CHI 91, Lance Berkman NY 101, Wilson Betemit KC 135, Milton Bradley SEA 86, Russell Branyan CLE/SEA 118, John Buck TOR 108, Jorge Cantu TEX 75, Nelson Cruz TEX 145, Jack Cust OAK 128, David DeJesus KC 117, Edwin Encarnacion TOR 111, Jose Guillen KC 99, Travis Hafner CLE 118, Bill Hall BOS 109, John Jaso TAM 110, Andruw Jones CHI 124, Kila Ka’aihue KC 99, Austin Kearns CLE/NY 102, Ian Kinsler TEX 115, Casey Kotchman SEA 79, Mark Kotsay CHI 92, Matt LaPorta CLE 92, Fred Lewis TOR 100, Kendry Morales LA 114, Justin Morneau MIN 177, David Murphy TEX 116, Magglio Ordonez DET 127, Dustin Pedroia BOS 128, Jorge Posada NY 119, Ryan Raburn DET 112, Juan Rivera LA 96, Carlos Santana CLE 142, Justin Smoak TEX/SEA 95, Jim Thome MIN 174, Danny Valencia MIN 110, Kevin Youkilis BOS 154.

Funny thing: if you merge Justin Morneau, whose stellar season was unfortunately cut short, and Jim Thome, the man who replaced him in the Minnesota lineup, you have a 175 OQ. That would have led the American League, with Miguel Cabrera’s 172 in second place. But neither Twin had the necessary at bats to qualify for the title. Kind of reminds me of Tito Francona in 1959, whose 158 OQ would have topped the 154 mark of leader Al Kaline had Cleveland manager Joe Gordon let him play a few more games. (Reportedly Gordon’s handling of Francona caused a major rift with Indians general manager Frank Lane after the Tribe fell out of first place for good on July 28. But I digress.)

2010 NATIONAL LEAGUE OQ LEADERS

Rank	Player	Team	OQ

1	Votto	CIN	170
2	Pujols	STL	169
3	Gonzalez	COL	151
4	Tulowitzki	COL	147
5	Werth	PHI	145
6	Gonzalez	SD	143
7	Holliday	STL	142
8	Zimmerman	WAS	139
9	Huff	SF	138
10	Dunn	WAS	137

11	Fielder	MIL	136
12	Uggla	FLA	135
13	Johnson	ARI	132
14	Rasmus	STL	132
15	Heyward	ATL	131
16	Wright	NY	130
17	Ethier	LA	129
18	Braun	MIL	128
19	Ramirez	FLA	127
20	Howard	PHI	127

21	Hart	MIL	127
22	Bruce	CIN	127
23	Rolen	CIN	127
24	McCann	ATL	125
25	Utley	PHI	123
26	Torres	SF	121
27	McCutchen	PIT	120
28	Weeks	MIL	119
29	Soriano	CHI	119
30	Drew	ARI	118

31	Upton	ARI	118
32	Davis	NY	118
33	Ibanez	PHI	117
34	Young	ARI	117
35	McGehee	MIL	115
36	Prado	ATL	114
37	Lee	CHI/ATL	114
38	Sanchez	FLA	113
39	LaRoche	ARI	113
40	Reynolds	ARI	112


41	Stubbs	CIN	111
42	Pence	HOU	111
43	Fowler	COL	110
44	Kemp	LA	108
45	Pagan	NY	106
46	Infante	ATL	106
47	Victorino	PHI	105
48	Uribe	SF	105
49	Phillips	CIN	104
50	Keppinger	HOU	104

51	Ramirez	CHI	104
52	Gomes	CIN	104
53	Ludwick	STL/SD	104
54	Byrd	CHI	103
55	Reyes	NY	101
56	Castro	CHI	101
57	Sandoval	SF	101
58	Jones	PIT	100
59	Blake	LA	100
60	Ross	FLA/SF	99

61	Loney	LA	99
62	DeWitt	LA/CHI	98
63	Headley	SD	95
64	Lee	HOU	95
65	Polanco	PHI	95
66	Bourn	HOU	93
67	Desmond	WAS	92
68	Cabrera	ATL	90
69	Molina	STL	88
70	Schumaker	STL	88

71	Cedeno	PIT	87
72	Cabrera	CIN	84
73	Morgan	WAS	79
74	Theriot	CHI/LA	79
75	Escobar	MIL	78

The 2010 National League base-to-out ratio was .665, the lowest mark since 1992.

This list includes every player who had at least 3 (at bats + walks) for each game his team played.

OQs of selected nonqualifiers, National League: Pedro Alvarez PIT, Jason Bay NY 107, Carlos Beltran p align="left" NY 114, Lance Berkman HOU 127, Roger Bernadina WAS 94, Jorge Cantu FLA 96, Chris Coghlan FLA 98, Ty Colvin CHI 118, Kosuke Fukudome CHI 126, Rafael Furcal LA 121, Jason Giambi COL 119, Troy Glaus ATL 109, Jose Guillen SF 85, Todd Helton COL 108, Chipper Jones ATL 126, Cameron Maybin FLA 87, Lastings Milledge PIT 94, Logan Morrison FLA 129, Xavier Nady CHI 82, Buster Posey SF 125, Jimmy Rollins PHI 97, Freddy Sanchez SF 100, Seth Smith COL 113, Geovany Soto CHI 144, Matt Stairs SD 115, Mike Stanton FLA 122, Ian Stewart COL 113, Will Venable SD 104, Neil Walker PIT 116, Josh Willingham WAS 132.

The National League race for the OQ title went down to the wire. Joey Votto had a very slight lead over Albert Pujols entering the final day of the regular season. Both men had three plate appearances on Sunday. Votto doubled, lined out to center, and walked. He was removed after five innings, possibly to protect his OQ lead. Pujols grounded out twice and walked, whereupon he was lifted for a pinch runner.

Pujols has now completed a full decade of major league service. In his last six seasons he has won the OQ title three times and finished second three times. For ten years he has averaged an OQ of 169. He has never played fewer than 143 games, batted below .312, batted in fewer than 103 runs, or scored fewer than 99 runs. He has never hit fewer than 33 doubles or fewer than 34 home runs. In 56 postseason games he has batted .322 with 62 runs produced and a base-to-out ratio of 1.119. At age 30 he is the brightest star in the game and has proven that he belongs in the company of two best righthanded hitting first basemen in baseball history, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg. When you watch Pujols play, you are watching one of the game’s immortals.

In 2010 Pujols accomplished the rare feat of leading the National League in both runs scored (115) and runs batted in (118).

The lefthanded hitting Votto, who turned 27 last month, has emerged as a major force. A charismatic performer and fan favorite, he carried his team to a title in exactly the same fashion that Carl Yastrzemski did in 1967, delivering key plays in the clutch from April to October. Votto is a somewhat late bloomer who spent six seasons in the minors, playing over 700 minor league games before the Reds promoted him in late 2007. In contrast, Pujols’ minor league apprenticeship consisted of just the 133 games he played in 2000.

HOW BAD WERE THEY?

On September 17 Dejan Kovacevic wrote in his column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “It is an epic failure, quite literally one of historic proportions. And I'm not sure that everyone involved with the Pirates gets that.”

The 2010 Pittsburgh Pirates, who finished 57-105, led the majors in fielding errors (127). Additionally, the Bucs can boast the dual distinction of scoring the fewest runs (587) and giving up the most runs (866) in the National League. That is difficult to do in the modern era of 30 teams. In fact, it hadn’t been done since the 54-106 Atlanta Braves accomplished the feat in 1988. Oddly enough, the last year an American League team anchored both offense and defense was also 1988. The 54-107 Baltimore Orioles were one of just seven teams since 1901 to score the fewest runs and give up the most runs in all of major league baseball.

Since 1901 four teams have recorded the fewest runs scored, the most runs allowed, and the most errors committed in all of major league baseball: the 1910 St Louis Browns, the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics, the 1921 Philadelphia Phillies, and the 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates.

Fewest Runs Scored and Most Runs Allowed, NL

	Pittsburgh 6 (1890, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 2010)
	Philadelphia 6 (1883, 1921, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942)
	St Louis 5 (1897, 1903, 1908, 1913, 1916)
	Cincinnati 3 (1876, 1934, 1948)
	Washington 2 (1888, 1893)
	Atlanta 1 (1988)
	Boston 1 (1906)
	Chicago 1 (1949)
	Cleveland 1 (1899)
	Louisville 1 (1895)
	Milwaukee 1 (1878)
	Montreal 1 (1976)
	New York 1 (1965)
	San Diego 1 (1974)
	Worcester 1 (1882)

Fewest Runs Scored and Most Runs Allowed, AL

	Philadelphia 5 (1916, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1943)
	Boston 4 (1906, 1923, 1925, 1932)
	Washington 4 (1903, 1904, 1909, 1963)
	St Louis 3 (1910, 1911, 1951)
	Baltimore 1 (1988) Detroit 1 (1952)
	New York 1 (1908)
	Texas 1 (1973)

Incredibly, one of these teams did not finish last. At the end of an unusually exciting negative pennant race, the 1948 Cincinnati Reds edged the Chicago Cubs by a half game for National League seventh place honors. The Reds clinched the seventh slot on the final day when unlikely hero Steve Filipowicz singled home Bobby Adams in the bottom of the ninth to give Johnny Vander Meer a 1-0 victory over (who else) the Pittsburgh Pirates before 7,255 screaming fans at Crosley Field.

The Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh’s opponent in the 2010 Negative World Series, had their own claim to distinction: they scored just 513 runs. That’s the lowest total in an uninterrupted season since the California Angels plated 511 in 1971. But those Angels managed to win 76 games, while the 2010 Mariners finished with 61 victories.Franklin Gutierrez was their top RBI man with 64.

Jack Zduriencik, the general manager who put that Seattle team together, has a lot to answer for. Milton Bradley, an acquisition who was counted on to provide firepower, did not hit with authority to offset his annual meltdown, and onetime hero Ken Griffey, the Rip Van Winkle of baseball, contributed an OQ of 54. Zduriencik was rehired for 2011, so rest assured that Bradley will be back next year, although Griffey has slunk off into the sunset. Jackie Z apparently endorses the John Thompson dictum, "You can calm down a fool before you can resurrect a corpse."

The sportswriters who paid effusive tribute to Griffey, typified by Boston’s Nick Cafardo, who lauded Griffey’s “22 seasons of excellence,” did not, evidently, watch him play in Cincinnati. From 1989 to 1999 Griffey was Henry Jekyll in Seattle; in Cincinnati from 2000 to 2008 he was Edward Hyde. He began his long downhill coast, disappointingly, at the age of 30. What was worse, the loafing, lackadaisical style Griffey displayed affected the entire Reds ballclub, which did not contend for anything after 2000.

It took Griffey’s departure for the franchise to pull itself together. Cincinnati peddled Griffey to the White Sox on July 31, 2008. On the same day they shed Griffey-influenced dog Edwin Encarnacion to Toronto for Scott Rolen.

Rolen was what Griffey was not: a hard-nosed competitor with a no-nonsense work ethic who exerted a galvanizing influence on his teammates, despite the fact that he, like Griffey, was often sidelined by nagging injuries. Rolen changed the culture in Cincinnati. The evidence for that change was a 2010 Reds team that competed until the last out and developed a propensity to push across go-ahead runs in the late innings. The 2010 Reds won a division title despite the continued insistence of manager Dusty Baker on batting his worst hitters in the leadoff position (Corey Patterson in 2008, Willy Taveras in 2009, Orlando Cabrera this year).

That fans did not flock to Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark to watch the 2010 team, a fact often noted by out-of-town commentators, says plenty about how disillusioned Reds fans became during the Griffey years, when the team looked for excuses to lose rather than ways to win. There was one other factor at play: the stadium is difficult to get to and to park at. This phenomenon, rarely noticed by pampered sportswriters, accounts for several franchises’ lower-than-expected attendance, most notably Tampa Bay’s. When driving to the game is a hassle, many fans opt to enjoy the event in their own living rooms via radio and television.

Incidentally, you may recall that when the Reds obtained Griffey from Seattle for center fielder Mike Cameron in February 2000, the deal was widely regarded as laughably one-sided. No one predicted that Cameron would outperform Griffey on both offense and defense in the following 11 seasons. This supposed non-star produced more runs than Griffey in all but two of those seasons and won three Gold Gloves, three more than Griffey. Four of Cameron’s teams qualified for postseason play, while just one of Griffey’s teams, the 2008 Chicago White Sox, did so. Which player provided better value?

WHEN ROB DIBBLE OUTWITTED THE PRESIDENT

In an interview with broadcasters Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble in our nation’s capital on April 5, President Barack Obama, a Chicagoan since 1985, declared allegiance to the White Sox. “I’m a South Side kid,” Obama explained. “I’ve got to make sure that [White Sox chairman] Jerry Reinsdorf doesn’t get too angry with me!”

Whereupon Dibble asked, "Who was one of your favorite White Sox players growing up?"

Obama said (and this is a verbatim transcript): "You know, uh, I thought that, uh, you know, the truth is that a lot of the Cubs I liked too. But I did not become a Sox fan until I moved to Chicago. Because I was growing up in Hawaii and so I ended up actually being an Oakland A's fan. But when I moved to Chicago, I was living close to what was then Cominskey (sic) Park, right, and went to a couple games and just fell in love. And the nice thing about the Sox is it's real blue-collar baseball. We always tease about the Cubs, they, you know, they're up at Wrigley and sipping wine and playing those day games. They’re having a good time.”

America’s number one White Sox fan couldn’t name one White Sox player. Unsurprisingly, this stammered reply won Obama no praise from the sporting public. In the Chicago Sun-Times Kyle Koster commented, “One could make the case that Obama's point was that he didn't become acquainted with the Sox until later in his life, but I'd imagine most fans would have liked him to spit out at least one player's name.”

If I were advising the president, I’d recommend that he regard the incident as a learning experience. He might study these two scenarios:

What Obama Might Have Said (1): “I enjoy baseball. It’s a great American game. I wish I had the time to follow it more closely than I’m able to.”

What Obama Might Have Said (2): “Well, Frank Thomas comes immediately to mind, The Big Hurt, somebody wrote a song about him. I used to cheer for Ray Durhamand James Baldwin (the pitcher, not the writer). Going back a little earlier, I liked Ozzie Guillen and Robin Ventura on the left side of the infield. Harold Baines could get you a designated hit. Ron Karkovice behind the plate, as good as Carlton Fisk without all the histrionics. Lance Johnson gave you speed in the outfield. Jack McDowell, all he did was beat you. If he ever faltered, it was Bobby Thigpen to the rescue. Ron Kittle, plenty of raw power. Ivan Calderon the outfielder, not the boxer.Joe Cowley and his no-hit magic. Great pitchers like Britt Burns and Rich Dotson and LaMarr Hoyt. Salome Barajas and that dancing curveball. Mike Squires was a good glove man. Everybody looked fantastic in those clamdiggers they wore in the 70s. Lamar Johnson, no relation to Lance. A sweet outfielder, Chet Lemon. That dazzling kid rotation of Ross Baumgarten, Ken Kravec, Steve Trout, and Rich Wortham, how come they’re not in the Hall of Fame? Man, you’re dredging up some great memories. I’m just getting started. Wilbur Wood and his knuckler. Pete Ward, 1963 rookie of the year. Saturnino Orestes Minnie Minoso. The ageless Sherm Lollar.Jungle Jim Rivera. Billy Pierce, a southpaw like me. Nellie Fox, Little Louie Aparicio, Chico Carrasquel, Luke Appling and his aches and pains. Ted Lyons, he ruled on Sunday. Zeke Bonura could swing the bat. Moe Berg, that guy had read a book. Art The Great Shires. Willie Kamm at the hot corner. Yam Yaryan, what a catcher.Eddie Collins. Shano Collins. Death Valley Jim Scott. Fielder Jones and the Hitless Wonders and the 1906 World Series. And what about that great 1901 team that won the American League pennant? Who can forget Ervin Zaza Harvey…”

Had this reply been forthcoming, this lifelong Republican would have voted for Obama in any subsequent election for any office in the land.

By the way, this was the first and only time I have heard Cub fans accused of drinking wine.

CAVALCADE OF CATCHERS

Is Russell Martin the new Butch Wynegar?

The remarkable Ivan Rodriguez continues to roll along. He caught 102 games to increase his record career total to 2390. The Nationals intend to bring him back in 2011. He’ll be 39 on Opening Day.

Jason Kendall caught 118 games for the Royals to become only the fifth backstop in history to catch over 2000 games. He has now caught 2025. Kendall is three years younger than Rodriguez, but I don’t believe he’ll surpass Rodriguez’s career record for games caught even if I-Rod retires tomorrow. Kendall does have a chance, however, to overtake Rodriguez’s career record for games lost. I haven’t tallied Kendall’s 2010 won-lost record yet, but I know that currently his losses exceed his wins by more than 100.

No receiver caught his 1000th game in 2010. Rod Barajas and Brian Schneider, who both finished the season with 923, are the currently active catchers closest to 1000. Barajas will be 35 and Schneider 34 on Opening Day.

THE GAME FOR ALL AMERICA

Has a major league pitching matchup ever mirrored an American presidential election? The answer is yes, but it happened on just three occasions.

On July 22, 1898, Zeke Wilson of the Cleveland Spiders squared off against fellow righthander Jay Hughes in Baltimore, with the Orioles winning 7-5. This prefigured, of course, the Woodrow Wilson-Charles Evans Hughes presidential contest of 1916.

September 3, 1967, saw another Wilson-Hughes confrontation. This one matched a pair of righthanded rookies, Houston’s Don Wilson and St Louis’ Dick Hughes, in the Mound City. The Cardinals won 13-1.

On July 29, 1978, the Minnesota Twins, by sending forth portsider Darrell Jackson to battle New York righty Ken Clay, re-enacted the Andrew Jackson-Henry Clayconflict of 1832. The Yankees won 7-3.

Texas starter C.J. Wilson did not face New York’s Phil Hughes this year.

TRIPLE PLAY TERROR

Could it have happened? Mike Berheide reports that according to legend, a triple play occurred in a minor league game without a defensive player actually touching the ball. Pundit George Will refers to it in his introduction to the new edition of Men At Work.

Such an event is possible. Here is my scenario:

Imagine that the 1974 New York Yankees have the bases loaded with none out. The runners are Lou Piniella at third, Otto Velez at second, and Walt “No Neck” Williams at first. The batter is Graig Nettles.

Manager Bill Virdon orders a suicide squeeze. Velez misses the sign and does not leave second base. Williams, running full tilt after a huge jump, does not see this and is declared out (1) for passing Velez on the basepaths.

Meanwhile, Nettles has bunted a slow roller down the third base line. Nettles’ bat shatters when it makes contact with the ball, with the top of the bat detaching itself from the barrel. Several Super Balls fly out of the broken bat. Piniella, who like Velez has missed the sign, belatedly comes loping off the third base bag. Attempting to dodge the Super Balls, he stumbles over the baseball before a defensive player can reach it. He is declared out (2) for being hit by a batted ball in fair territory.

The ball is now dead. But Nettles is declared out (3) for using an illegal bat.

A BASEBALL OZYMANDIAS

The sportswriting establishment extolled the virtues of George Steinbrenner for days after the great man passed on to his reward in July. Looking backward, the knights of the keyboard now characterized Steinbrenner as a gruff but lovable sportsman who added passion and color to the game.

It wasn’t long ago when Marge Schott, another German-American owner who inherited her fortune, was castigated for running her ballclub with the same imperious hand that Steinbrenner always wielded. Vilified even in death, her reputation has yet to be redeemed and may never be. Society likes to think of itself as enlightened now but still adheres to a double standard when it comes to boorishness and bad behavior.

Nobody seems to have noticed the striking parallels between Steinbrenner and Schott. It would be asking too much, I suppose, for some pundit to compare Steinbrenner to an owner he even more closely resembled: Chris Von Der Ahe.

How soon they forget. Von Der Ahe purchased the down-at-heels St Louis Browns in 1882, when baseball was more popular than it is today. Like most owners he knew little about the fine points of the game, but he was no penny pincher when it came to operating a ballclub. Under Von Der Ahe’s free-spending ownership the Browns soon dominated the American Association (at that time a major league), winning four consecutive championships and leading the league in attendance.

In 1885 “Der Poss President” (as he called himself) erected a massive statue of himself outside the home of the Browns, Sportsman’s Park. While his impatience and volatile temper were legendary, these qualities seemed to endear him to the sporting public… as long as the Browns kept winning.

In September 2010 a colossal monument to George Steinbrenner was unveiled at Yankee Stadium, dwarfing the plaques honoring great Yankee players of the past. “It’s big,” Derek Jeter observed. “Probably just how The Boss wanted it, the biggest one out there.” The larger-than-life bronze likeness perfectly captures the frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command that were Steinbrenner’s trademarks. Keep winning, boys, keep winning.

THEY CALL THEM THE BREEZE

Some managers are snakebit. Then there is Arizona’s Kirk Gibson. On September 7 Gibson was pulling on a pair of bicycling shorts when he was ambushed by a scorpion that had been lurking in one of the legs. According to news reports, he was stung on the left thigh. It could have been worse, of course. “It’s not life-threatening,” the intrepid Gibson remarked, and he got back on his bike the next day.

For the sake of his sanity, I hope Gibson, whose contract has been renewed for 2011, can shrug off the performance of the 2010 Diamondbacks as easily. They played no better for him than they did for his predecessor, A.J. Hinch, while setting a new major league record for batter strikeouts (1529, which computes to a staggering 9.4 per game). They demolished the old strikeout record of 1399 set by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2001.

Over the course of the season the Backs averaged a strikeout per every 4.04 plate appearances. They whiffed at least 10 times in 73 of their 162 games, and they lost 56 of those games. (Their record in their remaining games was a very respectable 48-41.) Five of Arizona’s eight regulars (1B Adam LaRoche, 2B Kelly Johnson, 3B Mark Reynolds, CF Chris Young, and RF Justin Upton) struck out at least 145 times, and a sixth regular, SS Stephen Drew, added 108.

Reynolds fanned 211 times. That’s fewer than the 223 with which he set the major league record in 2009, but his batting average shrunk from .260 to .198 and his OQ from 132 to 112. Amazingly, Reynolds became the first non-pitching regular in history whose strikeout total was higher than his batting average.

The motto of many of today’s hitters seems to be, “If you’re not striking out 100 times, you’re not trying.” But the novel experiment of building a team composed exclusively of noncontact hitters who flail away at anything a pitcher offers has not worked. It’s a dead end. Arizona has declined in wins from 82 to 70 to 65 while leading the league in strikeouts in each of the past three seasons. Their roster needs to be revamped.

Perhaps help is on the way. Newly appointed general manager Kevin Towers said recently, “The strikeouts are somewhat alarming. You certainly need to cut that back. Personally, I like contact hitters. I like guys with good pitch recognition. Strikeouts are part of the game, but if you have four, five, or six guys in your lineup, it’s hard to sustain any sort of rally.’’ Amen to that.

JAGGED EDGE

Cubs rookie outfielder Tyler Colvin was impaled by the sharp end of a splintered maple bat while running the bases in September, ending his season. The projectile pierced Colvin’s shoulder; it might have penetrated his throat or one of his eye sockets. Nevertheless, the panjandrums of baseball continued to display an attitude of unconcern. Many worried commentators took note and asked, “Will it take the death of a player or an umpire or a club employee or a spectator for baseball to ban the use of maple bats?”

The answer, I’m afraid, is yes.

It has been demonstrated beyond a doubt that maple bats break more frequently and into larger, more jagged pieces than traditional ash bats. The heavy, sharp-edged ends of shattered maple bats fly through the air with great force.

Fans want not to have to worry about serious injury. Players should want not to have their very lucrative careers placed at risk. Owners should want to protect their expensive investments and to prevent costly lawsuits. So why has no ban been forthcoming?

Incredibly, especially in light of what happened to Colvin, the Major League Baseball Players Association is doing the resisting to what is very clearly an issue of safety. Union leaders oppose a ban of maple bats as an infringement on personal freedom, just as they fought the prohibition of drugs that had been proven to damage players’ bodies. Young men tend to disregard the risk of getting seriously hurt, certain that such calamities will happen to someone else, not to them. The owners, weary of labor strife, are disinclined to fight the players over this. Neither side seems to realize that baseball fans will support overwhelmingly whomever stakes out the moral high ground on this issue.

Aluminum bats are already banned; they’re unsafe in the hands of major league hitters. No one’s life should be at risk at a game of baseball. Commissioner Bud Seligneeds to invoke that forgotten phrase “in the best interests of baseball” and act now.

RUMINATIONS

* You take Chris Young. I’ll take Cy Young.

* In today’s climate the discussion about baseball seems almost wholly devoted to contracts or salaries. I remember a day when few fans knew or cared what a team’s payroll was or how much money individual players were making. We looked at the game differently. We talked mainly about individual players’ mastery (or lack thereof) of the fine points of baseball. Could Chuck Schilling hit major league pitching? Could or should the Yankees switch Tom Tresh from shortstop to the outfield? Would Steve Barber ever learn to throw strikes? Would a broken jaw affect Larry Jackson’s pitching? Was Lew Burdette over the hill? I miss those days.

* While everyone is patting the Toronto Blue Jays on the back for hitting 257 home runs, nobody seems to have noticed that the Jays scored just 755 runs. No team that has hit over 200 home runs has ever registered a home-run-to-runs-scored ratio of less than 3. The usual ratio is 3.5 or 4 to one. This one-dimensional home-run-or-nothing offense is probably the reason the Jays won only 85 games and were never a factor in the pennant race despite the presence of four respectable starting pitchers and a decent bullpen.

* Toronto’s Jose Bautista was the most talked about non-rookie in baseball this season. Somehow the 29-year-old Bautista slugged 54 home runs after consecutive seasons of 13, 12, 15, and 16 circuit clouts in the majors and a previous total of just 52 home runs in 415 minor league games. An astounding 92 of his 148 hits went for extra bases; he hit almost as many home runs as singles. Bautista became the first player in history to boost his home run total by more than 40 from one season to the next.

Were performance-enhancing drugs at play here? Baseball has not stamped out the use of such supplements, as blood is still not tested for EPO and HGH. Bautista claims he overhauled his offensive game after receiving batting tips from manager Cito Gaston late in 2009. This may be so. Non-enhanced fluke seasons are possible: recall Davey Johnson’s 43 dingers at age 30 in 1973, which exceeded his total for his previous four seasons combined. Johnson fell back to earth in 1974. 2011 will, I hope, tell us more about who Jose Bautista really is.

* It has happened at last: Manny Ramirez has become irrelevant.

* The best broadcasting moment I heard this season occurred early, on April 7. After the Yankees’ Curtis Granderson clouted a late-inning homer off Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon, one-of-a-kind radio voice John Sterling exclaimed, “The Grandy Man can!” Listening to the game on my car radio, I nearly drove off the road.

* Worst broadcasting moment: in Stephen Strasburg’s second inning of major league competition, Bob Costas trumpeted the certainty of Strasburg’s future election to the Hall of Fame, where he would assume his rightful place beside immortals like Walter Johnson.

* By the way, who says Scott Boras is a sharp guy? Jim Callis points out that “if Strasburg had sought political asylum in Andorra, he probably would have received a $60 million or $70 million big league deal as a free agent.” That’s about four times what the Washington Nationals gave him. Somewhere Aroldis Chapman is smiling.

* Nickname Of The Year: “Ajax” (Detroit center fielder Austin Jackson). Wishful thinking? With just 4 home runs and a 99 OQ to show for his season’s work, Jackson hardly resembles the brawny warrior of The Iliad.

* Ernie Banks represented the Cubs in Chicago’s 2010 Gay Pride Parade on June 27. It wasn’t so long ago that such a story was literally unthinkable. That it generated no controversy tells us a lot about the times we’re living in.

* The current revolution in baseball statistics sometimes makes my head spin as I struggle to keep current. But I have a favorite: the Howard, with which a player is credited if he strikes out, commits an error, and hits a home run in the same game. Ryan Howard (for whom the stat was named by the Phillies fans who invented it) and Mark Reynolds tied for the lead in Howards this year with five apiece. Interestingly, the Phillies, on their way to a division championship, won all five of the games in which Howard recorded a Howard.

Minnesota’s Danny Valencia earns honorable mention for logging a Double Howard. On September 25 Valencia hit two home runs, struck out twice, and made two errors. Unfortunately his second miscue led directly to the Twins’ surrender of the winning run in a 13-inning contest in Detroit.

* Orioles infielder Cesar Izturis, never a robust hitter, submitted one of the worst offensive seasons of all time. Izturis says he wants to be back in Baltimore in 2011. I wish him well. * Say it ain’t so: Brewers infielder

Craig Counsell seems to have abandoned the goofy batting stance that has been his trademark for over a decade. Can retirement be far behind?

* Wouldn’t you like to see rotund free agent Prince Fielder sign with the Giants? Visualize an infield safeguarded by Fielder at first and roly poly Pablo Sandoval at third.

* A trenchant observation from former Baltimore manager Ray Miller: “They don’t tell a guy to push himself today. They tell him to take it easy.”

* True or false: Roy Oswalt played left field and batted cleanup in a Phillies game this year. Answer: True. It happened on August 24. Oswalt caught everything hit to him but went hitless at the plate. The Phillies lost the game, and manager Charlie Manuel vowed that the experiment would not be repeated.

* Remember the name: Yu Darvish. Half Iranian, half Japanese, all pitcher. He makes Dice-K look like Danny Kaye.

* If you were looking for a lefthanded relief specialist, would you choose Texas’s Clay Rapada or Arizona’s Clay Zavada? My solution: sign them both.

* Andy Pettitte finished the season 11-3 to boost his career record to 240-138, 102 games over .500. That puts him in very select company, and he’s likely to stay there as long as he pitches for the Yankees. I’ve been saying it for years: there’s no one better at hiding his mouth from prying cameras during those tense conferences on the mound. Pettitte will be 38 on Opening Day.

* You take Roy Halladay. I’ll take Johnny Hallyday.

When in Carmel, stay at the Tickle Pink Inn.

October 2010