Grid 186

The forgettability of 200-hit seasons and Jimmie Foxx's ERA

ERIK: So Cap Anson, the first player to 3,000 hits, never got 200+ in a season. That was my mid-grid error below. Here are some of the Cubs I sorted through and dismissed to get to that wrong answer:

• Ernie Banks? Don’t think of him as a hit machine. (And yes, he topped out at 193 in 1958.)

• Billy Williams? Ditto. (But wrong-o: He did it thrice, including a league-leading 205 in 1970.)

• Ron Santo? Walked too much. (Right. Topped out at 187.)

• Ryne Sandberg? Too obvious. (Or not? He did it once and just barely: 200 in 1984.)

A key for Cubs 200+ guys, it seems, is less “Curse of the Goat” than “Rise of the Billy GOAT.” Three Cubs named Billy did it: Williams, as mentioned; Herman, three times in the 1930s; and your man Billy Buckner, Tim.

Again, I’m reminded how tough it is to get 200 hits in a season. These are three original 16 teams, and they’ve done it 15 times (Cubs), 12 times (Browns/O’s), and eight times (the hapless and oft-moved and about-to-be-moved-again A’s). To get the A’s answer right, you either had to guess someone before 1940 … or Miguel Tejada. That was it.

So I lucked out there.

I actually went around the horn in my mind with those champion A’s teams of the 1970s, and the only one I didn’t dismiss was Campy, but I’d already used him for SBs. So I tried going earlier, but … And then later, but … And then Tejada just seemed right: led off, got a lot of hits, didn’t walk much. Never would’ve guessed he’s the only Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletic to do this since *1937*. Holy crap! Plus he’s the last Baltimore Oriole to do it, too. No other Oriole did it this century.

Again, and everybody this time: IT’S HARD TO GET 200+ HITS IN A SEASON!

My stolen base guys were all educated guesses, I got Zobrist because he was the Don Baylor of the 2010s and kept showing up on pennant-winning teams, I got Conine with the Jeff Conine hack (which I’ll talk about another day), and I got Vida Blue because a few months ago was the 40th anniversary of the pine-tar incident, and in one or two interviews George Brett mentioned he was sitting next Vida Blue when the ump signaled him out. (I.e., He was sitting next to Blue when Blue blew the call.) I was like, “Vida Blue was with the Royals? Huh. I’ll have to remember that for the grid.”

Tim, you want to guess which Seattle Mariner was the first to 200+ hits? Hint: We were around to see it. Yes, it didn’t happen in the pre-Griffey era, AKA “The Mr. B Years.” And no, it wasn’t Griffey.

Further hint: Only three Mariners have ever done it: one twice, one once, and one 10 times.

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TIM: Somehow, I got through this Grid with no blank squares. The ones I thought I might miss were, naturally, in the 200 hits column. I took a couple of guesses and got lucky.

It’s curious how little a 200-hit season sticks with us as fans. It’s a milestone feat, but we apparently don’t care that much. Maybe because of what you sussed out the other day about how 200-hit seasons usually (not always) go with low-walk seasons. Maybe because it lacks the context of other stats. Quick, name four guys to win a batting title. Now name four guys with 200 hits. I bet the first one goes a lot faster. Anyway, it’s odd.

Hack Wilson just seemed like he must have at some point, so it was the other two that were my stabs in the near-dark. Your dive into the A’s clarifies why I wasn’t coming up with anybody at all; I really didn’t know enough about Jimmie Foxx to feel confident in that guess, but boy-howdy, look at his MVP years. The hits, the walks, and the slug. And, not for nothing, the ERA! Double-X pitched a bit in 1945! Who knew? Even started a couple games.

Al Bumbry was just one of those guys I remembered form the ’83 World Series that seemed like a better candidate than guys like Murray or Machado or Rich Dauer. I guess I don’t know a lot of Orioles. For whatever reason, today I didn’t think to consider the Browns and Sisler.

The other columns went relatively quickly. Got your ex-M’s in Sweeney and Montgomery, got your ’80s Cardinal in Lonnie. And steals guys—Dernier and Roberts came to mind right away, but Lansford was a guess; I just didn’t want to use Rickey, and pre-’80s isn’t a strength with the A’s (or most of the AL).

First Mariner to 200 hits, eh? Clearly, Dustin Ackley.

Kidding.

Well, I’m inclined to say Ichiro. But that seems obvious, and would you be asking if it were obvious? Hm. I’m going to say Alex Rodriguez, inc. was first, then Ichiro, and the other is … shoot, don’t know. Canó?

[Checks BBRef for answer]

BZZT! Bret Boone, huh? Doubt I would have gotten him with 20 guesses.

Speaking of A-Fraud, I was interested/rankled to find that he’s actually a pretty decent analyst. He was the color guy on one of the Wild Card games yesterday and I found myself agreeing with almost everything he had to say; evidently he knows a thing or two aside from how to present his image and PR.