I’m sitting here in Kansas City watching Michael Schur sign lots of copies of his new book How To Be Perfect (and getting ready to sign a few more of my own).
I was looking forward to the Ks and what you might say about Harmon Killebrew, since you left him off the top 100 list after placing him 67th in your previous list. Alas. Jeff Kent. All the time with the Jeff Kent.
Perfect summary of Jeff Kent's Hall of Fame case. A bit of a let down. 5th in HR for Ks. 8th among position HR leaders. Only pitchers have a lower all time HR leader.
For a while, my favourite alphabetical baseball fact was this...
First alphabetically in MLB history was Henry Aaron, who also held the National League career home run record.
Last alphabetically was Dutch Zwilling, who also held the Federal League career home run record.
So that was two of the 20th century's three major leagues covered.
Sadly, most of these records and distinctions have moved on: hello to David Aardsma, Barry Bonds and Tony Zych. But Dutch Zwilling's Federal League record is surely unbreakable.
This post reminded me of one of the the first articles of Joe that I ever read- in Sports Illustrated. He did a ranking of best players by uniform number- across all sports- well at least baseball, football, and basketball. Which really made it interesting. I can’t remember specifics, but I’m guessing #3 would have been Ruth, 19 Unitas. He listed runner ups if I remember correctly. Like this it was a happy post, although it was opinion based, as opposed to pure facts.
But my main takeaway? I really like reading this guy. Still do!
That's a FUN exercise, BTW. Just remember these few oddities:
00 - Mr. Met; baseball's first mascot
1/8 - Eddie Gaedel, pinch-hitter.
1A - Coaltown, Citation's stable-mate, wore this number in the 1948 Kentucky Derby (OK, I'm not sure of that, but there is a photo of Coaltown in racing gear, with the number "1A" on it.....)
1 1/2 - Robert Merrill, Baritone, NY Yankees. When Merrill would sing the National Anthem for the Yankees around 1980, he would sometimes wear a uniform with this number.
Concerning X, don’t the Negro Leagues now count as MLB? Maybe it’s semantics—and MLB is only AL and NL, not the other major leagues?
There was player who played for my hometown AAA Tacoma Tigers when I was a kid named Joe Xavier and remember reading a story about how’d be the first “X-man” if he ever got the call up to the A’s, but obviously he never did.
Not ALL Negro Leagues nor Negro League seasons are considered MLB. There are VERY specific guidelines as to which leagues count as MLB and which do not. Leovigildo Xiques hit 0 HR in games he played that have been declared MLB games. Which is why Joe said that they could still be uncovered.
Unless the leagues/seasons that Mr. Xiques played in are not considered MLB (unikely since he has stats in BaseballReference), Joe's first statement is flat out wrong. Good catch that Joe later implied that if a home run was uncovered it would count.
I know that Joe is a huge huge supporter of the Negro Leagues, and the wording was probably unintentional. But as read literally, it is incorrect.
Someone else raised this in the comments earlier and Joe responded (copying-and-pasting his response):
"I have written this before but worth repeating here — when I refer to MLB, those letters, I am referring specifically to the brand that is Major League Baseball and not major leagues which include MANY different leagues including, finally, the Negro Leagues."
Apropos Joe’s prior column about Happy movies: This is a most happy baseball post. No steroids talk. No pace of play talk. No 3 true outcomes talk. No new stats versus old stats talk. No lock out talk. Just fun baseball stats. The Ernie Banks of posts!
I can see Longoria passing Derek Lee, since he's only 14 away, but he'll need more than 40 to pass Carlos Lee, and I'm not sure he really has a "good chance" at that, at least not in the next couple of years.
He's hit just .252 with a .435 SLG since moving to SF four seasons ago and has hit only 40 homers in the last three seasons, though admittedly one of those was the shortened 2020 season, in which he hit just 7 in 53 games. He was doing well (13HR) before spraining his left shoulder in 2021 and missing half a season.
Still, he'll be 37 in two years and at the end of his huge contract, assuming the Giants pick up his option in 2023. Either way, he may have trouble getting there if he can't stay healthy.
However it goes with Longoria, there's a good chance they all get passed by Francisco Lindor in the next decade. (And if not, Steve Cohen may be unhappy with the deal he made.)
Since some languages reverse the first and last name you could make the leading X name an honorary member of this list.
I was looking forward to the Ks and what you might say about Harmon Killebrew, since you left him off the top 100 list after placing him 67th in your previous list. Alas. Jeff Kent. All the time with the Jeff Kent.
Well, there's always Josh Wilker's 2007 tribute. https://cardboardgods.net/2007/02/24/harmon-killebrew/
Perfect summary of Jeff Kent's Hall of Fame case. A bit of a let down. 5th in HR for Ks. 8th among position HR leaders. Only pitchers have a lower all time HR leader.
For a while, my favourite alphabetical baseball fact was this...
First alphabetically in MLB history was Henry Aaron, who also held the National League career home run record.
Last alphabetically was Dutch Zwilling, who also held the Federal League career home run record.
So that was two of the 20th century's three major leagues covered.
Sadly, most of these records and distinctions have moved on: hello to David Aardsma, Barry Bonds and Tony Zych. But Dutch Zwilling's Federal League record is surely unbreakable.
These types of posts are the best.
I laughed out loud when I saw the repayment in the book. Thanks for the great laugh.
I love it when Joe gets bored!
Love your style. Wonderful article. Was just about baseball. The games, the players, and their numbers. Look forward to your writings every day.
This post reminded me of one of the the first articles of Joe that I ever read- in Sports Illustrated. He did a ranking of best players by uniform number- across all sports- well at least baseball, football, and basketball. Which really made it interesting. I can’t remember specifics, but I’m guessing #3 would have been Ruth, 19 Unitas. He listed runner ups if I remember correctly. Like this it was a happy post, although it was opinion based, as opposed to pure facts.
But my main takeaway? I really like reading this guy. Still do!
That's a FUN exercise, BTW. Just remember these few oddities:
00 - Mr. Met; baseball's first mascot
1/8 - Eddie Gaedel, pinch-hitter.
1A - Coaltown, Citation's stable-mate, wore this number in the 1948 Kentucky Derby (OK, I'm not sure of that, but there is a photo of Coaltown in racing gear, with the number "1A" on it.....)
1 1/2 - Robert Merrill, Baritone, NY Yankees. When Merrill would sing the National Anthem for the Yankees around 1980, he would sometimes wear a uniform with this number.
Did you sign my book yet?
Julian Javier should change his name to Xavier to get on the list. Cool
I love this post.
Now do it by first names, lol.
Concerning X, don’t the Negro Leagues now count as MLB? Maybe it’s semantics—and MLB is only AL and NL, not the other major leagues?
There was player who played for my hometown AAA Tacoma Tigers when I was a kid named Joe Xavier and remember reading a story about how’d be the first “X-man” if he ever got the call up to the A’s, but obviously he never did.
All Negro League players are now officially considered Major League players. Joe's opening statement in that paragraph is incorrect (sorry Joe)
Not ALL Negro Leagues nor Negro League seasons are considered MLB. There are VERY specific guidelines as to which leagues count as MLB and which do not. Leovigildo Xiques hit 0 HR in games he played that have been declared MLB games. Which is why Joe said that they could still be uncovered.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/x/xiquele01.shtml
Unless the leagues/seasons that Mr. Xiques played in are not considered MLB (unikely since he has stats in BaseballReference), Joe's first statement is flat out wrong. Good catch that Joe later implied that if a home run was uncovered it would count.
I know that Joe is a huge huge supporter of the Negro Leagues, and the wording was probably unintentional. But as read literally, it is incorrect.
Someone else raised this in the comments earlier and Joe responded (copying-and-pasting his response):
"I have written this before but worth repeating here — when I refer to MLB, those letters, I am referring specifically to the brand that is Major League Baseball and not major leagues which include MANY different leagues including, finally, the Negro Leagues."
haha yeah that we me also he was responding to :)
Apropos Joe’s prior column about Happy movies: This is a most happy baseball post. No steroids talk. No pace of play talk. No 3 true outcomes talk. No new stats versus old stats talk. No lock out talk. Just fun baseball stats. The Ernie Banks of posts!
As always, this was a pleasure to read, Joe!
I can see Longoria passing Derek Lee, since he's only 14 away, but he'll need more than 40 to pass Carlos Lee, and I'm not sure he really has a "good chance" at that, at least not in the next couple of years.
He's hit just .252 with a .435 SLG since moving to SF four seasons ago and has hit only 40 homers in the last three seasons, though admittedly one of those was the shortened 2020 season, in which he hit just 7 in 53 games. He was doing well (13HR) before spraining his left shoulder in 2021 and missing half a season.
Still, he'll be 37 in two years and at the end of his huge contract, assuming the Giants pick up his option in 2023. Either way, he may have trouble getting there if he can't stay healthy.
However it goes with Longoria, there's a good chance they all get passed by Francisco Lindor in the next decade. (And if not, Steve Cohen may be unhappy with the deal he made.)