About Me

I am a long time baseball fan who became interesting in documenting the "missing" batter strikeouts a few years back as an outgrowth of my interest in the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Grew up w/ the Big Red Machine. I now follow them and my new hometown, Detroit Tigers. Member of SABR off and on since 1979.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Keeler v Sewell

For awhile I had been wondering who was the better "strikeout avoider" - Willie Keeler or Joe Sewell.

Sewell's numbers have been fairly well known in stat circles for awhile, 114 strikeouts over 13 seasons, including 9 straight seasons of under 10 k's - 2 with 3 (1930, 1932) and 3 with 4 (1925, 1929, 1933).

Willie Keeler has always had a reputation as a tough player to strike out and his up until recently partial totals gave an indication of that (6 in 1894 & 9 in 1896).  Now that all of Keeler's missing seasons have been added to B-R, we can now get a more complete picture of Keeler's ability to avoid the whiff.

First of all, one can go to B-R and look at the AB/K career leaders and see that Keeler & Sewell are neck and neck.

Keeler - 63.17
Sewell - 62.56

Career Leaders - At-bats per K

But this raises the inevitable dispute that Keeler hit in an era that had less strikeouts per ab anyways;  Afterall, Sewell played during the era of big hitters.

Well, I wanted to see which player was a better strikeout avoider relative to their eras.

I first went and calculated the K/AB ration for all of the seasons that Keeler and Sewell played in:


Sewell's ERA







AB K
k/AB
1920 AL
41,982 3,615
0.086
1921 AL
42,796 3,579
0.084
1922 AL
42,296 3,570
0.084
1923 AL
42,016 3,613
0.086
1924 AL
42,225 3,235
0.077
1925 AL
42,573 3,292
0.077
1926 AL
41,753 3,418
0.082
1927 AL
42,117 3,398
0.081
1928 AL
42,144 3,689
0.088
1929 AL
42,180 3,517
0.083
1930 AL
42,878 4,086
0.095
1931 AL
43,673 4,032
0.092
1932 AL
43,419 4,021
0.093
1933 AL
42,663 3,916
0.092



594,715 50,981
0.086



Keeler's ERA







AB K
k/AB
1892 NL 
63,876 5,972
0.093
1893 NL 
56,898 3,341
0.059
1894 NL 
57,578 3,333
0.058
1895 NL 
56,788 3,621
0.064
1896 NL 
55,577 3,523
0.063
1897 NL 
56,663 3,730
0.066
1898 NL 
62,661 4,237
0.068
1899 NL 
62,846 3,852
0.061
1900 NL 
39,132 2,691
0.069
1901 NL 
38,967 4,249
0.109
1902 NL 
38,273 3,921
0.102
1903 AL 
37,434 4,196
0.112
1904 AL 
41,479 5,028
0.121
1905 AL 
40,622 5,099
0.126
1906 AL 
40,412 4,579
0.113
1907 AL 
40,967 4,490
0.110
1908 AL 
40,602 4,939
0.122
1909 AL 
39,975 4,916
0.123
1910 NL 
40,615 4,415
0.109



911,365 80,132
0.088



Some observations:

1. Despite playing in completely different eras, the overall league averages for Keeler's and Sewell's K/AB is nearly identical (0.86 vs. 0.88).

2.  While the league K/AB in Sewell was relatively stable (narrower variance), 0.77 to 0.96, Keeler's career is distinctly divided into 3 separate periods:  1892, 1893-1900, 1901-1910.

3.  1892 represented the last year of the 50 foot pitching box distance and had a 0.093 K/AB league average

4.  With the lengthening of the pitching distance to 60 ft 6 in in 1893, the league average for K/AB went down to 0.059 and averaged 0.063 through the period up through 1900.

5.  In 1901, the National League instituted the foul strike rule (1903 for the AL) and as a result, the K/AB jumped up from 0.069 in 1900 to 0.109 in 1901.  For the remainder of Keeler's career (1901-1910), his league averaged 0.115 K/AB.  This era actually had higher strikeout rates than any season during Sewell's era.

Because of the fluctation in K/AB in Keeler's career, I wanted to compare each to their league average by season and overall career.  In order to do that, I adapted the BK+ stat that I had used in my previous research from K/G relative to the league to K/AB relative to the league

Here is Sewell's numbers:


Sewell







Year  Age  Tm  Lg  AB  SO  k/ab bk+(ab)
1920 21 CLE  AL  22 70 4 0.057 151
1921 22 CLE  AL  154 572 17 0.030 281
1922 23 CLE  AL  153 558 20 0.036 235
1923 24 CLE  AL  153 553 12 0.022 396
1924 25 CLE  AL  153 594 13 0.022 350
1925 26 CLE  AL  155 608 4 0.007 1175
1926 27 CLE  AL  154 578 6 0.010 789
1927 28 CLE  AL  153 569 7 0.012 656
1928 29 CLE  AL  155 588 9 0.015 572
1929 30 CLE  AL  152 578 4 0.007 1205
1930 31 CLE  AL  109 353 3 0.008 1121
1931 32 NYY  AL  130 484 8 0.017 559
1932 33 NYY  AL  125 503 3 0.006 1553
1933 34 NYY  AL  135 524 4 0.008 1202



14 Seasons  1903 7132 114 0.0160 536



Here are Keeler's numbers:

Keeler







Year  Age  Tm  Lg  AB  SO  k/ab bk+(ab)
1892 20 NYG  NL  14 53 3 0.057 165
1893 21 TOT  NL  27 104 5 0.048 122
1894 22 BLN  NL  129 590 6 0.010 569
1895 23 BLN  NL  131 565 12 0.021 300
1896 24 BLN  NL  126 544 9 0.017 383
1897 25 BLN  NL  129 564 5 0.009 743
1898 26 BLN  NL  129 561 4 0.007 948
1899 27 BRO  NL  141 570 2 0.004 1747
1900 28 BRO  NL  136 563 4 0.007 968
1901 29 BRO  NL  136 595 5 0.008 1298
1902 30 BRO  NL  133 559 13 0.023 441
1903 31 NYY  AL  132 512 12 0.023 478
1904 32 NYY  AL  143 543 12 0.022 549
1905 33 NYY  AL  149 560 13 0.023 541
1906 34 NYY  AL  152 592 4 0.007 1677
1907 35 NYY  AL  107 423 10 0.024 464
1908 36 NYY  AL  91 323 10 0.031 393
1909 37 NYY  AL  99 360 6 0.017 738
1910 38 NYG  NL  19 10 1 0.100 109



19 Seasons  2123 8591 136 0.0158 555


Again, as stated before, their career K/AB are nearly identical.  What is interesting is their BK+ numbers.

1. Career-wise, Keeler holds the edge 555 to 536  (5.5 times better sitrkeout ratio than the league average).

2. Keeler has the 2 best BK+ seasons - 1747 in 1899 and 1677 in 1906.

3. Sewell has more BK+ seasons over 1000 - 5 (1925, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933) versus "only" 3 for Keeler (1899, 1901, 1906).  Keeler did have 2 more seasons over 940 (1898, 1900).

4.  Keeler did play 6 more seasons than Sewell, but only 200 more games.

5.  If we only look at "core" seasons (120+ games) for each, the numbers tell us a slightly different story:

Keeler core, 1894-1906 - BK+ - 819
Sewell core, 1920-1929, 1930-1933 - BK+ - 748

These are arbitrary groupings of course, and either way, these two hitters were easily the best at avoiding the whiff.

Friday, May 20, 2011

The day the Tigers struck - May 18, 1912 - play-by-play


I wanted to kick off this edition of my blog with a recent scan that I did from the 1912 Detroit Times (a bit large, but wanted to make sure all could read it).  This is the play-by-play (all except the 9th inning) of the infamous May 18 game in which the entire Tigers starting lineup sat out in protest of Ty Cobb's recent suspension for going into the crowd to "quiet" a avid fan.

24-2 says it all.  There is a nice write-up on this game here:
http://stuffnobodycaresabout.com/2011/05/18/the-first-baseball-strike-%E2%80%93-may-18-1912/


Travers ended up being the only ballplayer to become an ordained priest (so I understand).


As to my recent progress, I am plugging my way through 1912 - as you can see above, I have been able to get a good deal of Detroit (home & away) play-by-play from the Detroit Times.  Thank goodness that the Library of Michigan has a microfilm scanner, making my job much easier.  I am currently looking through the scanned (tif) games and documenting the batter k's by player and inning.  Once that is done, I will enter this info in my 1912 AL season database.   I recently received Boston k info from Bob Richardson - no boxscore k's and scattered play-by-play from the Record.   Bob even found a couple of k's in the Boston Traveller (a new paper to me).  He does a nice thorough job going through each possible paper (including the Advertiser and Transcript).

Here is log of my progress since last post:


04/14/11 St. Louis  1902 Globe Democrat 4 more games from D Isgrig 93.2 NL
04/15/11 St. Louis  1902 Globe Democrat 4 more games from D Isgrig 93.3 NL
04/16/11 St. Louis  1906 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society -april - july 31 (AL) 81.7 AL
04/16/11 St. Louis  1906 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society -april - july 31 (AL) 89.8 NL
04/25/11 Boston 1910 Multiple Misc road games from Bob Richardson 89.0 AL
04/27/11 St. Louis  1906 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - aug & oct (AL) 81.9 AL
04/27/11 St. Louis  1906 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - aug & oct (NL) 89.9 NL
05/01/11 St. Louis  1906 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - sept (AL) 81.9 AL
05/01/11 St. Louis  1906 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - (NL) 90 NL
05/02/11 St. Louis  1907 Republic scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - apr (NL) 93.7 NL
05/11/11 Louisville 1899 Evening Post Sept/Oct 92.3
05/17/11 Boston 1912 Multiple Home games from Bob Richardson




I have started in on 1912 St. Louis as well - The Evening Star has scattered play-by-play as some of the "Sporting Extra" editions were fortunately scanned.  More is on its way from Mo. as I write.

I am up to around 70% on 1912, not counting the Detroit games, which I have not entered in yet.

Also, I have requests out to my UK contact for game account scans from 1897-1903, 1909 missing Cincinnati games from the Cincinnati Enquirer.   Going through the game accounts can be a bit tedious and eye-straining, but every time you find a "missing k", it makes it worth it.

That's all for today.  Hopefully I will be posted here a little sooner than next month, but no promises. :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

The New Phone Books are Here!!!!

Well, today I feel a bit like Navin Johnson of  "The Jerk" fame.

I found out today that my data is now in Baseball-Reference!!!!

This is so cool and am glad that it has finally "arrived" there.

I repeat my thanks to the libraries and individuals who have helped me along the way and again a special thanks to Pete Palmer, who encouraged, reviewed, and promoted my data to the proper folks.



As to my current status, since my last update, here is what I have been working on:


03/06/11 St. Louis  1909 Globe Democrat scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - thru aug 7
03/13/11 New York 1910 Evening World copies of scatter missing games from Cliff Blau
03/16/11 St. Louis  1909 Globe Democrat scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - aug 8 to end of season
03/23/11 St. Louis  1910 Globe Democrat scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - up to june 19
03/28/11 Detroit 1910 Times very complete pbp scanned from L of Mich
03/30/11 Louisville 1899 Evening Post pbp scans from Esta Day - Aug 1899
03/30/11 St. Louis  1910 Globe Democrat scans from rolls sent from Mo. Hist Society - june 20 - july 31
04/03/11 Cleveland 1910 Leader Sept home games from Rick Huhn

1909 NL is now at 91.9% complete
1909 AL is now at 91.2% complete
1910 AL is now at 88.8% complete

St. Louis, as always, The Roadblock for me! :(


In addition, I have started going through my available on-line sources (Proquest, Fultonhistory.com, GeneologyBank.com) to document the 1912 AL K's.  So far done are Chicago and Washington.  I have started in on New York on FultonHistory.com and "unofficial" Retrosheet play-by-play, which tends to go slow due to the speed of the pdf loads and lack of a decent index.  Rick Huhn has sent me the 1st few Cleveland home games from the Cleveland Leader and Ed Morton has sent over the April play-by-play from the Phil Evening Telegraph.

I got 1906 St. Louis Republic from the Mo. Hist Society (Apr-July).  So far, nothing new.  
Still would love to find someone with access to the Proquest Post Dispatch to help me out (no luck gaining access remotely).  The P-D is not a great resource from what I have seen, but for StL, I need to look at every paper I can.

Anyways, really excited tonight.

Yeah, the new phone books are cool!
:)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Quick update - 3.6.11

While I get my next season, 1901 NL set up for blog posting, I wanted to give a quick update on my progress.


I have gotten a big chunk of the 1910 AL completed.  Currently at 81.5% complete. 

Main areas that I am missing are Boston -  the on again/off again (see 1905/06) was off again, as I have only been able to get about 80% of the home game k's - thanks a good deal to the Boston Globe having decent play-by-play in their game write-ups.  Not true pbp, but a reasonable fascimile.

Washington - The Washington Post around July 2nd, decided to stop including the batter strikeouts in the box (actually in the box as a column).  This is a big disappointment as 1910 is the year that Walter Johnson had 310 strikeouts - which at the time was believed to be the record - in spite of the fact that Rube Waddell had struck out 349 ONLY 6 years earlier.   Apparently, the k's in 1904 were not tracked/documented accurately/correctly and the Waddell's 301 in 1903 was considered the record.  Only in 1946 or so, when Cliff Kachline was checking on Bob Feller setting the record, did Waddell's 349 truly come to light.   I still owe this blog his 1904 breakdown as I did with his 1903 season - hopefully sometime in the next couple of months.  Anyways, a bit of disappointment.  As a result, I currently only have 83% of the home game k's (a decent #, but still not where I would like it).

Detroit - I have already gone through the Free Press and gleaned a good chunk of home k's, but I am hoping that the Detroit Times had its Sporting Extra edition scanned as it was in 1909.   Hope to get up to Lansing in the next month or so, depending on work schedule and the weather to check at Library of Michigan.  Detroit home k's are currently at 76.7%.

St. Louis - Have not done anything here - I will explain what I will be doing here below.

New York - In addition, I am missing the whole month of August play-by-play for NY games as the NY Evening Telegram's scans found on FultonHistory.com reverted to the Night Edition for this month (from the Late or Baseball Extra edition). 

General note:  It is too bad that all of the editions of the papers I have been using did not get scanned - there would be a ton more stuff to pull.  For instance, in browsing a copy of the 1901 Evening Wisconsin sent to me by Dennis Pajot, I noticed that it refers to a "Sporting Extra Edition" available.   Not sure if there are any copies (microfilm or hardcopy) floating around.

1902 - Dwayne Ispring in St. Louis has been sending me scans of the Globe Democrat for games that I am missing info.   Have added a little, some is repeats of what I have already pulled from the Republic.

1899 - Louisville - Esta Day from U of Ky continues to assist me in scanning copies of the Louisville Times, now up to 1899.   She discovered that only a few of the dates in the Times were the "Extra" edition which had the pseudo play-by-play.   She was going to check w/ Louisville Public Library to see if they had any different editions there.  She did discover that the Evening Post had a similar pseudo play-by-play and will be running scans of this for me.

1909 - St. Louis - I had been using a researcher in St. Louis to run scans of the Globe Democrat for 1906, 1907.   She had gotten busy with some other stuff so I decided to check what other libraries carried the GD.
In my search, I discovered that I could get microfilm reels of St. Louis papers sent directly to my house (not ILL through the library) from the State Historical Society of Missouri for around $ 10 each way (+ $1 per reel) if I became a member at the $100 level.  Kind of expensive from a pure research standpoint, but since I can write-off the membership as a tax deduction, it will work well for me.   Plus, alot cheaper and quicker than having a paid researcher do it.  I have already received and reviewed my 1st set of 4 reels, April - August 1909 of the Globe Democrat.  For my next set of reels, I will finish out 1909 and start into 1910 w/ the GD.  After I am done with 1910, I plan on doubling back to 1906 and request the Republic for 1906,07, 09, 10.  Plan on using this service for the Star and Times for other various years.  Post Dispatch, I hope to find a way of accessing the info directly since it is a Proquest db.


That's about all for now.  Hope to get 1901 NL summary up in the next week or so.

Take care.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

1900 - Batter Strikeouts Year in Review


Season Comments:
Over the fall/winter of 1899-1900, the National League contracted to 8 teams.   Most of Louisville’s players ended up with Pittsburgh, while players from Cleveland, Washington, and Baltimore scattered to the 4 winds (so to say), some ending up with other NL teams, some in the various minor leagues (including the recently renamed American League), and the rest gone forever.
As for 1900, there were a few highlights to the 8 team circuit:
       
                      
  1. The number of games was scaled back to 140 (20 per opponent) from the 154 (14 per opponent) of the previous 2 seasons.
  2. Brooklyn Superbas won their 2nd straight pennant with an 82-54 record.  Pittsburgh, strengthened by the addition of Wagner, Clarke, Waddell, & Leach finished 2nd, 4 ½ out.   The last place NY Giants, were only 23 games out – meaning a respite from the St. Louis Browns/Cleveland Spiders-type teams of the previous few seasons.
  3. Rightfielder Honus Wagner won the 1st of his 8 batting titles, with a .381 average.  With league leading 45 doubles and 22 triples, his OPS+ of 175 also led the circuit.
  4. John McGraw, who landed in St. Louis after some early season holding out, ended with a .344 BA and a league leading .505 OBA (85 bb in 99 games).   After debuting as a manager for the Baltimore Orioles the previous season, McGraw would not manage, and it would be the last season that he would not manage until 1933.
  5. Philadelphia’s Elmer Flick continued to blossom (.342 in 1899), finishing 2nd in BA with a .367 average and a WAR with 6.7 (Wagner had 7.1).
  6. Noodles Hahn won his 2nd of 3 straight K titles with 132, in this last year before the institution of the foul strike rule(NL).
  7. Pittsburgh’s Rube Waddell led the league with a 2.37 ERA and 5.6 K/9IP.
  8. 33 year old Cy Young, in spite of a pedestrian looking 19-19, 3.00 (121 ERA+) record, led the league with a 6.5 WAR by pitchers.

Total Pct Completed:   98.7%

Hardest to Strike Out (BK+):

Team:
Brooklyn - 270 k’s

Individual:
  1. Willie Keeler, Brook  - 4 k’s in 136 games  (814 BK+)
  2. Lave Cross, St.L/Brook – 7 k’s in 133 g (454)
  3. Claude Ritchey, Pitt  - 8 k’s in 123 g (376)
  4. Napoleon Lajoie, Phil – 8 k’s in 102 g (310)
  5. Jimmy Collins, Bos – 13 k’s in 142 g (270)

1900 would mark the only season (or part of a season) where the 1 & 2 BK+ leaders would come from the same team – the convergence of the 2 top “hardest to strikeout” players for part of the season, as Cross was purchased by Brooklyn from St. Louis in mid-May and would jump to the AL Philadelphia A’s for 1901.


 Keeler's 4 k's:
  1. May 14 (at St.L, Jack Powell, 1st)
  2. June 23 (at NY, Ed Doheny, 1st)
  3. August 25 (at Bos, Vic Willis, 1st)
  4. September 18 (vs. St.L, Cy Young, 1st)
Interestingly, all 4 of Keeler’s K’s occurred in the 1st inning.



Most Strikeouts:

Team:
Cincinnati – 411 k’s

Individual:
  1. Jimmy Barrett, Cin – 63
  2. Bill Bradley, Chi –61
  3. Roy Thomas, Phil – 52
  4. Monte Cross, Phil – 51
  5. Barry McCormick, Chi - 44

Most Strikeouts by a Pitcher:
Season:
Noodles Hahn - 132

Game:
June 19 – Rube Waddell, Pitt, 12 (at Chi –Green(3), Nichols(2), Griffith(2), Childs, Mertes, McCarthy, McCormick, Clingman)
October 11 – Rube Waddell, Pitt, 12 (vs. Chi – Strang(3), C Dolan(2), McCarthy(2), Green(2), Garvin(2), Bradley)

This marked the 2nd straight year that Rube Waddell had the high K mark for a pitcher and was against the same opponent in all 3 occurrences.  Only Danny Green (7 k’s) appeared in all 3 games.



4 or more Strikeouts by Batter:

July 8 – Noodles Hahn, Cin (4) vs. Brook (Brickyard Kennedy/Frank Kitson)
August 1 – Bill Carrick, NY (4) vs. Chi (Jack W. Taylor)

Resources:
Brooklyn and New York home & away - New York Evening Telegram (play-by-play)
Boston home - Boston Globe
Cincinnati – Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune
Philadelphia home – Philadelphia Inquirer
Pittsburgh home – Pittsburgh Press & Post
Chicago home & away – Chicago Tribune
St. Louis home – St. Louis Globe Democrat


Help Wanted Section:

NONE!    This has been one of only 2 seasons during my research period (1897-1910, so far), in which I have found explicitly documented batter strikeouts in EVERY cities’ newspaper (1908 NL, the other).    1901 would proved to be an entirely different story, as you will find out.


Other Individual Player Comments:
-          The #6 & #7 leaders in most strikeouts were both pitchers.  Noodles Hahn, with 43 k’s in 40 games held down the #6 position, while the previous season’s #6, Bill Carrick, checked in with 38 k’s in 45 games for the 7th most in the league.
-          Former K leaders
o   Tommy McCreery, Pit – 23 (in 42 games)
o   Billy Clingman, Lou – 18 (47 g)


-          Other “Future” Hall of Famers: 
o   Sam Crawford, Cin – 36
o   Ed Delahanty, Phil – 36
o   Jesse Burkett, St. L – 35
o   Elmer Flick, Phil – 30
o   Hughie Jennings, Brook – 29
o   George Davis, NY – 23
o   Billy Hamilton, Bos – 23
o   Wilbert Robinson, St.L – 20
o   Fred Clarke, Pitt – 20
o   Joe Kelley, Brook – 18
o   Jake Beckley, Cin – 18
o   Jack Chesbro, Pitt – 17
o   Joe McGinnity, Brook – 17
o   Bobby Wallace, St.L – 17
o   Honus Wagner, Pitt – 17
o   Rube Waddell, Pitt – 15
o   Frank Chance, Chi – 12
o   Vic Willis, Bos – 10
o   John McGraw, St.L – 9 (BK+ of 273 in 99 games)
o   Kid Nichols, Bos – 8
o   Clark Griffith, Chi – 7
o   Cy Young, St.L – 7
o   Hugh Duffy, Bos – 5
o   Christy Mathewson, NY – 2 (1st season, 5 games)
o   Roger Bresnahan, Chi – 0 (2 games)

Popular Posts