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There's nothing we enjoy more than little nuggets of trivia. Our Daily Fun Facts are a big part of that. Enjoy!
Only Fred McGriff and Lou Gerhig have exactly 493 homeruns!
After giving up six earned runs against the Phillies on April 26, 2009, Hayden Penn has allowed 66 earned runs in 66 career innings.
Reggie Sanders played in three World Series with three different teams in four years.
Joba Chamberlain's 1192 ERA+ in 2007 is the highest ERA+ for any pitcher with over 20 innings pitched in a season.
Eric Plunk was traded for Rickey Henderson twice - once from the Yankees to the A's, and once back to the Yankees from the A's.
In 1962, the Indians traded Harry Chiti to the Mets for a player to be named later. Six months later, the Mets sent Chiti back to the Indians to complete the trade.
In 1987, Nolan Ryan won two legs of the Triple Crown, leading the NL with 270 Ks and a 2.76 ERA. But Nolan managed only an 8-16 record that season.
Paul Schreiber debuted in the 1920s with Brooklyn, pitching one inning in 1922 and 15 innings in 1923. He was then out of the majors for 21 years before returning for 4.1 innings with the Yankees in 1945.
Earlier this season, Graham Taylor made his major league debut against Jamie Moyer, who made his major league debut against Steve Carlton.
Twenty-five percent of all Chicago Cubs teams to make the playoffs since 1901 have had Kerry Wood on the roster.
Harold Baines is 28th on the career RBI list, but only finished among the top 10 in his league twice (8th, 1982; 4th, 1985)
The Cardinals have only endured back-to-back losing seasons once in the post expansion era (1961-present): the strike-shortened 1994 and 1995 seasons
Curt Schilling, who cemented his Hall of Fame credentials with 4 years and two titles in Boston, was originally drafted by the Red Sox but traded before playing for them.
In 1996 and 1997, Vinny Castilla had exactly 40 HR, 113 RBI, and .304 AVG each year.
In 1995 Dante Bichette hit 31 homeruns at home and 9 homeruns on the road.
In 1999 Rafael Palmeiro played 28 games at first base and won the AL Gold Glove.
Fred Lynn hit exactly 23 homeruns in four straight seasons, in as many as 600 plate appearances and as few as 438.
George Brunet played for seven teams that have subsequently changed their names - the Kansas City Athletics, the Milwaukee Braves, the Houston Colt '45s, the Los Angeles Angels, the California Angles, the Seattle Pilots, and the Washington Senators.
Rickey Henderson played for the Oakland Athletics four different times.
Two Daves - Kingman and Martinez - share the record for playing for four different teams in one season.
Seven players have led their leagues in RBI three seasons in a row - Cap Anson (twice), Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, George Foster, and Cecil Fielder.
Harold Reynolds is the only player other than Rickey Henderson to have led the AL in stolen bases in the 1980s (1987).
The 1996 Baltimore Orioles featured eight players with 20 or more homeruns. The 1969 Baltimore Orioles featured four pitchers with 20 or more wins.
The Baltimore Orioles have employed Cal Ripken, Sr., Cal Ripken, Jr., Billy Ripken, Tim Raines, Sr., Tim Raines, Jr., Gary Matthews, Jr., Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Robbie Alomar.
In 1878, pitcher Tommy Bond led the NL with 182 strikeouts. He also led the NL with 532.1 IP, 59 starts, and 57 CG. He was 22 years old, and his teams used only one other pitcher for 11.1 IP that season.
Of the 4 players with 30 homeruns and 30 double-plays in a single season, 3 did it in 1983. The 4th was Ivan Rodriguez in 1999.
A.J. Pierzynski may be the only player ever to have the same number of strikeouts and double plays in the same year. He had 27 of each in 2004.
In 2004, only three Giants had an OPS higher than Barry Bonds' slugging percentage (.812).
In 1984, Dale Murphy and Mike Schmidt led the NL with 36 homeruns. In 1994, that total would have been good for 4th. In a strike year.
Jay Bell is the only player in ML history to have single season totals of 38 more homeruns and sacrifice hits. He hit 38 homeruns in 1999, and had 39 sac hits in 1990.
Ichiro Suzuki holds the ML record for most consecutive years leading the league in singles, with eight.
In 1973, Bobby Bonds had 39 homeruns and 43 stolen bases, plus one homerun in the All Star Game.
Despite spotting the rest of Major League Baseball an eight game head-start, Ichiro is now sixth in the majors in hits.
Adam Dunn has hit exactly 40 homeruns in each of the last four seasons.
Ron LeFlore had 97 stolen bases in 139 games in 1980, the same year Rickey Henderson stole 100 in 158 games.
Omar Moreno stole 96 bases in 1980, despite a .306 on-base percentage, and didn't lead the league.
As of May 4, 2009, Casey Blake has now hit into a triple play (2009) and started a triple play (2007).
Steve Lyons and Barry Lyons were both born June 3, 1960 but are not twins!
The Chicago White Sox are 5-21 when they do not hit a home run and have been shut out an MLB-high nine times already this season.
In 2005, Rick Short batted .383 in Triple-A, plus went 6-for-15 with two doubles and two homers in the Nationals' inaugural season. He hasn't played professional baseball since.
Pedro Martinez is the only pitcher to lead the majors in ERA five times: 1997/1.90, 1999/2.07, 2000/1.74, 2002/2.26, 2003/2.22
Between 2002 and 2007, the San Francisco Giants were 371-282 (.568) when Barry Bonds started and 137-179 (.434) when he did not.
Mike Benjamin went 14-for-18 (.778) between June 11, 1995 and June 14, 1995. He went 21-for-168 (.161) the rest of that season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had a record of 102-114 (.472) whenever backup catcher Keith Osik started the game but went 400-516 (.437) when he did not between 1996 and 2002. Osik is a career .231/.308/.321 hitter.
Ervin Santana went 5-5 4.03 at home and 11-2 3.02 on the road in 2008 after having gone 6-4 3.27 at home and 1-10 8.38 away from Anaheim in 2007
Sammy Sosa was the last player to drive in at least one-fifth of his team's runs in a season, bringing home 160 of the Cubs' 777 runs in 2001 (20.6%)
In 2008, Stephen Drew became just the third shotstop ever to hit at least 40 doubles, 10 triples, and 20 homers in one season, joining Robin Yount and Nomar Garciaparra.
No player has ever collected 3,000 hits as a New York Yankee. Lou Gehrig has the most at 2,721.
Former Pittsburgh Pirates 1st-round pick John Van Benschoten is 2-13 with a 9.20 ERA for his career.
Last year, Ryan Howard had the lowest batting average ever for an RBI leader at .251.
Ken Griffey Jr. had 438 homers at the end of the 2000 season. He was 30 years-old.
Carlos Gonzalez (2008) and Johnny Mize (1936) have been the only players to double in each of their first seven major league hits.
Last year, Kevin Youkilis' set the record for consecutive errorless games as a first baseman (238 games).
Chan Ho Park and Jamie Moyer had the fourth most career HBPs by a starting pitcher duo to start a season in 2009 with 258, behind Charlie Hough and Nolan Ryan (260, 1990 Rangers), Chuck Frasor and Vic Willis (281, 1905 Boston Beaneaters), and Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown (288, 2005 New York Yankees).
Other than the 1990s expansion teams, only the New York Mets and Washington Nationals have never had a league Most Valuable Player.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have twice had four or more National League Rookies of the Year: 1979-1982 (Sutcliffe, Howe, Valenzuela, Sax) and 1992-1996 (Karros, Piazza, Mondesi, Nomo, Hollandsworth).
Only one player has ever won the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and Most Valuable Player Awards - Don Newcombe.
Only two players have ever won the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same year - Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001).
In 1983, playing Single-A+ ball, Otis Nixon's brother Donell stole 144 bases in 135 games. The following year he stole 102 bases in 140 games at Double-A.
Wade Boggs' career minor league batting average (.318) is ten points lower than his career major league average (.328), but 16 points higher than his career major league average on the road (.302).
In the 1973 draft, future Hall of Famers and 3,000 hits club members Robin Yount and Dave Winfield were picked third and fourth overall, respectively.
In 2007, the Marlins, Rangers, and Nationals become the first teams ever to go an entire season without having a pitcher throw a complete game.
Michael Young (5), Wade Boggs (7), and Ichiro Suzuki (8) are the only players with at least five straight 200-hit seasons. Ichiro's streak is still active.
In 2007, Troy Tulowitzki completed an unassisted triple play and was the third out of a triple play.
Only four players have had seasons of at least 20 homers, 20 steals, and 20 triples, and two of them accomplished that feat in 2007: Curtis Granderson (23-26-23) and Jimmy Rollins (30-41-20).
Jose Reyes' 78 stolen bases in 2007 were the most by a major league player since Marquis Grissom's 78 in 1992.
The American League has twice featured a team called the Washington Senators, and twice featured a team called the Milwaukee Brewers. The original Senators became the Minnesota Twins; the second Senators became the Texas Rangers. The original Brewers became the St. Louis Browns, then became the Baltimore Orioles; the second Brewers are now in the National League.
The American League originally featured a team called the Baltimore Orioles. That team is now called the New York Yankees.
In the 11 seasons that Joe Tinker, Johhny Evers, and Frank Chance played together for the Chicago Cubs, those Cubs teams combined for a .635 winning percentage.
In 1979, at the age of 19, without registering a single plate appearance, Tim Raines stole two bases and scored three runs in six games.
Omar Vizquel and Ken Griffey, Jr. made their major league debuts with the Seattle Mariners on the same date: April 3, 1989.
Omar Vizquel ranks 20th all time in outs made. Of the 17 Hall of Fame eligible players on that list, all are in the Hall of Fame.
Since 1975, only four players have led the AL in strikeouts in consecutive years - Jack Cust, Jay Buhner, Rob Deer, and Gorman Thomas.
Since 1980 (29 years) only 11 players have led the AL in stolen bases: Henderson, Reynolds, Lofton, Hunter, Damon, Crawford, Suzuki, Soriano, Figgins, B. Roberts, and Ellsbury.
From 1924 to 2000, only two pitchers hit 20 or more batters in a season. It has happened six times since then. (We blame the batters.)
Impressive, but consider the hitters: In 1973, Brooks Robinson started two 5-4-3 triple plays, one against Gene Tenace, and one against Frank Howard.
Carlos Beltran entered 2009 37 HR and 25 SB shy of 300/300. At 32, he has an excellent shot at joining Barry Bonds in the 400/400 club, while illustrating the enormity of Bonds' 500/500 status.
Alex Rodriguez began 2009 17 stolen bases away from the 300/300 club.
Between 1918 and 1948, the Philadelphia Phillies only enjoyed one season with a winning record or a better-than-5th-place record: 1932 (78-76, 4th). They finished 8th out of 8 teams in 16 of those 31 seasons.
1908 was the only season between 1905 and 1910 in which the Chicago Cubs did not allow the fewest runs in the NL
No player has ever finished a season with 20 sacrifice flies. Gil Hodges had the most with 19 in 1954.
Goose Gossage, who converted 73.5% of his career save chances, is in the Hall of Fame. Spud Chandler, who won 71.7% of his career decisions, is not.
Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken - teammates between 1981 and 1988 - are first and second in career sacrifice flies with 128 and 127.
Of the dozen players who have collected more than 240 hits in a single season, three of them did so in 1930: Bill Terry (254), Chuck Klein (250), and Babe Herman (241)
Heinie Manush led the league in HBP his fist two seasons: 17 in 1923 and 16 in 1924. He was not hit more than six times in any subsequent season
Arlie Latham stole a base as a 49-year old in 1909. He had not stolen one in a major league game since 1896.
Satchel Paige made six starts as a 45-year old in 1952. Two of them were complete game shutouts
While Mike Marshall still holds the single-season record for games played with 106 in 1974, Kent Tekulve (1979) and Solomon Torres (2006) are tied for second at 94.
Barry Bonds is the only player to win more than three MVP Awards. He has won seven.
In June of 1937, the Red Sox traded brothers Wes and Rick Ferrell to the Senators along with Mel Almada for Ben Chapman and Bobo Newsom. Newsom, Chapman, and the Ferrells were four of the league's best players in 1936.
12 of the top 15 pitchers in career losses are in the Hall of Fame. Only Jack Powell (8th-254), Bert Blyleven (10th-250) and Bobby Mathews (11th-248) are not.
If Cliff Lee pitches against Tim Lincecum this weekend when the Phillies take on the Giants, it will be only the third time in major league history that two reigning Cy Young Award winners have faced off in the regular season. The first time was Frank Viola against Orel Hershiser, and the second time was Tom Glavine against Roger Clemens.
Paul Molitor led the AL in runs and doubles while setting a career high in adjusted batting runs in 1987, a season in which he played in only 118 games.
George Brett set a career high for adjusted batting runs during his infamous 1980 season, when he played in only 117 games.
Frank Thomas set his career high for adjusted batting runs in 1994, a strike year in which he played in only 113 games.
Not yet 30, Albert Pujols is already 76th on the career homeruns list and 29th on the adjusted batting runs list.
The AL MVP Award came from an AL West player in nine straight seasons from 1996-2004
Stan Musial hit 30 or more doubles in 16 consecutive seasons, not counting the missed 1945 season due to WWII
In 2009, the New York Yankees have hit 95 homeruns at home, but only 68 homeruns on the road.
The New York Mets have hit fewer homeruns overall - 67 - than the Yankees have hit on the road in 2009.
The Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays are +86, +83, and +84 in run differential, yet seven games separate them in the standings.
Mark Buehrle is 10-14 with a 4.83 ERA in 35 career starts against the Indians.
Manager Davey Johnson has been fired after a winning season three times, and was 20-22 when he was fired by the Mets in 1990.
Manager Davey Johnson has finished worse than second in a full season exactly once.
Mike Sweeney is still an active major leaguer. He plays for Seattle.
Mike Sweeney hit his 200th homerun this season.
Bobby Bonilla will reportedly earn deferred salary payments from the Mets until 2035. He last played for them in 1999, batting .160 with 4 HR in 119 at-bats.
Only Fred McGriff and Lou Gerhig have exactly 493 homeruns!
Reggie Sanders played in three World Series with three different teams in four years.
Joba Chamberlain's 1192 ERA+ in 2007 is the highest ERA+ for any pitcher with over 20 innings pitched in a season.
Eric Plunk was traded for Rickey Henderson twice - once from the Yankees to the A's, and once back to the Yankees from the A's.
In 1962, the Indians traded Harry Chiti to the Mets for a player to be named later. Six months later, the Mets sent Chiti back to the Indians to complete the trade.
In 1987, Nolan Ryan won two legs of the Triple Crown, leading the NL with 270 Ks and a 2.76 ERA. But Nolan managed only an 8-16 record that season.
Paul Schreiber debuted in the 1920s with Brooklyn, pitching one inning in 1922 and 15 innings in 1923. He was then out of the majors for 21 years before returning for 4.1 innings with the Yankees in 1945.
Earlier this season, Graham Taylor made his major league debut against Jamie Moyer, who made his major league debut against Steve Carlton.
Twenty-five percent of all Chicago Cubs teams to make the playoffs since 1901 have had Kerry Wood on the roster.
Harold Baines is 28th on the career RBI list, but only finished among the top 10 in his league twice (8th, 1982; 4th, 1985)
Prince Fielder and Bengie Molina are tied for the MLB lead in GWRBI since 2008 with 33
Mark Reynolds has hit 17 homers since July 1, leading MLB
Peter Moylan has not allowed a homer this year in 54 innings
The Cardinals have only endured back-to-back losing seasons once in the post expansion era (1961-present): the strike-shortened 1994 and 1995 seasons
Curt Schilling, who cemented his Hall of Fame credentials with 4 years and two titles in Boston, was originally drafted by the Red Sox but traded before playing for them.
In 1996 and 1997, Vinny Castilla had exactly 40 HR, 113 RBI, and .304 AVG each year.
In 1995 Dante Bichette hit 31 homeruns at home and 9 homeruns on the road.
On this date in 1986, the Astros and Cubs played an 18-inning marathon in which 39-year-old Nolan Ryan and rookie Jamie Moyer were the starting pitchers, Rick Sutcliffe was used as a pinch hitter, Scott Sanderson was used as a pinch runner, and which ended after Greg Maddux, making his major league debut, gave up a homerun to Billy Hatcher in the top of the 18th inning.
Fred Lynn hit exactly 23 homeruns in four straight seasons, in as many as 600 plate appearances and as few as 438.
George Brunet played for seven teams that have subsequently changed their names - the Kansas City Athletics, the Milwaukee Braves, the Houston Colt '45s, the Los Angeles Angels, the California Angles, the Seattle Pilots, and the Washington Senators.
Rickey Henderson played for the Oakland Athletics four different times.
Two Daves - Kingman and Martinez - share the record for playing for four different teams in one season.
Seven players have led their leagues in RBI three seasons in a row - Cap Anson (twice), Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, George Foster, and Cecil Fielder.
Harold Reynolds is the only player other than Rickey Henderson to have led the AL in stolen bases in the 1980s (1987).
The 1996 Baltimore Orioles featured eight players with 20 or more homeruns. The 1969 Baltimore Orioles featured four pitchers with 20 or more wins.
The Baltimore Orioles have employed Cal Ripken, Sr., Cal Ripken, Jr., Billy Ripken, Tim Raines, Sr., Tim Raines, Jr., Gary Matthews, Jr., Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Robbie Alomar.
In 1878, pitcher Tommy Bond led the NL with 182 strikeouts. He also led the NL with 532.1 IP, 59 starts, and 57 CG. He was 22 years old, and his teams used only one other pitcher for 11.1 IP that season.
Of the 4 players with 30 homeruns and 30 double-plays in a single season, 3 did it in 1983. The 4th was Ivan Rodriguez in 1999.
A.J. Pierzynski may be the only player ever to have the same number of strikeouts and double plays in the same year. He had 27 of each in 2004.
In 2004, only three Giants had an OPS higher than Barry Bonds' slugging percentage (.812).
In 1984, Dale Murphy and Mike Schmidt led the NL with 36 homeruns. In 1994, that total would have been good for 4th. In a strike year.
Jay Bell is the only player in ML history to have single season totals of 38 more homeruns and sacrifice hits. He hit 38 homeruns in 1999, and had 39 sac hits in 1990.
Ichiro Suzuki holds the ML record for most consecutive years leading the league in singles, with eight.
In 1973, Bobby Bonds had 39 homeruns and 43 stolen bases, plus one homerun in the All Star Game.
Ron LeFlore had 97 stolen bases in 139 games in 1980, the same year Rickey Henderson stole 100 in 158 games.
Omar Moreno stole 96 bases in 1980, despite a .306 on-base percentage, and didn't lead the league.
Steve Lyons and Barry Lyons were both born June 3, 1960 but are not twins!
The Chicago White Sox are 5-21 when they do not hit a home run and have been shut out an MLB-high nine times already this season.
In 2005, Rick Short batted .383 in Triple-A, plus went 6-for-15 with two doubles and two homers in the Nationals' inaugural season. He hasn't played professional baseball since.
Pedro Martinez is the only pitcher to lead the majors in ERA five times: 1997/1.90, 1999/2.07, 2000/1.74, 2002/2.26, 2003/2.22
Between 2002 and 2007, the San Francisco Giants were 371-282 (.568) when Barry Bonds started and 137-179 (.434) when he did not.
Mike Benjamin went 14-for-18 (.778) between June 11, 1995 and June 14, 1995. He went 21-for-168 (.161) the rest of that season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had a record of 102-114 (.472) whenever backup catcher Keith Osik started the game but went 400-516 (.437) when he did not between 1996 and 2002. Osik is a career .231/.308/.321 hitter.
Ervin Santana went 5-5 4.03 at home and 11-2 3.02 on the road in 2008 after having gone 6-4 3.27 at home and 1-10 8.38 away from Anaheim in 2007
Sammy Sosa was the last player to drive in at least one-fifth of his team's runs in a season, bringing home 160 of the Cubs' 777 runs in 2001 (20.6%)
In 2008, Stephen Drew became just the third shotstop ever to hit at least 40 doubles, 10 triples, and 20 homers in one season, joining Robin Yount and Nomar Garciaparra.
No player has ever collected 3,000 hits as a New York Yankee. Lou Gehrig has the most at 2,721.
Former Pittsburgh Pirates 1st-round pick John Van Benschoten is 2-13 with a 9.20 ERA for his career.
Ken Griffey Jr. had 438 homers at the end of the 2000 season. He was 30 years-old.
Carlos Gonzalez (2008) and Johnny Mize (1936) have been the only players to double in each of their first seven major league hits.
Other than the 1990s expansion teams, only the New York Mets and Washington Nationals have never had a league Most Valuable Player.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have twice had four or more National League Rookies of the Year: 1979-1982 (Sutcliffe, Howe, Valenzuela, Sax) and 1992-1996 (Karros, Piazza, Mondesi, Nomo, Hollandsworth).
Only one player has ever won the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and Most Valuable Player Awards - Don Newcombe.
In 1983, playing Single-A+ ball, Otis Nixon's brother Donell stole 144 bases in 135 games. The following year he stole 102 bases in 140 games at Double-A.
In 1999 Rafael Palmeiro played 28 games at first base and won the AL Gold Glove.
Only Carl Crawford, Lance Johnson, Garry Templeton, Sam Crawford, and Elmer Flick have led their league in triples three years in a row.
Ken Griffey, Jr. and Stan Musial were both born on November 21st in Donora, Pennsylvania.
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