Jacoby Ellsbury and leading the league in ONLY total bases
Posted by Andy on September 22, 2011
Jacoby Ellsbury is currently tied with Adrian Gonzalez for the major-league lead in total bases with 340. The odd thing is that Ellsbury isn't tied or leading in any other statistical category. The guy who leads in total bases usually also leads in something else--homers, batting average, slugging percentage...
Here are the yearly leaders for total bases. Can you find another player to lead in total bases only?
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:37 am
Rocky Colavito in 1962.
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 am
Dave May, Brewers, 1973. He was terrific in 1973 and very good in '71, but he must be one of the most obscure players ever to lead a league in total bases.
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:39 am
Hank Aaron, 1969.
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:40 am
George Scott, 1975
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am
Sorry....1973 (although he was tied with 2 other players).
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Singles arent generally listed as a category to be led, but they're relevant here. To my mind, even if you lead in something else, if you don't lead in 1B, 2B, 3B, HR, or H but you do lead in TB, your season deserves notice as being especially shaped toward TB.
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Fun to look at the list of TB leaders, because you see some guys with monstrous seasons who walked surprisingly infrequently given their prowess at the plate. Like Rogers Hornsby in 1922 and Chuck Klein in 1930.
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Speaking of singles, Ichiro has led the AL in singles for 10 straight years (the longest streak for any category, ever?), and in 2011 he trails Juan Pierre by 2.
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Ellsbury is two short of leading in doubles (45) and extra-base hits (78), and third in hits (201), so it's no surprise that he's up there in total bases.
BTW, was there any mention on the game broadcast that he got 200 hits? When was the last time the Red Sox had two 200-hit players - 1985 (Boggs and Buckner)?
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Missed one: He leads in the much bandied-about Power-Speed #.
And he has a shot at doubles and extra-base hits. But not SBs.
Poking around the stats, the Sox are truly numerically impressive, at least on the batting side. Which makes their current extended stretch of suckitude all the more frustrating.
I don't know which is worse- missing the playoffs or having to rely on the Yankees winning to get into the playoffs...
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:56 pm
@10
Don't forget, the Angels are now tied with the Rays 2.5 GB of the Red Sox. That's two teams chasing Boston now.
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:06 pm
@11 I haven't. Looks like the Angels would be farther back if they still had Lackey (-1.4 WAR).
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Ellsbury also has a 33-game hitting streak against the Orioles.
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:35 pm
@2 Tuna regarding Dave May,
Really the only thing I remember him from is being traded for Hank Aaron. I am surprised to hear he led the league in total bases.
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:54 pm
The most singles over for a Right Handed hitter is 178, by Curt Flood.
Good for 31st (tie) all time.
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Holy crap Voomo, I never knew that.
The list is here:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/1B_season.shtml
Three switch hitters ahead of Flood but otherwise all lefties.
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I can't say that I fully understand WPA yet, but I think it is interesting that the 10th best season ever for WPA is.......
Joe Torre, 1971
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/wpa_bat_season.shtml
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Voomo: that's why Torre is a certain first ballot hall of famer. The only issue might be juicing with Bigelow Tea
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:26 pm
@9 Multiple Red Sox with 200 hits:
Wade Boggs and Jim Rice 1986
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Not to be a Red Sox hater, but one of my favorite aspects of Adrian Gonzalez and Jacoby Ellsbury's seasons are their home/road splits.
You almost never see great hitting seasons by Red Sox players that are not significantly tilted towards home performance.
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Ellsbury does lead the majors in fWar, with 8.7 to Bautista's 8.1 and Halladay's 8.0. I hope that it isn't heretical to point out that difference here at the home of rWar.
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:33 pm
@16/ Andy - most singles in a year:
Fun Fact: In Willie Keeler's 1898 (the all-time record till Ichiro/2004), Keeler had 206 singles, but only 216 hits total (7 2Bs/ 2 3Bs/ 1 HR). This has to be one of the most anemic years ever for power in a good offensive year.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:04 pm
A bit off topic, but George Brett led the league in TBs in '78, despite having only 7 HRs. I gotta think that is the live ball era record for fewest HRs while leading in TBs.
Speaking of third basemen - I think Mark Reynolds, who I believe is the most interesting batter in the league, well I think he may be onto a first. He is tied with Alex Rios for lowest BA in the AL for qualifiers, he is of course leading in SOs (which seems you can just pencil him there every year) but he is also leading the league with 30 errors.
My question, has anyone ever led the league in those three infamous categories, SOs, lowest BA and Errors in one year?
And back on the Redsock tangent, does any one here know if a team had their one through four hitters all finish the season with a .300 BA and 20 HRs. I know that Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, and Ortiz don't always hit in that order, but they are likely to go into the playoffs that way (also Pedroia needs to keep above .300). But I can't remember anyteam being so strong 1-4 - on top of which the rest of their order stinks. If JD Drew and Crawford had seasons closer to their career averages, the Sox would be 5 games up not back.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:13 pm
@22: Looks like Keeler wanted to get out of Baltimore & go back to Brooklyn. Also only had 28 stolen bases. Low for him especially when considering all those singles. Was assigned back to Brooklyn in 1899.
September 22nd, 2011 at 4:36 pm
@ 22 Lawrence Azrin,
I think the term Baltimore chop started with Keeler and that era of Baltimore players. Probably the infield was soft, so the ball didn't roll very fast, allowing him to chop the ball into the ground and beat out a throw because of the bad infield. Keeler was also a great bunter and I think the third strike on a foul bunt rule was initiated because of him, because he would just foul off 10-15 pitches while trying to bunt. He is also unofficially credited with inventing the hit and run.
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:05 pm
This is my #1 wish list on the site, the ability to use the play index to search for league leader instead of just a certain number. Like who has led the least HRs for a player that lead the league in TB, just one of many, many examples.
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:16 pm
@25, Tommy McCarthy is credited with inventing the hit and run and it is a big reason he is in the HOF while being probably the worst player in there. If they wanted to give him credit for the hit and run he should have gone in as a contributor or pioneer instead of a player.
Also the bunt strikeout rule was added in 1909, with foul balls only being counted as strikes in 1901 (NL) and 1903 (AL). That is why Nap Lajoie's .426 BA in 1901 is pretty suspect considering foul balls did not count as strikes for him. Hornsby's .424 in 1924 should be considered the modern BA record.
Not sure if Keeler was the inspiration for the bunt-K since it was enacted in his penultimate season.
September 22nd, 2011 at 5:48 pm
@25/ Dukeofflatbush - "@ 22 Lawrence Azrin, I think the term Baltimore chop started with Keeler and that era of Baltimore players..."
Dukeofflatbush - Yes, Keeler had a batting style not conducive to extra base hits most of the time, but doesn't explain his extreme anemic performance in 1898. The four previous years with the Orioles, he had about 40-50 extra base hits; in 1898, 10 total.
Despite that, he was 10th in adjusted batting wins - shows you what a .385 BA can do.
September 22nd, 2011 at 7:27 pm
@17...what exactly is WPA?
September 22nd, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Topper,
Thanks for the info, I didn't know a lot of that. But in regards to "invention" in baseball, I think there is tons of misinformation out there. I guess it is hard to pin down exactly who taught who, and who actually got credit. Like Columbus "discovering" America, even who put the modern baseball rules together, is widely regarded as apocryphal. I remember that the Deaf player Dummy Hoy was credited with the use of signs from coaches cause of his hearing impairment, but I honestly doubt it.
Other baseball "inventions" - that have dubious creation stories:
The curve ball.
Player substitution.
Sacrificing.
etc.
I think the player who succeeds best at a technique usually takes the credit.
Also the Nap Lajoie story I believe had Cobb and him fighting over the BA title because of a car went to the winner, and I think there was cheating on both sides.
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Cobb was not in the league in 1901, you are probably referring to the 1910 AL batting race, detailed here: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/cle/history/story1.jsp
Pretty interesting, in summary, Cobb had a late lead and pulled the anti-Ted Williams by sitting out to protect his lead. Lajoie had a doubleheader vs the StL Browns left. The Browns manager was a former Lajoie teammate who also hated Ty Cobb (like everyone else in the league) and had his 3B play way back nearly in left field so Lajoie could drop down free bunt hits, which he did, went 8-9 and seemingly took the crown. Due to a controversial scoring decision the leader was in doubt until the Sporting News declared Cobb the winner which was the official MLB stance until the 1980s when research showed Cobb had some hits double counted earlier in the year and the crown was given back to Lajoie who is now recognized as the official 1910 AL batting champ....although still using that 8-9 day.
And yes the winner was promised a car but the company gave one to each of them due to the confusion.
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:20 pm
@ 23 Flatbush
We could call that the Triple Frown 🙁 🙁 🙁
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:48 pm
In 2005 Mark Teixeira led in TB. The only other category he led in was games played.
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Joe Medwick led the NL in just TB in 1935
September 22nd, 2011 at 8:52 pm
Griffey Jr. in 1993 also.
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:04 pm
@ Topper,
Another great story, thanx, but you forgot a key part. After they gave the crown back to Lajoie in 1980, Ty Cobb's ghost stormed MLBs headquarters and spiked Peter Uberoth's secretary before storming into his office to kick dirt into his face. On his way out, his ghost had a heart attack when he overheard that Frank Robinson (blacks) were managing, but not before he spit on a portrait of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:26 pm
That is a good yarn!
Ib WAR, Ellsbury is clearly ahead at Fangraphs, not near the tippy top on this site. Who thinks FG & its defensive adjustments-I assume this is the overwhelming reason for the difference-is more accurate? Or less, & why?
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:39 pm
what exactly is WPA?
Win Probability Added. Start here:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/wpa.shtml
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:25 pm
So I wondered who led their league in TB the most times.
I say Aaron with 8? Can anyone find someone with more?
September 22nd, 2011 at 11:38 pm
@25 You have it mostly right, The Baltimore chop is hit down about 5-10 feet in front of the plate on a very hard infield. The ball bounces very high, at best over the heads of the infielders.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:13 am
Frank Howard in 1969. Only other category he led was GIDP.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:27 am
@8, Statboy.
"Speaking of singles, Ichiro has led the AL in singles for 10 straight years (the longest streak for any category, ever?), and in 2011 he trails Juan Pierre by 2."
With today's games, Pierre is now ahead of Ichiro by 3 singles. White Sox finish up at home to Royals and Blue Jays. Mariners are away to Texas and home to Oakland. Pierre could be tough to catch, although a possible extra AB in the away games could help Ichiro.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:41 am
@8.
Rickey Henderson came close to 10 straight year leading in a category. He led in stolen bases 9 years out of 10 (1980-89), missing only in 1987 when he was limited to 95 games.
Babe Ruth led in HR 12 times in 14 years (1918-31), finishing 2nd and 3rd in the other two years, in which he missed a total of 100 games.
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:21 am
@ Doug, 43
Ted Williams played 19 seasons, not counting the 3 he lost to WWII. He essentially lost 2 years, 52-53 (although he played 43 total games those years) to the Korean War. So that leaves him 17 seasons.
He out right led in OBP 12 seasons out of 17.
In the five seasons that he did not win the OBP title, only once did he qualify, which I think at a 154 game schedule, makes it 477 PAs.
The other 4 seasons which he did not qualify due to injury - here are the winners and what Williams did.
1950 Doby .442 OBP
Williams 417 PAs, .452 OBP
1955 Mantle .431 OBP
Williams 416 PAs, .496 OBP
1960 Yost .416 OBP
Williams 390 PAs, .451
1959 Yost .435 OBP
Williams 331 PAs, .372 OBP (the only injury shortened season he did not have a higher % than the leader.
& during the Korean years his OBPs were .500 in 6 games and .509 in 36 games.
So he essentially won the OBP title every year he played except his Rookie year (lost to teammate Jimmie Foxx) and his 40 year old season. So in 17 chances, he won the OBP title 15 times.
September 23rd, 2011 at 7:14 am
In case no one has said it yet: Great topic, Andy.
September 23rd, 2011 at 9:20 am
In the five seasons that he did not win the OBP title, only once did he qualify, which I think at a 154 game schedule, makes it 477 PAs.
There were different qualifying rules at the time. At a certain time it might have been 100 games played, at another it might have been 400 AB. I don't remember when the rules changed but it wasn't always 3.1 PA per team game.
September 23rd, 2011 at 10:20 am
Hank Aaron. His career total of 6,856 TB is a record that may never be broke. The closest man to him is Musial at 6,134, which means that Musial had to hit another 180+ HRS just to tie him, or any combination of singles, doubles, triples, and HRS. Amazing!
September 23rd, 2011 at 10:40 am
@47
Of course, some of the reason for that is that walks are not counted towards Total Bases. Aaron was never really a walking machine, but was an excellent contact hitter who hit lots of line drives. This makes him similar to Barry Bonds - except that Bonds walked all the time. Bonds's 8534 (TB+BB) is higher than Aaron's 8258. If we want to go all out committing the "bases fallacy" and add in HBP and SB, Bonds's lead increases even further: 9054 to 8530. So while technically you are right and it would be very difficult to break Aaron's record, part of the reason is you'd have to hit as well as Aaron, but walk as rarely, and most hitters who are as good as or better than Aaron walked significantly more. So, in a way, Aaron's record already has been broken.
September 23rd, 2011 at 11:06 am
@48..I fully understand your comment and it's validity. But to many "hitting" (ie a hitter vs being called a walker/hitter) is still relevent. The revelancy of course, being to hit major league pitchers at a consistant rate. BA is that measure only, nothing more nothing less. Walks "can" have a subjective influence to it, therefore can not, and should not be credited soley to a walker/hitters accomplishments.
September 23rd, 2011 at 11:18 am
To me, the less subjectivity to any stat, the better. That's just moi. Sorry in advance for all the "evil" follow-up posts that are sure to follow. LOL...Cause I know walks ARE important...it's just that sometimes they are not in the batters control.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Not all hits are under a batter's control either, since bad defense is more than just errors. And as far as pitching mistakes go, how is a walk any worse than a hung curveball? The batter still has to execute.
It's just about impossible for any aspect of baseball to be entirely independent from every other part. It's just too complex a game.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:32 pm
You state this as if it were a negative on a player having a pretty tremendous season overall.
So who's the last pure lead off hitter to lead the league in total bases, if ever..?
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Soxian, I certainly don't mean it as a negative. As I have posted here recently, I think Ellsbury's having one of the greatest seasons ever for a leadoff hitter. I think you may be reading in more that what actually appears in my post.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Fair enough...though you have to admit the all caps emphasis may have shaded it that way.
That being said, has there been a pure lead off hitter to lead the league in total bases...? I know Rickey probably would've came closest.
September 23rd, 2011 at 1:53 pm
I assume you mean italics, not caps, and it's still just a fact--usually the guy who leads in total bases leads in something else.
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Yeah, that's true...Actually, was referring to "ONLY" being all caps in the header. Don't mean to quibble over it...
Would rather address whether there was a modern era pure lead off man to lead or at least challenge (finish in the top 3) for the lead in total bases. Seems from the list the power hitters dominate that category.
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@50/ MLS Says: "...LOL...Cause I know walks ARE important...it's just that sometimes they are not in the batters control."
MLS - I do not see how hits are (in general) in more control than walks by the batter.
Let's say a batter absolutely _CRUSHES_ a ball to deepest center, where the CFer makes a great running catch 400 feet from home plate. Out. The next batter dribbles a 17-bounce ground ball up the middle that somehow gets through. Hit. True reflection of a batter's skill?
We've had this discussion before, where people claim any particular hitter shouldn't get that much credit for walk totals, since he just happens to be in the batter's box when the pitcher experiences a random bout of wildness. If that were true, drawing walks would be much more random, and not as much of a repeatable skill. Reality is that some players walk a lot, some not very often, and they do this year after year after year.
Walks are "subjective" in that they _are_ the umpires subjective judgement. Their value is quite real, and hitters should get full credit for the real skill of drawing walks.
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:29 pm
It looks like all of the leaders dating back to 1919 were 2-3-4 hitters, while Ellsbury could become the only lead off hitter to do it.
Regardless, as you stated, Ellsbury is having one of the greatest seasons ever for a lead off hitter.
September 23rd, 2011 at 3:38 pm
Two more who led their league in TB but no other category (including G or negative things like GIDP and SO):
Jim Rice, 1969
Albert Belle, 1994
On the flip side, nobody has led the league in all four categories that go into TB, i.e., IB, 2B, 3B and HR. AFAICT, four players have led in three of the four (with their total in the category they missed):
Lajoie, 1901 (had 14 3B, league leader had 19)
Cobb, 1911 (had 8 HR, league leader had 11)
Cobb, 1917 (had 6 HR, league leader had 9)
Musial, 1946 (had 16 HR, league leader had 23)
Not surprisingly, they all led their league in TB.
September 23rd, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Andy, another thing that jumps out from your total base leaders lists is that the all-time career home run record holder only led his league one year in total bases. The man whose record he 'broke' lead seven times. Probably due to all those walks.
September 23rd, 2011 at 6:15 pm
@54
Rickey Henderson would never be a candidate for leading the league in TB because he walked too much, plain and simple. No chance of him ever winning one and I can say that confidently without even checking.
September 23rd, 2011 at 6:30 pm
How about a leaderboard of TB + Walks?
Right now
NL
414 Votto
409 Kemp
401 Fielder
AL
432 Bautista
413 M Cabrera
408 Gonzalez
405 Granderson
391 Ellsbury
September 23rd, 2011 at 8:39 pm
@61
Understood...though my statement was that of all the pure leadoff men, Rickey probably would have come closest without actually leading. I never said he led...
Without checking, I thought during that mid-80's stint with the Yanks that he might have come close...I remember he scored 140+ runs one year and hit 28 HRs another. So I thought it might have been one of those seasons.
But after checking, he only finished 10th in TBs in '86 despite a down year in BA (.263) The closest he came was 6th in 1990, his MVP season, when he also led the league in OPS (.439/.577/1.016) maybe the only lead off hitter to do so? and matched his previous high in HRs with 28.
Two top-10 finishes in TBs in five years while leading in OPS one of those years is pretty impressive for a leadoff hitter. So I think it's fair to say, confidently, that:
1) Rickey did come closest of any pure leadoff man in TBs without actually winning one
2) Those numbers certainly belie the "no chance" sentiment
September 23rd, 2011 at 8:51 pm
@59 Wiz- Jim Rice didn't start playing 'til '74. I think you meant '79.
September 24th, 2011 at 1:18 am
Hope Soxian is still about -
Your question about a leadoff hitter leading the league in TBs, is your guy, Nomar in 1997, played every game but one as leadoff, and finished 2nd in TB, with 365. Griffey led with 393.
September 24th, 2011 at 4:11 am
Hey thanks, Dukeofflatbush...didn't realize that about Nomar. Forgot that he led off his first couple years before he moved down the order.
Wow...365 TBs as a lead off is pretty remarkable.
Excellent catch there...! (Great research!!)