Perfect Games – For Batters
Posted by Steve Lombardi on August 9, 2010
How many batters, since 1920, have had 12+ "perfect days" at the plate in games where they had 4+ At Bats? By this, I mean, going 4 for 4, or 5 for 5, or 6 for 6, etc.
Here's the list: From 1920 to 2010, requiring AB>=4 and AB=H, sorted by greatest number of games in all seasons matching the selected criteria
| Rk | Player | #Matching | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stan Musial | 24 | Ind. Games | 112 | 101 | 101 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 48 | 10 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.594 | 2.594 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | Paul Waner | 22 | Ind. Games | 107 | 94 | 94 | 18 | 6 | 2 | 23 | 9 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.383 | 2.383 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 3 | Paul Molitor | 20 | Ind. Games | 94 | 86 | 86 | 16 | 5 | 6 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | .989 | 1.512 | 2.501 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Pete Rose | 18 | Ind. Games | 87 | 80 | 80 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.350 | 2.350 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Rogers Hornsby | 17 | Ind. Games | 78 | 69 | 69 | 17 | 4 | 7 | 35 | 8 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.667 | 2.667 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 6 | Tony Gwynn | 17 | Ind. Games | 79 | 75 | 75 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.320 | 2.320 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Wade Boggs | 17 | Ind. Games | 81 | 69 | 69 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.188 | 2.188 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Earl Averill | 17 | Ind. Games | 78 | 71 | 71 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 22 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.690 | 2.690 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 9 | Fred McGriff | 16 | Ind. Games | 70 | 67 | 67 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.642 | 2.642 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Heinie Manush | 16 | Ind. Games | 74 | 69 | 69 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.565 | 2.565 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | Carl Yastrzemski | 15 | Ind. Games | 74 | 62 | 62 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 29 | 12 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.661 | 2.661 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Al Simmons | 15 | Ind. Games | 70 | 65 | 65 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.708 | 2.708 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 13 | Edgar Martinez | 15 | Ind. Games | 70 | 60 | 60 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 1.000 | .986 | 1.717 | 2.702 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | George Brett | 15 | Ind. Games | 70 | 64 | 64 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.359 | 2.359 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Ted Williams | 14 | Ind. Games | 66 | 58 | 58 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 31 | 8 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.741 | 2.741 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Billy Williams | 14 | Ind. Games | 63 | 59 | 59 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 27 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.678 | 2.678 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Brooks Robinson | 14 | Ind. Games | 62 | 58 | 58 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 2.500 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Kirby Puckett | 14 | Ind. Games | 61 | 61 | 61 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.689 | 2.689 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Tony Oliva | 14 | Ind. Games | 63 | 59 | 59 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | .968 | 1.610 | 2.578 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Joe Medwick | 14 | Ind. Games | 60 | 58 | 58 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.448 | 2.448 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 21 | Chipper Jones | 14 | Ind. Games | 65 | 58 | 58 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 28 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.810 | 2.810 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Harry Heilmann | 14 | Ind. Games | 66 | 59 | 59 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.441 | 2.441 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 23 | Jimmie Foxx | 14 | Ind. Games | 68 | 58 | 58 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 35 | 10 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.931 | 2.931 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 24 | Willie Davis | 14 | Ind. Games | 61 | 58 | 58 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | .984 | 1.517 | 2.501 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Dixie Walker | 13 | Ind. Games | 61 | 54 | 54 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.500 | 2.500 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 26 | Alex Rodriguez | 13 | Ind. Games | 63 | 56 | 56 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.661 | 2.661 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | Frank Robinson | 13 | Ind. Games | 60 | 54 | 54 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 33 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.648 | 2.648 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 28 | Sam Rice | 13 | Ind. Games | 63 | 54 | 54 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.333 | 2.333 | 4 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 29 | Albert Pujols | 13 | Ind. Games | 59 | 54 | 54 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.870 | 2.870 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | Lefty O'Doul | 13 | Ind. Games | 66 | 57 | 57 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 27 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.561 | 2.561 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 31 | Willie Mays | 13 | Ind. Games | 58 | 55 | 55 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.836 | 2.836 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | Al Kaline | 13 | Ind. Games | 61 | 53 | 53 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | .951 | 1.547 | 2.498 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Todd Helton | 13 | Ind. Games | 63 | 53 | 53 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 24 | 9 | 0 | 1.000 | .984 | 1.660 | 2.645 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Goose Goslin | 13 | Ind. Games | 58 | 55 | 55 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.491 | 2.491 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 35 | Lou Gehrig | 13 | Ind. Games | 59 | 52 | 52 | 14 | 2 | 13 | 39 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.096 | 3.096 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 36 | Andre Dawson | 13 | Ind. Games | 58 | 56 | 56 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.714 | 2.714 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Barry Bonds | 13 | Ind. Games | 61 | 52 | 52 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 25 | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | .984 | 1.827 | 2.811 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 38 | Pie Traynor | 12 | Ind. Games | 55 | 51 | 51 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.471 | 2.471 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 39 | Bill Terry | 12 | Ind. Games | 59 | 53 | 53 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.679 | 2.679 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 40 | Miguel Tejada | 12 | Ind. Games | 53 | 50 | 50 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.540 | 2.540 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 41 | Tris Speaker | 12 | Ind. Games | 59 | 53 | 53 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.472 | 2.472 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 42 | Babe Ruth | 12 | Ind. Games | 55 | 49 | 49 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.776 | 2.776 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 43 | Manny Ramirez | 12 | Ind. Games | 54 | 49 | 49 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | .981 | 1.898 | 2.879 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | Rafael Palmeiro | 12 | Ind. Games | 57 | 52 | 52 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | .982 | 1.827 | 2.809 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 | Eddie Murray | 12 | Ind. Games | 53 | 49 | 49 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.449 | 2.449 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | Chuck Klein | 12 | Ind. Games | 56 | 51 | 51 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.804 | 2.804 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 47 | Vladimir Guerrero | 12 | Ind. Games | 51 | 48 | 48 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | .980 | 1.854 | 2.835 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 48 | Luis Gonzalez | 12 | Ind. Games | 54 | 48 | 48 | 15 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.667 | 2.667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 49 | Ty Cobb | 12 | Ind. Games | 64 | 54 | 54 | 12 | 0 | 9 | 31 | 9 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.722 | 2.722 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 50 | Orlando Cepeda | 12 | Ind. Games | 58 | 52 | 52 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 33 | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | .983 | 1.827 | 2.810 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 51 | Rod Carew | 12 | Ind. Games | 56 | 51 | 51 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.196 | 2.196 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | Craig Biggio | 12 | Ind. Games | 58 | 49 | 49 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | .982 | 1.694 | 2.676 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 53 | Luke Appling | 12 | Ind. Games | 57 | 50 | 50 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.360 | 2.360 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 54 | Moises Alou | 12 | Ind. Games | 50 | 49 | 49 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | .980 | 1.755 | 2.735 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 | Hank Aaron | 12 | Ind. Games | 52 | 48 | 48 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.458 | 2.458 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
.
Anyone on the list surprise you? I never would have guessed that Fred McGriff would rank as high, here, as he did.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:04 am
In all of these hundreds - maybe thousands of games --- no one struc out even once in any of the games? Rod Careew had 0 HRS in his games and Gehrig averaged more than 1 a game. Impressive group --
August 9th, 2010 at 11:05 am
If the had K'd, then they would not have been Perfect, meaning H=AB
August 9th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Interesting to see that Kirby Puckett and Moises Alou didn't walk a single time in their "perfect" games.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:19 am
I know they were typically at or near the top of the batting order, but I am a bit surprised at the low RBI totals for Carew (only 7 in 12 games) and Boggs (9 in 17 games). It would be interesting to see the runs scored totals during the same games.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:31 am
I'm surprised to see Willie Davis so high on this leaderboard. He's not regarded as an all-time great and playing for the Dodgers in the 1960s is a tough environment for a batter to get hits.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I think Pujols' presence is slightly surprising, not because of his abilities but, because he has only played approximately 9.5 seasons and his high IBB rate which might limit his opportunities to get a that 4th hit.
Seems like some of the RBI totals are lower than you might expect considering that these are only games in which the batter got at least 4 hits, but, then again, there is probably a slight bias toward games where either the batter wasn't coming up with lots of men on base (or where he couldn't be walked).
Also, Pujols' presence sparked my interest to look up Ichiro Suzuki's numbers for this type of situation (because their careers exactly overlap and they have nearly identical batting averages). Turns out he has done it 10 times, with half of those being 5 hit games and 4 of them occurring during a 50 day stretch during 2004 (8/3-9/21). He also had only 5 XBH during these games (3 HR, 2 3B).
August 9th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Knoblauch had a game in 1996 where he went 0-0 with 4 BB and 1 HBP. A follow-up query listing games where PA >= 4 and AB == H would be interesting. That would likely pick up more games by the high BB guys like Rickey Henderson and Ted Williams.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
If I understand the concept of this stat correctly, the Pirates have had done it more than any other team this year (5 times) and they also have the most in the NL for a season...second only to the Tigers.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Brooks Robinson is surprising (along with Willie Davis at 14 times). Look at the other people in the group at 14. Other than Brooks and Davis, the lowest career BA is .290 (Billy W.) and the average career BA is .319. Even Willie Davis checks in at .279. Brooks .267 looks very out of place.
August 9th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
Regarding Ichiro--I wonder if it's actually more difficult to make this list batting at the top of the order. There, you're more likely to get that 5th (or 6th) AB, which makes the task of a "perfect game" more difficult. Eyeballing the list, my first impression is that I see fewer speedsters/classic leadoff guys than I see big sluggers. Batting order position might be part of why.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I remember the California license plates on Gregg Jefferies's blue Camaro that read "4FOR4 GJ". Thanks to PI, I found that Jefferies only had 3 such games in his MLB career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/x9XYa
On a positive note, he only had two 3-strikeout games in his career (Tony Gwynn only had one, against Bob Welch).
Not trying to get this thread off-track, but did anyone else (besides Jefferies) ever receive ROY votes in TWO different years?
August 9th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
That's an amazing list of names. I counted 36 Hall of Famers and I reckon at least half of the others will be in there once they are eiligible. Most of the others are close enough to warrant consideration. I wouldn't necessarily have predicted such a strong correlation between this stat and being in the hall.
Pujols could be a long way up that list by the time he finishes, assuming people don't take the opportunity away from him.
August 9th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
It's pretty amazing that Ty Cobb is on here, since the list starts at 1920. I wonder how many he has if you go back to the beginning of his career. By 1920 his best days were already behind him.
August 9th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Would be interesting to see perfect RBI games, where a hitter knocks in every runner on base for him (not counting himself).
August 9th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Ari, Tris Speaker, too.
August 9th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
#7 - I was thinking the same thing when I first read the post, so I ran it and found the usual suspects at the top of the list:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/8f4qY
Also, for a batter to qualify for an individual perfect game I would think that they would have to play the entire game, or at least take every at bat for his place in the batting order. This would eliminate quite a few games for guys like Bonds who got subbed out a lot for pinch runners and defensive replacements toward the end of his career.
It would be cool to be able to search for complete games for position players as well as pitchers. It seems like it wouldn't be too difficult to create a GF stat for batters from box scores.
August 9th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Help me out here, I must just be missing it. How can there be perfect batting games in here and a couple of these guys NOT have an OBP of 1.000 in them?
August 9th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Presumably they hit a sac fly or similar in addition to getting their 4+ hits
August 9th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
@Evan,
Are you confusing AB with PA? Walks do not count as official at-bats. Pujols could technically get one hit in the first inning, be walked three times, and still be considered having a "perfect game."
August 9th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
embarassed but admitting I got caught up in the amaziness of the 0 -- DOH!
August 9th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
@16/17/18...now I'm confused. Yes, all those with an OBP < 1.000 had at least one SF, but why do those with a SH (but no SF) still have an OBP of 1.000?
August 9th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
@JDV
Sac Flies count against OBP, sac hits do not.
August 9th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Interesting to see Brooks Robinson on this list. That sort of serves to remind us that as much as he domiated the game with his leather, Brooks contributed his share with the bat as well.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
The two players who had a 4-for-4 postseason game but never had a 4-for-4 regular-season game: Billy Hatcher, 1990 World Series Game 2, and Chad Fonville (!), 1995 Division Series Game 2. (Hatcher did have a regular-season 5-for-5 game in 1988 for the Astros.)
August 9th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Alex @19,
No, not confusing AB and PA, Steve required at least 4 for 4 when he framed the conversation in the original article. The IBBs and semi-intentional BBs would rob the batter of the opportunity to get that 4th hit.
We can quibble about what criteria a batter would need to satisfy in order to be considered having had a perfect game, but Steve framed the conversation as 4 for 4 or better and that seems reasonable. Personally, I would exclude any games in which the batter hit a Sacrifice Fly (which is really just a fly out wearing lipstick) in that it is too analogous to giving a pitcher credit for a no hitter/perfect game after a batter is out trying to stretch a single into a double. I'm on the fence about Sacrifice Hits because a greater percentage of them are truly situations where the batter has given up any realistic hope of getting a base hit to accomplish a purpose, usually at the direction of his manager. Granted it is all semantics, but perfect seems like it should be a fairly high standard.
August 10th, 2010 at 2:04 am
@ 7
Interesting idea. I set it to PA>=4, AB=0 and PA=TOB
The top two names shouldn't surprise you
Bonds and Ruth each did it five times
Henderson, Larkin, McGwire, Ott, Andy Seminick, and Thome all did it three times.
August 10th, 2010 at 2:07 am
I see now that's not exactly what you meant, but there you go! Those are the players with the most games where they reached base in every PA but did not record a hit.
August 10th, 2010 at 2:10 am
Also, the link
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/uKJSC
August 10th, 2010 at 8:53 am
OBP could also be less than 1.000 if a runner was caught trying to turn a single into a double/double into triple, etc... In that situation, they would get credit for a hit (single), but not for being on base.
August 10th, 2010 at 10:03 am
I don't think that's true, although it makes sense that it should be measured that way. I mean, OBP is just H+BB+HBP/PA....no one counts hits on which batters get thrown out trying to get an extra base.
August 10th, 2010 at 10:22 am
I too was surprised that Ichiro was not on the list, but batting lead off likely does limit his chances a bit. Same goes for Derek Jeter.
Interesting that Molitor is the only modern player to have a SH in a 4-4 game and what a game it was...He led off with a homer, doubled in his second at bat, then sacrificed a runner to 3rd in the 5th, before hitting another homer and double in his final two at bats. So 12 TB and 1 SH in a game.