Chacin’s Perfect Season
Posted by Raphy on December 23, 2010
Here's a bit of trivia from the world's smallest sample size.
In 2010 Gustavo Chacin became the 5th player to go an entire season with a homer in every PA. Of course it he only had 1, but so did all the others.
| Rk | Player | Year | HR | PA | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | GDP | SB | CS | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gustavo Chacin | 2010 | 1 | 1 | 29 | HOU | NL | 44 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | *1 |
| 2 | Eddie Rogers | 2005 | 1 | 1 | 26 | BAL | AL | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | /6 |
| 3 | Guillermo Mota | 1999 | 1 | 1 | 25 | MON | NL | 51 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | *1 |
| 4 | Buster Narum | 1963 | 1 | 1 | 22 | BAL | AL | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | /*1 |
| 5 | Bill LeFebvre | 1938 | 1 | 1 | 22 | BOS | AL | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | /*1 |
Naturally, if you homer in every PA, you will have a high OPS+. Chacin's was #2 all time.
| Rk | Player | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | GDP | SB | CS | Pos | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buster Narum | 1250 | 1963 | 22 | BAL | AL | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | /*1 |
| 2 | Gustavo Chacin | 1198 | 2010 | 29 | HOU | NL | 44 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | *1 |
| 3 | Felix Hernandez | 1165 | 2008 | 22 | SEA | AL | 31 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | *1 |
| 4 | Eddie Rogers | 1149 | 2005 | 26 | BAL | AL | 8 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | /6 |
| 5 | Guillermo Mota | 1101 | 1999 | 25 | MON | NL | 51 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | *1 |
| 6 | Esteban Yan | 1092 | 2000 | 25 | TBD | AL | 43 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | *1 |
| 7 | Bill LeFebvre | 1071 | 1938 | 22 | BOS | AL | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 4.000 | 5.000 | /*1 |
| 8 | Eduardo Rodriguez | 1007 | 1973 | 21 | MIL | AL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 3.000 | 4.000 | *1 |
December 23rd, 2010 at 9:05 am
Buster Narum has the single season record for highest OPS+ (min. 1 PA).
He may have another record (hard to prove) - most different uniform numbers for 1 team (min. 4 consecutive seasons). He wore five different uniform numbers in four seasons while playing for the Washington Senators version 2.0 in the mid-1960's.
December 23rd, 2010 at 9:32 am
I was at the game where Hernandez a grand slam off of Santana. Opposite field too. He then came out of the game early because of an injury.
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:20 am
Eddie Rogers had 1 PA and 4 runs. That's pretty good. Must have done a lot of pinch running, though he was 0-2 in the stolen base category.
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:38 am
So now we know something that Buster Narum has in common with Hoyt Wilhelm....
Notes on the game in which Buster Narum hit his HR:
-- Relieves Chuck Estrada in the bottom of the 3rd with a man on 2nd and 1 out, Orioles trailing Detroit 5-2. Intentionally walks the noted Tigers slugger ... Whitey Herzog?!? (batting .182 en route to .151 in his final year) ... then gets Chico Fernandez for an inning-ending DP.
-- Comes up in the top of the 4th with a man on and no out, for his first big-league AB ... and slugs a 2-run HR that sends Don Mossi to the showers.
-- Allows just a harmless single over the next 2 innings, striking out Al Kaline.
-- Gets lifted in the top-6th (despite his perfect 5.000 OPS) for pinch-hitter Bob (Rabbit) Saverine, who currently has one less career HR than Narum and of course strikes out.
-- In the 8th, the O's tie it up on a HR by Bob (not Indian Bob) Johnson, a second baseman who will go on to have an impressive '67 campaign, hitting .348 in 250 PAs, becoming one of 13 2Bs in modern MLB history to hit that high with that many PAs (and the only one to do it in the '60s -- take that, Rod Carew!).
-- O's go ahead in the 9th on back-to-back HRs by Luis Aparacio (who hit 5 that year) and Joe Gaines (6).
-- Wes Stock earns the win with 4 near-perfect innings of relief, running his season record to 4-0 with an 0.82 ERA.
B-R Bullpen notes that Narum "is one of the few pitchers to have more home runs in a season than wins - he hit one home run in 1963 but had no wins."
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:39 am
@2, Rich -- Yeah, I think he busted a gut laughing....
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:57 am
Guillermo Mota also did it in his first career PA. On June 9, 1999, he hit a 3-run HR off Mark Guthrie during an 8-run 8th, as Montreal routed the Red Sox 13-1 in a game started by Pedro Martinez.
Pedro was 11-2 after that loss, en route to 23-4, 2.07, 313 Ks and his 2nd Cy Young Award. It was the 2nd time he had faced his former team. The previous year, he tossed 6 scoreless innings as the Red Sox romped, 15-0, against starter Carl Pavano -- one of the players he'd been traded for. Pedro was 11-2 after that game, too.
Mota homered again in 2003, giving him 2 HRs, 5 hits and 5 RBI in 15 career PAs to that point. He's cooled off a bit since, with 3 hits (no HRs) and 14 Ks in his last 25 PAs.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:17 am
Another interesting (to me) Buster Narum tidbit from his Transaction list:
March 31, 1964: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the Washington Senators for a player to be named later. The Washington Senators sent Lou Piniella (August 4, 1964) to the Baltimore Orioles to complete the trade. Man it took a long time for Lou to get going.
I am sure Washington thought they got the "better" of the deal. Even though the WAR values tell another story as Buster posted a -0.6 Pitching/-1.3 Batting(!) WAR for Washington from 1964 thru 1967...whereas Lou only had 1 PA over the same timeframe (0.0 WAR) before he was traded again in 1966.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
Bill LeFebvre also homered in his first PA, then never went deep again in 101 more trips.
However, LeFebvre did wind up with a healthy .276 BA, .384 OBP (15 walks against 11 Ks in 102 PAs!), .414 SLG (including 2 triples), .796 OPS and 128 OPS+.
That 128 OPS+ is the highest of any modern hitter with 100+ PAs and at least 40% of his games as a pitcher. LeFebvre was used many times as a pinch-hitter.
Unfortunately for his career prospects, whereas LeFebvre's adjusted OPS was 28% above league average, his adjusted ERA was 28% below league average, and he lasted just 136 innings, mostly as a WWII replacement.
P.S. I guess it's most likely that a 1-PA, 1-HR season would be a player's first season, so I shouldn't be surprised that so many of these came in a player's first career PA.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:43 am
Hoyt Wilhelm!
HR in first ML at bat, adn did nto hit another one in hi snext 1,000+ games! (Ok, only 493 plate appearances).
I think he is the only HOFer who hit a HR in his first at bat; you can probably win a bet with that piece of trivia.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:48 am
[...] run to leave him with the maximum season OPS of 5.0. Unfortunately, Raphy at Baseball Reference beat me to it. Instead, I noticed while I was browsing the NL’s home run log to prepare to run some [...]
December 23rd, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Only one player has ever had three seasons with a 1.000 batting average: Bruce Chen.
December 23rd, 2010 at 4:38 pm
#9/Noodle Says: "Hoyt Wilhelm! HR in first ML at bat, and did not hit another one in his next 1,000+ games! I think he is the only HOFer who hit a HR in his first at bat; ..."
other HOFers:
EARL AVERILL, 4-16-1929.
Bill White and Will Clark are probably the next best players to do this. The 2010 Red Sox had TWO players on their roster who did this, Jeremy Hermida and Daniel Nava (Nava on the 1st pitch).
December 23rd, 2010 at 8:35 pm
@11, Kahuna -- Wow, Chen even has a 3-game hitting streak -- dating to 2006!
Bruce Chen as a hitter:
-- 1998-2001: 8 for 95, 1 walk, 49 Ks, 1 run, no extra-base hits.
-- 2002-2010: 9 for 22, 2 walks, 4 Ks, 3 runs, 1 double.
Add in his minor-league career and he was 9 for 131 through 2001, a .069 BA.
'Tis a crazy world....
December 24th, 2010 at 11:35 am
For one at bat, Chacin looked like Babe Ruth. For the rest of his career, he just *looked* like Babe Ruth.
December 24th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Is Jim Riggleman the only manager in history to have a guy with an 1165 OPS+ lay down a sacrifice?