Sports Miserability Index

So the Phillies won the World Series. Congrats to them. Quite a big deal had been made about Philadelphia's championship drought as it had been 25 years since the 76ers won the city's most recent championship in 1983.

So now the distinction of four sport city having gone the longest without a championship falls my city of residence, Minneapolis. The Twins' World Series title in 1991 is the region's last major title. This is a streak that looks to grow unless the Twins and/or the Wild can do something about it, as neither the Vikings nor the Timberwolves (especially the Timberwolves) seem to make the proper decisions to put together a team that can make a serious push at a title.

But I am left with the question: Where does Minneapolis rank as far as major sports cities and their suffering/level of misery? Well, I was pretty bored at work, so I comprised some answers as to metro regions that can't seem to put together championship teams.

With Minneapolis, the Twins, Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves, North Stars, and Lakers have played a total of 154 seasons (not included 1994 baseball season as there was no champ). In those 154 seasons, Minneapolis has won 7 titles. That doesn't sound all that bad until you realize that 5 of those were by the Lakers before they moved to L.A. in 1960, which was before we had any other teams here. So since the Lakers moved, Minneapolis has won 2 titles in 142 seasons, both by the Twins. Pretty bad. We lost our only historically successful franchise (who went on to win 9 more titles post relocation) along with the beloved North Stars. We don't have the best fortunes here.

But is it the worst? I don't think so. Here are some other cities that can make a case for top misery. (I only counted NFL seasons starting with 1966, the first year of the Super Bowl. Also, I did count seasons spent in the ABA by current NBA teams.)

*Atlanta has all four major sports, but only one title, that being the Braves' 1995 World Series title. One title in a total of 140 seasons played. Not good.
*Cleveland has 2 World Series titles, but the last came in 1948. The Browns have never won a Super Bowl, and the city even lost the team for 3 seasons. The Cavaliers have not contributed a title either, but do have Lebron James...for now. That's a total of 181 seasons played with 2 titles.
*Buffalo has never won a title in the 87 seasons the Bills, Sabres, and the NBA's Bullets combined to play.
*San Diego also has never won a title, with the Padres, Chargers, and brief stints by the NBA's Rockets and Clippers combining for 91 seasons played. Plus they've lost two NBA teams. At least they have the weather going for them.
*The Rockets did bring two titles to Houston though, something that the Astros, Texans, and the former Oilers were never able to do for the town. That's 2 titles in 120 seasons.
*Kansas City has 2 titles, one by the Royals, one by the Chiefs, despite having had all four sports at some point in time. Two titles in 109 seasons.
*The Diamondbacks 2001 World Series win over the Yankees brought Phoenix its only title in 82 seasons played by the Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Suns, and Coyotes.
*Seattle may have a claim for top suffering as well. The Mariners have never even made it to a World Series in 31 seasons, plus the city had then lost the Pilots after only one season. The Seahawks have made it to one Super Bowl in 32 seasons, but came up short. Only the Supersonics have ever brought a title to the town, winning one NBA title in 3 appearance they made in the Finals over the course of 41 seasons. But the Sonics did just move to Oklahoma City. Poor Seattle.

What about the other end of the spectrum though? Well, not too many surprises.

*New York (including NJ teams as they're part of the NY metro area) has had 53 titles in 586 total seasons played. This includes the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Dodgers, Jets, NFL's Giants, Knicks, Nets, Devils, Islanders, and the NHL Rangers. Lucky bastards have had ELEVEN teams!
*Boston has 33 titles in 340 seasons played. Kinda makes you hate their whiny fans a little more huh?
*Despite no longer having an NFL team, Los Angeles has done fine with 17 titles in 265 seasons played.
*The motor city kitties may suck, but thanks in large part to the Red Wings Detroit has enjoyed 18 titles in 278 seasons.
*Toronto has three major teams and 15 titles in 134 seasons played (thanks to the Leafs).

And yeah, Philly is kinda in the middle with 13 titles in 298 seasons played.

This "research" by me is by no means a perfect way to assess a city's sports miserable level, but it at least kept me occupied at work, which means I got paid to do it.

4-Homer games

This is more so just random stuff about the games where one player has hit four home runs than it is about a only-happened-once kind of thing.

So then, since 1956 there have been only eight players to hit 4 home runs in one game:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/ezCy

Of those 8 games:
*Two were playing for the home team (Bob Horner, 7/6/86, Carlos Delgado, 9/25/03)
*Twice did the player have any additional hits (Mike Schmidt went 5-6, 4/17/76, Shawn Green went 6-6, 5/23/02)
*Once has the player had any additional extra base hits (double by Shawn Green, 5/23/02)
*Once were they all of the batter's ABs (Carlos Delgado, 9/25/03)
-Though Shawn Green did go 6-6 in his game on 5/23/02
*Once were they all solo home runs (Mike Cameron, 5/2/02)
*Mike Cameron is also the only guy to get beaned in a game in which he hit 4 home runs
*No one has ever struck out in a game that they hit 4 home runs in
*Once has the player also drawn a base on balls (Rocky Colavito, 6/10/59)
*Mark Whiten had the most RBI with 12 (9/7/93)
*Three times in the AL, five times in the NL
*One in the 50s, one in the 60s, one in the 70s, one in the 80s, one in the 90s, three in the 2000s
*# of PAs: 4 happened once (Delgado), 5 PAs happened four times, 6 PAs happened three times
*Position: Two 1B, one 3B, three CF, two RF
*Batting spot in lineup: batting third, three times; batting 4th, three times; batting 6th, once
*August only regular season month in which no one has ever hit 4 home runs in a game
*Once the batter played for the losing team (Bob Horner, July 6, 1986)
And of course my favorite:
*Al Newman got his one career home run in the same game in which an opponent hit 4 home runs (Bob Horner, July 6, 1986)

(NOTE: There was more I was going to include in this post, but I wrote this like 3-4 weeks ago, then my computer messed up and being new to this whole blogger thing, I thought my post was lost and therefore didn't mess with this page at all until realizing today that blogger saved it as a draft.)

Dennys Reyes had a unique 2006, chubby cheeks

2006 was Dennys "Chubby Cheeks" Reyes' first season with the Twins. Minnesota became his ninth team he's played for. The 2006 season was also his 10th season in the league. Generally if a guy plays for 9 teams in 10 years, not a good sign. Throughout most of his career he had been an average at best set up guy (and occasional starter). Then 2006 came along.

Prior to that season, his lowest ERA in a season was 3.79 in 1999. His lowest WHIP was 1.468, way back in his rookie season of 1997. But in 2006, he put up what may have been one of the flukiest seasons in baseball history.

For in 2006, Reyes had a scant ERA of 0.89 and a WHIP of 0.987, both easily career highs, er...career lows. Not only that, but Dennys Reyes' 2006 season was a one of a kind in baseball history.

In 2006, Dennys Reyes became the first set up guy (no starts and no saves in a season) to post an ERA+ of over 500 with at least 50 IP. He pitched 50.2 innings and had an ERA+ of 504.

So there's my stupid stat of the day. Sorry haven't had any for the past couple days, but have been super busy as of late. Will make up for it with multiple postings a day when I have time.

Congrats Dennys, not only do you have perhaps the fattest face in baseball, not to mention the overall portly physique, but you accomplished a that's-never-been-done-before!

It should be noted that Reyes did return to Earth the following season, when his ERA+ dropped to 109, pretty close to his career ERA+ of 102.

Stolen base ineptness

A couple stats relating to stolen bases, more accurately about caught stealing actually.

In his rookie season in 1986, Robby Thompson of the San Francisco Giants stole 12 bases while getting caught 15 times. That's not very good. But the unique event in his season took place on June 27, 1986 in a win over Cincinnati.

In that game, Robby became the only player thusfar* to get caught stealing four times without successfully stealing a single base. Robby's 0-4 base stealing line from that game stands as a one-time-only event in baseball history.*

Robby reached base four times going 3-5 that game, reaching once on a strikeout wild pitch. Four times on base, four times caught stealing. All from a guy who only had 12 on the entire season.

Now, as far as an entire season of stolen base ineptness, in 1952 Pete Runnels became the only player ever to get caught stealing ten times in a single season without successfully stealing a single base. 0-10 on the season in base stealing.

Why was this guy running? He stole 37 bases in 14 seasons (none in 1952) while getting caught stealing 51 times.

So there you go. Congrats to both Pete Runnels and Robby Thompson for achieving a that's-the-only-time-it's-ever-happened!

Skip Schumaker, July 26, 2008

Welcome to my first installment of SSSotD, otherwise known as "Triple S 2 da O-T-D."

Today's stupid stat involves Skip Schumaker, the leadoff hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, having a first in at least 52 years for a non-second baseman over the weekend. (NOTE: I am forced to do so for only the past 52 years given that Baseball Reference's Play Index for individual games only begins with the 1956 season.)

For against the Mets on Saturday, Skip Schumaker went 6-7 (in 8 PA) with 6 singles in a 14 inning Cardinal win. Each one of Schumaker's singles was with the bases empty, therefore no RsBI in the game, becoming only the 9th batter since 1956 to have at least 6 hits in a game but no RsBI.

However, only two of the other eight times were all singles. Therefore Skip became only the 3rd batter since 1956 to have at least 6 hits in a game with no extra base hits and no RsBI.

The other two instances were done by players on the losing team.

Also, the other two times were both done by second basemen. Skip plays left field.

So Seth's Stupid Stat of the Day is this: on July 26, 2008, Skip Schumaker became the first non-second baseman in at least 52 years to have at least 6 hits in a game with no extra base hits and no RsBI. He also became the first batter in at least 52 years to have at least 6 hits in a game with no extra base hits and no RsBI in a win.

Here's my reference page.

This should provide a good example for the nerdy path this blog is to take. I'm a little too obsessed with Baseball Reference and its Play Index.