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in 1948, Stan Musail led the NL in batting avg. and RBIs (.376/131) but missed out on the home run title by one. Ralph Kiner hit 40 and Musial finished with 39. Musial stated that he lost one home run in a washed out game and had another bounce off a speaker at Shibe Park above the fence that was ruled a double. If either of these had counted he would have won the triple crown, something he never did. Still he was the league's MVP.
in 1948, Stan Musail led the NL in batting avg. and RBIs (.376/131) but missed out on the home run title by one. Ralph Kiner hit 40 and Musial finished with 39. Musial stated that he lost one home run in a washed out game and had another bounce off a speaker at Shibe Park above the fence that was ruled a double. If either of these had counted he would have won the triple crown, something he never did. Still he was the league's MVP.
It was either Kiner or another player of his era who after having a phenomenal season asked for a small pay raise. The team's owner replied, "We finished last with you. We can finish last without you."
It was either Kiner or another player of his era who after having a phenomenal season asked for a small pay raise. The team's owner replied, "We finished last with you. We can finish last without you."
That was Kiner....and it was Branch Rickey who was rationalizing the low pay for Kiner.
The player who wore the number with the most teams was Jose Cardenal, with six. Billy Martin wore Number One with six teams, but two as a manager and only four as a player. Orlando Hudson (age 35) and Cody Ransom (age 37) have worn it with four teams, and could still add more.
The record for the most home runs in a season while wearing Number One belongs to Bobby Murcer, with 33. Cory Hart has 31 and 30, and could challenge that. Lou Whitaker hit 28, then Whitey Kurowski 27, George Hendrick 25, and Glenallen Hill 24.
Ozzie Smith wore Number One in 2.573 games, ahead of Lou Whitaker 2,390, both for 19 seasons.
At the other extreme, a surprising number of uniform numbers have never been worn in a game: 80, 86, 89, 90, 92, 93, 98.
The last pitcher to wear a one-digit number was Kyle Drabek, last year. When he matched up against Yu Darvish (April 20, 2012), the sum of their numbers (4+11) was probably the lowest of any two starting pitchers at least since Bobo Newsom, who wore 00 for some years, including a matchup against Earl Johnson (number 12) in 1947. Bob Lemon wore #6 for one year.
Wally Burnett has served up two walk-off homeruns to pitchers. There have only been 32 such walk-off homeruns in history, and Wally Burnett happened to give up two of them
September 28, 1883 to June 18, 2001 was the longest gap in history in which no player appeared in a major league game matching the last name of a player before and after those dates. The only last name that played in the 19th and 21st centuries but not the 20th was Clapp.
On July 25, 1956 the 'fastest' walk off Homerun ever (a grand slam for a victory) occurred when Roberto Clemente hit an inside the park grand slam to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Only done once in MLB history (as game winner in last at bat), a rarity such as this deserves noting.
Imagine if a player did that on their last at bat in the seventh game of a World Series!
September 28, 1883 to June 18, 2001 was the longest gap in history in which no player appeared in a major league game matching the last name of a player before and after those dates. The only last name that played in the 19th and 21st centuries but not the 20th was Clapp.
To bad 'Stubby' Clapp wasn't a knuckleball pitcher instead of a batter. His battery mate would be known as the 'catcher who caught the Clapp'....
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