Disclaimer: This is a cautionary tale. Grounded Into Double Play (GIDP) records should be taken with a “grain (or several grains) of salt.” I’ll explain as the post goes on.
Baseball Roundtable’s favorite play is the 6-4-3 or 4-6-3 double play. Here are some musings about players who would deny me the opportunity to “double my pleasure.”
On September 16, 1934, as the Cubs took on the Dodgers in the second game of a doubleheader (in Brooklyn), Cubs’ rookie second baseman Augie Galan hit into a first-inning, short-to-second-to first double play. The twin killing was not really significant in the final outcome – 5-4 Dodgers. The game itself, Galan’s 55th MLB appearance, was not significant in Galan’s career … except for one interesting (to The Roundtable) fact: Galan did not ground into another double play until April 18, 1936, a span of 168 games and 819 plate appearances. In the process, Galan became the first player to go into the record books as having played in every one of his team’s games in a season (1935) without grounding into a twin killing.
Side note: The “go into the record books” qualifier is that first grain of salt. It reflects the fact that the National League did not begin tracing grounded into double plays (GIDP) until 1933; the American League began keeping that statistic in 1939; and Negro Leagues’ (now major leagues for the years 1920-48) GIDP have not been documented/incorporated.
As part of his overall GIDP-free streak, in 1935, Galan (then the Cubs’ left fielder) played in all 154 Cubs games, coming to the plate 748 times and never grounding into a double play. On the season, he hit .314, with 203 hits, a league-topping 133 runs scored, 12 homers, 79 RBI and a league-leading 22 steals.
To this date, Galan remains just one of two players to play in every one of their team’s games in a non-shortened season without grounding into a double play and one of just four players to play in 150 or more games in a season without grounding into a double play (again, noting when MLB began tracking GIDP). In the 1935 season, Galan came to the plate in a double play-conducive situation (less than two outs’ runners on first, first and second, first and third or bases loaded) 103 times. Hit batting average in those situations was .310, his on-base percentage .383. (Side note: Galan did line into a triple play in 1935).
It wasn’t until 1997 that another player played in all his team’s games without recording a GIDP. This time, it was a future Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, in his tenth MLB season. Biggio had four fewer plate appearances than Galan, but thanks to MLB’s expanded schedule, played in eight more games (162). He hit .309-22-81, with a league-leading 146 runs scored and 47 steals. He also led the league in HBP with 34 plunkings. Biggio’s 162-game, GIDP-free season was part of a streak of 172 games and 789 plate appearance without grounding into a double play. In 1997, he came to the plate in 78 of those GIDP-conducive situations. In those spots, he hit a robust .403, with a .487 on-base percentage.
Of the top three players in terms of games played or plate appearances in a season with zero GIDP: One batted from the right-side Craig Biggio; one from the left, Matt Carpenter; and one was a switch hitter – Augie Galan.
Short, But Still Sweet
If you include shortened seasons, Braves’ shortstop Dansby Swanson would join this list. In the 2020 (Covid) season, Swanson played in all 60 Braves’ games (264 plate appearances) without grounding into a double play.
Now, A little background on the “stars” of this post. – and them more grains of salt.
Augie Galan played his entire MLB career unable to fully straighten his right arm, due to a childhood elbow injury that he never had treated. In a February 1982, article in Baseball Digest, “Augie Galan Overcame Handicap to Star in Majors” by Le Pacini, Galan explained it this way. “There was almost no power in my right arm. Even batting lefty, the chips I had developed caused the arm to swell to twice its size. I had to freeze the elbow a half hour before every game. By the sixth or seventh inning, the feeling would come back, and if I had to make a throw it would be like somebody sticking needles in me.”
Galan began his professional career right out of high school with the 1931 Class-D Globe Bears of the Arizona-Texas League. In 1932 and 1933, he played for the Pacific Coast League (then Double-A) San Francisco Seals. He made to the Cubs in 1934, after a .356 season at San Francisco in 1933.
In his 16-season MLB career (1934-49 … Cubs, Dodgers, Reds, Giants, Athletics), Galan hit .287-100-830, with 1,004 runs scored and 123 stolen bases. He was a three-time All Star and led the NL in steals twice, walks twice and runs scored once (four times topping 100 runs). He hit .300+ in six seasons. He was a switch-hitter from 1934-44 (hitting .276). In 1943, due to his damaged right arm, he began to hit solely from the left side. From 1943-49, he hit .305. Galan grounded into fewer than ten double plays in all but two of his MLB seasons (ten was his highest total) – with five seasons of 500 or more plate appearances and fewer than ten GIDP.
Craig Biggio was a first round (22nd overall) pick (Astros) in the 1987 MLB Draft. He was selected after a .407-15-68 1987 season as a Seton Hall Junior. He hit .342 in three seasons at Seton Hall and was a two-time All Big East selection and a 1987 All American.
In two minor-league seasons, primarily as a catcher (199 at catcher, 18 in the OF), Biggio hit .344-12-90, with 50 steals in 141 games. He made his MLB debut, at age 22, on June 26, 1988 – starting behind the plate. Catcher remained his primary position from 1988 through 1991. From 1992 through 2002, he was primarily at 2B, then he moved to CF-LF from 2003-04, before moving back to 2B for 2005 through 2007. He played his entire career 1988-2007 with Astros – hitting .281-291-1,174, with 1,844 runs scored, 414 stolen bases and 3,060 hits.
Biggio, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015, was a seven-time All Star and four-time Gold Glover (all at 2B). He led the league in runs scored twice, doubles three times, steals once and hit-by-pitch five times. He had ten MLB seasons in which he grounded into less than ten double plays in more than 500 plate appearances.
Eight Is Enough
Eight was a pretty good number for Biggio. He scored 100+ runs in eight seasons, hit 20 or more homers in eight seasons and stole 25 or more bases in eight campaigns.
Of course, every coin has a second side, So, here’s list of the players who have grounded into 30 or more double plays in a season. Of interest (to me anyway) is the fact that seven of the 17 are from the Red Sox and only Jim Rice is on the list more than once (three times).
More Grains of Salt
Grain Two – The Lineup Matters. Where in the batting order you are placed has an impact on the opportunities you have to ground into a DP. The number-one and two-hitters tend to have fewer opportunities. 1) The impact in inning one is obvious. Later in the game, they are preceded by the number 8 & 9 hitters (less likely to be on the bases) as the lineup comes around. 2) The number 7-8-9 hitters come up after the middle-of-the order (2-6) have more likely taken care of any plate setters on the bases. You get the idea.
A look at the four hitters with season of 150 games or more with zero GIDP seem to back this up. Augie Galan led off in all his games in his zero-GIDP season; Craig Biggio lee off in 156 of his 162; Matt Carpenter led off in 155 of 156 and batted in the two hole in 15; and Dick McAuliffe led off in 135 of 151. Meanwhile, Jim Rice, who holds the top two seasonal GIDP records, batted third or fourth in 290 of the 299 games he played in those seasons.,
Grain Three – Stats can be Deceptive. In 16 MLB seasons (1,742 games). Augie Galan hit grounded into 72 double plays. In 1984-85 (199 games), Jim Rice grounded into 71 double plays.
Yet, 1984, when Rice set the recognized MLB record for GIDP in season at 36, he came to the plate in 202 GIDP-conducive situations. So, he avoided the DP 166 times (63 more times than Galan even came to the plate in GIDP-conducive situations in his 1935 season.) Then again, Rice did ground into a double play in one of every 5.61 GIDP-conducive plate appearances – not an inspiring number. The point is, there are different ways to look at stats. Note: On the season Rice hit .323 in GIDP conducive situations, with an on-base percentage of ,332.
In addition, accuracy can be an issue. Baseball-Reference.com lists Augie Galan as grounding into 72 double plays over his career. On his “Overview” page. However, on his “Batting Splits” page, they list just 68 GIDP.
Grain Four – Wouldn’t You Take These Guys? The top five top five in career GIDP are Albert Pujols; Miguel Cabrera; Cal Ripken, Jr., Pudge Rodriguez; and Henry Aaron. I could build a team around that.
Grain Five – Strikeouts can help you out here. You can’t ground into a double play without putting the ball in play. So, of course, can walks.
A few other tidbits I ran across in putting this post together:
- Kazuo Matsui, over a seven-season MLB career (2004-2010), grounded into just 14 double plays (one every 45 games; one every 182.5 plate appearances; and once in every 24.4 GIDP-conducive plate appearances. For his career, he hit .286 in GIDP-conducive situations, with a .328 on-base percentage.
- In 2010, Pudge Rodriguez hit into 25 double plays in 111 games – a rate of one every 4.44 games, one every 16.8 at plate appearances; and one in every 3.5 GIDP-conducive plate appearances. In those situations, he hit .265, with a .279 on-base percentage.
- Albert Pujols is the career leader in GIDP, with 426 in 22 seasons. He grounded into double play at a rate of once every 7.2 games, once every 30.6 plate appearances; and once in every 6.8 GIDP-conducive plate appearances. In those situations, he hit .313, with a .363 on-base percentage.
- Miguel Tejada led his league in GIDP a record five times. For his career, he grounded in a double play once in every 7.8 games, once in every 33.4 plate appearances; and once in every 6.9 GIDP-conducive plate appearances. For his career, Tejada hit .313, with a .348 on-base percentage in such situations.
- Among qualifying hitters, Richie Ashburn recorded the fewest GIDP in his league six times. In the 13 MLB seasons in which he had 500 or more plate appearances, Ashburn grounded into fewer than five double plays nine times. For his career, he grounded into a double play once every 26.4 games; once every 117.3 plate appearances; and once in every 17.3 GIDP-conducive plate appearances. He hit 318, with a .378 on-base percentage in such situations.
A Final Grain of Salt – Sometimes you need a deeper look.
As I embarked on this blog post, I expected to learn something – maybe even something important – about the significance of the GIDP statistics. As I complete this post, I am reminded of two quotes:
“It’s not the journey, it’s the destination.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
and
“99 percent of statistics only tell 49 percent of the story.”
Ron De Legge II
What I learned, after putting together this post, is that I am probably less than 49 percent of the way to the story when it comes to GIDP. The chart below puts that view into perspective.
Remember, Kazuo Matsui and his 14 double plays over seven MLB seasons? Well, here’s is a comparison of Matsui and Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson when it comes to GIDP. The sample sizes are vastly different (seven seasons to 25), but they were remarkably close in the percentage of MLB career plate appearances in GIDP-conducive situations (13.4% for Matsui and 13.6% for Henderson). As you can see, Matsui was significantly less likely to ground into a double play, yet Henderson was significantly more likely to get a hit or get on base in those situations. Clearly, I need to put in some more work. So, while I have not yet reached the destination, the continuing journey has been interesting. I’d love to hear from readers on additional factors you think I should include in my efforts.
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; Baseball-Almanac.com; Baseball Digest; Set0n Hall University Athletics; Double Play Cafe by Joe Posnanski (medium.com/joeblogs/gidp-7547e93e0732 )
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