It’s time again for Baseball Roundtable’s Trivia(l) Tidbit Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying this weekly presentation of baseball occurrences that for some reason caught The Roundtable’s eye. (I’m particularly fond of unexpected performances and statistical coincidences.) These won’t necessarily be momentous occurrences, just events, statistics or coincidences that grabbed my attention. I’m also drawn to baseball “unicorns,” one-of-a-kind MLB accomplishments or statistics.
Photo: From collection of User:JGHowes, self-scanned for Wikipedia.JGHowes at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Last week, we looked at the ultimate sign of respect, MLB hitters who received a bases-loaded intentional walk. For that post, click here. This week, we’re taking a look at the members of the 3,000-Hit Club. This statistical exploration started with a determination that Al Kaline, who retired from MLB after the 1974 season, was the first player to retire with at least 3,000 hits (3,007) and a batting average of under .300 (.297). Kaline was the eleventh player to retire with 3,000+ safeties. Since Kaline’s retirement, 22 more players have retired with 3000+ hits – 12 of those with averages under .300.
The High And Low Of It.
The highest career average for any “3,000-Hit Club member” is Ty Cobb’s .366; the lowest Cal Ripken Jr.’s .276.
Of course, as usual with The Roundtable, “One thing led to another,” So, here are a few more Tidbits. For example, The 33 members of the 3000+-Hits Club include 18 right-handed hitters, 13 left-handed batters and just two switch hitters (Pete Rose and Eddie Murray).
What Your Position On This?
From a position perspective, assigning each player the position he appeared in the most games at, the list includes:
- Eight First Basemen;
- Seven Right Fielders;
- Five Shortstops;
- Three Second Basemen;
- Three Third Basemen;
- Three Left Fielders;
- The Center Fielders.
- One Designated Hitter.
That led me to a few Unicorns:
- Pete Rose is the only player on the list to appear in at least 500 games at four different positions … 1B (939 games); LF (673); 3B (634); 2B (628); RF (570).
- The only players on the list to appear in at least 1,000 games at multiple positions are; Robin Yount (SS-1,478 & RF 1,150); Alex Rodriguez (SS – 1,272 & 3B 1,194); and Rod Carew (1B – 1,184 & 2B – 1,130).
- While Paul Molitor appears on the list as a DH (appearing in 1,174 games as a DH), he also appeared in 792 games at 3B, 400 at 2B, 197 at 1B, 57 at SS, 42 in CF, four in LF and four in RF. In his first 13 seasons (his age-21 to age-33 seasons), he appeared in just 198 games as DH. In those first 13 seasons, he collected 1,870 hits (143.4 per season). In his final eight seasons (his age-34 to age-41 seasons), he appeared in 976 games at DH. In those seasons, he collected 1,449 hits (181.1 per season).
Almost Perfect
Ty Cobb and Tony Gwynn are the only members of the 3000+-hit club who had just one season in which they hit under .300 and, for both, it was their rookie campaign.
In Cobb’s first season (1905), the 18-year-old rookie hit .238 in 41 games. In 1906, he hit .316 and he hit over .320 in every season after that – a total of 23 seasons hitting over .300.
Gwynn was 22-years-old in his 1982 rookie season, when he hit .289 in 54 games. The next season, he hit .309 and did not hit below that mark in any season over the rest of his career (a total of 19 seasons of .300 or better).
- Cap Anson had the most seasons with a .300 or better batting average – 24 in 27 campaigns.
- Dave Winfield had the most under-.300 seasons among the 3,000-hit Club … 18 seasons under .300 to four at .300 or better.
- Thirteen of the 33-member 3,000+-Hit Club had more seasons under .300 than at .300 or better.
- Eddie Collins, Lou Brock, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield and Craig Biggio are the only players to retire with 3000+ hits without ever leading their league in either batting average or base hits.
Primary Resource: Stathead.com
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