Fun with Sabermetricians

I was checking Brew Crew Ball this morning and there was a pointer to this post at Beyond the Boxscore. I tried not to go in too deep.

Obscure and Invented Statistical Records from 2006

I'll begin by asking you all this question. Have you ever been at the ballpark and seen a player crack a double off of the wall in the gap, and then be surprised when he has to slide into second base? If so, there's a chance you were watching some baseball in the midwest in the last few years.

In the history of the game, there have been just 24 players who managed have a season where they hit 30 or more doubles and failed to steal a single base or record one triple. Now, I'm not calling them slow, but I am going to call them... unique.

I can honestly say that, "Yes, I have been at the ballpark and seen a player crack a double off of the wall in the gap, and then be surprised when he has to slide into second base."

I can also honestly say that I have never looked through 125 years of statistics to find 24 players who hit blahblah with blahblahblah and blahed the blahblahs. But, click on the link above to find the list of the 24.

The guy at the top of the list is John Olerud. In 2000, Olerud had 49 doubles without blahblah or blahing a blah.

Also, at the post is this little sentence that kind of gives away the game of Sabermatricians everywhere:

[Albert] Pujols has tied an MLB record that I may have just invented (it's so easy to do, just set some arbitrary parameters, throw in a little cherry-picking of stats, bake at 350 for 15 minutes, and BAM: new record.)

Emphasis mine. They just make it up?

The made-up record that Pujols just tied. His 2006 season had more than 40 home runs (49), a batting average of over .305 (.331), and 50 or fewer strikeouts (exactly 50).

Of course, this record goes out the window if the parameter is changed to fewer than 50 strikeouts. Because last time I checked exactly 50 is not fewer than 50.

One more. Pitchers who struck out more batters than their weight. There were four of them in 2006. The numbers by the pitcher are in this order Weight, Strikeouts, Difference.

Johan Santana: 210--245--90
Jake Peavy: 180--215--35
Bronson Arroyo: 180--184--4
John Smoltz: 210--211--1

Godspeed, Sabermatrcians. You go where I fear to. Because, I have too little of a life as it is anyway. If I went down that road, there really would be no hope. Because all the fun would be sucked out of the game because I'd be having flashbacks to Mr. Kelm's Advanced Math class. Not the good flashbacks of Raquel Scherrer sitting next to me for the whole semester though. The bad flashbacks of having no idea what the heck Mr. Kelm was talking about and sweating out a Gentleman's 'C'.

Have fun at the 37th annual Society for American Baseball Research convention in St. Louis July 25-30. I'll be having fun with an actual off day, a four game home series against the Great.Lakes.Loons., and a bus ride to Dayton for a series against the Dragons.