SB Nation User Blog: thegashousegang

If there had always been two divisions, part three

thegashousegang — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:37:57 -0000

If there had always been two divisions, part three

Brandon Isleib explores the years 1953-1968 on Hardball Times in the third article in this series of what the baseball world would've been like if they had adopted two division in each league since the beginning. His research is pretty good and with the unbalanced schedule he shows us who could've won the divisions through the years. Some teams appear in the post-season more, others not at all and then some dominate in some unbelieveable numbers. I enjoyed the three parts quite a bit and am sharing here hoping you might find these interesting as well.

The Greatest All-Time Cardinal Hitter?

thegashousegang — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:46:48 -0000

I recently had a debate with a friend over who was the greatest hitter in Cardinal history. I maintained it was Stan the Man while he pushed for Rogers Hornsby. Well, to muddle it up another friend came in and picked Albert Pujols. Man, all three are great and we had a great chat about them all.

So, I thought I would just post here asking your opinion. Here are some stats to compare the three.

Yrs. Player total yrs. H HR RBI BA SLG OBP OPS OPS+

41-63 Musial 24 3630 475 1951 .331 .559 .417 .976 159

15-37 Hornsby 23 2930 301 1584 .358 .577 .434 1.011 175

01-08 Pujols 8 1531 319 977 .334 .624 .415 1.049 170

I included quite a few different stats to compare and to add to the comparisons. Also for some stats mean more to one person than another. RBI's don't mean that much to me, but to some it does mean a lot. The numbers of these three are stunning and I am impressed. The thing that struck me is that if Pujols continues on this pace and plays 23 to 24 years like Musial and Hornsby his numbers are going to be unbelieveable. Of course, along the way he will inevitably have a off year, slow down due to age or (and lets hope it never happens) have an injury. So, it is all projections right now.

I was struck that for a few years Hornsby played in the deadball era and I wonder if he had played his entire career with the livelier ball that came in the 20's how much better his numbers may have been, especially in Home Runs.

Some of the numbers surprised me such as the OPS and OPS+ stat totals for the three players. Stan the Man finished third! Hornsby also wins the OBP and BA.

Hornsby did put up some incredible numbers, Pujols is doing so and Stan the Man numbers are incredible as well. So, vote, comment and share your thoughts.

The numbers and stats come from baseball reference.com just ot give them credit.

Poll

In your opinion, who is the greatest hitter in the history of the Cardinals?

Stan the Man Musial

85 votes

Rogers Hornsby

44 votes

Albert Pujols

80 votes

209 votes | Poll has closed

How has the schedule changes afftected baseball?

thegashousegang — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:49:25 -0000

How has the schedule changes afftected baseball?

This article by Brandon Isleib covers how the schedule changes since 2001 have affected different teams in baseball. I found it interesting and insightful. To find out how much it has influenced things check out the link above.

What if there had always been two divisions....

thegashousegang — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:05:56 -0000

in each league since 1901? Well, Brandon Isleib on the Hard Ball Times has tackled this question in two articles on the site. He works on the scheduling splits and projects the winners for each year in each division. I found the two articles interesting and hope you do too.

To read them go here and then read this page.

It is interesting to see how some teams would've fared in such a set-up.