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Reader Jeff Mayne (no relation to Brent) queries:

Hi,

I was persusing the internet looking for something and came on your site (and spent quite a few enjoyable minutes reading your comments instead of getting back to work. From your site, you sound like just the kind of person who can head me in the right direction to find out some obscure baseball numbers. Here they are. Maybe they will inspire you to look into them or maybe clue me in on some internet sites where I may find these things.

1. I saw the list of consecutive wins listed and it showed the 1916 Giants as "26 (1 tie)". Does that mean that the 26 in a row was in fact broken up by a tie game, meaning that it was not really 26 consecutive wins? I noticed that designation on one or two other of the win streaks. I have seen no mention of that little detail in any of the press about the Oakland streak.

2. I have been tracking Bonds this year and notice that he has ALMOST always gotten either a hit, a walk, or a HBP in games he has started (missing maybe 3-4 so far). Does anyone have records of % of games on base?

3. Finally, when I last looked he had 40 HR and 40 BB. Has anyone compared HR:K ratios? Has any player ever had as many HR as K's?

Hope some of these inspire you.

Thanks.

Jeff Mayne

My response:

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the email. By the way, do you mind if I post your question on my web site? I have some answers and some partial answers:

1. There were 26 straight wins with a tie mixed in for good measure. In other words there were 27 non-losses in a row broken up by a loss. Since ties, unlike football or hockey, don't count in baseball in the team standings (though they do in the player statistics), Major League Baseball doesn't recognize a win streak as ended until there is a bona fide loss.

The all-time win streaks without a tie are:

Team Consec. Ws W-L PCT POS GB Postseason
1880 Chicago White Stockings (NL) 21 67-17 .800 1 +15 No WS
1935 Chicago Cubs 21 100-54 .649 1 +4 Lost WS
1884 Providence Grays (NL) 20 84-28 .750 1 +10.5 Won Temple Cup (WS)
1884 St. Louis Maroons (UA) 20 94-19 .832 1 +21 None (UA not involved in Temple Cup)
1947 Yankees 19 97-57 .630 1 +12 Won WS
2002 A's 19 ????

2. Unfortunately, percentage of games that a player has reached base in a season is not an officially kept stat. Someone with a nutty database with all of the box score for the various seasons (maybe Elias has this) may be able to figure it out. I'm not even sure if they have all the box scores. I know that Retrosheet is trying to verify the information available-- last year they found two walks for Ted Williams. Somebody lost'em. Go figure.

Anyway, I can tell you that Gary Sheffield on July 26 had 52 straight games in which he reached base safely. The record at least since 1975, it was reported, was 62 by Mark McGwire 1995-96 according to Elias Sport Service (that's probably as far back as they have box scores loaded in their database).

As far as Bonds' streaks in 2002:

- He started the season with 17 consecutive games in which he reached base.

- 4/21 @Hou he went 0-for-3 with 1 K--did not reach base.

- 4/23 @Cubs he went 0-for-3 but with a HBP and a run scored.

- 4/25 @Cubs he went 0-for-4 with 1 K--did not reach base.

- 5/1 vs. Phil--played LF but no plate appearance (does this count? I'm assuming no)

- Had 29 games in a row in which he reached base safely.

- 6/1 vs. Col 0-for-1 as PH with 1 K--did not reach base.

- Had 29 games in a row in which he reached base safely (2nd time).

- 7/5 vs. Az 0-for-4 w/ 1 K --did not reach base.

- 7/22 vs. StL-- 0-for-1 as a PH with 1K--did not reach base.

- 8/1 @Phil --0-for-1 as a PH--did not reach base.

- Had 16 games in a row in which he reached base safely .

- 8/21 @NYM 0-for-4--did not reach base.

- 8/22 @ NYM 0-for-3, 1K, 1 RBI--did not reach base.

- Currently on a 10-game streak.

That makes 8 games this year in which he had a plate appearance and did not reach base safely. Not too shabby.

3. Here is a list of the man who hit 10 or more home runs in a season and have a one or greater HR to strikeout ratio. It is sorting by the HR:SO ratio in descending order. By the way there are 90 men in total and the only man to do it since 1958 since George Brett in 1980:

LastName FirstName Year HR SO HR:SO 
SEWELL JOE         1932 11  3 3.67 
HOLMES TOMMY       1945 28  9 3.11 
BERRA YOGI         1950 28 12 2.33 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1941 30 13 2.31 
BOUDREAU LOU       1948 18  9 2.00 
LOMBARDI ERNIE     1935 12  6 2.00 
CLEMENTS JACK      1895 13  7 1.86 
WILLIAMS KEN       1925 25 14 1.79 
LOMBARDI ERNIE     1945 19 11 1.73 
COCHRANE MICKEY    1927 12  7 1.71 
O'DOUL LEFTY       1929 32 19 1.68 
THOMPSON SAM       1895 18 11 1.64 
ANSON CAP          1884 21 13 1.62 
GEHRIG LOU         1934 49 31 1.58 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1938 32 21 1.52 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1939 30 20 1.50 
KLUSZEWSKI TED     1954 49 35 1.40 
DICKEY BILL        1936 22 16 1.38 
WILLIAMS TED       1941 37 27 1.37 
LOMBARDI ERNIE     1938 19 14 1.36 
BERRA YOGI         1951 27 20 1.35 
BERRA YOGI         1955 27 20 1.35 
BROUTHERS DAN      1887 12  9 1.33 
WILLIAMS TED       1950 28 21 1.33 
DICKEY BILL        1937 29 22 1.32 
MCCORMICK FRANK    1941 17 13 1.31 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1948 39 30 1.30 
WILLIAMS TED       1953 13 10 1.30 
DICKEY BILL        1935 14 11 1.27 
WILLIAMS KEN       1922 39 31 1.26 
BERRA YOGI         1952 30 24 1.25 
SMITH EARL         1921 10  8 1.25 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1937 46 37 1.24 
MUELLER DON        1951 16 13 1.23 
DICKEY BILL        1938 27 22 1.23 
SOUTHWORTH BILLY   1926 11  9 1.22 
TERRY BILL         1932 28 23 1.22 
MIZE JOHNNY        1947 51 42 1.21 
DUFFY HUGH         1894 18 15 1.20 
MARSHALL WILLARD   1947 36 30 1.20 
PAFKO ANDY         1951 12 10 1.20 
SKIZAS LOU         1957 18 15 1.20 
GEHRINGER CHARLIE  1935 19 16 1.19 
MEUSEL IRISH       1923 19 16 1.19 
HOLMES TOMMY       1944 13 11 1.18 
KLUSZEWSKI TED     1953 40 34 1.18 
MCCORMICK FRANK    1944 20 17 1.18 
KLUSZEWSKI TED     1955 47 40 1.18 
WILLIAMS TED       1955 28 24 1.17 
DICKEY BILL        1932 15 13 1.15 
GEHRINGER CHARLIE  1936 15 13 1.15 
MUSIAL STAN        1948 39 34 1.15 
HARPER GEORGE      1928 17 15 1.13 
SPEAKER TRIS       1923 17 15 1.13 
KLUSZEWSKI TED     1956 35 31 1.13 
MCCORMICK FRANK    1939 18 16 1.13 
PAFKO ANDY         1950 36 32 1.13 
O'BRIEN BILLY      1887 19 17 1.12 
MEUSEL IRISH       1925 21 19 1.11 
OTT MEL            1929 42 38 1.11 
BRETT GEORGE       1980 24 22 1.09 
POWER VIC          1958 12 11 1.09 
MIZE JOHNNY        1948 40 37 1.08 
GEHRIG LOU         1936 49 46 1.07 
SIMMONS AL         1930 36 34 1.06 
WILLIAMS KEN       1924 18 17 1.06 
VAUGHAN ARKY       1935 19 18 1.06 
LOMBARDI ERNIE     1939 20 19 1.05 
O'DOUL LEFTY       1932 21 20 1.05 
O'DOUL LEFTY       1930 22 21 1.05 
COCHRANE MICKEY    1932 23 22 1.05 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1946 25 24 1.04 
MIZE JOHNNY        1950 25 24 1.04 
BERRA YOGI         1956 30 29 1.03 
DIMAGGIO JOE       1940 31 30 1.03 
BERRA YOGI         1957 24 24 1.00 
COBB TY            1925 12 12 1.00 
COOPER WALKER      1951 18 18 1.00 
DICKEY BILL        1933 14 14 1.00 
FRISCH FRANKIE     1923 12 12 1.00 
FRISCH FRANKIE     1927 10 10 1.00 
GEHRINGER CHARLIE  1939 16 16 1.00 
HORNSBY ROGERS     1925 39 39 1.00 
LOMBARDI ERNIE     1940 14 14 1.00 
SISLER GEORGE      1920 19 19 1.00 
SPEAKER TRIS       1922 11 11 1.00 
SPEAKER TRIS       1925 12 12 1.00 
STENZEL JAKE       1894 13 13 1.00 
THOMPSON SAM       1894 13 13 1.00 
TOBIN JACK         1923 13 13 1.00 

I hope that helps.

Thanks,

Mike

I love doing these sorts of things because you run across names that you've never heard of before. Witness, Lou "The Nervous Greek" Skizas. His 1957 season was his only starting year. He was 25 and would be out of baseball in two years. He played the outfield and third base for the A's, and neither particularly well. He had been "sent down" to the A's after a cup-o'-coffeee with the Yankees when they basically used KC to develop their talent. After hitting .245 with a .297 on-base percentage in '57, Skizas was deemed unworthy by the Yanks and was jettisoned. He showed up with Detroit and the White Sox for a few games over the next two years. But '57 was basically his career. (Thanks to Baseball Reference for the stats.)

By the way, when in San Francisco visit Lefty O'Doul's. It features a menu that has not changed since 1955 and has made an appearance in Dante's Inferno on the fifth level of Hell. You can, however, get a nifty napkin with a caricature of O'Doul. I'm using mine as a bookmark in my MacMillan B-Ball Encyclopedia.

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