Justice Served, II

My friend Murray and I were discussing David Justice's retirement today via email. Murray said, "No player had the kind of postseason run that he had. Not even Yogi." And I thought that an all-time playoff team would be a fitting tribute to Justice. So here goes.

First, it's interesting to note that Justice has played in more playoff games than anyone else in baseball history. Here are the men with 50 or more appearances:

Name             G
David Justice   112
Tino Martinez    95
Bernie Williams  87
Paul O'Neill     85 
Derek Jeter      82
Chipper Jones    78
Reggie Jackson   77
Yogi Berra       75
Pete Rose        67
Chuck Knoblauch  66
Terry Pendleton  66
Kenny Lofton     65
Mickey Mantle    65
Lonnie Smith     63
Mark Lemke       62
Andruw Jones     61
Rickey Henderson 60
Roberto Alomar   58
Scott Brosius    58
Jeff Blauser     57
Omar Vizquel     57
Ryan Klesko      56
Jorge Posada     56
Javy Lopez       55
Jim Thome        55
John Olerud      55
Steve Garvey     55
Elston Howard    54
Willie McGee     54
Gil McDougald    53
Hank Bauer       53
Paul Blair       53
Graig Nettles    53
Mike Stanton     53
Mariano Rivera   53
Ron Gant         52
Phil Rizzuto     52
Manny Ramirez    52
Matt Williams    51
Joe DiMaggio     51
Fred McGriff     50
Joe Morgan       50
Frankie Frisch   50
Davey Lopes      50

That's an interesting list. The average fan should know every name in there, mostly old Yankees and post-expansion players. By the way, Justice also holds the record for most at-bats with 398.

Berra is the all-time leader in games and at-bats in the World Series (75 and 259, respectively). David Justice has the most games and at-bats in league championship series (46 and 166, just ahead of Reggie Jackson, 45 and 163). Bernie Williams is the all-time leader in division series (34 games and 128 at-bats).

Here are the leading hitters in playoff history by OPS (minimum of 10 games and 50 ABs):

Name              G  AB  OBP SLUG   OPS
Babe Ruth        41 129 .463 .744 1.207
Lou Gehrig       34 119 .476 .731 1.207
Troy Glaus       16  61 .412 .770 1.182
Hank Aaron       17  69 .405 .710 1.116
Billy Hatcher    14  52 .456 .654 1.110
Pepper Martin    15  55 .467 .636 1.103
Gary Matthews    19  65 .413 .677 1.090
Lenny Dykstra    32 112 .424 .661 1.085
Lou Brock        21  87 .424 .655 1.079
Jim Edmonds      21  84 .398 .679 1.076
Juan Gonzalez    15  62 .333 .742 1.075
Fred Lynn        15  54 .458 .593 1.050
John Valentin    17  72 .407 .639 1.046
Carl Yastrzemski 17  65 .446 .600 1.046
Paul Molitor     29 117 .426 .615 1.042
Al Simmons       19  73 .380 .658 1.037
Jimmie Foxx      18  64 .425 .609 1.034
Hank Greenberg   23  85 .408 .624 1.032
George Brett     43 166 .399 .627 1.025
Scott Spiezio    16  55 .424 .600 1.024
Ken Griffey Jr.  15  59 .379 .644 1.023
Jay Buhner       26  85 .398 .624 1.021
Bob Robertson    21  53 .356 .660 1.016
Alan Trammell    13  51 .404 .588  .992
Charlie Keller   19  72 .367 .611  .978
Bob Watson       17  62 .409 .565  .974
Gene Woodling    26  85 .442 .529  .972
Albert Belle     18  61 .397 .557  .955
Kirk Gibson      21  78 .378 .577  .955
Brady Anderson   19  80 .378 .575  .953

Is that an odd list or what? Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, and...Glaus. Well, ok maybe. But Billy Hatcher? My apologies to any A's fans out there.

Here's the same thing for just World Series players (including the 19th century Temple Cup series):

Name              G  AB  OBP SLUG OPS 
Babe Ruth        41 129 .463 .744 1.207
Lou Gehrig       34 119 .476 .731 1.207
Reggie Jackson   27  98 .442 .755 1.198
Pepper Martin    15  55 .467 .636 1.103
Paul Molitor     13  55 .467 .636 1.103
Lou Brock        21  87 .424 .655 1.079
Rickey Henderson 14  56 .439 .607 1.047
Al Simmons       19  73 .380 .658 1.037
Jimmie Foxx      18  64 .425 .609 1.034
Hank Greenberg   23  85 .408 .624 1.032
Hank Aaron       14  55 .417 .600 1.017
Dave Henderson   20  71 .400 .606 1.006
Carl Yastrzemski 14  54 .435 .556  .991
Charlie Keller   19  72 .367 .611  .978
Gene Woodling    26  85 .442 .529  .972
George Brett     13  51 .439 .529  .968
Willie Stargell  14  54 .393 .574  .968
Duke Snider      36 133 .349 .594  .943
Frank Baker      25  91 .396 .538  .934
Billy Martin     28  99 .365 .566  .931
Roberto Clemente 14  58 .383 .534  .918
Roger Connor     16  58 .400 .517  .917
Bobby Brown      26  57 .387 .526  .913
Steve Yeager     21  57 .333 .579  .912
Thurman Munson   16  67 .417 .493  .909
Kirby Puckett    14  52 .390 .519  .909
Mickey Mantle    65 230 .374 .535  .908
Mel Ott          16  61 .377 .525  .901
Marquis Grissom  19  77 .434 .468  .901
Hub Collins      16  64 .432 .469  .901

It's hard to tell that the Yankees have been to a lot of Series from that list, huh? I'm joking of course.

Now the LCS's:

Name               G  AB  OBP SLUG   OPS 
Will Clark        17  62 .522 .806 1.328
George Brett      27 103 .404 .728 1.132
Bernie Williams   27 100 .471 .630 1.101
Steve Garvey      22  90 .383 .678 1.061
Lenny Dykstra     19  62 .425 .629 1.054
Dusty Baker       17  62 .443 .597 1.040
Manny Ramirez     18  63 .405 .619 1.024
Darryl Strawberry 20  70 .372 .643 1.015
Pete Rose         28 118 .430 .534  .964
Greg Luzinski     20  73 .329 .589  .918
Cal Ripken Jr.    15  55 .419 .491  .910
Jim Thome         17  52 .333 .577  .910
Paul O'Neill      31 106 .379 .509  .889
Brooks Robinson   18  69 .366 .522  .888
Eddie Murray      19  66 .397 .485  .882
Javy Lopez        27  90 .337 .544  .881
Mickey Rivers     14  57 .417 .456  .873
Chipper Jones     34 127 .431 .441  .872
Sal Bando         20  74 .341 .527  .868
Ron Cey           22  82 .368 .500  .868
Johnny Bench      22  83 .333 .530  .863
Devon White       27  95 .410 .453  .862
Fred McGriff      28 109 .380 .477  .857
Darrell Porter    20  63 .456 .397  .853

That's kind of an odd mix, some Hall-of-Famers and some decent ballplayers. I guess that's what you get when you are limited to the last 30-odd years.

Finally, the division series (I limited it to 7 games and 25 ABs minimum):

Name              G AB  OBP SLUG    OPS 
Nomar Garciaparra 8 27 .469 1.037 1.506
Jim Edmonds      11 42 .438  .833 1.271
Edgar Martinez   17 64 .481  .781 1.262
Vinny Castilla   12 44 .413  .750 1.163
Ken Caminiti     13 43 .375  .721 1.096
Ray Durham        8 31 .378  .710 1.088
John Valentin    12 49 .411  .673 1.084
Juan Gonzalez    15 62 .333  .742 1.075
Jay Buhner       13 45 .444  .622 1.067
Cal Ripken Jr.    8 34 .472  .588 1.060
Edgardo Alfonzo   8 34 .342  .706 1.048
Ken Griffey Jr.   9 38 .341  .684 1.026
Chipper Jones    28 96 .463  .542 1.005
Mike Stanley     16 55 .459  .545 1.004
Fred McGriff     10 36 .419  .583 1.002
Brady Anderson    8 34 .378  .618  .996
Jason Giambi     14 45 .492  .467  .958
J.T. Snow        12 35 .415  .543  .957
Fernando Vina    11 47 .420  .532  .952

Well, that's odd: mike Stanley and Jason Giambi are the only Yankees.

Tomorrow, I'll look at postseason pitchers.