Since Mookie and Freddie are having such great years, I thought I would look back on some of the best all-time record holders. Freeman, who is about as consistent a ballplayer as you will ever see, is now one hit away from his first 200 hit season. Think about that. 14 years in the league and this will be the first time reaching that mark. By comparison, Steve Garvey had done it six times by the time he had been in the league for 10 full seasons. He was 31 when he garnered 200 hits for the last time in 1980. 184 was the most he would have after that. Garvey had 3, 200 hit seasons in a row twice.
Mookie needs a homer and an RBI to set the MLB record for most homers and RBIs by a leadoff hitter. With 10 games to play, he should do that soon. I would like to see him do it at home. Muncy needs one homer to top his career high. JD got his 30th against the Giants on Thursday. Freeman needs 4 for the Dodgers to have four 30 homer guys for the third time.
With all that in mind, we look back on some of the leaders in all-time stats. And some of the better single seasons in LA Dodger history.
WAR Position Player
The top career WAR for a position player is 68.4 and that player is Pee Wee Reese. Reese was a Dodger for 18 seasons and a coach for 1. The Colonel, as they called him was also team captain. The highest WAR by a LA Dodger is 54.6 by Willie Davis. Single season leader, Jackie Robinson 9,7
WAR PItcher
This one should be easy for all Dodger fans. Clayton Kershaw is the career WAR leader for all Dodger players and the pitching leader by a lot. His career WAR is 76.8. Dazzy Vance is a distant 2nd at 61.9. Drysdale is just behind Vance at 61.4. They are the only Dodger pitchers above 60. Single season leader, Koufax, 10.7
Batting Average
The highest career batting average is just for the time the player was a Dodger. And it can be as short as five years. So, the all-time leader with a .352 batting average is Wee Willie Keeler. Keeler played for Brooklyn for 5 seasons. The highest batting average by an LA Dodger is .331. That was accomplished by Mike Piazza in his 7 seasons with LA. Single season leader, Babe Herman .393. LA Mike Piazza .362
Earned Run Average
Zack Greinke’s ERA while in LA was 2.30. But since he only spent 3 years in Dodger blue, I do not think he fits the bill as the all-time leader since he was only a Dodger briefly. Jeff Pfeffer on the other hand, spent 9 years with Brooklyn. His career ERA is 2.31. The two best LA Dodgers are Kenley Jansen, 2.37 and Kershaw at 2.48. Single season, Marquard, 1.58. LA, Greinke 1.66
Hits
2804. That is how many hits Zack Wheat piled up with the Brooklyn team. He played 18 years for the Dodgers and is the career leader in 10 offensive stats. The LA Dodger leader in career hits is the Three-Dog, Willie Davis with 2091. Season: Herman 241 LA Davis 230.
Wins
For the sake of being equal, we will not use any stats pre-1900. After 1900 it would be Iron Joe Mcginnity and Dazzy Vance both with 28. Joe in 1928. Koufax and Newcombe are their modern equivalents with 27 each.
Doubles
Freddie Freeman now has 56 and counting. He passed Johnny Fredericks 52 a couple of weeks ago. No other Dodger player has had more than the 49 hit by Shawn Green in 2003.
Losses
Don Sutton is the all-time leader with 181. Drysdale second with 166. Leader from the Brooklyn era is Brickyard Kennedy with 149. Single season: George Bell, 27. It does not show who the LA leader is. I have never seen an LA pitcher lose 20. 18 or 19 would probably be close to the most in a season
Triples
Hi Meyers had 22 in 1920. Jim Gilliam is the only player on the list who played in LA and Brooklyn, and he has 17. Willie Davis has the season high for an LA Dodger with 16. Career leader: Zack Wheat with 171. Willie D had 110.
Winning Percentage
Tony Gonsolin with a .941 last season is at the top of the heap. For Brooklyn it was Freddie Fitzsimmons in 1940, with a .889 pct. Career leader: The career leader is Greinke, but since he was only a Dodger for three years, the leader is Kershaw, the only pitcher on the list with 10 years plus. .697.
Home Runs
The season leader is Shawn Green with his 49 bombs in 2001. Beltre second with 48 in 2004. Brooklyn Dodger record, 43 by Duke Snider in 1956. Duke also is the career leader with 389. Hodges second with 361. Eric Karros is the leader for LA Dodgers with 270. Cey Garvey and Kemp are the only other LA Dodgers ever with more than 200. Muncy now has 175.
Saves
The all-time leader in career saves is Kenley Jansen with 350. And it isn’t even close. #2, Eric Gagne has 189 less than Jansen as a Dodger. The Brooklyn leader is Clem Labine with 81. Record for one season, Gagne, 55. He is the only Dodger pitcher to record 50 saves and he did it twice. Gagne also holds the Major League record for most consecutive saves at 84.
RBIs
Duke Snider holds the record for the most career runs batted in, 1271. He Zack Wheat, Gil Hodges and Carl Furillo, are the only Dodgers over 1000 for a career. Steve Garvey is the all-time LA leader at 992. Tommy Davis at 153 is the leader for a season, Campy leads the Brooklyn side with 142.
Strikeouts
Koufax holds the season record with 382. The Brooklyn record is 262 held by Dazzy Vance. Kershaw is #1 in career K’s with 2939. Will he stay and try for 3000??? Dazzy Vance holds the Brooklyn record with 1918. Kershaw and Koufax are the only Dodger pitchers with over 300 in a season, and Koufax did it three times. It probably will never happen again.
Stolen Bases
Career leader in bags is Maury Wills with 490. He also holds the single season mark with 104. Lopes is second with 418. Tom Daly is the Brooklyn leader with 298. Chances are that no one catches Wills unless something changes in the way the Dodgers develop players. Davey Lopes was the last player to steal 70 or more in 1975. Dee Gordon stole 64 in 2014. Gordon was the last Dodger to lead the league in steals. Trea Turner led the league in 21, but part of those came while he was with DC.
Complete Games
The all-time season record came in 1884 when Adonis Terry had 54. Post 1900, Oscar Jones had 38 in 1904. The season record for LA is 27, accomplished twice by Sandy Koufax. Another stat that is going the way of the Dodo. Pitchers rarely complete games anymore. Brickyard Kennedy holds the career record with 280. The LA leader would have to be Don Sutton. He had 156. Drysdale had 167, but 11 of them came in Brooklyn.
Extra Base Hits
Babe Herman had 94 in 1930. Freddie Freeman is at 85 and counting this year. Should he manage to get 9 more over the next 7 games, he would tie Herman. He still has a better shot at getting to 90 though. Duke Snider is the career leader at 814. Willie Davis the LA leader at 585.
Discussion (12)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Learned today that Iliya’s son Val McCallum plays guitar for Jackson Browne. And that Iliya’s father was a concert violinist.
I thought that show was pretty cool.
Also cool that it inspired Get Smart.
RIP David McCallum. Iliya Kuryakin in the Man from Uncle series and Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard in NCIS. Show won’t be the same without him. Also one of the stars of the movie The Great Escape.
My first post magically returned. It wasn’t in moderation, but it disappeared and reappeared again. Don’t know what’s going on.
I know I’ve lost a few marbles, but I don’t think they’re all gone.
Don’t know why my post keeps disappearing, but here it is again.
Tommy and Fred Claire usually take the heat on the Pedro Martinez trade. It was a collaboration between a lot of people, including Dr. Frank Jobe and even bullpen coach Mark Creese
Here’s an interview of Mark with Ross Porter
https://youtu.be/vB9wAcB0rrI?si=LDWESnxltgi8-2Xg
If you don’t wanna watch the whole thing, it starts about 15 minutes in
Sandy is the greatest.
Michael, my eyes tell me the same thing about Phillips. He’s a very valuable piece in the pen but Graterol is pitching better right now. First 1/2 stats aren’t important to me now. It’s what have you done for me lately.
Phillips in his last 6 appearances – 6 games, 6 innings, opposing BA = .333, opposing OPS = 1.030
Graterol in his last 6 appearances – 6 games, 5.2 innings, opposing BA = 0.00, opposing OPS = 000
My old eyes haven’t failed me. That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if Graterol moved into the “closer” role.
My eye test tells me Phillips hasn’t looked as sharp last few outings as has been all year but got no worries, he’ll do just fine and sure glad we have him
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/atlanta-braves-pitching-news-and-notes/ar-AA1hf6Qb
David Vassegh
@THEREAL_DV
Dave Roberts said Daniel Hudson’s earliest possible return would be if #Dodgers advance to NLCS.
* Great stuff Bear. As usual.
* Another exciting win and other outstanding bullpen effort.
* The first two pitches of the game to Mookie from Ryan Walker were serious chin music. The ESPN pitch identifier listed both as “sinkers”. I didn’t see much sink to those babies.
* I wouldn’t be surprised to see Graterol and Phillips switch roles in the playoffs.
* Nice situational hitting by Kolten Wong in the 10th. It wasn’t necessary as CT3’s single would have scored Rosario from 2nd anyway, but I love the effort. Nice to see CT3 come through.
* My “One-Time Through” strategy for the playoffs:
As we know, from Sept 1 to the end of the regular season teams are allowed to carry 2 extra player with a 28 man roster. It’s back to 26 with 13 being pitchers for the playoffs.
If see some interesting piggy-back ideas. It would be a unique way to enter a playoff series. Gone is the old way of thinking about a play-off starting rotation. The traditional idea of using 3 of your starting rotation as starters and the other 2 becoming relief pitchers, has been typical thinking forever and still will be for most teams.
But they aren’t us. They haven’t faced the challenges of 2 arm surgeries, a DFA and an indefinite administrative leave, for the Dumb Ass. But necessity is the mother of invention. And in the Dodger’s case, I’d favor a radical approach to getting 27 outs.
What’s our pitching strength? The bullpen depth of arms. So use it. And I think that will be the plan, in some fashion..
With the exception of Miller as a starter and perhaps Lynn, everybody would either get an “opener” or one-time through then pass the baton. Yarbrough maybe longer. I like Sheehan used one-time through. Or Kershaw getting 2 innings in a different role. I think we have the arms to pull that off and keep the opponent from seeing the same stuff twice..
So speaking of the ”piggyback” idea. What are the possible duets. Thoughts?
As I look at the current selection of pitchers, here’s how I see the playoff roster:
Locks
1. Kershaw – L
2. Miller,
3. Pepiot
4. Yarborough- L
5. Fergie – L
6. Brasier
7. Graterol
8. Phillips
So who’s are the final 5?
This may be largely based who’s hot and who’s not, the opponent and match ups: But I’ll guess anyway.
Pick 5 :
1. Sheehan – my pick for one-time through. .196 vs LHB. Who needs a situational leftie?
2. Lynn – do we really need a starter type and innings eater with the new piggyback idea? I love his competitiveness and tenacity but Beware of the Dinger a playoff game.
3. Vesia – do we need a 3rd LHRP? Bad reverse splits but great lately. Could Kersh fill this role?
4. Kelly? Joe or Joseph. Joseph comes in and throws 100mph ‘Heat-Seekers”. Joe wants to extend counts and “Trick-em” with sliders. Sometimes that works, sometimes not so much
5. Stone – I don’t think he’s ready yet.
6. Grove – if healthy – I cautiously think he’s ready, but is their room?
7. Shelby Miller – my pick. Great vs RHB and LHB (.136) Who needs a situational leftie?
8. V-Gon – Sorry. V-Gon is long-gone
My guess is Sheehan, Lynn, Vesia, Shelby Miller and Kelly round our the playoff staff.
Vesia is interesting. He had a brutal first half and his season numbers don’t look that hot. But he’s been good lately. In his last 7 games, he’s at 1.17 and .517 OPS against. And he has a track record. I’m bothered by his struggles with LHB, hence his reverse splits. We have RHP’s better vs RHB.
It should be extremely how the brass plans to piece this unique situation together but this can be done.
Yes Beltre was a free agent, but they put forth minimal effort to sign him. As for Pedro, Lasorda was one heck of a motivator, but in my opinion not a great x & o ‘s guy! He was sure wrong on Pedro. Piazza was simply put , a bad trade! Went from Mike to Charles Johnson!
Imagine how different those stats would be if Dodgers had no traded Mike Piazza, Adrian Beltre, and Pedro Martinez! Can you also imagine what JD Martinez s numbers would be this season if not for his back issues! Clayton has 13 wins while only pitching about half a season! Pepiot, Miller, and Sheehan all have 15-20 written all over them! And not to slight Gavin Stone who may end up the best out the bunch with hard work, the young slingers make for a very bright future. And back to Clayton, doesn’t he seem to love doing those interviews on tv? He still loves the game! I’m not sure he calls it quits unless they win it all, and then he might still come back. Reading some people don’t like on field interviews like Rojas last night. I loved. It! He is having a blast playing. And I might add playing a very high-level shortstop. And me, I didn’t like pinch hitting for Outman last night! Not blasting Doc, but unless he was banged up a little, I think James has earned the right to hit in that situation. But that’s my opinion. I like Ravich on Sunday night baseball. Cone is very good. Eduardo is ok. Not great. But at least I can watch Sunday night’s now and not turn the sound off like I did when Assrod and jolly Jess were on!