Monday Trivia: Crossing the plate
 

Name the six players with the most runs scored in a season since WWII.

Ted Williams seems likely. I also think Lenny Dykstra in 1993 is possible.

Rickey Henderson

I'll throw A-Rod out there to. He was on some teams with firepower besides himself.

Maybe somebody you wouldn't think of on one of those old Rockies teams. I'll go Ellis Burks. :)

Biggio and Bagwell were on some Astros teams with firepower too.

Ted Williams is correct - 150 R in 1949 (#2 on the list)

Also correct - Rickey had 146 R in 1985 (tied for #4 on the list)

Both correct!

Biggio is Tied for #4 -146 R in 1997.
Bagwell is #1 - 152 R in 2000.

Lots of other great but incorrect guesses.

Two names still remaining to guess.

Damn, never would have guessed Bagwell. I forgot how much he got on base.

How about another OBP machine who also hit for average.

Wade Boggs?

Good guess but no. Boggs' high for runs scored was 128.

Didn't Acuna just put up a ton last year?

Todd Helton? Mantle 1956?

Good guesses but no. 138 was Helton's high and Mantle '56 was 132.

Acuna is right! It was 2023 (his '24 was forgettable due to injury) when he scored 149 R (#3 on the list).

Only one name remaining.

If not Helton how about Walker?

Walker's high of 143 is just outside the top six.

DAMN it.

You definitely know the name. He wouldn't have been among my top guesses though.

Bonds 2001 was halfway there just on homers and had a mega OPS due to walks, but he didn't steal and it wasn't a great team, so I'm guessing he's a bit short and had a big number of being left on base.

Ohtani last year

Yep - his high for runs scored was 129.

Did someone guess early Pujols already?

Ohtani only got to 134 R last year. Hopefully he can step it up this year.

Nope - his high was 137.

Paul Molitor?

Now that I think about it, McGwire? His 70 HR year as I recall he walked a ton (although his average wasn't great and he couldn't run for shit).

That gave me the hint I needed...Sosa?




.

Ah that makes more sense than McGwire.

Sosa is correct! He scored 146 R in 2001. (McGwire only got to 130, Molitor had 136). Tied for #4 on the list.


And a final, bonus question: all-time MLB, who scored the most runs in a season and how many?

Probably some guy who played with Jack Glasscock. Definitely not Keith Hernandez. Even though Keith Hernandez is awesome.

Maybe Ruth, between the HR and Gehrig hitting behind him.

Ruth is tied for #2. 177 R in 1921.

It's not Keith, but I agree he's awesome. A fact about Jack Glasscock that most people don't know: his gravesite in Wheeling, WV was moved during the construction of I-70, which was built through parts of the cemetery where he was buried in the 1940s.

Back in the 1970s I hitchhiked west from D.C. and passed through Wheeling on I-70. While of course I was a baseball devotee even then, I had no idea I was so close to history. :)

The history of baseball is, in many ways, the history of the country.

“Sliding” Billy Hamilton had the mist runs in a year. I think it was near 200.

Baseball, Ray.....

:D

Correct! Hamilton scored 198 R in 1894.

So he did basically play with Jack Glasscock!

How do you score 198 runs in a season? It just goes to show how impossible it is to compare players across eras.

They overlapped in the NL for a few years (although Glasscock was already a veteran when Hamilton broke in).

1893-94 had an explosion of offensive stats when they moved the mound back from 50 ft to the current distance. '94 was also when Hugh Duffy hit .440.

Has anyone else scored more than a run per game for their career ?

Hamilton did. 1697 R in 1594 major league games. I'm not sure if anyone else has done it.

You hit .400, get over 100 walks, steal 100 bases, and have two .400 hitters (Delahanty and Sam Thompson) behind you.

I found a couple - apparently it’s an old Timey thing
Harry Stovey - 1495 runs in 1489 games
And George “Piano Legs “ Gore - 1327 runs in 1310 games

Good finds! I would guess there are maybe a few more 19th century players that did it.

They batted .350 as a team....LOL!

....and came in 4th place.

We'd see some crazy offensive numbers if MLB moved the mound back to 72 feet next year....

Unrelated to the trivia but I've always thought Herb Washington had one of the weirdest MLB careers.

He scored 33 runs in 105 games but never had an at bat and stole 31 bases over two seasons.

He also never appeared in a minor league game and didn't have a single plate appearance over his entire professional career, but did get a ring with the 1974 A's while appearing in 3 World Series games.

John Paciorek scored an average of 4.0 runs per game in his major league career.