Baseball Archelogy - Fielding Minutia
One of the fun things about the game is the vast areas of history that one can get lost in, the people, places and events wash over the game like a wave, a never ending barrage of events that are so very different and yet so very much the same. Looking through the pictures of the past we can tell the game was less refined than it is now, a harder affair flush with conditions so very different than today.
But what does that tell us about the way the game was played? Imagine you are at a great dig in the Utah desert and you come across a bone that looks like it is from a mammoth, however you aren’t sure what it tells you about that animal and the era that it dwelled in. Baseball statistics are much like that, you can fall into a copy of Total Baseball and reap wonderful amounts of information about the game and its records, history and stars.
This won’t help you much because you can’t see how the game was played, and to do that you need to take those bones and put them together in your head, only then can you start to see that the structure is a lot like the game we watch today, but it isn’t quite the exact match.
Delving into what is different and why it was different is what makes the examination interesting.
The mammoth bone I’m holding in my hands today is one that doesn’t get looked at often, if the skull of a mammoth was found in the dirt it could be seen as the equal to all the batting records in baseball history. The shape and the structure of the massive visage put a face on the beast, as the rate stats and counting stats do to a season and a career.
My bone is a much simpler piece, it’s not often examined, but it’s a major support piece that holds the game up.
Today’s bone is Fielding Assists for pitchers, a somewhat useless statistic, one that you won’t find in the Sunday paper or on the back of a baseball card. But nonetheless an interesting stat. Consider this, the amount of assists made by pitchers last year are listed below.
ASSISTS A 1 Rangers 233 2 Pirates 227 3 Dodgers 223 4 Diamondbacks 221 T5 Cardinals 220 T5 Mets 220 7 Yankees 207 8 White Sox 205 9 Marlins 204 T10 Twins 199 T10 Blue Jays 199 T12 Braves 196 T12 Astros 196 T12 Phillies 196 T15 Cubs 192 T15 Nationals 192 17 Giants 188 18 Rockies 186 19 Padres 179 20 Mariners 177 21 Orioles 176 22 Reds 169 T23 A's 166 T23 Brewers 166 25 Royals 165 26 Red Sox 163 27 Tigers 157 28 Devil Rays 147 29 Indians 141 30 Angels 140
Once the ball leaves the hand of the hurler he is then on defense, today’s measure for a fine fielding pitcher is locked into the mystic of the Gold Glove, and for most of us that term Gold Glove Pitcher falls into two categories, Greg Maddux and Jim Kaat, who share 31 between them.
The 2005 assist leaders were as follows:
2005 ASSISTS A 1 Mark Mulder 52 T2 Jake Westbrook 49 T2 Greg Maddux 49 4 Derek Lowe 48 5 Kenny Rogers 46 T6 Mark Buehrle 45 T6 Livan Hernandez 45 8 Brandon Webb 44 T9 Tom Glavine 43 T9 Horacio Ramirez 43
A good mixture of guys with sinkers and breaking balls and other off speed pitches. For his career Greg Maddux has averaged 1.6 assist per games that he appeared in 1.6 is a healthy ratio of plays completed by a pitcher, especially in this day and age of high strikeouts and hard hitting.
Diving into the history of pitchers assists can take us towards many different directions, it can help us find out what the game was like in small ways that say more than we ever thought they could and you can see player types reappear each generation reaffirming stereotypes and baseball axioms.
Here are the career leaders in pitchers assists
ASSISTS A PO E G 1 Christy Mathewson 1503 281 52 635 2 Grover C Alexander 1419 189 25 696 3 Walter Johnson 1348 278 53 803 4 Burleigh Grimes 1252 225 71 617 5 George Mullin 1244 229 82 488 6 Jack Quinn 1240 139 48 756 7 Ed Walsh 1207 233 56 431 8 Eppa Rixey 1195 131 30 689 9 Carl Mays 1138 174 44 490 10 Hooks Dauss 1128 99 41 538
First thing that leaps out to me is that they all are deadball era players, and a mess of hall of fame players. Guys with legendary breaking pitches like Mathewson, Rixey and Dauss, others had intense sinking fastballs like Alexander and Mays, the thing that stands out the most are the four spitballer’s on the list and the one who had the best ratio of assists every nine innings in his career was Ed Walsh who averaged 3.6 assists for every nine innings he pitched in his career.
Here are the leaders in pitchers assist in a season in modern history
ASSISTS YEAR A PO Ed Walsh 1907 227 35 Ed Walsh 1908 190 41 Harry Howell 1905 178 21 Jack Chesbro 1904 166 24 George Mullin 1904 163 28 Ed Walsh 1911 159 27 Frank Smith 1909 154 26 Ed Walsh 1910 154 21 Addie Joss 1907 143 21 Harry Howell 1904 143 26
Compared to today’s leader (Mark Mulder with 52) the difference is significant, but why is it so wide? Why do all the leaders sport lines from the deadball era? And what do 90% of them all share?
The pitchers assist record is likely to stay firm for a long time; the last pitcher to top 100 assists in a season was spitballer Burleigh Grimes and the last player to sniff 90 was Dizzy Trout in 1944.
Ed Walsh and his impressive totals of assists during his prime from 1906-1912 is a fine example how the way the game is played can lend to odd season totals in certain statistics. These records often fade into the shadows of the game and no one ever thinks to ponder them again unless they touch the realm of the sexy statistics like runs batted in, stolen bases and hits.
Think about it… you’re hanging with your friends and you say, “Hey, Joe… who holds the record for assists for pitchers in MLB history?”
Hahahahahahahahaha is the likely reply.
When Ed Walsh finished his first two seasons in the major leagues he averaged 2.8 assists per every nine innings. Two years later after learning the spitball from Elmer Stricklett, Walsh was a different pitcher; he also became a more accomplished fielder as the ball was finding itself in his hands more and more. His 1906 season of 278 innings pitched was more than the prior two seasons combined. During that season Walsh averaged 4.8 assists per every nine innings. From 1906-1912 he averaged 3.7 assists per game. Those are more than significant numbers, they are imopressive.
Jim Kaat who won 16 Gold Gloves averaged .082 assists per every nine innings pitched.
Ed Walsh wasn’t the Ozzie Smith of pitchers, turning into an uber fielder the second the ball left his hand. He was a big man who threw the nastiest pitch in an era that had a deadball and limited scoring opportunities, and this helps enhance the numbers that he created with his glove.
If we look at the top ten seasons in pitching assists in MLB history we’d find that all of them occurred prior to 1914 and six of the teams were Chicago White Sox teams, teams that were anchored by Ed Walsh.
ASSISTS YEAR A G E PO White Sox 1907 588 210 16 128 Browns 1905 562 178 37 84 White Sox 1908 553 217 20 122 Browns 1904 546 178 30 86 White Sox 1910 506 222 30 99 White Sox 1909 503 207 22 83 White Sox 1906 494 197 26 113 Tigers 1913 486 240 31 50 Tigers 1904 485 183 34 96 White Sox 1905 477 190 14 113
Walsh and feloow Sox hurler Frank Smith both threw the spitball, as did everyone on the list below aside from Addie Joss.
ASSISTS YEAR A Ed Walsh 1907 227 Ed Walsh 1908 190 Harry Howell 1905 178 Jack Chesbro 1904 166 George Mullin 1904 163 Ed Walsh 1911 159 Frank Smith 1909 154 Ed Walsh 1910 154 Addie Joss 1907 143 Harry Howell 1904 143
Another variable in this large number can be seen when we realize that during the deadball era the use of the sacrifice bunt increased from 1 every 34 at bats in 1904 to 1 every 27 at bat in 1908. To understand the consistent nature of that attack in that day and age we’ll note that today we see a sacrifice about 1 every 99 at bats, and even in the Go-Go 70’s we only saw 1 every 75 at bats. If back then we were seeing a sacrifice 4 times to every 1 we’d see in today’s game then the pitcher is going to have an increased assist total, but if the pitcher also induces ground balls he’s going to have an increased chance to see more balls come to him then say a fly ball pitcher would have back in the heyday of the sacrifice as a weapon.
(A quick look at the team fielding stats from that era show that the A’s were flyball centric and the White Sox depended on the ground ball. These ffielding facts can help shape our perception of each teams pitching approaches from 1905-1910.)
Of course another wild card in this deck was the ball. With the game issued ball lacking a cork center (prior to 1911) and not prone to flying like the balls of today’s game the action was centered on the diamond, where play was fast, furious and base by base. To accent this aspect of the game all the seating at the time was based around the baselines and the now ubiquitous outfield bleacher seat was seen as useless since most of the games action occurred in the infield. The era was not only marked by a high in pitchers assists but also in the catchers assists as well.
Another wild card and perhaps the most telling is the aforementioned spitball pitchers, most of teams that boast the heady pitching fielding numbers of Chesbro, Howell or Walsh were fraught with men who employed a tool that induces the batter to pound the ball into the ground, such a tool can create gaudy stats like Harry Howell’s 5.3 assist per nine innings in 1905 with the Browns, or the White Sox’s team total of 588 in 1907 (only 39 teams have ever had that many assists from their shortstops!!)
As the deadball (and spitball) era waned and the Ruthian era dawned a shift could be seen in the game, newer stadiums and remodels now involved seating in the outfield where the mighty drives of Ruth and company flew, and with those drives we can trace the demise of the gaudy pitching assist numbers through the decades.
The shadows swallowed that aspect of the game and the mere thought of a pitcher fielding 5 ground balls a game in today’s slugging driven game seems remote and ridiculous, but I’d stop short of saying that it’s impossible. After all it is baseball that we are talking about, nothing is set in stone.
Below are the best 5 assist totals for pitchers by decade. Note that as we get away from the spitball era the pitchers who lead the league tend to be junkballers with knuckle balls, sinkers, forkballs, splitters, screwballs and anything else that upsets your timing and causes you to only get a piece of the ball.
1900-1909 ASSISTS YEAR A 1 Ed Walsh 1907 227 2 Ed Walsh 1908 190 3 Harry Howell 1905 178 4 Jack Chesbro 1904 166 5 George Mullin 1904 163 1910-1919 ASSISTS YEAR A 1 Ed Walsh 1911 159 2 Ed Walsh 1910 154 3 Ed Walsh 1912 140 T4 Hooks Dauss 1915 137 T4 Claude Hendrix 1914 137 SEASON 1920-1929 ASSISTS YEAR A G Carl Mays 1926 117 39 Hooks Dauss 1920 114 38 Eddie Rommel 1923 109 56 Stan Coveleski 1921 108 43 Carl Mays 1920 106 45 Burleigh Grimes 1928 106 48 1930-1939 ASSISTS YEAR A G Bucky Walters 1936 96 40 Curt Davis 1934 95 51 Carl Hubbell 1933 94 45 Hal Schumacher 1935 89 33 Freddie Fitzsimmons 1931 89 35 1940-1949 ASSISTS YEAR A G Dizzy Trout 1944 94 49 Jim Tobin 1942 93 37 Jim Tobin 1944 93 43 Bob Lemon 1948 86 43 Dutch Leonard 1940 72 35 1950-1959 ASSISTS YEAR A G Bob Lemon 1952 79 42 Bob Lemon 1953 74 41 Murry Dickson 1951 70 45 Warren Spahn 1958 67 38 Mel Parnell 1950 67 40 1960-1969 ASSISTS YEAR A G Mel Stottlemyre 1969 88 39 Larry Jackson 1964 85 40 Fred Newman 1965 83 36 Claude Osteen 1965 82 40 Mel Stottlemyre 1965 74 37 Jim Kaat 1962 72 39 1970-1979 ASSISTS YEAR A G Wilbur Wood 1972 82 49 Randy Jones 1976 81 40 John Denny 1978 73 33 Randy Jones 1975 70 37 Bill Lee 1974 69 38 1980-1989 ASSISTS YEAR A G Fernando Valenzuela 1982 64 37 Joaquin Andujar 1983 62 39 Orel Hershiser 1988 60 35 Dave Stieb 1980 58 34 LaMarr Hoyt 1983 56 36 1990-1999 ASSISTS YEAR A G Greg Maddux 1996 71 35 Kenny Rogers 1998 67 34 Greg Maddux 1998 64 34 Greg Maddux 1992 64 35 Kenny Rogers 1999 62 31 2000-2006 ASSISTS YEAR A G Greg Maddux 2000 68 35 Livan Hernandez 2004 60 35 Greg Maddux 2003 58 36 Greg Maddux 2004 55 33 Tim Hudson 2003 54 34 Greg Maddux 2001 54 34
May 31st, 2006 at 12:13 am
Troy Percival is the only pitcher in ML history (500+ IP) to have more career putouts than assists. Not too many pitchers are even really close.
In fact, as you might guess, the list of pitchers with the fewests assists per putout is populated by modern-day relievers.
May 31st, 2006 at 4:01 am
I know I saw that when I was doing the search for worse, by filtering in games started I came up with a list for the worst starters in the assists category. However I can’t find it right now, but Bob Buhl and Steve Traschel were on it.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:08 pm
Another interesting stat is DPs by Catchers. If you run DP/G for catchers you find a ton of early and dead-ball era backstops.
Yogi is the only catcher who played after WWII to average more than 1 DP per game.
The same holds true for catchers’ Assists per game. All dead-ball and earlier catchers averaging more than 1 Assist per game.
There are only a handful of modern-day catchers who even average 1 assist for every TWO games.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:19 pm
Anyway, if you go position by position, you see the same trends.
Gotta love those strikeouts! Easy on the fielders.
Hate to sound like an old fogey, but it’s true: in general, today’s hitters swing for the fences or die trying. There’s no denying it.
May 31st, 2006 at 10:24 pm
One thing that I’ve wondered is why are all the assist leaders (aside from Sandberg) are from the 20’s and early 30’s? Probably more hard balls in play, less strikeouts and walks, thus more balls in play.
June 1st, 2006 at 11:33 pm
I checked Baseball-Graphs, and there was a big dip in SO/G rates in the majors around 1917, with rates dropping below 3.0 SO/G until about 1930.
SO/G rates have gone up steadily ever since, with only a minor dip in the mid-’70s to early ’80s.
There are twice as many SO/G now as there were in the ’20s. Between that and the FO/G rates, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for Assists.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
what a great article! I came across it looking for the answer to the following:
What is the (modern) career record for assists by a pitcher per 9 innings pitched? (Watching Mariano Rivera last night made me think of this.)