Munro: A look at Canadian batting milestones heading into 2019
Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) continues to move up substantially in most of the important all-time Canadian batting statistical categories.
By Neil Munro
Canadian Baseball Network
As we get ready for the start of the 2019 baseball season, we can take a look at the prospects for several Canadian batters to move up significantly on the lists of career statistical totals in many different statistical categories.
Before we take a closer look at the career batting leaders, it is worth reviewing the way in which a number of statistical categories have changed significantly historically, and also make a count of the number of Canadians with major league experience over time, which have accumulated the figures in the tables which follow. In all, there have been some 252 Canadian born players who have appeared in at least one game in the major leagues since 1876. This number is augmented by another 10 players (such as Freddie Freeman) who were born outside of this country, but who can be considered to be Canadians. These ball players include the likes of Mark Teahen, Jimmy Archer, Reno Bertoia and Kevin Reimer, all of whom had significant major league experience. You may also wish to place a “Ford Frick” asterisk beside the records of these players if you only want to examine the records of players actually born in Canada.
The 2019 season is a crucial year for Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) and Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.). Votto continues to move up substantially on most of the important batting statistical categories and is closing in on most of the top batting performances of Canadians, held almost exclusively by Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.). However, we must look forward with some trepidation to see if Votto’s decline in offensive productivity last season was a one year anomaly or foretells of a more permanent decline. If Joey can regain the luster of his truly outstanding batting campaigns of 2015, 2016 and 2017, then he a virtual lock to set the Canadian standards in almost every important statistical category. Indeed he will likely put those records out of reach for decades to come.
It remains to be seen whether Russell Martin can accumulate sufficient playing time to increase his already impressive batting credentials. Martin should be able to garner some significant playing time with the Dodgers in 2019, particularly since Yasmani Grandal has moved on to greener pastures with Milwaukee. Both Martin and Votto are also closing in on impressive career fielding totals, not just among Canadians but amongst all major league performers. Martin now ranks 11th all-time in career putouts by a catcher and Votto currently sits at number twelve among career assists by a first sacker. Even in a part time role, Martin should climb up to seventh in putouts by a catcher in 2019 and Votto has a legitimate shot as eventually becoming the career leader in assists by a first baseman.
A couple of Canadians who saw limited action in 2018 may well earn spots as regulars this year. This includes Burnaby, B.C., native Jim Adduci (with the Tigers) and Maple Ridge, B.C., native Tyler O’Neill (with the Cardinals). Both of these players held down regular positions as the 2018 season neared its conclusion. As well, an outstanding baseball star with dual Canadian-American citizenship continued his assault on the record book as an All-Star in 2018. Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves is one of the top performers in the Senior Circuit, and he has been included as a “Canadian” on the batting tables that follow.
The distribution of Canadians who played in the big leagues has changed dramatically in the last 140 years. One reason for this is the fact that the number of major league franchises in existence at any particular point in time has also varied considerably. In the 1900 season, there were just eight teams taking part in major league play (in the National League). On the other hand, in 1884, there were 33 ball clubs challenging for championships in three different leagues (the NL, the American Association and the Union Association) although it certainly requires a stretch of the imagination to label several of these teams (a few who did not even complete their schedule of games) as being anything resembling “major league” caliber. As a result, Canada did not have a single player on a major league roster in the 1900 season, while no fewer than 32 Canadians appeared in at least one game in 1884. However, there are still significant dips and peaks in the numbers of Canadian major league players over time, even as the number of teams remained consistent over long time frames. We can likely expect to see about 10 to 15 Canadians making an appearance on a big league roster some time during the 2019 season.
In many specific statistical batting categories, the typical numbers accumulated by regular big league performers have also changed significantly over the last 140 years. The number of home runs, strikeouts and walks accumulated by all big league batters has gone up and down noticeably over time, and for strikeouts in particular, the frequency is at unprecedented high levels in recent years. On one hand, the number of triples hit by batters has slowly been diminished over the years, while at the same time the frequency of home runs has increased considerably. Matt Stairs (Fredericton, N.B.) and Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) rank near the top of all Canadian hitters in almost all batting categories, except for triples. The 16 career triples hit by Morneau and the 13 banged out by Stairs do not even rank in the top 20 on the career list of Canadian leaders in three-baggers.
Following then are the targets and milestones that our current crop of Canadian ball players can shoot for in 2019 and in the next few seasons. In most instances, I have ranked the top 15 in each category, but in a few limited cases I have just listed the top 10 when differences in recording the statistics in some managerial categories.
Purely in terms of service time, the number of games played, at bats and plate appearances by batters has remained reasonably consistent over time (although the seasons were much shorter in the period from 1876 to 1886). By the end of the 2018 season, 17 Canadians had seen action in 1,000 or more career games. Total plate appearances includes the categories of at bats, walks, hit by pitch, sacrifices and the extremely rare incidences of a batter given first base as a result of interference by the catcher. The different categories of sacrifice hits and flies have seen substantial changes over time as a result of different rules governing those classifications of statistics (explained in greater detail below). Joey Votto (now sitting with 1575 career games, 5563 at bats and 6764 career plate appearances will likely rank first among all Canadians in those statistical categories before he hangs up his spikes.
A batter’s offensive contributions can perhaps best be determined by his accumulation of runs scored, RBI and total bases. The leaders in runs scored are shown above and the other two categories in the tables below. Larry Walker has a substantial lead in all three of these career categories, but Votto is young enough and he certainly has the potential to top these and many other career records. George Selkirk (Huntsville, Ont.) makes his first appearance here, coming in at the number eight spot in RBI. It does help that he often batted behind Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio in the Yankees’ fearsome lineup. I have always considered that the statistical category of total bases accumulated represents the most important feature in demonstrating batting proficiency. Sluggers like Jeff Heath (Fort William, Ont.), Matt Stairs, Tip O’Neill (Woodstock, Ont.), Justin Morneau and Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.) assume their rightful place near the top of these categories here.
Probably the most important contributing factors to a batter amassing high numbers of runs and RBI (besides playing in a lineup filled with other productive sluggers) are his accumulation of hits, walks, doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases. The latter category was initially recorded as an official statistic only in the 1886 season; so many early stars like George Wood (Pownall, P.E.I), Pop Smith (Digby, N.S.) and Tip O’Neill were deprived of the opportunity to add to their career totals in stolen bases. Joey Votto has now surpassed Larry Walker for accumulating the most bases on balls in his career and ranks second behind only Walker in hits, home runs, doubles and even in singles hit. Freddie Freeman cracks the top five for the first time, ranking fifth in double now. A star from the nineteenth century with a limited length of career service, Spud Johnson, makes his first appearance on the list of triples leaders, a list dominated by fellow performers from that era. On the other hand, players of a more recent vintage like Pete Ward (Montreal, Que.) and Kevin Reimer make their debut on the career home run list. Even some avid followers of the progress of current Canadian baseball stars may have to look up the career records and biographical information on players from a much earlier time on the stolen bases list. Toronto native John Irwin (who was the brother of Arthur Irwin), Doc Miller (Chatham, Ont.), Jimmy Knowles (Toronto, Ont.) and the aforementioned Spud Johnson, make this the most varied list of Canadian players appearing in any leaders chart. Russell Martin has now stolen his 100th base (on the nose) and is one of the very few catchers of all major leaguers reaching both 100 career HR and 100 career SB. He also moves into third place on the bases on balls list behind only Votto and Walker.
Now we will list the career leaders in some of the lesser known batting categories, some of which were not recorded until well into the 20th century. As indicated earlier, the statistical classification of “sacrifices” has had a varied interpretation and set of definitions over time. Sacrifices were first listed officially in 1894, but the interpretation was never rigorously codified until about 1905. Initially it was meant to include only instances of laying down a bunt to advance a teammate, but different scorekeepers often generously recorded instances of players making an out on “Baltimore chops” or twisting grounders in an effort to improve the batting average of hometown stars. Between 1908 and 1925, sacrifices also included all the fly-ball outs that scored a base runner. These were not distinguished from sacrifice bunts in score sheets. Between 1926 and 1930, the category also counted all fly-ball outs that advanced a runner to any base. Between 1931 and 1953, sacrifice flies were simply recorded as outs, and only bunts were credited as a SH. Inexplicably, the one year which broke this pattern was the 1939 season, in which sacrifice flies were once again included in the sacrifice category. Beginning in 1954, the category of sacrifice flies was recorded separately and distinctly from sacrifice hits (bunts), but only for instances of a runner scoring on a fly ball out. I have grouped all of the kinds of sacrifices into a single category in the table below. You should be aware that it is not possible to make meaningful comparisons for total career SH figures for players from different eras. Interestingly enough, two pitchers make an appearance in the top 10 of the sacrifice list as batters – Ryan Dempster (Gibsons, B.C.) and Ferguson Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.).
The category of GIDP (grounded into a double play) was first officially recorded in the NL for the 1933 season and then in the AL for the first time in 1940. The official 1939 AL score sheets actually had GIDP listed on them, but were mistakenly entered under a different statistical column. Today, the record books include GIDP for American League batters since the 1939 season. I have tabulated the top 15 in strikeouts, HBP and SH, while the other charts here show only the top 10 career leaders. In a similar mysterious fashion, the category of caught stealing (when a base runner was thrown out attempting to steal a base) was first officially adopted in 1920 by both leagues. For some unknown purpose, the American League dropped this category for the 1927 season, but reinstituted it again in 1928, and has continued to record it up to the present day. Even more amazingly, the National League decided to drop this category in 1926 and it was not listed as an official NL statistic again until the 1951 campaign. Several writers and researchers have added to the caught stealing totals for some individuals and for a few teams for a several seasons not previously recorded. I have included this type of data in the list below in cases where I thought an accurate attempt was made.
The category of batters being hit by a pitch was initiated in 1884 in the American Association and then in 1887 in the National League. The other leagues appearing briefly since then (the Players League of 1890 and the Federal League in its two seasons of 1914 and 1915) did include this statistical category. However, some minor differences in the interpretation of this rule persisted until early in the twentieth century. Intentional base on balls issued (both for batters and for pitchers) was only instituted as an official statistic in 1955. Several researchers have documented this category for batters back to the 1930’s for all batters and even for few notable sluggers in earlier years. These unofficial IBB have been included in the top ten for this statistic here.
* The caught stealing totals for both O’Rourke and Graney are known for only a portion of their careers
In preparing the tables of leaders in the categories involving percentages, I have arbitrarily used a minimum of 2000 career plate appearances as a prerequisite for appearing on the list of top performers. This requirement results in Spud Johnson (at .302), Doc Miller (.295), Bunk Congalton (Guelph, Ont.) (.292) and Brett Lawrie (Langley, B.C.) (.269) being left off of the list of career batting average leaders. Similarly, Kevin Reimer (.430), Brett Lawrie (.427), Aaron Guiel (Vancouver, B.C.) (.418), George Kottaras (Scarborough, Ont.) (.406), Rob Ducey (Cambridge, Ont.) (.396), Spud Johnson (.392) and Doc Miller (.390) are omitted from the career slugging leaders but no one is left off of the career on-base average top fifteen as a result of the minimum appearance restriction. Joey Votto has already assumed a healthy lead over Walker and Selkirk in the on-base average category, although players do tend to drop off somewhat in all three percentage categories as their careers wind down. The statistical category of OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages) has been included here with the other leaders in percentages. This batting category has assumed the role of the most important batting statistic of them all in recent years. It should be noted that the top Canadians (not surprisingly, Walker and Votto) happen to rank 15th and 17th among all the major league batters ever to have played the game. Votto ranks even higher in the category of On-base Percentage, currently holding down the twelfth spot in all-time career OBA! In the case of apparent ties in the percentage categories, I have extended the calculations to four decimal places to determine the actual rank of the leaders.
There you have it – the best career batting performances by our Canadian baseball players. The current collection of stars is certain to move up gradually in several of the categories listed above. It is also quite likely that one or more of them will eventually rise right up to the very top in some instances.