Editorial Note: The latest information graphic from the talented Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Ball shows us the team wins above replacement of position players (and pitchers when they bat) for every Major League Baseball team, as well as the biggest every day contributor on each team. Adam Jones has permission to reference this piece for any MVP campaign purposes. Jeff Francoeur does not. [D.P.].
On this day seven years ago – July 27, 2005 – I went to a baseball game for the first time in my life. I have talked about it before in the book and other places, but mostly talking about it was done in a way that just recounts the events of the day and first impressions.
I will briefly re-cap those events: I was in New York on business, doing some illustration work for an ad agency’s client. I spent two weeks living a relatively normal life in New York (if you consider staying at the W hotel in Times Square normal). I flicked through the channels on the TV a few times in the evenings, and watched baseball for a few minutes here and there. It made little sense. I didn’t understand what the hell the announcers were on about. I mentioned to my colleagues Josh and Mark that I’d quite like to go to a game while I was in New York, and a couple of days later Josh (Yankees), Mark (Mets), and I (unaffiliated) went up to Yankee Stadium and watched the Yankees lose 7-3 to the Twins. Johan Santana was the winning pitcher, Al Leiter the losing pitcher.
Editorial Note: The latest information graphic from the talented Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Ball shows us the results of Barry Bonds’ plate appearances from 1986-2007. It turns out that Bonds was a pretty good baseball player [D.P.].
Editorial Note: The latest information graphic from the talented Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Ball shows us the average height of every team in Major League Baseball. Also of interest, to me at least, is that Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros and Tim Collins of the Kansas City Royals are slightly easier to identify than Chris Young and Jon Rauch of the New York Mets. Also, according to Drew Fairservice, there is absolutely no chance that Bryce Harper is actually 6’3″. [D.P.].
Editorial Note: The latest information graphic from the talented Craig Robinson of Flip Flop Fly Ball shows us exactly what positions offer the most offensive production, and that pinch hitters are the worst that they’ve ever been. Also of interest, to me at least, is the steady decline of the third base position in terms of offense. If attractive graphs aren’t your thing, here is Craig’s collected data. [D.P.].
