Nineteenth Century Slugger Harry Stovey's Hall of Fame-Worthy Career

Nineteenth century slugger Harry Stovey was one of the greatest players during the early days of baseball.  Stovey played the bulk of his major league career in the American Association, which was a rival league to the National League.  Stovey dominated the game with power and speed and was arguably the finest player in the American Association's ten-year history.  Stovey's career may have ended more than a century ago but his significant accomplishments make him worthy of election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Stovey was born Harold Duffield Stowe in Philadelphia on December 20, 1856.  Stowe began playing baseball at a young age and developed a passion for the game.  However, Stowe's mother was not fond of the sport so at age 20, he changed his last name to Stovey to keep her from learning that he had embarked on a career as a professional baseball player.  After spending three years playing for minor league clubs, Stovey made his major league debut in 1880 with the Worcester Ruby Legs during the team's inaugural season in the National League.  Stovey made an immediate impact during his rookie campaign, leading the NL in home runs, triples, and extra-base hits while also finishing runner-up in runs scored and total bases.  Stovey's league-pacing total of six round-trippers is low by today's standards but at the time home runs were an extremely rare occurrence because the baseball itself was softer and ball fields of the day were vast.  In addition, teams only played around an 85-game schedule.  Moreover, Stovey's six home runs represented nearly a tenth of the 62 longballs hit in the NL that year and his one-man total was higher than the team totals of three of the eight NL clubs.  On defense, Stovey split his time between first base and outfield. Stolen base records were not kept for the first six years of Stovey's career but his speed not only made him a constant threat to swipe a bag but also enabled him to hit inside-the-park home runs, take extra bases on would-be singles, and make the opposition pay for errors and wild pitches.

Following the 1882 season, the Worcester Ruby Legs disbanded and Stovey was quickly signed by the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association, which had just completed its first year of operation as a direct competitor to the National League.  Stovey took the AA by storm, pacing his new league in several categories, including runs scored, doubles, slugging percentage, and total bases--in addition to setting the major league record for home runs with 14.  The young power-hitter once again towered over the league in longballs with his round-tripper total making up nearly an eighth of the 114 homers hit in the AA and equaling or bettering five of the eight AA clubs in four-baggers.  Stovey led the Athletics to a first place finish in a close race over the St. Louis Browns with the speedster even scoring the go-ahead run against the Louisville Eclipse in the pennant-clinching game.  What's more, Stovey accomplished all this despite battling serious ankle injuries during the latter part of the season.      

Stovey was arguably the greatest player in the history of the American Association

 

After leading the Athletics to the pennant, Stovey continued to dominate the AA with a series of strong campaigns.  Stovey's potent power and electric speed continued to be hallmarks of his game.  As the AA proved to be a formidable competitor to NL, the two leagues expanded their schedules from just under 100 games in 1883 to nearly 140 by the end of the decade.  In his first few seasons with Philadelphia, Stovey saw most of his time at first base before being used more regularly in one of the three outfield positions.  In 1886, the AA and NL both started keeping stolen base records.  During this time, the definition of what constituted a stolen base was more liberal than what it is today.  Nevertheless, the documenting of stolen base records showcased the speed part of Stovey's game and he is recognized as the AA's initial leader in swiped bags with 68 in 1886.  Three seasons later, Stovey paced the AA and set personal bests with 19 home runs and 119 RBIs.  Stovey's excellent 1889 campaign proved to be his last with Philadelphia as the fleet-footed slugger joined the Boston Reds of the Players League--a rival league that the Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players formed because they were fed up with the reserve clause which bound a player to one club in perpetuity and kept salaries low.  Many of the AA's and NL's top players jumped to the Players League.  Stovey remained a standout talent in his new league--leading the PL with 97 stolen bases and ranking third with 12 home runs.  Stovey's stellar year helped Boston win the Players League's only pennant as the new league folded after one season.

With the folding of the Players League, Stovey's rights as a player laid with the Philadelphia Athletics in the American Association.  However, in an apparent oversight, the Athletics had failed to include Stovey on their reserve list--unintentionally making him a free agent of sorts.  Stovey opted to stay in Boston to play for the Beaneaters of the NL.  Now a 34-year old veteran, Stovey proved he could still dominate at the plate as well as on the basepaths--leading the NL in a slew of categories including home runs, triples, and extra-base hits while also stealing 57 bases--good for fifth highest in the league.  Stovey's potent bat and quick feet proved key to the Beaneaters who captured the NL flag--giving the veteran the unique accomplishment of having won three pennants in three different leagues.

Stovey got off to an uncharacteristically poor start the following season and, with the Beaneaters looking to cut their payroll, the veteran was released in June.  Stovey was signed by the Baltimore Orioles a couple of weeks later.  Perhaps the time off helped Stovey, as the slugger rebounded in Baltimore, posting a 140 OPS+ over the balance of the season.  However, Stovey struggled to start the 1893 campaign.  After seeing a drop in his playing time, he asked for and was granted his release from Baltimore in late May.  Stovey then caught on with the Brooklyn Grooms in what would ultimately be his final year playing major league baseball.  Stovey played professionally in 1894 for former teammate King Kelly's Allentown club and later that season as player-manager for a team in New Bedford, Massachusetts--the same town where the slugger had met his wife, Mary, while playing for the city's minor league club in 1879.  Stovey joined the New Bedford Police in 1895 and made news again in 1901 when he jumped into the water to save a 7-year old boy from drowning while patrolling the waterfront.  Stovey was named Police Chief in 1915, a position he held until he retired in 1923.  Stovey passed away at age 80 in 1937.

At the time of his retirement from major league baseball, Stovey was the career leader in home runs.  Stovey initially set the career home run record while still active in 1885, then was briefly passed by Dan Brouthers in 1887, before recapturing the top career mark during his stellar 1889 campaign.  Stovey's final career total of 122 was ultimately overtaken in 1895 by Roger Connor, who retired with 138 round-trippers.  Despite playing during an era of 85 to 140-game schedules, Stovey still ranked fourth in career home runs in 1921 when Connor was finally surpassed for the career longball mark by Babe Ruth.  Stovey's speed played a key role in his ability to hit home runs as 27 of his 122 round-trippers were of the inside-the-park variety.  Not surprisingly, Stovey retired as the career leader for inside-the-park home runs and more than a century since his final game, still ranks tied for 15th all-time.

Stovey retired as the career home run leader

 

In addition to setting the career home run and inside-the-park home run records, Stovey's 509 swiped bags placed him second only to Arlie Latham in career stolen bases when he played his final major league game in 1893.  While Stovey's stolen base totals may be incomplete due to the statistic not being recorded until his seventh major league season, the speed aspect of his game is also highlighted by his ability to hit triples and produce incredible runs scored totals--two categories in which the fleet-footed slugger ranked number three all-time when he hung up his spikes.  Because the baseball itself was softer and the playing fields were vast, triples were much more common than home runs during the nineteenth century.  Stovey smacked 176 triples during his career and with 1,495 runs scored in just 1,489 games, Stovey holds the unique distinction of being one of only three players--along with Billy Hamilton and George Gore--to play more than 600 games and finish their career with more runs scored than games played.  The speed and aggressiveness with which Stovey took to the basepaths were undoubtedly key factors in how he was able to amass such amazing triples and runs scored totals.  During the era in which Stovey played, baseball equipment was archaic compared to what is used today so fielding errors were much more common.  Errors themselves were tracked but many other important details such as reached on errors, extra bases taken from errors, stolen bases, and wild pitches were unrecorded during much or all of Stovey's career.  His quickness and daring put pressure on opposing defenses, causing them to make errors and pay significantly for them.

Stovey is also notable for being recognized as either the inventor--or at the very least an early adopter--of base running advancements such as sliding into bases feet first, wearing sliding pads to combat injuries, and using the pop up slide to better position himself for advancing to the next base.  Stovey played during an era plagued by poor sportsmanship.  That said, despite his propensity for sliding into bases feet first, Stovey was recognized as one of the game's cleanest players, earning him the nickname "Gentleman Harry."  Alfred Henry Spink, author of the book The National Game, wrote this of Stovey in 1910: "He always slid feet first but was not "nasty" with his feet in the way of trying to hurt the baseman, as some of his imitators were."

On the defensive side of the diamond, Stovey played the bulk of his games in the outfield but also saw his share of action at first base.  During Stovey's era, first base was considered a much more challenging position on defense than it is today.  Overall for his career, Stovey played 550 games at first base and 947 in the outfield with 519 of those in left field, 251 in right, and 176 in center.  In 1888, Stovey showcased his arm strength in a distance-throwing contest held by The Cincinnati Enquirer, finishing second to only Ned Williamson with a mark of 369 feet, 2 inches.

 

Despite holding the career home run record for several seasons and regularly leading his respective league in several important categories, Stovey has yet to be honored with a bronze Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown.  Stovey was arguably the greatest player in the ten-year history of the American Association--ranking as the defunct league's all-time leader in position player WAR, home runs, extra-base hits, and runs scored even though he only spent seven seasons in the AA.  However, having played a significant portion of his career in the AA has likely hindered Stovey's Hall of Fame case since the league is widely viewed as inferior to the NL.  Fifty-six percent of Stovey's career plate appearances took place in the AA.  Thus far, the only players in the Hall of Fame who have anywhere near that high a percentage of their career plate appearances in the AA are Tommy McCarthy and Bid McPhee, who each had just over two-fifths of their turns at the plate come in the defunct league.  McCarthy was voted into Cooperstown by the Old Timers Committee in 1946 as a player but was largely elected due to the innovative strategies he devised such as the hit-and-run.  McPhee's career is less associated with the AA since the Cincinnati Reds franchise where he spent the entirety of his career joined the NL when the AA dissolved and also because his years in the senior circuit came during the high offense 1890s.  Although McPhee made it into the Hall of Fame, his time in the AA may have delayed his election to Cooperstown, which finally came by way of the Veterans Committee in 2000--more than a century after he played his last major league game.  Perhaps because the AA folded after ten seasons while its direct competitor the NL survived and continues to thrive, the accomplishments of its players have been discounted by Hall of Fame voters.

Another factor that has likely hurt Stovey's Hall of Fame case is that his career took place during an era with shorter schedules.  Stovey spent the majority of the first half of his career only playing between 83 to 113-game schedules before the ledger finally expanded to around 140 games at the outset of his seventh season.  The timing of Stovey's career also worked against his Hall of Fame case as during his final major league campaign the pitching distance was moved from 55 feet to 60 feet 6 inches.  This change resulted in a significant increase in scoring that--along with playing their career under longer schedules--helped strengthen the Hall of Fame cases of hitters who played their prime years in the 1890s and made sluggers from Stovey's era look weaker by comparison. 

 

Stovey holds the unique distinction of winning pennants in three different leagues

 

Nevertheless, Stovey's dominance as player is underscored by the frequency in which he led his respective league in a variety of important categories:  Stovey was a five-time leader in home runs and extra-base hits.  He stood atop the league leader chart in triples and runs scored on four occasions.  He also ranked first in total bases and slugging percentage three times.  Although stolen base totals were only recorded for the final eight seasons of Stovey's 14-year career, the daring speedster twice paced the circuit in swiped bags.  Stovey also led the league in doubles and RBI on one occasion each.  In addition to establishing the record for career home runs, he also set single-season records for home runs, extra-base hits, triples, and stolen bases.  Stovey's dominance was not limited to just his time in the American Association as the fleet-footed power-hitter led the National League in home runs and triples on two occasions and also paced the senior circuit in total bases and slugging percentage one time each--all despite spending only the first three and the final three years of his career in the NL.  Moreover, Stovey was the most prolific base stealer in the Players League's single year of existence.

Stovey's dominance is further showcased by the Black Ink Test metric designed by sabermetrician Bill James which measures how often a player led their respective league in important offensive categories.  Stovey ranks 28th all-time in position player career Black Ink--ahead of countless Hall of Famers and trailing only four players--Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Pete Rose, and Ross Barnes--who have yet to be enshrined in Cooperstown.  Stovey's career also looks strong through another James metric, the Gray Ink Test, which measures how often a player finished in their league's top ten in important categories.  Stovey is tied for 46th all-time among position players in Gray Ink, once again ahead of scores of enshrined players, with Bonds, Rose, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera as the only non-Hall of Famers in front of him.

 

Stovey's career value is highlighted by two of today's more popular advanced metrics, WAR and OPS+.  Although Stovey's 45.0 WAR looks modest by contemporary standards, his career total was accumulated in just 6,848 plate appearances due to playing in an era with shorter schedules.  To put Stovey's WAR in better perspective, the speedy slugger averaged an impressive 4.9 WAR per 162 games during his career.  In addition, Stovey finished his career with an excellent 144 OPS+.  Only 34 position players have retired with more plate appearances and produced a career OPS+ equal to or greater than Stovey’s.  Of those 34 position players, just five--Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Dick Allen, Manny Ramirez, and Lance Berkman--have yet to be elected to the Hall of Fame.  Bonds, McGwire, and Ramirez undoubtedly would have been voted into Cooperstown had it not been for their ties to PEDs, while Allen seems destined for eventual enshrinement, having come a single tally shy of election in his two most recent appearances on Era Committee ballots.  Moreover, the only active position players who currently exceed Stovey in both plate appearances and OPS+ are Joey Votto, Miguel Cabrera, and Albert Pujols, each of whom have won at least one MVP award and will likely be first-ballot Hall of Famers when they become eligible.

 

Stovey’s Hall of Fame case has long been championed by writers and historians familiar with nineteenth century baseball.  In 2011, the Society for American Baseball Research selected Stovey as its Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend.  Stovey made his most recent appearance on a Hall of Fame ballot in December 2015 when he was included on the Pre-Integration Era ballot which considered candidates who made their greatest contributions to the sport prior to Jackie Robinson's breaking of baseball's color line in 1947.  Stovey drew 50% of the vote, coming four tallies shy of gaining the 75% required for election from the 16-member panel.  Stovey tied fellow nineteenth century slugger Bill Dahlen for the second-highest vote total among the ten candidates on the ballot, trailing only nineteenth century pioneer Doc Adams who came the closest to enshrinement, falling two check marks shy with 62.5% of the vote.

Stovey was next eligible for consideration by the Early Baseball Era Committee which replaced the Pre-Integration Era Committee.  Two key differences between the Pre-Integration Era Committee and the Early Baseball Era Committee were the timeframe cutoff was changed from 1946 to 1949 and eligibility was restored to black candidates who made their greatest contributions to the sport while participating in the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues.  The Hall of Fame had ceased considering these candidates for enshrinement after the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues elected 17 candidates in 2006.  By restoring the eligibility of the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues candidates, the Hall of Fame essentially reopened a road to Cooperstown that never should have been closed.  In December 2021, the Early Baseball Era Committee held its first election with the 16-member panel voting in a pair of worthy candidates, Buck O'Neil and Bud Fowler, who were each eligible due to the restoration of Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues candidates to the ballot.  Two notable exceptions who were not selected to appear among the Early Baseball Era Committee's ten-candidate ballot were Doc Adams and Harry Stovey.  The exclusions of Adams and Stovey highlighted the difficulty of selecting candidates for the Early Baseball Era which covers, by far, the most expansive timeframe of the four Era Committees.  Moreover, unlike the Today's Game, Modern Baseball, and Golden Days Era Committees, the Early Baseball Era is tasked with considering candidates from more than just the American and National Leagues, drawing its pool from a wide variety of defunct leagues such as the American Association where Stovey spent the majority of his career or one of the Negro Leagues or pre-Negro Leagues where O'Neil and Fowler made their respective marks on the game.

Barring a restructuring of the Era Committees, the Early Baseball Era Committee is not scheduled to hold another election until December 2031.  Thus, Stovey's Hall of Fame candidacy is on hold for now.  Nevertheless, Stovey's incredible combination of power-hitting and base running gave him the ability to regularly lead his respective league in a number of important categories and dominate the game like few players have.  Stovey was one of the nineteenth century's greatest players and his outstanding career is worthy of a bronze plaque in Cooperstown and Hall of Fame immortality.

----by John Tuberty

Follow me on Twitter @BloggerTubbs

 

Stat links to players mentioned: Harry Stovey, Bill Dahlen, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Pete Rose, Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Mark McGwire, Dick Allen, Manny Ramirez, Lance Berkman, Jackie Robinson, Buck O'Neil, Bud Fowler, Ross Barnes, Arlie Latham, Ned Williamson, George Gore, Doc Adams, Billy Hamilton, King Kelly, Roger Connor, Bid McPhee, Tommy McCarthy

Sources:  Baseball Reference, Stathead, Baseball Hall of Fame, SABR, 19th Century Baseball, Baseball Almanac, Philly.com, The Roanoke Times Virginia Chronicle, SouthCoastToday.com, David Nemec and Mark Rucker-The Beer and Whiskey League (Globe Pequot), Edward Achorn-The Summer of Beer and Whiskey (PublicAffairs), David L. Porter-Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Q-Z (Greenwood Publishing Group), Alfred Henry Spink-The National Game (National Game Publishing Company), Norman L. Macht-Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball (University of Nebraska Press), John Thorn-Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, Volume 7 (McFarland), The Sporting News, Fangraphs

 

Other Articles by Tubbs Baseball Blog:

Salvador Perez, Jorge Soler, Bob Cerv, Heavy Johnson, and the Rich History of Kansas City's Single-Season Home Run Record

 

How Dwight Evans Overcame a Mid-Career Crisis to Evolve into a Hall of Fame-Caliber Player

 

Nineteenth Century Baseball Pioneer Deacon White is an Excellent Addition to the Hall of Fame 

Hall of Fame Candidate Tim Hudson’s Pair of Late Season Undefeated Streaks That Played Key Roles in Securing the 2000 and 2002 AL West Division Titles for the Oakland Athletics

The majority of the focus on the upcoming Hall of Fame election will center on the final appearances of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Curt Schilling on the BBWAA ballot along with the debuts of David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez.  One candidate who will struggle to draw the attention that his Hall of Fame case warrants is Tim Hudson.  In my previous article on Hudson, I took an in-depth look into his excellent .625 win-loss percentage and compared his career to recent Hall of Fame inductees and other prominent pitchers from his era.  For this piece, I will examine Hudson’s pair of late season undefeated streaks that played key roles in helping the Oakland Athletics rally from behind to secure the 2000 and 2002 AL West division titles.  In 2000, Hudson dominated the opposition with a microscopic 1.16 ERA and won each of his last seven starts, including the division-clinching game on the final day of the regular season.  Two years later, he made another significant impact on the playoff race by posting a stellar 8-0 mark and 1.75 ERA over his final 11 starts, which included four wins during the A’s record-breaking run of twenty consecutive victories.

Originally signed by Oakland as a 6th round draft pick in the 1997 Amateur Draft, Hudson made his major league debut for the club on June 8, 1999.  Hudson quickly established himself as one of the top young pitchers in the game, finishing his rookie campaign with a superb 11-2 record and a 3.23 ERA.  In the process, the right-hander helped the A’s complete their first winning season since 1992.  During the first half of his sophomore campaign, Hudson went 10-2 with a 4.27 ERA and earned his first All-Star selection.  After a rough patch of outings following the Midsummer Classic, Hudson entered his August 28 home start versus the Chicago White Sox with a 13-6 mark and 5.23 ERA.  However, Hudson’s ERA was deceptively high as, up until that point, his season had been feast-or-famine:  In nine of his 13 victories he had pitched seven or more innings while giving up two or fewer runs.  Conversely, in each of his six losses he had allowed more than a run per inning pitched.

Toeing the rubber against the potent White Sox offense was an unlikely place for Hudson’s undefeated streak to begin.  After all, the South Siders held a commanding lead atop the AL Central division with a league-best 77-53 record while also pacing the junior circuit with an average of 6.12 runs scored per game.  Moreover, just three weeks before in Chicago, Hudson had been chased from the mound in the third inning and taken the loss versus the White Sox.  Going into Hudson’s August 28 start, the A’s were 68-61 and locked in a three-team race for the AL West, trailing the Seattle Mariners by two and a half games and a game and a half ahead of the third place Anaheim Angels.  Oakland was also one of six clubs in a close battle for the AL Wild Card.  At this point, the Boston Red Sox led the wild card standings by a half game over the Cleveland Indians and a full game over the A’s.  Hudson was opposed by White Sox starter Jim Parque who was in the process of putting together a career year and carried a 10-5 record and 4.39 ERA into the contest.  Unlike his previous outing against Chicago, this time around Hudson dominated the White Sox offense, tossing a one-hit shutout in a 3-0 Oakland victory.  The righty only allowed two baserunners the entire game—a top of the third inning walk to Paul Konerko and a single to Frank Thomas in the fourth.  Neither White Sox baserunner advanced past first base as Konerko was forced out at second on a groundout before a strikeout closed the frame while Thomas was erased on an inning-ending double play.  Hudson struck out eight and induced 13 ground ball outs including a Ray Durham tap back to the mound to end the game.  Parque matched zeroes with Hudson through the first four innings until the A’s offense broke through with a pair of runs in the fifth before adding another run in the sixth.  Hudson’s win moved his record to 14-6 and brought his ERA back below 5.00 to 4.93.  The combination of Oakland’s victory and losses by Seattle and Boston pulled them within a game and a half of the Mariners and a half-game of the wild card.

Hudson drew his next start on September 3 in Toronto against the Blue Jays.  The two clubs were in the thick of the wild-card race and came into the game with near identical records of 70-64 for the A’s and 71-64 for the Blue Jays.  Hudson outpitched Toronto starter Esteban Loazia in a tight 4-3 win to give the hurler his 15th win of the season.  Hudson allowed three runs, one of which was unearned, over seven and two-thirds innings of work while Loazia yielded four runs, three earned, across eight innings.  Both Hudson and Loazia exhibited pinpoint control with neither pitcher surrendering a walk.  Longballs proved to be the difference as Hudson kept the ball in the yard while Oakland sluggers Terrence Long, Miguel Tejada, and Jason Giambi each took Loazia deep in the A’s 4-3 victory.

Hudson returned home for his September 9 start to face the last place Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  Similar to his performance less than two weeks before against Chicago, Hudson gave Devil Rays hitters nothing to work with as he pitched a two-hit shutout for win number 16 on the year.  Meanwhile, Oakland’s offense played Home Run Derby in the 10-0 rout, crushing five longballs in the first four innings to chase Devil Rays starter Albie Lopez from the game before adding a sixth round-tripper off reliever Trevor Enders in the following frame.  Hudson’s control was precise as he yielded no walks for his second straight start.  Also like his shutout of the White Sox, the young hurler did not allow Tampa Bay’s offense to advance past first as the only hitters to reach base, John Flaherty and Gerald Williams, each did so with singles and were left stranded when the inning ended.  Exactly a week later, Hudson took the hill versus the Devil Rays again, this time on the road in Tampa Bay opposite former first overall draft pick Paul Wilson.  The A’s scored three runs off Wilson in the top of the fourth and added two more in the fifth which proved to be enough for a 5-2 victory.  Hudson battled all day, allowing a pair of runs on six hits and four walks in six and two-thirds innings of work.  The righty’s 117-pitch outing gave him his fourth straight win to bring his record to 17-6 and his ERA down to 4.49.  Seattle won so Oakland was unable to make up ground and sat two games back in the division race.  However, the combination of the A’s victory and Cleveland’s loss to the New York Yankees moved them into a tie with the Indians for the wild card.

Following Hudson’s win over Tampa Bay, Oakland continued their road trip, proceeding to Baltimore to face the Orioles.  The A’s won the first two games but then, after splitting a September 20 doubleheader, the club traveled across the country to Seattle for a crucial four-game series with the Mariners who now led the AL West by three games.  Oakland tapped Hudson to pitch the September 21 opening contest of the series while Seattle countered with veteran lefty Jamie Moyer.  The Mariners drew first blood, taking a 2-0 lead after a shaky first inning by Hudson.  However, the young righty was able to settle down and did not allow another Seattle player to cross the plate while the A’s offense cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth before breaking the game open and chasing Moyer from the hill with a four-run outburst two innings later.  Oakland’s 5-2 victory brought them back within a pair of games of Seattle and gave them a share of the wild card lead with Cleveland.  Hudson’s final line of two runs allowed, one of which was unearned, through six innings secured the eighteenth win of the year for the hurler.

After Oakland concluded their final road trip of the season by taking two of the next three games against Seattle and winning the opener of a four-game home series versus the Angels, the club stood atop the wild card standings with a one and a half game lead over the Indians and now trailed the Mariners by just a half game in the AL West.  The A’s looked to continue this momentum with their hottest pitcher toeing the slab for the September 26 match up with the Angels.  Just like his previous start, Hudson survived a shaky first inning but surrendered a pair of runs to give Anaheim an early lead.  The A’s sluggers wasted no time in getting on the board, scoring five in the bottom of the first and adding two more in the second to knock Angels starter Scott Schoeneweis out of the game.  Hudson pitched masterfully the rest of the way, not allowing another run and earning the victory for his eight innings of work.  With the Mariners and Indians both winning their games, the standings remained unchanged.  However, Oakland and Cleveland both won three of the next four games while Seattle went 2-2 over the same span.  Thus, going into the tentative final day of the regular season, the A’s held a half game lead over the Mariners which gave Oakland the opportunity to clinch the division with a victory over the Texas Rangers on October 1.  Yet, because the A’s had played one less game than their rivals, if they lost to the Rangers and both the Mariners and Indians won their respective games, Seattle would win the division and Oakland would be forced to travel to Tampa Bay to play the Devil Rays in a makeup game to decide the wild card.

With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, the A’s handed the ball to Hudson to start the potential division-clinching game in front of Oakland’s rabid home crowd.  While Texas had long since been eliminated from playoff contention, after being on the receiving end of an embarrassing 23-2 drubbing by Oakland the previous day, the Rangers had plenty of incentive to want to play spoiler for the A’s.  In addition, Texas started struggling young pitcher Ryan Glynn who was trying his best to stay on the team’s major league roster and had every reason to want to end his season on a high note.  Hudson showed up in top form, allowing just a walk and a pair of hits while striking out five through the first four innings.  Texas threatened in the top of the fifth, getting runners on second and third base, but Hudson was able to keep the ball on the ground and work his way out of trouble.  Despite carrying a 5.84 ERA into the game, Glynn proved to be very much up to the task, matching zeros with Hudson.  With the game still scoreless in the sixth, Hudson implored his teammates to just get him one run.  Finally, the A’s got on the board in the seventh when the bottom of the batting order delivered with number eight hitter Jeremy Giambi smacking a two-out double down the right field line followed by a Ramon Hernandez single to center which scored Giambi.  Texas made things interesting in the top of the eighth with Royce Clayton’s two-out double.  However, after an intentional walk to cleanup hitter Rafael Palmeiro, Hudson got Chad Curtis to ground into a force out at second to end the inning.  The A’s extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the frame when Randy Velarde homered off Glynn and Olmedo Saenz took reliever Tim Crabtree deep.  Having matched his season high of 120 pitches, Hudson gave way to closer Jason Isringhausen for the bottom of the ninth who got the final three outs as Oakland captured the AL West division title.  Hudson was credited as the winning pitcher, thus reaching the 20-victory plateau.  With his win over the Rangers, the right-hander had successfully run the AL West gauntlet, beating each of the A’s division rivals in sequence to close the regular season.

Hudson’s division-clinching victory wrapped up a seven-start stretch in which he went 7-0 with a minuscule 1.16 ERA across 54 1/3 innings.  With his excellent finish to the campaign, Hudson had played a significant role in helping Oakland rally past Seattle to win the division title and was named AL Pitcher of the Month for September.  The young righty did not allow a home run over his final seven starts, and lowered his ERA from 5.23 to 4.14.  While Hudson finished the year with a seemingly mediocre ERA, it was actually the ninth lowest mark in the AL.  At the time, baseball was experiencing one of its most extreme scoring periods.  In fact, the league average 4.91 ERA for the 2000 season ranks third-highest in the one-hundred and twenty plus year history of the junior circuit.  Hudson’s 20-6 record gave him an AL-best .769 win-loss percentage and tied him with Blue Jays pitcher David Wells for the top victory total in the circuit.  Hudson finished runner-up to Red Sox hurler Pedro Martinez in the AL Cy Young Award vote.

Following their division-clinching win over Texas, the A’s advanced to the postseason for the first time since 1992.  Oakland faced the AL East champion Yankees who beat them in a closely-contested five-game ALDS.  Hudson made his playoff debut, starting Game Three of the series on the road in New York.  Even though the righty took the loss, he pitched reasonably well, going the distance and allowing three earned runs in the 4-2 defeat.

Hudson continued his winning ways in 2001, posting an impressive 18-9 record with a solid 3.37 ERA which ranked fifth lowest in the AL.  The young hurler’s excellent campaign helped Oakland capture the AL Wild Card and return to the postseason.  Unfortunately, the A’s once again fell to the Yankees in a hard-fought five-game ALDS.  After losing key players Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, and Jason Isringhausen to free agency over the offseason, Oakland found itself on the outside of the playoff picture as the 2002 season reached its final two months.  Going into Hudson’s August 3 home start versus the Detroit Tigers, the A’s owned a 62-48 record and sat third in the AL West, trailing the division-leading Mariners by six games and the runner-up Angels by three.  Oakland also ranked third in the wild-card race with a three-game deficit to both the Red Sox and the Angels.  Hudson entered the game with just a 7-9 record despite a 3.63 ERA.  However, the righty’s record was misleading as he had been denied five potential victories due to his bullpen blowing the lead in games where he was in line to be the winning pitcher.  Opposing Hudson was Tigers starter Jose Lima.  Since winning 21 games for the 1999 Houston Astros, the eccentric Lima had struggled mightily in the ensuing years and brought an ugly 6.90 ERA into the contest despite ending July with a pair of solid starts.  Oakland’s offense got to Lima early and chased the Tigers hurler from the hill in the fourth after he surrendered his sixth run.  Hudson pitched seven innings and gave up three runs, one of which was unearned, to pick up the victory in the A’s 8-4 triumph.

On August 9, Hudson took the mound on the road in New York against the Yankees who held a league-best 71-42 record.  New York starter Orlando Hernandez left the game after pitching a scoreless first inning due to numbness in his left leg.  Hudson kept the Yankees potent offense off the board for seven frames before muscle cramps in his legs forced his own departure from the game with Oakland up, 2-0.  Unfortunately for Hudson, the A’s bullpen was unable to hold the lead and allowed the Bombers to tie the score in the eighth, marking the sixth time the club’s relief corps had cost the hurler a potential victory.  Oakland ultimately won the game, 3-2, in the sixteenth inning after six hours of play.  Hudson shook off his leg cramps and was back for his next start five days later, facing the Blue Jays at home.  The righty pitched well, giving up just a pair of runs, one of which was unearned, in seven and one-third innings of work to secure the victory in the A’s 4-2 win.  Toronto starter Pete Walker surrendered four runs in six frames and took the loss.  Hudson’s solid pitching performance moved him to 9-9 for the year and lowered his ERA to 3.35.  Oakland’s record improved to 70-51 but still ranked third in both the division and wild card standings.

On August 19, the A’s opened a ten-game road trip with Hudson taking the hill in Cleveland, opposite Indians starter Danys Báez.  Hudson overpowered the Tribe’s offense for his tenth win of the year, allowing only one run in eight and one-third innings of pitching.  The combination of Oakland’s 8-1 victory, which was the club’s sixth in a row, along with Seattle’s loss put the A’s just a single game behind the Mariners and Angels in both the AL West and wild-card races.  Oakland continued their winning ways, taking the next three games to complete the sweep over Cleveland and in the process moved into a tie for the division lead.  The A’s then kicked off the second leg of their road trip with a victory over the Tigers to bring their winning streak to ten straight and gain sole possession of the division lead for the first time since the opening weeks of the season.  Holding a respective one and two-game edge over Seattle and Anaheim in the tight AL West, the club called upon Hudson for the second game in Detroit.  In a rematch of three weeks before, Jose Lima toed the slab against the right-hander.  Once more, Hudson stymied Detroit’s offense, allowing just three runs and going the distance to earn the complete game victory.  By contrast, Lima was unable to make it out of the third before being touched for 11 runs in the 12-3 rout.  The following day, the A’s completed the sweep over the Tigers and then rolled into Kansas City where the club beat the Royals on three successive nights to finish their ten-game road trip undefeated and extend their winning streak to 15.  With the victories, Oakland widened their lead in the AL West to four games over the Angels and four and a half over the Mariners.

Hudson drew his next starting assignment on August 30 at home versus the Minnesota Twins who led the AL Central division by a healthy 16-game margin.  Hudson and Twins starter Brad Radke matched each other pitch for pitch until A’s third baseman Eric Chavez broke a 2-2 tie with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.  Oakland added another run in the seventh off reliever Tony Fiore and prevailed by a final score of 4-2 to give the team its sixteenth victory in a row and Hudson wins in each of his last four starts.  The righty limited Minnesota’s offense to just a pair of runs in six and one-third innings of work, thus lowering his ERA to 3.22 and improving his record to 12-9.  With two more wins over the Twins and a victory over the Royals, Oakland extended the streak to 19 in a row which tied the AL mark set by the 1947 New York Yankees.  The final two victories had been dramatic, ninth inning walk-off wins delivered by slugger Miguel Tejada.  Thus, Hudson entered his September 4 start against the Royals with a chance to pitch the A’s into the AL record books with their twentieth consecutive win.  Oakland raced out to an early lead, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first off Royals starter Paul Byrd.  In the top of the fourth with the score 11-0, an error by Tejada helped fuel a five-run inning by Kansas City.  Hudson departed the game in the top of the seventh, having thrown six and two-thirds innings with five runs allowed, three of which were unearned.  Despite not pitching quite up to his recent form, with his team comfortably ahead 11-5, Hudson was still in line to be the winning pitcher.  However, Oakland’s bullpen was unable to hold the lead as the Royals scored five runs in the top of the eighth before tying the game off closer Billy Koch in the ninth.  While the A’s relief corps had blown the lead and cost Hudson the chance at earning the victory, it set the stage for Scott Hatteberg’s dramatic bottom of the ninth, pinch-hit walk-off home run that gave the club its record-breaking twentieth consecutive win.  Hudson had been one of the main contributors to the A’s amazing run, picking up four victories—two at home and two on the road—during the stretch.  Oakland’s streak finally came to an end two nights later with a loss versus the Twins in Minnesota.  Nevertheless, during their record-setting run, the A’s surged from third place, four and a half games back in the AL West to standing atop the division with a three and a half game lead.

Hudson’s next start came on September 9, in Anaheim, facing the second place Angels who, by this point, had cut Oakland’s lead to just two games.  Taking the mound for the Halos was veteran Kevin Appier who had pitched alongside Hudson in the A’s starting rotation during the 1999 and 2000 seasons and brought a solid 14-9 record and 3.66 ERA into the game.  Hudson and Appier were each able to keep the opposing team’s offenses in check and engage in a pitching duel.  Appier lasted six and two-thirds innings, with his only runs allowed coming on solo home runs by Jermaine Dye and Terrence Long in the top of the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.  Hudson grinded through seven and one-third innings of work, surrendering just one run on a bottom of the fifth inning solo shot by Garrett Anderson which cut Oakland’s advantage to 2-1.  This time, the A’s bullpen successfully protected the lead, giving Hudson his thirteenth win of the season and extending the division lead to three games.  The righty’s narrow win proved to be vital as Anaheim beat Oakland in each of the next three nights to draw even in the AL West standings.  Five days later, Hudson was back at home to take on the A’s other main rival in the division race, the Mariners.  Fresh off getting the better of Appier, Hudson now faced Seattle’s veteran hurler Jamie Moyer who had won 20 games during the prior season and carried an impressive 13-7 record and 3.23 ERA into the game.  After leading the AL West from the second week of April into the latter part of August, the Mariners had fallen to third, eight games behind Oakland and Anaheim who remained tied for first in both the division and the wild-card races.  With the A’s looking to push Seattle further out of the playoff picture, Hudson pitched, perhaps, his finest game of season, allowing only four hits and a pair of walks to earn the shutout win in a tense, 1-0, Oakland victory.  Moyer proved to be a formidable foe, going the distance while giving up just one unearned run following a pair of infield errors to open the bottom of the second inning which set the stage for Scott Hatteberg’s RBI single.  Hudson’s shutout win pushed his record to 14-9 and lowered his ERA to 3.01.  With the victory, Oakland now sat nine games ahead of Seattle but due to Anaheim’s win over Texas, the A’s and the Halos remained tied.  For his pair of key victories against Oakland’s division rivals, Hudson was named co-AL Player of the Week, sharing the honor with Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez.

Hudson’s next turn in the rotation came at home on September 19 to pitch the final matchup of a four-game series with the Angels.  After relinquishing the lead to Anaheim twice since Hudson’s most recent start, Oakland came into the game, having drawn even in the division race with a 7-4 victory the night before.  Opposing the A’s hurler for the second time in September was veteran Kevin Appier.  While neither starter was quite as effective as in their battle earlier in the month, once again, Hudson managed to outpitch his more experienced foe, allowing three runs in seven and one-third innings compared to the four runs surrendered by Appier in five and one-third frames.  Oakland took the game by the final score of 5-3 to reclaim the division lead and give the right-hander his fifteenth victory of the year as well as his third campaign in a row reaching the 15-win mark.  Hudson’s final start of the regular season came in Seattle on September 25.  Sporting a 99-58 record, the A’s were inching closer to the divisional title, now leading the AL West by three games over the Angels while the Mariners were all but mathematically eliminated at eight games back.  Hudson rematched his second veteran in September when Jamie Moyer toed the rubber for Seattle.  Both hurlers exited the game after completing seven innings, with Hudson getting the better of the duel, giving up just one run compared to Moyer’s two.  However, Oakland’s bullpen coughed up the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning and the A’s lost the game, 3-2.  The frustrating outcome was an all too familiar one for Hudson as it marked the eighth time during the season the club’s relief corps had cost him a potential victory by surrendering the lead in a game in which he was in line to be the winning pitcher.  In spite of this, Hudson still managed to finish the 2002 campaign with a solid 15-9 record supported by an excellent 2.98 ERA.  Oakland and Anaheim each won their respective games the following day which clinched the AL West division title for the A’s and secured the wild card for the Angels.

Oakland faced the AL Central champion Twins in the ALDS but, once again came up short in the opening round of the postseason, losing to Minnesota in five games.  Hudson started Games One and Four of the ALDS.  Unfortunately, the righty suffered a strained left internal oblique muscle during his final regular season start in Seattle.  Hampered by the injury, Hudson struggled against Minnesota, going 0-1 with a 6.23 ERA in his pair of ALDS starts.

While the poorly-timed muscle strain prevented Hudson from pitching at his best during the ALDS, just as in 2000, the hurler’s late season undefeated stretch had proved to be indispensable in helping the A’s overtake their division rivals and clinch the AL West crown.  Over the final two months of the season, Hudson went 8-0 with a spectacular 1.75 ERA in 82 1/3 innings pitched across 11 starts.  During Hudson’s dominant stretch, Oakland surged from six games behind the Mariners in the AL West standings to win the division by four games, going 10-1 in the righty’s final 11 starts.  In the closing weeks of the campaign, the righty took the hill versus the A’s main rivals in the division race, Anaheim and Seattle, outdueling grizzled veterans Kevin Appier and Jamie Moyer a pair of times each.  Throughout his stellar late season run, Hudson exhibited impeccable control, surrendering just 11 walks over 82 1/3 innings and never more than two in any one start.

Between 2000 and 2004, Hudson shared the A’s starting rotation with Mark Mulder and Barry Zito.  This impressive trio of young starters came to be known as the Big Three.  In their five seasons together, the Big Three helped Oakland win three AL West division titles and one AL Wild Card.  Perhaps, the Big Three’s finest run as a collective unit was during the final two months of the 2002 season:  Hudson’s 8-0 record and 1.75 ERA led the way; Mulder went 7-1 with a 3.16 ERA; and Zito also did his part, posting an 8-2 mark supported by a 2.24 ERA.  Combined, the Big Three posted an incredible 23-3 record and 2.38 ERA over the final two months of the campaign.  Oakland’s number four starter Cory Lidle also pitched sensationally, being named AL Pitcher of the Month in August after going 5-0 with an otherworldly 0.20 ERA.  Lidle’s amazing August included a streak of 32 consecutive scoreless innings but was followed by a difficult September in which he went 0-1 with a 4.64 ERA.  Each of these four hurlers were instrumental in the A’s record-breaking run of 20-straight victories with Hudson and Zito both winning four games while Mulder and Lidle were credited with three apiece.

Despite completing yet another strong season, Hudson did not factor into the 2002 Cy Young Award vote.  Zito, who finished the year with a 23-5 record and a 2.75 ERA, took home the award, edging out Red Sox hurler Pedro Martinez in a close election.  Although it is true Zito had a better overall season than Hudson, their numbers were a lot closer than reflected in the Cy Young vote.  Zito edged his teammate in ERA, strikeouts, and WHIP while Hudson held the upper hand in innings pitched, complete games, and shutouts.  Of course the WAR metric was still several years away from being a factor in Cy Young elections, yet, the two hurlers’ WAR totals show their value as almost identical with Zito ranking third in the AL with a 7.2 mark while Hudson is slotted one spot behind his teammate at 6.9.  Nevertheless, the disparity in their support from award voters largely stemmed from Zito’s advantage in wins.  Had Hudson not been snake bitten by the A’s bullpen blowing several of the righty’s potential victories, it is likely he would have reached the twenty-win plateau and been a more serious candidate in the 2002 Cy Young Award vote.

With his pair of late season undefeated streaks, Hudson played key roles in the Oakland A’s come-from-behind rallies to clinch the 2000 and 2002 AL West division titles.  These dominant runs represent strong bullet points in Hudson’s underrated Hall of Fame case.  While the upcoming Hall of Fame election will be dominated by the controversial legacies of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Alex Rodriguez, hopefully voters will take a longer look at one of the more overlooked candidates and consider Tim Hudson.

----by John Tuberty

Link to my previous Hudson article:  An In-Depth Look at Hall of Fame Candidate Tim Hudson’s Career and How it Compares to Recent Cooperstown Inductees and Prominent Pitchers From His Era

Follow me on Twitter @BloggerTubbs

Stat links to main players mentioned:  Tim Hudson, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas, Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, David Wells, Jamie Moyer, Kevin Appier, Jason Isringhausen, Cory Lidle, Jose Lima, Scott Hatteberg, Jim Parque, Albie Lopez, Ryan Glynn

Sources:  Baseball Reference, ESPN September 2000, ESPN August 2002 article, Sports Illustrated Vault, The New York Times, UPI, San Francisco Chronicle, Mychael Urban-Aces: The Last Season on the Mound with the Oakland A’s Big Three—Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito (Wiley)

Tim Hudson cards: 2003 Topps Pristine, 2004 Topps Pristine, 2002 Fleer Triple Crown, 2004 Fleer Tradition, 2003 Donruss Champion, 2003 Upper Deck Authentics, 2001 Upper Deck, 2002 Topps Reserve, 2003 Donruss

Other players cards: Jim Parque 2000 Pacific, Albie Lopez 2000 Pacific Crown Collection, Ryan Glynn 1999 Fleer Tradition Update, Oakland Athletics Team 2003 Topps, Kevin Appier 2003 Leaf, Jamie Moyer 2002 Fleer Triple Crown, Mark Mulder 2003 Donruss, Barry Zito 2003 Donruss

Other Articles by Tubbs Baseball Blog: 

An In-Depth Look at Hall of Fame Candidate Tim Hudson’s Career and How it Compares to Recent Cooperstown Inductees and Prominent Pitchers From His Era

The Break-up of The Oakland A’s Dynasty, How The Players Fared After Leaving as Free Agents, and Their Airbrushed 1977 Topps Cards

My Father’s Memories of Working with Carl Yastrzemski at Kahn’s-Hillshire Farm in the Early Eighties

 

Ryan Mountcastle and Ian Anderson Join Gregg Jefferies as the Only Players to Garner Rookie of the Year Support in Two Different Seasons

Going into the 2021 campaign, Gregg Jefferies was the only player to garner Rookie of the Year support in two different seasons.  With his excellent stint as a late season call up in 1988, Jefferies drew a single second place vote to finish tied for sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year election.  Jefferies followed that up with a respectable full-length 1989 campaign and finished third on the NL rookie ballot, in the process becoming the first player to pick up votes in multiple seasons.  However, the special circumstances of the abbreviated 60-game 2020 campaign, set the stage for four players—Atlanta Braves pitcher Ian Anderson, Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, Baltimore Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, and Miami Marlins pitcher Sixto Sanchez—to draw support on the 2020 Rookie of the Year ballot and still retain their rookie status for 2021.  After completing their solid 2021 campaigns and finishing a respective sixth in the AL Rookie of the Year vote and fifth in the NL vote, Ryan Mountcastle and Ian Anderson have now joined Jefferies as the only players to accomplish this unique feat.

Ryan Mountcastle

The Baltimore Orioles selected Ryan Mountcastle in the first round of the 2015 Amateur Draft with the thirty-sixth overall pick which the club had received as compensation for losing Nelson Cruz to free agency.  Originally drafted as a shortstop, Mountcastle was slid over to third base when he was promoted to Double-A Bowie for the 2017 season.  With his move up to Triple-A Norfolk for 2019, the organization abandoned playing him at the hot corner and decided to split him between the less defensively demanding positions of first base and left field.  While in Norfolk, Mountcastle showcased his power, finishing 2019 with 25 home runs and ranking among the International League leaders in multiple offensive categories.  After earning his late August call up, Mountcastle scorched opposing pitchers and finished 2020 with a 137 OPS+ while batting .333 with 5 home runs and 23 RBI in 35 games.  Mountcastle collected a sole third place vote on the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year ballot from Baltimore-based Associated Press writer Dave Ginsburg which put him in a three-way tie with Jesus Luzardo and Brady Singer for eighth in the election.

Perhaps due to his limitations on defense, Mountcastle ranked well out of the top-ten in the preseason prospect lists, only checking in at 28th on Baseball Prospectus’ index and slotting all the way down in 63rd on Baseball America’s registry.  While Mountcastle did not garner as high a ranking as many of the other potential Rookie of the Year candidates, with his ability to hit for power, it was not hard to imagine him being able to factor into the vote.  The 24-year-old slugger got off to a slow start in 2021, batting just .226 with a .628 OPS through the first two months of the season.  However, Mountcastle’s bat came alive in June as he clubbed nine home runs, hit .327, and posted a sensational 1.015 OPS while driving in 26 runs in 26 games.  Mountcastle received two awards for his outstanding June, being named AL Rookie of the Month as well as AL Player of the Week for a six-game stretch from May 31 to June 6 in which he went deep four times, collected 10 RBI, and batted .458 with an eye-popping 1.563 OPS.  His dominant month also included a June 19 game in Baltimore where he went 4 for 4, hitting home runs in each of his first three plate appearances before adding a single in his final at bat.  Mountcastle drove in four runs and scored three times but it wasn’t enough as the O’s bullpen coughed up a 7-4 lead, allowing the Toronto Blue Jays to cross the plate six times in the top of the ninth inning to lose, 10-7.  The youngster’s excellent June moved his batting average up to .263 and increased his OPS to .770.  Yet, when the calendar turned to July, Mountcastle began to struggle again.  Then, just as his bat started to heat back up with an eight-game hitting streak, he went on the 7-day injured list with a concussion after receiving a hard tag to the head from shortstop Wander Franco while attempting to steal second base during an August 6 game against the Tampa Bay Rays.  Mountcastle returned to the field on August 17 and got exactly one hit in each of the next five contests to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games.  Mountcastle’s hitting streak came in the midst of Baltimore’s 19-game losing streak which spanned from August 3 to 24.  Despite the concussion and the O’s losing streak, Mountcastle had an outstanding August, smacking 8 home runs and driving in 16 runs in just 19 games while dominating pitchers with a .357 batting average and 1.183 OPS.  Although Mountcastle’s bat cooled in September, he continued to blast round-trippers and on September 12 hit his 28th longball of the season to tie the O’s rookie home run record set by franchise icon Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982.  Four nights later, Mountcastle launched New York Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery’s pitch deep over Camden Yards’ center field wall to establish a new O’s rookie benchmark.

Mountcastle finished his official rookie season with 33 home runs, 89 RBI, a .255 batting average, .309 OBP, and .796 OPS.  The young slugger’s impressive longball total led all MLB rookies while his 89 RBI was just one shy of the rookie-leading mark set by Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis García.  Mountcastle saw the majority of his at bats come out of the clean-up spot and the two-hole in the batting order.  He spent the bulk of his time on defense at first base but also was used as the club’s designated hitter and occasionally played left field as well.  Mountcastle’s home run and RBI marks led the Orioles as he was one of the few bright spots for a club that scored the next-to-the least amount of runs in the AL and tied the Arizona Diamondbacks with an MLB-worst 52-110 record.  Despite his longball power, Mountcastle accumulated a surprisingly low 0.9 WAR, a mark that was brought down by playing less demanding positions and producing poor defensive numbers in his limited appearances in left field.  In addition, the huge disparity in his home and road splits took some of the bite out of his power numbers as 22 of his 33 home runs came at hitter-friendly Camden Yards where his .871 OPS was well above the .713 mark he attained on the road.  When park adjusted, Mountcastle’s impressive .796 OPS translated to a less illustrious 112 OPS+.  Moreover, strikeouts and plate discipline were constant struggles for the slugger as he whiffed 161 times while taking just 41 walks.  Although Mountcastle experienced his share of difficulties at the plate during the 2021 season, on the strength of his sensational hitting in June and August, he was able to paste his name all over the AL rookie leaderboard.  Mountcastle not only paced the junior circuit rookies in home runs, but also finished runner-up in RBI, runs scored, extra-base hits, slugging percentage, and total bases while ranking in the top-five in several other categories.

Mountcastle earned a pair of second place votes and four third place check marks on the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year ballot.  The power-hitter’s 10 points placed him sixth in the election.  Mountcastle received votes from each of the Baltimore BBWAA chapter representatives, collecting a second place tally from at-large writer Peter Schmuck and a third place check mark from MLB.com’s Joe Trezza.  His remaining second place vote came from Boston BBWAA chapter representative Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.  Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena secured 22 of 30 first place votes and amassed 124 points to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award.  By gathering support in both 2020 and 2021, Mountcastle joined Gregg Jefferies and Ian Anderson as the only players to accrue votes in multiple seasons.

Ian Anderson

Originally selected by the Atlanta Braves with the third overall pick of the 2016 Amateur Draft, Ian Anderson progressed through the minor leagues and earned his first major league call up midway through the abbreviated 2020 season in late August.  The young right-hander immediately announced his presence with an impressive debut, holding the New York Yankees to just one hit, a Luke Voit home run, across six innings of work to outpitch veteran Gerrit Cole and pick up the win in Atlanta’s 5-1 victory.  Anderson finished the season with a 3-2 record and a phenomenal 1.95 ERA to help lead the Braves to the NL East division title.  Anderson rode his regular season momentum into the playoffs where he won both Game Two of the NL Wild Card Series over the Cincinnati Reds and Game Two of the NLDS versus the Miami Marlins.  In each of his playoff victories, Anderson did not allow a run.  He then started Games Two and Seven of the NLCS on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers but did not factor into the decision of either contest.  Overall, Anderson went 2-0 with a minuscule 0.96 ERA in 18 2/3 innings across four postseason starts.  Despite only taking the mound for six regular season starts, Anderson made the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year ballot with a sole third place vote from Philadelphia BBWAA chapter member Jack McCaffery of the Delaware County Daily Times.  The single point Anderson collected from McCaffery’s vote put him in a three-way tie with Andres Gimenez and Sixto Sanchez for seventh place in the election.

Anderson came into the 2021 season as one of the favorites to win the NL Rookie of the Year, ranking as the number five prospect according to Baseball Prospectus and number eight for Baseball America.  The young hurler got off to an excellent start, posting a 2.48 ERA in April.  He concluded the month by picking up his first two victories of the year, throwing six and two-thirds scoreless innings on the road against the Yankees and tossing seven frames of one-hit ball at home versus the Chicago Cubs.  On May 15, Anderson grabbed his third win of the season with another outstanding road start, holding the Milwaukee Brewers hitless for six innings before allowing a single and a double to open the seventh.  While Anderson was able to display flashes of brilliance, he also struggled with consistency, owning a 5-5 record with a 3.56 ERA when he went on the injured list after experiencing shoulder soreness during a July 11 start against the Marlins.  The right-hander returned to the mound on August 29 and pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings to earn the win at home against the first place San Francisco Giants.  Anderson’s struggles resurfaced in early September but he finished the regular season strong with a pair of crucial victories in his final two outings to help the Braves hold off the Philadelphia Phillies and win their fourth straight NL East division title.  In his penultimate start, Anderson pitched seven innings and gave up just one run on the road versus the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Anderson capped off his regular season by holding off the Phillies to a pair of runs across six frames to clinch the division crown in front of the Braves fans at Truist Park.

Anderson finished his official rookie campaign with a 9-5 record and a 3.58 ERA in 24 starts while averaging just under a strikeout per inning.  The opening outs were often the hardest for Anderson to get as he compiled an ugly 6.38 ERA in the first inning compared to an impressive 2.93 mark thereafter.  Anderson’s overall 3.58 ERA was second-lowest among NL rookies with more than 75 innings pitched.  Anderson’s nine victories tied Reds pitcher Vladimir Gutiérrez for the NL rookie lead.  The young right-hander also ranked among the NL rookie top-five in several other categories including strikeouts, innings pitched, and WHIP.  His 2.6 WAR trailed only Marlins hurler Trevor Rogers among NL rookie pitchers and slotted fifth overall for NL rookies.  For the second year in a row, Anderson carried the momentum of a strong regular season into the playoffs, throwing five scoreless frames at home against the NL Central champion Brewers to earn the victory in Game Three of the NLDS.  Atlanta once again faced the Dodgers in the NLCS with Anderson making a pair of starts at Truist Park.  The rookie hurler took the hill for Game Two and the pennant-clinching Game Six but did not factor into the decision of either contest.  Anderson’s next start came in Game Three of the World Series against the Houston Astros.  With the series even at one game apiece and moving back to Truist Park, Anderson pitched brilliantly, throwing five no-hit innings to earn the victory and swing the momentum back in favor of the Braves who ultimately captured the World Series championship in six games.  Had Houston been able to force a decisive seventh game, it is likely Anderson would have been called upon to make the start.  The 23-year-old further cemented his status as an excellent playoff pitcher, posting a 1.59 ERA across 17 innings during the 2021 postseason.  Anderson’s crucial NLDS and World Series victories improved his playoff record to 4-0.  Moreover, with a magnificent 1.26 ERA from his combined 2020 and 2021 playoff appearances, Anderson is one of just four pitchers to produce a sub-1.50 ERA through his first eight career postseason starts.

Anderson’s solid campaign secured him a trio of third place tallies on the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year ballot.  The young righty’s three points gave him a fifth place finish in the election.  Since award ballots are submitted prior to the start of the postseason, Anderson’s role in the Braves championship run was not factored into the election.  Two of Anderson’s votes came from Atlanta’s BBWAA chapter representatives, Charles Odum of The Associated Press and MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, while the other check mark came from The New York Post’s Joel Sherman who represented the Milwaukee BBWAA chapter.  Reds second baseman Jonathan India picked up 29 of 30 first place votes and accumulated 148 points to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award.  By accruing votes in both 2020 and 2021, Anderson joined Gregg Jefferies and Ryan Mountcastle as the only players to draw Rookie of the Year support in two separate seasons.

Ke’Bryan Hayes

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Ke’Bryan Hayes in the first round of the 2015 Amateur Draft with the thirty-second overall pick which the club had received as compensation for losing Russell Martin to free agency.  Hayes was selected in the same draft as fellow Rookie of the Year candidate Mountcastle, with the Pirates calling his name four picks ahead of the O’s slugger.  Hayes is the son of former major leaguer Charlie Hayes who shared the 1989 NL Rookie of the Year ballot with Gregg Jefferies and finished tied with Andy Benes for fifth in the election after garnering a single second place vote.  The younger Hayes proved to be a stalwart on defense, winning the minor league equivalent of the Gold Glove Award in 2017, 2018, and 2019, thus becoming the first player since Ramón Conde in 1961 to win the honor in three consecutive seasons.  However, when Hayes earned his call up to Pittsburgh in the latter half the 2020 campaign, the slick-gloved rookie made his mark by standing out on offense.  In his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs on September 1, Hayes hit a solo home run and stroked an RBI double.  He continued swinging a hot bat for the remainder of the season, hitting safely in 20 of the 24 games he appeared in.  During Pittsburgh’s penultimate game of the year, Hayes went 5 for 5, scoring three runs and hitting a trio of doubles to help the club to an 8-0 victory against the Cleveland Indians.  By the end of the campaign, he had raised his average to an incredible .376 with a .442 OBP, 1.124 OPS, and 201 OPS+.  Hayes capped the season by being named NL Rookie of the Month for September.  In the 2020 Rookie of the Year election, Hayes was the only candidate among Anderson, Mountcastle, and Sanchez to pick up more than a single third place vote as he collected a second place tally from Los Angeles BBWAA chapter member Christina Kahrl of ESPN.com along with a pair of third place check marks from the two Pittsburgh-based voters, Will Graves of the Associated Press and Dejan Kovacevic of DKPittsburghSports.com.  The three votes gave Hayes five points and a sixth place finish in the election.

After going on an offensive tear during the final month of 2020, Hayes entered 2021 as one of the favorites to win top NL rookie honors and was classified as the number seven prospect by Baseball Prospectus and number fifteen by Baseball America.  Hayes kicked off his 2021 campaign by taking Cubs hurler Kyle Hendricks deep in his first plate appearance on Opening Day.  Unfortunately, during Pittsburgh’s second game of the season, he injured his left wrist and departed the contest early.  As a result, the second generation slugger went on the injured list and missed two months of the season.  Hayes returned to the field on June 3 and hit safely in each of his first ten games back from injury.  The next few weeks were highlighted by a series of multi-hit games in both late June and early July as Hayes entered the All-Star Break with a solid .787 OPS.  However, Hayes slumped at the plate during the second half, posting just a .632 OPS.  His season came to a premature end on September 29 when he was placed back on the IL with soreness in his left wrist.  With Pittsburgh sitting last in the NL Central and Hayes experiencing pain in a different part of his wrist than he had in April, the club decided to shut the third baseman down rather than risk further injury.  Hayes’ wrist had periodically hampered him following his first stint on the IL and undoubtedly played a role in his struggles at the plate.

Injuries limited Hayes’ official rookie campaign to 96 games and he finished the year with a .689 OPS which translated to a below league average OPS+ of 87.  Nevertheless, Pittsburgh showed their confidence in the youngster, primarily batting him out of the two-hole in the lineup before moving him to the leadoff spot in September.  Hayes hit 6 home runs and drove in 38 runs while batting .257 with a .316 OBP.  Hayes showcased his speed, going 9 for 10 in stolen base attempts.  Although Hayes was unable to rekindle the magic in his bat from 2020, he lived up to his reputation as an elite defender, leading NL third basemen with 16 Defensive Runs Saved.  In addition, Hayes’ .988 fielding percentage and range factor per 9 innings of 2.89 were both well above the respective .957 and 2.56 league averages for third baseman.  Hayes also ranked third among his NL hot corner peers with 28 double plays turned.  Largely due to his sterling defense, Hayes produced 2.4 WAR, the fifth-highest total for NL rookie position players and seventh overall among senior circuit rookies.  However, Hayes’ slick glovework was not enough to secure the 24-year-old any votes on the 2021 NL Rookie of the Year ballot.

Sixto Sanchez

Miami Marlins pitcher Sixto Sanchez also had the chance to join Gregg Jefferies, Ryan Mountcastle, and Ian Anderson as the only players to draw Rookie of the Year support in two different campaigns before a shoulder injury caused the hurler to miss the entire 2021 regular season.  Originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2015 as an amateur free agent, Sanchez was acquired by the Marlins four years later as part of the J.T. Realmuto trade.  Miami promoted Sanchez in late August and he was able to deliver some big wins and help the club capture one of the wild card spots in the special 2020 postseason tournament.  One of Sanchez’s key performances was a seven-inning complete game victory in the first half of a September 13 doubleheader that the Marlins swept over his former club, the Phillies.  Sanchez finished the 2020 regular season with a 3-2 record and 3.46 ERA.  The young right-hander made a pair of postseason starts, throwing five scoreless innings but not factoring into the decision in Miami’s Game Two victory against the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series.  His next start was a rough outing versus the Atlanta Braves in Game Three of the NLDS in which he gave up four runs across three innings and took the loss.  Sanchez’s solid regular season earned the pitcher a single third place vote on the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year ballot from Arizona BBWAA chapter member David Venn of MLB.com to put him in a three-way tie with Ian Anderson and Andres Gimenez for seventh in the election.

Sanchez entered 2021 as the top prospect among Anderson, Hayes, and Mountcastle, ranking number four according to Baseball Prospectus and number six on Baseball America’s list.  Unfortunately the Dominican-born hurler’s season seemed doomed from the start as his arrival to the club’s spring training camp was first delayed by a visa issue followed by a false positive on a COVID-19 test.  Sanchez was then sidelined by shoulder soreness and in early July was shut down for the remainder of the season after an MRI showed a small tear in his right shoulder.  On July 20, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on the shoulder.  Following the surgery, Marlins general manager Kim Ng said the club is hopeful Sanchez will ready by Opening Day 2022.  Technically, since Sanchez did not exceed his rookie limits in 2020 or 2021, he will be eligible for the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year.

When Gregg Jefferies became the first player to garner Rookie of the Year support in two separate seasons, he did so under much different circumstances than Ryan Mountcastle and Ian Anderson.  During Jefferies’ 1988 call up, he made his first appearance of the year for the Mets on August 28 and was with the club through the end of the campaign which represented roughly one-fifth of the regular season.  Since Jefferies had spent fewer than 45 days on the Mets major league roster prior to September 1 and the 115 career at bats he had accumulated up until that point did not exceed the 130 at bat threshold, the young slugger’s rookie status stayed intact for 1989.  By contrast, Mountcastle and Anderson made their 2020 debuts on August 21 and August 26, respectively.  Thus their time on their club’s roster represented more than half of the barely two-month long campaign.  Had Mountcastle and Anderson appeared on their team’s roster for anything close to half of a normal 162-game regular season, they would have easily blown past the service time threshold and would not have had their rookie status intact for 2021.

However, when Jefferies accomplished the feat over the course of the 1988 and 1989 seasons, the circumstances under which he was operating were also different from prior eras.  At the time the Rookie of the Year Award was established in 1947, only first place votes were counted and it was not until a tie between Alfredo Griffin and John Castino in the 1979 AL vote that the 5-3-1 voting format of five points for first place, three points for second, and a single point for third was adopted for the following year’s election.  In addition, the 50-inning, 130-at bat, and fewer than 45 days of pre-September 1 service time did not become the standard thresholds until 1971.  Thus, it is possible that other players may have turned the trick before Jefferies had they been operating under the same criteria.  Regardless though, for three-plus decades Jefferies stood as the only player to garner Rookie of the Year support in two separate seasons and it took a unique set of circumstances for another player to achieve this result.

----by John Tuberty

Follow me on Twitter @BloggerTubbs

Stat links to main players mentioned: Ian Anderson, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Ryan Mountcastle, Sixto Sanchez, Jonathan India, Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco, Adolis García, Trevor Rogers, Nelson Cruz, Luke Voit, JT Realmuto, Cal Ripken Jr., Gregg Jefferies, Kyle Hendricks, Charlie Hayes, Ramón Conde

Sources: Baseball Reference, BBWAA, CBS Sports, Baltimore Sun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, ESPN, MiLB.com, September 2020 MLB.com article, May 1 MLB.com article, May 9 MLB.com article, July 2 MLB.com article, July 21 MLB.com article, September 29 article MLB.com article

Cards: Gregg Jefferies 1988 Score, Ryan Mountcastle 2021 Bowman, Ian Anderson 2021 Bowman, Ryan Mountcastle 2021 Bowman-Rookie of the Year Favorites, Ian Anderson 2021 Bowman-Rookie of the Year Favorites-Mojo Refractor, Ke’Bryan Hayes 2021 Bowman-Rookie of the Year Favorites, Sixto Sanchez 2021 Bowman-Rookie of the Year Favorites

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Gregg Jefferies’ Unique Feat of Drawing Rookie of the Year Votes in Two Different Seasons

Salvador Perez, Jorge Soler, Bob Cerv, Heavy Johnson, and the Rich History of Kansas City’s Single-Season Home Run Record

Polaroids of Cal Ripken Jr. and the 1987 Baltimore Orioles from On Field Photo Night