There are Major League records, and there are American League records, and there are National League records, and sometimes there are Modern Records, and Wind-Aided Olympic Records, and Records by Weight Class, and Rhino Records. So lets see what happens if we break it out by Division. Wouldn’t it add more interest to this season to know that AJ Pierzynski needs only 5 more HBPs to break the American League Central HBP record, moving ahead of Matt Lawton? And why limit it to HBPs? Might it help Andre Dawson’s Hall of Fame campaign if someone knew that he’s the all time leader in National League East hits? Although, Chipper Jones only needs 303 more hits to match Dawson’s total.
Anyway, here are the all time leaders in HBPs by Division. Keep in mind that the Central Divisions in each league have been around since 1994 and the East and West Divisions were invented in 1969.
|
AL West
|
AL Central Matt Lawton – 74 A.J. Pierzynski* – 70 Damion Easley – 70 Mike Sweeney** – 66 Paul Konerko* – 63 |
AL East Don Baylor – 165 Brady Anderson – 152 Derek Jeter* – 138 Carlos Delgado** – 122 Jason Giambi** – 109 |
| NL West Larry Walker – 98 Barry Bonds – 86 Luis Gonzalez – 85 Jeff Kent – 79 Andres Galarraga – 66 Robby Thompson – 66 |
NL Central Craig Biggio – 257 Jason Kendall* – 196 Fernando Vina – 108 Jeff Bagwell – 100 Jason LaRue* – 98 |
NL East Ron Hunt – 116 Andres Galarraga – 102 Andre Dawson – 94 Mike Lieberthal – 88 Andruw Jones** – 83 Chase Utley* – 83 |
*- Active
** – Active, but not in that division.
Check out Don Baylor – 1st in the AL East, 2nd in the AL West. The closest active contender for the AL East plunk record is Jason Giambi with just 49. Todd Helton is the closest active player in the NL West to that record, but he’s only half way their with 49.
Sac Fly leaders by division:
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AL West
|
AL Central Frank Thomas – 80 Omar Vizquel** – 62 Magglio Ordonez* – 57 Joe Randa – 56 Mike Sweeney** – 54 |
AL East Cal Ripken – 127 Robin Yount – 123 Wade Boggs – 96 Don Mattingly – 96 Jim Rice – 94 |
| NL West Steve Garvey – 90 Dave Concepcion – 86 Tony Gwynn – 85 Johnny Bench – 81 Dusty Baker – 80 |
NL Central Jeff Bagwell – 7 3 Craig Biggio – 65 Aramis Ramirez* – 59 Sammy Sosa – 58 Mark Grace – 49 |
NL East Andre Dawson – 110 Mike Schmidt – 108 Gary Carter – 95 Chipper Jones* – 79 Bobby Bonilla – 72 |
*- Active
** – Active, but not in that division
Garrett Anderson left the AL west one sac fly away from the top 5 with 76, but Griffey is the next active in that division at only 56. Vernon Wells is the top active in the AL East with 48 sac flies. Todd Helton has sacrificed the most fly in the NL West among actives, with 61.
Hit leaders by division:
|
AL West
George Brett – 3,154 Rod Carew – 2,777 Garret Anderson** – 2,368 Edgar Martinez – 2,247 Willie Wilson – 2,145 |
AL Central Magglio Ordonez* – 1,833 Jim Thome* – 1,628 Omar Vizquel** – 1,616 Frank Thomas – 1,536 Paul Konerko* – 1,493 |
AL East Cal Ripken – 3,184 Robin Yount – 3,142 Wade Boggs – 3,010 Paul Molitor – 2,789 Derek Jeter* – 2,539 |
| NL West Tony Gwynn – 3,141 Steve Garvey – 2,599 Dave Concepcion – 2,326 Pete Rose – 2,249 Steve Finley – 2,182 |
NL Central Craig Biggio – 2,261 Jeff Bagwell – 1,820 Sammy Sosa – 1,761 Jason Kendall* – 1,583 Albert Pujols* – 1,536 |
NL East Andre Dawson – 2,578 Chipper Jones* – 2,279 Mike Schmidt – 2,234 Larry Bowa – 2,191 Keith Hernandez – 2,156 |
*- Active
** – Active, but not in that division
I was going to to homers next, but after using all those asterisks to mark active players, it would get really confusing with the number of asterisks I’d have to put all over the juiced up homer totals. Lets just get over homers being an important stats. Too many players are too big and too many parks are too small. HBPs have always been a better stat for baseball greatness.
Plunk Signal