The Quad, Part II
Last week, I introduced "The Quad." To recap, The Quad is awarded to a player who leads the league in on base percentage, slugging average, times on base, and total bases. The Quad measures the two most important components of run production--the ability to get on base and the ability to drive base runners home. The former is covered via on base percentage (OBP) and times on base (TOB). The latter is covered via slugging average (SLG) and total bases (TB). None of these stats are team dependent. Therefore, The Quad is a pure statistical measure of an individual's offensive performance. In the introductory article on The Quad, I listed the 17 different players in modern baseball history who have earned The Quad Award by leading their respective league in all four Quad categories. This exclusive fraternity has earned The Quad Award over the course of 31 different seasons with six of the players achieving this honor on more than one occasion--led by Babe Ruth and Ted Williams with five each. I have consolidated the American and National League Quad Award honorees, along with their relevant statistics, into one table as follows: RATE STATS COUNTING STATS YEAR PLAYER TEAM OBP SLG TOB TB 1901 Lajoie PHA .463 .643 269 350 1906 Stone SLB .417 .501 267 291 1908 Wagner PIT .415 .542 260 308 1909 Cobb DET .431 .517 270 296 1910 Magee PHI .445 .507 278 263 1915 Cravath PHI .393 .510 241 266 1917 Cobb DET .444 .570 290 335 1919 Ruth BOS .456 .657 246 284 1920 Hornsby STL .431 .559 281 329 1921 Hornsby STL .458 .639 302 378 1921 Ruth NY .512 .846 353 457 1922 Hornsby STL .459 .722 316 450 1923 Ruth NY .545 .764 379 399 1924 Hornsby STL .507 .696 318 373 1924 Ruth NY .513 .739 346 391 1926 Ruth NY .516 .737 331 365 1933 Klein PHI .422 .602 280 365 1934 Gehrig NY .465 .706 321 409 1938 Foxx BOS .462 .704 316 398 1942 Williams BOS .499 .648 335 338 1943 Musial STL .425 .562 294 347 1946 Williams BOS .497 .667 334 343 1947 Williams BOS .499 .634 345 335 1948 Musial STL .450 .702 312 429 1949 Williams BOS .490 .650 358 368 1951 Williams BOS .464 .556 313 295 1966 Robinson BAL .410 .637 279 367 1967 Yaz BOS .418 .622 284 360 1970 Yaz BOS .452 .592 315 335 1981 Schmidt PHI .435 .644 189 228 2000 Helton COL .463 .698 323 405* Bold indicates player earned The Major League Quad Award by leading the American and National Leagues in all four components of The Quad. Three-Legged Version As a follow-up to The Quad, I thought it would be interesting to determine how many players have led their respective league in three of the four categories. Three is an important cutoff because it ensures superiority in at least one rate stat and one counting stat plus at least one on-base stat and one slugging stat. In other words, by virtue of their leadership status in three of the four legs, all of these players created runs by getting on base and driving home base runners. There have been 31 different players covering 46 separate seasons, including 14 and 19, respectively, in the American League and 17 and 27, respectively, in the National League who have led in three of the four legs: American League RATE STATS COUNTING STATS YEAR PLAYER TEAM OBP TOB SLG TB PLACE LEADER TEAM 1904 Lajoie CLE x x x 2nd Barrett DET 1911 Cobb DET x x x 2nd Jackson CLE 1915 Cobb DET x x x 2nd Fournier CHW 1916 Speaker CLE x x x 2nd Jackson CHW 1920 Ruth NYY x x x 2nd Sisler SLB 1928 Ruth NYY x x x 2nd Gehrig NYY 1931 Ruth NYY x x x 2nd Gehrig NYY 1932 Foxx PHA x x x 2nd Ruth NYY 1933 Foxx PHA x x x 2nd Cochrane PHA 1936 Gehrig NYY x x x 2nd Trosky CLE 1941 Williams BOS x x x 3rd DiMaggio NYY 1945 Stirnw'ss NYY x x x 6th Lake BOS 1948 Williams BOS x x x 3rd DiMaggio NYY 1953 Rosen CLE x x x 2nd Woodling NYY 1956 Mantle NYY x x x 2nd Williams BOS 1972 Allen CHW x x x 2nd Murcer NYY 1978 Rice BOS x x x 12th Carew MIN 1994 Thomas CHW x x x 3rd Belle CLE 2001 Giambi OAK x x x 3rd ARod TEX National League RATE STATS COUNTING STATS YEAR PLAYER TEAM OBP TOB SLG TB PLACE LEADER TEAM 1901 Burkett STL x x x 4th Sheckard BRO 1904 Wagner PIT x x x 2nd Thomas PHI 1907 Wagner PIT x x x 3rd Shannon NYG 1909 Wagner PIT x x x 2nd Clarke PIT 1913 Cravath PHI x x x 2nd Huggins STL 1925 Hornsby STL x x x 2nd Cuyler PIT 1932 Klein PHI x x x 4th Ott NYG 1935 Vaughn PIT x x x 7th Medwick STL 1939 Mize STL x x x 2nd Ott NYG 1940 Mize STL x x x 3rd Fletcher PIT 1944 Musial STL x x x 2nd Nicholson CHC 1945 Holmes BSN x x x 3rd Cavaretta CHC 1946 Musial STL x x x 2nd Stanky BRO 1947 Kiner PIT x x x 3rd Walker PHI 1949 Musial STL x x x 2nd Kiner PIT 1952 Musial STL x x x 2nd Robinson BRO 1959 Aaron MIL x x x 2nd Cunn'ghm STL 1962 Robinson CIN x x x 2nd Mays SF 1963 Aaron MIL x x x 2nd Mathews MIL 1965 Mays SF x x x 8th Rose CIN 1992 Bonds PIT x x x 5th Sheffield SD 1993 Bonds SF x x x 2nd Dykstra PHI 1994 Bagwell HOU x x x 2nd Gwynn SD 1997 Walker COL x x x 4th Biggio HOU 1998 McGwire STL x x x 2nd Sosa CHC 2001 Bonds SF x x x 3rd Sosa CHC 2002 Bonds SF x x x 7th Guerrero MON Barry Bonds and Stan Musial have performed this "trifecta" four times each. Other multiple winners are Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth (3x each); Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Johnny Mize, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron (2x each). The only non-1B/OF to accomplish this feat are Nap Lajoie, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby, Arky Vaughn, Snuffy Stirnweiss, and Al Rosen. More Legs Than You Can Count There are 11 batters who have captured all four legs of The Quad and three legs one or more times. Nap Lajoie. The Quad: 1901. Honus Wagner. The Quad: 1908. Ty Cobb. The Quad: 1909, 1917. Gavvy Cravath. The Quad: 1915. Babe Ruth. The Quad: 1919, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926. Rogers Hornsby. The Quad: 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924. Chuck Klein. The Quad: 1933. Jimmie Foxx. The Quad: 1938. Lou Gehrig. The Quad: 1934. Ted Williams. The Quad: 1942, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1951. Stan Musial. The Quad: 1943, 1948. On 28 separate occasions, a player who captured three legs of The Quad has finished in second place in the fourth category. Another way of looking at that is to say that more often than not, a player leading the league in three Quad categories also finished second in the fourth. Interestingly, 42 of the 46 players who have led in three legs of The Quad also led their league in OPS and OPS+. The only exceptions were Jesse Burkett in 1901 when he finished second to Ed Delahanty in OPS, Chuck Klein in 1932 when he ended up second behind Mel Ott in OPS+, Stan Musial in 1949 when he wound up second to Ralph Kiner in both, and Larry Walker in 1997 when he came in second behind Mike Piazza in OPS+. Moreover, it is noteworthy that all 46 batters finished no worse than second in OPS and OPS+ the year they captured three of the four legs of The Quad. 1945: A Baseball Oddity The least heralded players to secure the three-legged Quad were Snuffy Stirnweiss and Tommy Holmes, both in 1945 when many of the game's stars, including Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and Stan Musial, were serving in World War II. Nonetheless, Stirnweiss and Holmes were the best offensive players in their respective leagues that year. Stirnweiss played second base for the Yankees and led the A.L. in runs, hits, triples, extra base hits, stolen bases, batting average, slugging average, OPS, runs created, and total bases. Snuffy had two great seasons during the War in 1944 and 1945 but was no better than an average player the rest of his career. He was retired but only 39 years old at the time of his death when a train he was on plunged off an open drawbridge into a river in New Jersey. Holmes played right field for the Boston Braves and led the N.L. in hits, doubles, home runs, extra base hits, slugging average, OPS, runs created, total bases, and total average. Tommy had a 37-game hitting streak in 1945, a then modern-day record that stood for 33 years before Pete Rose broke it on his way to a 44-game streak. Remarkably, Holmes struck out only nine times in 636 at bats that year. Holmes retired with the fourth best SO/AB ratio of all time, having fanned fewer times in his career in 4,992 AB than 29 mlb players in 2002 alone! I will conclude my series on The Quad over the weekend with follow-up articles on the all-time top ten single-season, most times leading the league, and career leaders plus rankings based on active players and current year results through the All-Star break. Photo credit: A&R Collectibles. |