My first foray focused on Mike Squires. A quick check on Baseball-Reference.com revealed that Squires is the all time leader in range factor/9 innings for a first baseman. I has happy to find this record so quickly.
The other night, while talking baseball with Cuzz Gekas, somehow we came to the conclusion that Squires might have had the fewest career hits of a Gold Glove winner. I immediately checked Baseball-Reference again and found out the facts on career hit totals for Gold Glove winners.
Squires had 411 career hits. This would be the lowest total for any AL non-pitcher Gold Glove winner. The next closest is Doug Griffin with 524. In the NL, Ken Hubbs only had 310 hits, but that number is skewed by his premature death after only 3 seasons. The next closest is Ruben Amaro who had 505 hits.
Therefore, minimally, Squires is the record holder in the AL and by all rights would be the record holder for all of baseball for fewest career hits by a Gold Glove winner. There is little doubt that Hubbs would have collected enough hits to rank higher than Squires if not for his untimely death.
Finally, this in no way is meant to disparage Squires. In fact, I view it as an impressive accomplishment. The Gold Glove often goes to offensive stars or at least highly recognizable names. Chris Chambliss, Eddie Murray and Don Mattingly won multiple Gold Gloves during Squires' career. For Squires to win the award means he really must have put on a great fielding display that season.
Thanks again to Matt for letting me borrow his concept. Matt does a great job with this series and with his site. Recently, he moved his site from the blogosphere. He still has the same cool stuff on the site, only the web address has changed.
No comments:
Post a Comment