As I watched the Phillies take on the Mets in the third game of a four-game set, I received a direct message from my friend Wayne Randazzo, who, among other things, is the Mets radio announcer for WCBS Newsradio.
Wayne asked me for some historical perspective into just how good Jeff McNeil has been to begin his short career and to do so using a historical stat: batting average. And, in using batting average, I was able to daisy chain McNeil to Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Wednesday’s game marked just the 130th game of McNeil’s young career, and he finished it with a lifetime batting average of .340. Surely not many ballplayers could have possibly performed at such a high level at such a novice stage in their career…
The last ballplayer to bat at least .340 through his first 130 career games? None other than Ichiro Suzuki. He debuted on April 2, 2001, and would go on to hit .350 over his first 130 games. He retired a .311 career hitter with 3,089 hits and will undoubtedly punch his ticket to Cooperstown the moment he is eligible.
Stats aside: Ichiro singled to center in his tenth career at-bat, raising his lifetime batting average to .300, it never again fell below that mark. He saw 39,095 pitches during his big league career, only 25 of which came while he did not have a batting average of at least .300, two of those were during his first major league plate appearance. Not enough? He could return to baseball and go 0-for-362 and still have a career .300 batting average.
Before Ichiro…
Wade Boggs debuted on April 10, 1982, and he went on to hit .353 over his first 130 games played. Boggs, a career .328 hitter with 3,010 hits, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005. I heard he also writes a mean foreword…
Stats aside: Wade Boggs singled to center in his 58th career at-bat, raising his lifetime batting average to .328, it would never fall below that mark. He never batted .400 in a season, but maintained a .401 batting average over a 162 game span from June 9, 1985 to June 6, 1986. His career-best .476 on-base percentage in 1988 is higher than Ty Cobb’s on-base percentage in any of his .400 seasons.
Before Boggsy…
George Watkins debuted on April 15, 1930. He went on to bat .373 over his first 130 big league games but finished with a career .288 batting average and just 925 hits. George, though, could feel it in the air on June 24, 1931, as he mashed a three-homer game with the first two coming off Phillies’ Phil Collins, against whom he hit six of his 73 career home runs – he did not hit more than three off of any other pitcher.
Prior to Lonesome George…
Dale Alexander batted .345 in his first 130 career games, with his first coming on April 16, 1929. Alexander, a lifetime .331 hitter with 811 hits, may have been on his way to a Hall of Fame career, but he suffered third-degree burns undergoing “electrically induced heat” treatment for a twisted knee that resulted in a gangrene infection that nearly cost him his leg, but did, in effect, cost him his career.
Before D.A…
Chuck Klein debuted on July 30, 1928. Klein batted .347 over his first 130 major league games and went on to be a career .320 hitter with 2,076 hits. Even better known for his power, amassing 300 home runs, which was seventh all-time upon his retirement, Chuck was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980, unfortunately, though, he had died 22 years earlier.
Stats aside: Chuck Klein was a hipster before it was cool, as he, in a way, took advantage of “The Coors Effect” before it ever existed. He was a career .395/.448/.705 hitter at the Baker Bowl, but a .277/.339/.451 hitter everywhere else. By comparison, Larry Walker was a career .381/.462/.710 hitter at Coors Field and a .282/.373/.500 hitter everywhere else…and Klein didn’t have to deal with that pesky “Hangover Effect.”
Before Klein…
Lloyd Waner, too, batted .347 over his first 130 career games, his first coming on April 12, 1927. Lloyd bested big brother Paul over their respective first 130 games played, as Big Poison batted just .322 over his first 130 career games, but Big Poison had the better career. Lloyd was a career .316 batter with 2,459 hits, and Paul was a career .333 hitter with 3,152 hits, but both reside in the Hall of Fame for eternity. They join Harry and George Wright as the only pairs of brothers in the Hall of Fame. Harry and George, though, had another brother Sam, but he was a career .168 hitter with just 29 hits.
Stats aside: Paul and Lloyd Waner accounted for 26.9 percent (1,338) of the Pirates 4,970 hits from 1927 to 1929.
Before Poison…
Mickey Cochrane debuted on April 14, 1925, and batted .341 over his first 130 major league contests. He was three-time World Series Champion and a career .320 hitter with 1,652. That, as a backstop, was good enough for him to gain entrance into baseball’s hallowed halls, inducted into the Hall of Fame by BBWAA in 1947.
Facts aside: Cochrane’s career ended on May 25, 1937, after a near-fatal head injury resulting from being hit in the head by a Bump Hadley pitch. Miraculously, he recovered and then went on to serve in the United States Navy, then in his 40s, during World War II.
Prior to Cochrane…
Earle Combs, who debuted on April 16, 1924, hit .347 through his first 130 career games. Combs was a three-time World Series Champion (as a player, winning six more as a coach) who led the 1927 Murders’ Row Yankees with 231 hits. He finished his career with a .325 batting average and 1,866 hits, and for his efforts, he was granted entrance into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970.
Before Combs…
Eddie Moore is among the short list of players…on this short list, who started hot and quickly faded. He debuted on Sept. 25, 1923, and went on to bat .345 over his first 130 games, but hit just .273 in 618 games after that. He finished a lifetime .285 hitter with 706 big league hits.
Before Moore…
Fred Haney is another ballplayer who started hot but fell off rather quickly. He debuted on April 18, 1922, and went on to hit .342 over his first 130 career games. He batted just .260 over his remaining 494 career games and finished a lifetime .275 hitter with 544 hits. Though, for Haney, when his baseball career ended it really had only just begun. He went on to manage the St. Louis Browns, Pittsburgh Pirates, and then led the Milwaukee Braves to a World Series Championship in 1957, Henry Aaron’s lone ring. Later he became the first general manager of the expansion Los Angeles Angels – that subsequently became the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels, then the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, before taking things full circle, becoming the Los Angels, again, in 2016.
Before Haney…
Jim Bottomley made his debut just a few months later on Aug. 18, 1922. He batted .353 during his first 130 games and parlayed that into a Hall of Fame career during which he hit .310 with 2,313 hits. Inconceivably, his batting average of .310 was higher than his winning percentage as a manager (.273).
Stats aside: Jim Bottomley had 42 doubles, 20 triples, and 31 home runs in 1928. He is the only player in history to have at least 40 doubles, 20 triples, and 30 home runs in a season.
Prior to Bottomley…
Kiki Cuyler debuted on Sept. 29, 1921, but, incredibly, did not have his first big league hit until nearly two years later on Sept. 22, 1923. He played exactly 130 games over his first four seasons, batting .344 during that span. As it turns out, he was pretty good from game No. 131 until the end of his career. He finished his career with a .321 average and 2,299 hits and was inducted into the Hall of Fame posthumously in 1968.
Stats aside: Cuyler (1925) and Home Run Baker (1912) are the only players in history to have at least 40 doubles, 20 triples, 10 homers, and 40 stolen bases in a single-season.
Before Kiki…
Hack Miller is like Kiki Cuyler, in that the beginning of his career was odd, not that he was a Hall of Famer. Miller made his debut on Sept. 22, 1916. He did not play his 130th career game until nearly six years later on Sept. 18, 1922. Nonetheless, Miller batted over that stretch. He was a career .323 hitter, but his success was short-lived, spanning just 349 games. Though Miller was not a Hall of Famer, perhaps his bat collection should have its own exhibit, as he swung clubs ranging from 47 to 65 ounces.
Before Hack…
Benny Kauff had a five-game cup of coffee with the New York Highlanders – the modern Yankees – in 1912, making his debut on April 12th that year. The remaining 125 games of his first 130 came with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the Federal League. He batted .372 over those 130 games. The Federal League, though, is not recognized by Major League Baseball as a major league entity, and perhaps justly so – Kauff was a lifetime .357 hitter in the Federal League, but just a .287 hitter at the MLB-level. So, this one doesn’t count, but Kauff left baseball in 1918 to serve during World War I, so, honorable mention.
Before Kauff…or, I guess, really, prior to Hack again…
Finally, we have arrived, Shoeless Joe Jackson debuted on Aug. 25, 1908, he played just 30 games in his first three seasons at the big league level, playing in his 130th game on Aug. 7, 1911. Shoeless Joe batted .378 during his first 130 games and would go on to hit .408 that year in his first full big league season. He was a career .356 hitter with 1,772 hits in what should be a Hall of Fame career, but wasn’t, because he was in on the 1919 Black Sox Scandal to fix the World Series…allegedly.
