Go Take a Walk
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by user Harold Friend
There used to be lead off batters who actually tried to lead off the game by drawing a base on balls. There used to be lead off batters who tried to foul off strikes into order to work the count. There used to be lead off batters who would take almost any pitch when the count was 1-0. 2-0, 2-1, or 3-1. There used to be lead off batters who would not swing at pitches outside of the strike zone. Such batters no longer exist.
There once was a pretty good third baseman named Eddie Yost. Eddie Yost had a .254 lifetime batting average and averaged about 11 home runs a season. Not exactly statistics that would strike fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers, but opposing pitchers hated, yes hated, to face Yost. Why? Because Eddie Yost would work the count. Eddie Yost would lead off a game for the Washington Nationals (the original Washington team, not some expansion team from a foreign country) and take the first pitch. He almost always would take the first pitch, and the second pitch, as would almost every other leadoff batter in the 1950s.
In 1956, the year that Mickey Mantle won the Triple Crown by batting .353 with 52 home runs and 130 RBIs, Mickey walked 112 times. Eddie Yost, who didn't have Yogi Berra batting behind him, walked 151 times. What is incredible is that Yost batted only .231.
Now, wouldn't pitchers want a .231 hitter to make contact? Of course they would, but Yost refused. He worked the pitcher until he had two strikes and then he continued to try to foul off pitches. Yost hit only .231 but his on base average was .412. In 2005, only Jason Giambi's .440 and Alex Rodriguez' .421 in the American League were higher than Yost's .412, but Jason and A-Rod hit the ball out of the park, which made it necessary to pitch to them carefully. In 1956, Yost didn't hit the ball out of the park often, finishing with 11 home runs.
Eddie Stanky was similar to Yost. Stanky's lifetime batting average was .268 but his on base average was .410. He hit only about 4 home runs a season, but hitting home runs was not his job. Stanky averaged 128 walks a season, which WAS his job. In 1945, Stanky was Brooklyn's second baseman. He appeared in 153 games and drew 148 walks, hitting only .258, but had a .417 on base average.
Many years ago, the Philadelphia Athletics had a lead off hitter named Max Bishop. Philadelphia used to be an American League franchise that gave the Yankees all they could handle, and it was a franchise that won three consecutive pennants and two World Championships from 1929-1931. Bishop was a little second baseman who set the table for Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Mickey Cochrane. In 1930, the year that the Athletics beat the Cardinals in the World Series, Bishop batted only .252, but he drew 128 walks in 130 games, scored 117 runs, and had a .426 on base average.
Richie Ashburn was one of the game's premier lead off men but unlike Yost, Stanky, and Bishop, Ashburn could hit. The player referred to by some as the "right wing outfielder" because of his political views averaged 89 walks a season, with a career high 125 in 1954, when he hit .313 with a .441 on base average. Ashburn never hit for power but he could hit, as demonstrated by his .308 lifetime batting average.
In 2006, almost no lead off batter goes to the plate hoping to walk. The best they hope to do is to work the count in order to force the starting pitcher to make as many pitches as possible in order to get him out the game. Bobby Abreu leads the majors in walks with 91 in 98 games, which is excellent, but Abreu is not a lead off hitter. Kevin Youkilis tops lead off batters with 63 walks, which projects to about 100 over a full season, but Kevin Youkilis does not always lead off. Detroit's Curtis Granderson has 51 walks but he has struck out 113, which indicates that he is not up there to walk.
When a manager creates his lineup, he knows that the only inning in which the lead off batter is guaranteed to lead off is the first, which really means that every hitter should have enough discipline at the plate to take a few pitches when leading off an inning. No matter how statisticians manipulate the data, the fact is that for the batter leading off an inning, a walk equals a single. Certainly a single can result in a defensive misplay that may mean an extra base. But on a 3-2 pitch, swinging at ball four can result in an out instead of a runner on first. Take the walk.
References:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/y/yosted01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_2005.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/stanked01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bishoma01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/ashburi01.shtml
Date
Sat 07/29/06, 9:27 am EST
