September 07, 2006
it's official: the best ever!
If any of you have been listening to John Sterling call the Yankees lately, you would be well aware of the fact that Robinson Cano is about to jump into your Sunday newspaper, right at the top of the American League batting race. As of this morning, Robbie's batting .340 (133 for 391) and if he were to qualify for the race he'd be sittin' pretty behind Joe Mauer (.345) and The Captain (.344) in third place.
In order to qualify for the batting title race, the rules state that a player must have at least 3.1 plate appearances per game played by his team (rulebook info courtesy of Uncle Budski). Therefore, since the Yankee season lasts 162 games, Cano must have a minimum of 502 plate appearances before the playoffs begin. At this time, he's played in 99 of the Yankees' 138 games and made 408 plate appearances (4.12 PA per game). If Cano continues this pace, he will need to play in another 23 games to qualify for the batting title race. That means that Joe can only bench him once more over the remainder of the season in order for the kid to see his name in the record books under "Batting Leaders, 2006." This is definitely possible.
Aside from his own glory, Robinson is also playing for another piece of Baseball history - and perhaps a much larger one at that. Since the season of 1901, a shortstop or second baseman has won the AL or NL batting title 39 times. In those 39 AL and NL seasons, there has never been a double play combination in which both middle infielders on a team finished in the Top 5 of batting average for their league (let alone the entire majors). If Jeter (or Cano) manages to overtake Joe Mauer for that top spot and Cano qualifies in the category, it will be the first time in modern baseball history that a SS / 2B combination have been at the top of the league in hitting. Granted, Batting Average has always been overrated as an evaluator of production, but - as Uncle Bud says - it's still "one of the three glory stats."
Could we be witnessing history this year? I'm beginning to think that Yankee fans have been watching the best offensive middle infielder duo in the history of baseball this season, and not even known it. Maybe by next year they'll be competing with each other for the crown as they push the Yanks to a 12th straight division title. Hell, throw in Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi and I'd bet that the 2006 Yankee infield comes pretty close to the best total offensive production of all time.
For now, here's a (long) list of all the shortstops and second baseman who have won the batting crown, along with the averages of their double-play partners. Enjoy.
Shortstops who have won the title, and co-infielders on the other side:
Michael Young, 2005: .331 --- 2B Alfonso Soriano: .268 (Also combined for 60 HR. Wow.)
Nomar Garciaparra, 2000: .372 ---- 2B Jose Offerman: .255
Nomar Garciaparra, 1999: .357 ---- 2B Jose Offerman: .294
Alex Rodriguez, 1996: .358 ---- 2B Joey Cora: .291
Dick Groat, 1960: .325 ----- 2B Bill Mazeroski: .273
Lou Boudreau, 1944: .327 ---- 2B Ray Mack: .232
Luke Appling, 1943: .328 ---- 2B Don Kolloway: .216
Luke Appling, 1936: .388 ---- 2B Jackie Hayes: .312
Arky Vaughan, 1935: .385 ---- 2B Pep Young: .265
Honus Wagner, 1911: .334 ---- 2B Dots Miller: .268
Honus Wagner, 1903,1904, 1906-1909: .355, .349, .339, .350, .354, .339. ---- the best 2B during those titles was Claude Ritchey, 1903: .287.
Second Basemen who won the title, with their Shortstops:
Rod Carew, 1969, 1972-75: .332, .318, .350, .364, .359 ---- the top avg for his SS during those years was Leo Cardenas' .280 in '69. (Carew also won it in '77 and '78 as a 1B: .388 and .333.... this is the guy they like to compare Robbie to. Not quite yet, eh?)
Bobby Avila, 1954: .341 ---- SS George Strickland: .213
Jackie Robinson, 1949: .342 ---- SS Pee Wee Reese: .279
Snuffy Stirnweiss (awesome), 1945: .309 ---- SS Frankie Crosetti: .238
Charlie Gehringer, 1937: .371 ---- SS Billy Rogel: .276
Buddy Myer, 1935: .349 ---- SS Ossie Bluege: .262
Rogers Hornsby, 1928: .387 ---- SS Doc Farrell: .215
Rogers Hornsby, 1920-25: .370, .397, .401, .384, .424, .403 ---- the best SS in among those years was Specs Toporczer, 1922: .324
Larry Doyle, 1915: .320 ---- SS Art Fletcher .254
Nap Lajoie, 1910: .384 ---- SS Terry Turner: .230
Nap Lajoie, 1901-04: .426,
After finding and reviewing all these statistics, DP combo that comes closest to Jeter and Cano is that of Hornsby and Toporczer in 1922 - even then, when everyone was hitting .320, Hornsby's teammate could only manage .324. Robbie and The Captain are both going to hit .340 this season. Boom.
