THE BILLY-BALL SUNDAY NOTES

PLUS, THE TED WILLIAMS AND CHRISTMAS/HANUKKAH RULES

THE TED WILLIAMS AND CHRISTMAS/HANUKKAH RULES

There are many stats exalted by folks, including myself, to get your attention. There are two variations of stats that I tend to ignore. Here are two rules that will make you a more selective and astute fan.

The Ted Williams Rule

This is a cumulative statistic that relates to age. For example, “Juan Soto is the only player with 800+ walks and 1000 hits before turning 27.” Let’s apply the “Ted Williams Rule” and see why Soto’s achievement is impressive, but making this about age doesn’t work. Ted Williams played in his age 20-23 seasons from 1939 to 1942. He hit .356, with 749 hits, 127 homers, 515 RBI, and 495 walks. Those were also his totals before he turned 27. From 1940 to 1943, Williams was a Marine pilot in World War II. He did not achieve his 187 hits per season, his 32 home runs, 129 RBI, or his 124 walks. All of those would have negated the social media-promoted Soto stat. Had the X message read, “In Juan Soto’s first 1024 games, he now has 1000 hits and 832 walks. And that is really good.” The message would have been of greater value and validity.

The Christmas/Hanukkah Rule

Every year, Santa visits on December 25. This year, Hannukkah Harry is coming on December 14. Next year, on December 4. In 2029, on December 1. In 2032, on November 30. In 2037, on December 27. In recent years, the 50th game of the MLB season has fallen between May 26 and May 31, depending on off days, rainouts, and doubleheaders. That’s also because we start the season in late March or early April. That’s in contrast to April 18, 1950, April 15, 1958, or April 9, 1962. The point is that the first 50 games of the season is like Christmas, it's games 1-50, no matter what moving variable you add.

The first All-Star Game was on July 6, 1933. Last year’s All-Star Game was on July 16. Last July 16, the Tigers were three games under .500 at 47-50 in 97 games. On July 6, 1933, the Tigers were also three games under .500 at 36-39 in 75 games. When it is posted that “Cal Raleigh’s 29 homers are a record for catchers before the All-Star break,” which break are we talking about? The break in which 97 games were played or 75 games were played? That’s the Hannukkah Rule.

One more example. “Cal Raleigh now has six multi-homer games. The only players to have more than six before the end of June are Reggie Jackson (1969) and Albert Pujols (2009).”

Pujols’s Cardinals had played 79 games in 2009 by the end of June. Reggie’s A’s had played 70 games. In 1928, Babe Ruth had six multi-homer games. By the end of June, Ruth’s Yankees had played 66 games. Raleigh’s Mariners have already played 75 games. That’s the Hannukkah Rule.

B-B’S SUNDAY NOTES

It’s good to have Byron Buxton back on the field for the Twins. It’s understandable if you thought “Byron” was his middle name and “Oft-injured” was his first. Buxton has played in 59 games so far this season. Last year, he played in 102 games, the most he has played in a single season since 2017. He’s hitting .278 with an .892 OPS and already has 22 walks, two more than all last season….Jacob Wilson, Luis Arraez, Brendan Donovan, and Aaron Judge lead the majors with 11 games with 3+ hits. Arraez has 34 total hits in those games, the other three each have 36….The day after Clarke Schmidt pitched 7.0 no-hit innings, the Yankees rotation took a hit when they put Ryan Yarbrough on the IL with a right oblique strain. Schmidt has a 25.1 inning shutout streak….Friday night, the Mets joined the other 29 teams when, for the first time, they allowed 10 runs in a game (to the Phillies). The A’s have allowed 10+ runs in 18 games (218 total runs allowed)….I can feel his pain. Chris Sale has broken ribs after he dove for a ball in his last start for the Mets. Today is my five-week anniversary since I broke three ribs, and I still couldn’t pitch tonight. It is worth mentioning that I couldn’t pitch even if my ribs were healthy….I’m keeping my eye on the Mets’ Clay Holmes, who is now a starter and has thrown 83.0 IP, the most of his career. In the first month of the season, he had an average velo of 89.1 mph. In May, it was 88.8, and this month it is 88.4 mph. Last month, 54.2% of his pitches were in the zone; this month, it’s 49.8%… If you haven’t noticed, the Dodger with the most hits this month is Andy Pages. He has 25 hits and is hitting .342. The Dodgers are so deep that when their MVPs are slumping, they have the depth to compensate. Shohei Ohtani (.260), Mookie Betts (.257), and Freddie Freeman (.197) are hitting .239 this month. Since Ohtani went to the mound on June 16, he’s hitting .174 with a .539 OPS. He’s back on the bump today….Andrew Heaney has received 2.13 runs of support from his Pirates in his 15 starts. Mitch Keller has received 2.25 runs per game from his Pirate brethren in 16 starts, including two runs or less in nine straight starts….Clayton Kershaw is now 154-3 when the Dodgers give him at least four runs of support. Kershaw now has 2992 strikeouts….There were 43 home runs hit yesterday, 30 of which were solo shots. The Mets hit seven homers, all solos: two from Brandon Nimmo, two from Juan Soto, and one each from Francisco Lindor, Jared Young, and Francisco Alvarez. The homers stopped the Mets’ seven-game losing streak and put them back into a tie with the Phillies for first place in the NL East. However, Griffin Canning is another Mets starter to be concerned about. He has a 5.97 ERA over his last seven starts….There were also seven solo home runs in the Nationals-Dodgers game….The Dodgers lead the majors with 120 homers, the Yankees lead the majors with 78 solos, Arizona leads with 35 two-run blasts, the Dodgers lead with 21 Weavers, and the Dbacks lead with eight slams….HOF pitcher Carl Hubbell was born on this date in 1903. King Carl wore number 11 for the NY Giants, which meant Rafael Devers, who wore #11 for Boston, had to go with #16, his minor league number. Hubble died at the age of 85, on November 21, 1988, after an automobile accident, 30 years to the day of the death of his close friend Mel Ott, who also died in a car accident.