More National Pastime Pitcher Extra Base Hits

The hits just keep on coming!

More National Pastime Pitcher Extra Base Hits

Seriously — even I can’t believe there’s more to say on this subject.

But there is.

Last time we talked about extra base hits on dice roll 66 for pitchers. We discovered that every single pitcher in National Pastime has a 4, 5, or 6 on 66, regardless of whether they actually had an extra base hit in real life.

It turns out that some (but not all) pitchers also have extra base hit rolls on other dice rolls. That’s what we’re going to look at today.

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Two Extra Base Hit Play Result Numbers

There are a whopping 14 pitchers who received either a 4, 5, or 6 on dice roll 11:

This means, of course, that these pitchers received not 1 extra base hit, but 2.

I say a “whopping” 14 because only 80 pitchers received National Pastime cards. In other words, 17.5% of all pitchers in National Pastime have more than 1 extra base hit number. We’re not talking about one or two outliers.

If we look at the extra base hits they had in real life, we don’t see much of a correlation:

Some have the same play result number on 11 and 66. Some have different numbers.

You’ve got guys like Red Ruffing who had 12 extra base hits in 1930. You’ve also got Fred Frankhouse, who had only 1. Frankhouse had only 1 double in 1930.

Again — I’m not entirely certain that I know what is going on here. I think there are a few possibilities:

• There was a printer error

• Clifford Van Beek based some cards on their 1929 stats (Frankhouse had 4 extra base hits in 55 plate appearances in 1929)

• Clifford Van Beek created different cards at different times in the process based on different stat totals

• Clifford Van Beek did not assign extra base hits for pitchers based on real life statistics at all

Of course, we can’t quite say anything definitively at this point. It’s just another data point. I’d love to know what the rest of you think.

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Three Extra Base Hit Numbers

One pitcher received 3 extra base hit numbers: Red Ruffing.

Ruffing’s third extra base hit play result number, a 6, comes on dice roll 33.

This makes sense, actually. Red had more extra base hits in 1930 than any other carded pitcher:

You’ll notice, though, that a number of these pitchers only have 1 extra base hit number — not two.

The pattern becomes a little bit clearer if we look at extra base hits as a percentage of at bats in 1930:

Even still, though, there are problems. What about Ceal Caraway, Lloyd Brown, George Earnshaw, Fred Fitzsimmons, and Burleigh Grimes? Why do Erwin Brame, George Uhle, and Charles Lucas get 2 extra base hit numbers while those other guys only get 1?

The idea of Ruffing getting more extra base hits based on his batting production before 1930 seems to be solid:

Red Ruffing Batting Statistics from Baseball Reference

I mean, 16 extra base hits in 131 plate appearances in 1928 is pretty impressive, as is 11 extra base hits in 121 plate appearances in 1929. It’s clear that Ruffing could hit.

What about Lester Sweetland, though?

If you look at Sweetland’s 1930 performance alone, he clearly had a higher percentage of his at bats go for extra base hits than Ruffing. Now, it’s not as much of an advantage when you factor in his 9 walks — but you could still make a case for him also deserving similar power treatment. Did Sweetland miss out on a third 6 because of his relative lack of power at the plate in 1927, 1928, and 1929?

It’s going to take a bit of time to check up on this, though — I’d have to go back and see what every one of these pitchers hit in the seasons before 1930.

Anyway, it’s a bit of a puzzle. It’s clear to me that Clifford Van Beek wasn’t assigning these statistics at random. It’s not clear, though, that they were necessarily based on 1930 batting performances. In some case they might be; in other cases they probably aren’t.

I’d love to know what the rest of you think, and, as such, have decided to turn comments on for everybody today.