Five fascinating Chuck Knoblauch facts @chuckknoblauch

This post is a blatant attempt to get Chuck Knoblauch to retweet.. Recently I realized that he follows High Heat Stats on Twitter so I'm hoping he'll retweet this post to his followers. You can help by retweeting this as well.

Without further delay here are five fascinating Chuck Knoblauch facts:


1. Knoblauch was by far the best second baseman in MLB over 1995-1996

Here are the the 2B with at least 200 games played over those 2 years:

Rk	Player	OPS+	Age	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Chuck Knoblauch	140	26-27	289	1330	1116	247	376	69	22	24	135	176	169	91	32	.337	.437	.503	.940
2	Craig Biggio	130	29-30	303	1396	1158	236	341	54	6	37	152	155	157	58	15	.294	.396	.447	.843
3	Roberto Alomar	124	27-28	283	1276	1105	203	348	67	11	35	160	137	110	47	9	.315	.385	.490	.876
4	Eric Young	102	28-29	261	1067	934	181	300	44	13	14	110	96	60	88	31	.321	.397	.441	.838
5	Luis Alicea	93	29-30	261	958	799	118	211	46	6	11	86	115	139	24	13	.264	.359	.378	.737
6	Carlos Baerga	91	26-27	261	1144	1064	146	304	56	2	27	156	56	58	12	3	.286	.326	.418	.744
7	Joey Cora	91	30-31	264	1070	957	154	281	56	8	9	84	72	63	23	12	.294	.348	.397	.745
8	Ray Durham	90	23-24	281	1156	1028	147	274	60	11	17	116	89	178	48	9	.267	.331	.396	.727
9	Mike Lansing	88	27-28	286	1207	1108	146	302	70	4	21	115	72	150	50	12	.273	.323	.400	.723
10	Mark McLemore	88	30-31	276	1153	984	157	272	43	9	10	87	146	140	48	21	.276	.369	.369	.738
11	Mickey Morandini	87	29-30	267	1156	1033	129	275	58	13	9	81	91	167	35	11	.266	.335	.374	.708
12	Bret Boone	81	26-27	280	1138	1033	119	258	55	5	27	137	72	184	8	3	.250	.301	.391	.692
13	Fernando Vina	80	26-27	253	940	842	140	231	26	17	10	75	60	63	22	10	.274	.337	.381	.718
14	Delino DeShields	77	26-27	281	1135	1006	141	239	30	11	13	78	116	207	87	25	.238	.316	.328	.644
15	Jody Reed	76	32-33	277	1083	940	103	235	38	1	6	89	118	91	8	9	.250	.336	.312	.648
16	Mark Lemke	72	29-30	251	1015	897	106	228	33	5	10	75	97	88	7	4	.254	.324	.336	.660

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2011.

Knoblauch led by a lot in OPS+ and also led in hits, runs, doubles, triples, walks, stolen bases, batting average, OBP, and SLG. Yeah...he was the best. He didn't even get an All-Star selection in 1995!

2. Knoblauch posted a rare 140 OPS+, 10 triple, 10 homer season for a 2B.

Since 1901, very few second baseman have ever posted a season with at least 10 triples, 10 homers, and an OPS+ of at least 140:

Rk	Player	Year	OPS+	3B	HR	Tm
1	Roberto Alomar	2001	150	12	20	CLE
2	Chuck Knoblauch	1996	143	14	13	MIN
3	Jackie Robinson	1949	151	12	16	BRO
4	Snuffy Stirnweiss	1945	144	22	10	NYY
5	Bobby Doerr	1944	165	10	15	BOS
6	Charlie Gehringer	1936	142	12	15	DET
7	Tony Lazzeri	1929	159	11	18	NYY
8	George Grantham	1929	140	10	12	PIT
9	Tony Lazzeri	1928	145	11	10	NYY
10	Rogers Hornsby	1925	209	10	39	STL
11	Rogers Hornsby	1924	222	14	25	STL
12	Rogers Hornsby	1923	187	10	17	STL
13	Rogers Hornsby	1922	207	14	42	STL
14	Rogers Hornsby	1921	191	18	21	STL
15	Duke Kenworthy	1914	157	14	15	KCP
16	Larry Doyle	1911	154	25	13	NYG
17	Nap Lajoie	1901	200	14	14	PHA

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2011.

How would you like your name sandwiched between Alomar and Jackie Robinson? Not bad. Lotsa HOFers on this list aside from those two: Doerr, Gehringer, Lazzeri, Hornsby, and Lajoie.

The one guy you've probably never heard of is Duke Kenworthy, who appeared in what we consider the major leagues in just 4 seasons, and was in the Federal League in 1914.

3. Knoblauch had 4 multi-homer games

Despite hitting only 98 career homers, Knoblauch had 4 multi-HR games:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	WPA	BOP	Pos. Summary
1	2001-09-22	NYY	BAL	L 2-11	4	4	2	2	0	0	2	2	-0.026	1	LF
2	1998-08-03	NYY	OAK	W 14-1	5	5	3	3	1	0	2	5	0.167	1	2B
3	1996-07-06	MIN	KCR	L 5-8	4	4	2	3	0	0	2	4	0.152	1	2B
4	1994-06-05	MIN	DET	L 3-5	4	4	2	2	0	0	2	2	0.297	1	2B

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2011.

Amazingly, his team lost 3 out of 4 of those games.

4. Knoblauch crushed the team he finished with, the Royals.

Over his career, Knoblauch hit the Royals hard. He performed the best against them out of all the teams he played at least 100 games against:

I	Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	BAbip	tOPS+
	Anaheim Angels	106	472	405	69	121	15	2	4	41	.299	.394	.375	.769	152	.334	97
	Baltimore Orioles	126	554	492	93	142	36	1	7	48	.289	.360	.409	.768	201	.309	96
	Boston Red Sox	132	597	529	87	149	27	9	8	59	.282	.352	.412	.764	218	.311	95
	Chicago White Sox	125	552	469	85	130	22	5	3	39	.277	.379	.365	.743	171	.300	90
	Cleveland Indians	126	593	514	89	145	26	3	4	48	.282	.367	.368	.734	189	.311	88
	Detroit Tigers	124	575	488	95	154	24	4	10	56	.316	.407	.443	.850	216	.333	117
	Kansas City Royals	113	505	424	83	137	18	13	7	52	.323	.427	.476	.903	202	.346	130
	Oakland Athletics	108	503	424	84	133	25	3	13	63	.314	.397	.479	.876	203	.315	123
	Seattle Mariners	104	481	424	74	106	18	4	7	35	.250	.331	.361	.692	153	.277	76
	Texas Rangers	118	528	457	91	137	25	4	11	40	.300	.385	.444	.829	203	.309	111
	Toronto Blue Jays	128	572	497	78	144	30	7	4	36	.290	.378	.402	.780	200	.330	99

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/3/2011.

Check out that tOPS+ of 130--pretty stilted.

It's too bad that Knoblauch joined the Royals at the end of his career, because it wasn't Kaufman Stadium that produced his good numbers--it was his performance against the Royals' pitchers. At Kaufman Stadium over his entire career, he had just a .737 OPS and 88 tOPS+

4. Knoblauch had four infield triples.

I	Split	G	GS	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI
	To Infield	1380		2701	2681	308	13	3	0	92
	To Outfield	1422		2897	2841	1516	307	61	98	503
	Ball In Play	1606		5615	5539	1742	322	64	1	451
	Not in Play	1119		1770	827	97	0	0	97	164

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/3/2011.

From the "weird but true" file, Knoblauch hit 3 infield triples. I have no idea how that happens.

Note, too, that he had 98 homers on balls hit to the outfield, but only 97 homers on balls out of play. That means he must have hit one inside-the-park homer.

5. Opposition should never have let Knoblauch hit twice against a relief pitcher.

Like every other player, Knoblauch hit a bit below his career averages the first time facing a relief pitcher in a game (since this includes a lot of plate appearances against closers). But check out his stats the second time facing a reliever in a game:

Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	BAbip
vs. RP, 1st	1238	1911	1584	277	423	74	19	13	192	260	206	.267	.381	.362	.743	574	.296
vs. RP, 2nd	180	182	148	30	52	14	2	4	23	26	10	.351	.462	.554	1.016	82	.353
vs. RP, 3rd+	8	8	7	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.429	.500	.429	.929	3	.429

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/3/2011.

Yowza.