Friday, February 15, 2013

Pwn3d - Wade Boggs

Pwn3d is a series that highlights players who either dominated or were dominated by an opposing pitcher/batter.   A minimum 20 Plate Appearance limit is required.


My first entry in this new series focused on my all-time favorite player, Tony Gwynn.  This entry will be about one of my least favorite players, Wade Boggs.  My distaste for Boggs is solely subjective, as I know he was a fantastic hitter.  However, until Boggs' collapse later in his career, all I ever heard about was Wade Boggs.

I guess it was my first taste as a child of "big city markets."  People and media were/are all nutso over Boston and New York players, even though small market teams had better players.  Even living in Southern California, I was more likely to see Wade Boggs on my television than Tony Gwynn, and it drove me nuts.

Out of all of my friends, if they were given the choice between Boggs and Gwynn, it was always Boggs.  People also always seemed quick to pick on Gwynn for his weight, yet ignore all the immoral/insane shit Boggs (allegedly) did.  Regardless, in the end, Tony Gwynn outlasted Boggs in the collective memory of baseball lore, and that makes me happy.

Yet, Boggs was a great baseball player, who somehow smacked 3,010 hits with all that chicken grease on his fingers.  So, using a 20 Plate Appearance limit, Boggs batted above .400 against 26 pitchers (Gwynn had 45).  I call this the Williams Line, since Teddy Ballgame was the last player to break this magical barrier.  At the other end of the spectrum, Boggs battled below .200 (Mendoza Line) against nine pitchers (Gwynn had 6).  This gives Boggs a W/M (Williams to Mendoza) ratio of 2.89 (Gwynn's was 7.5).  :-) 

For Boggs’ over .400 pitchers, the list includes only two prominent standouts, Brett Saberhagen (.450) and Phil Niekro (.407).  Those who kept Boggs under the Mendoza Line included Bob Welch (.195) and Dan Quisenberry (.105)

However, the #1 most abused and #1 least hit pitchers on the list are... 

Boggs Pwn3d You! You Pwn3d Boggs!
9 for 17 (.529) 2 for 25 (.080)

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...