Re-entering the Baseball Reference Rabbit Hole

I awoke from a nap in a panic.  I didn't know who the player with the 5th highest rWAR from my alma mater, the University of Minnesota, was.  Luckily, baseballreference.com exists and this seems like an appropriate place to re-enter the bref rabbit hole.

Dan Wilson - 10.9 WAR

Dan Wilson is pretty cool.  His nickname is Willie!  He was drafted 7th overall out of the University of Minnesota (we call it the U of M; cute), by the Cincinnati Reds.  In '96 and '97 he posted WARs over 3.0.  He didn't do a whole lot, but provided great defense behind the plate and little bit of pop.  He was born on March 25.  I wonder who else was born on that day.

March 25

Tom Glavine, Travis Fryman, Lee Mazzilli, Dutch Leonard, and whoa, Chappy Charles.

Chappy Charles

This guy just screams pre-1900.  Look at his hair!  Everyone had a snappy nickname back then.  He went by Chappy, but was named Raymond Charles, although he was born Charles Shuh Achenbach.  What the h?  He only played 3 seasons.  In 1908, he was 3rd in the NL in errors committed with 49.  Yikes.  Chappy must have stood for "terrible at fielding."  Right?  Ok, we have to get out of this era.  This might take some finagling.  I've never heard of any of his 10 most similar players, so we'll just click on one and hope he is from the last 50 years.

Jo-Jo Morrissey

I can't resist a good bad name.  I secretly knew he was old as what; no one goes by Jo-Jo these days.  Shame.  Surprisingly, Jo-Jo was a short-time player who made a lot of errors!  His most similar player by age 32 is Skeeter Webb, but now I think we're just making up names.  He's from Rhode Island.  Rhode Island save us.

Rhode Island

Paul Konerko is from Rhode Island.  Rhode Island is the smallest state, but it does not have the least amount of electoral votes.  Electoral votes are based on population, not size.  So, Konerko. 

Paul Konerko

The very first thing I notice here is that Baseball Reference censors the word porn.  I guess that's fair.  Let's talk about Paul Konerko though.  Konerko not only has a realistic shot at 500 home runs, I'd say he has a very realistic shot at 500 home runs.  He'll drive in over 1500 runs and likely get about 2500 hits.  His career WAR is just above 30.  He is going to have Hall of Fame counting numbers, but sabermetricians are going to hate his candidacy.  We've got a Jack Morris situation a-brewin' here.  Beware people of 2023.  Konerko debuted on September 8, 1997 as a Dodger, against the Marlins.

Monday, September 8, 1997 - Marlins 8, Dodgers 4

Kevin Brown vs. Hideo Nomo.  This was quite the match-up at the time.  Nomo-mania was still in effect and Kevin Brown was one of the more underrated pitchers of his era.  Obviously this was the season the Marlins won the World Series, and looking at their lineup gives you a good idea why they were so good.  Check it out:  Devon White, Edgar Renteria, Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Chappy Charles, Moises Alou, and Charles Johnson.  One of those was made up.  The Dodgers used Raul Mondesi as a pinch hitter in this game.  What was that all about?

Raul Mondesi

Ok, looks like he was just getting a day off.  He played 159 games that year.  I was worried that he was backing up Terry Kirby. 

Terry Kirby

Oh, it's Wayne Kirby.  Sorry about that.

Wayne Kirby

I guess it was nice of Mondesi to let Kirby start that game.  Kirby would be out of the league within the next 12 months.  Kirby accumulated 14 home runs in his 8-year-career.  14 more than you.  He never hit over .300.  He didn't really steal bases, didn't hit doubles and wasn't anything special in the field.  Wait!  He led the AL in assists in 1993 with 19!  That's cool.  I'm a sucker for a good throw from right field.  Let's see who else was on the list.

1993 AL Outfield Assists leaders

2.  Albert Belle - 16

3.  Mark McLemore - 13

3.  Kirby Puckett (WHOOOO!) - 13

3.  Chad Curtis - 13

Didn't Chad Curtis try to beat up a fan or something?  Let's check.  Nope, much worse.  He's awful and horrible, let's move on.

OH man, Rob Deer sighting!  Most errors as an OF. 

Rob Deer

First off, HOF name.  .179/.314/.386 in 1991.  He also led the league with 175 strikeouts.  Classic Deer!  He hit 230 career home runs and had 600 career RBI.  Round numbers; Classic Deer!  Most similar to Pete Incaviglia, Russell Branyan and Gorman Thomas, but you probably already knew that. 

*Side Note*  I was in Milwaukee for a Twins/Brewers series a few years ago and Russell Branyan mashed a home run off Joe Nathan to tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the ninth.  This dude got right in my face, flexed his bicep at me and screamed "RUSSELL THE MUSCLES!" and then immediately sat down.  The Twins ripped off 5 runs in the top of the 10th and won 9-4.  I wanted to yell something back at him, but nothing rhymes with Rivas. 

Back to Deer.  Could he have had negative WAR?  Nope, 11.8.  I wonder if any notable players had a career WAR below zero.

Career WAR leaders

As it turns out, the lowest WAR on the leader board is Shane Victorino's 23.1.  So, let's just find someone with a surprising number and call it a night. 

Chicken Wolf - 15.5 WAR

Goal abandoned for name-related reasons.  William Van Winkle Wolf was nicknamed Chicken.  Chicken Wolf.  Chicken Wolf led the American Association with a .363 batting average in 1890, making him the most hilarious batting champion of the past 150 years.  

From The U of M to Chicken Wolf, you really never know where you will go when you start down the Baseball Reference Rabbit Hole.

Brad Swanson is a writer for his own blog.  He goes by the nickname Chappy now.

Going down the Baseball Reference Rabbit Hole

BaseballReference.com is my favorite website.  I can spend hours there.  Sometimes, I'll start somewhere and within a few minutes, I am somewhere within their site that I have never seen before.  I won't even remember how I got there.  There is just so much information, it is crazy.  From time to time, I think it will be fun to chronicle my travels through the site.  I'll start with no plan and I'll ride the wave, where it takes me.  I'll post these from time to time, unless I get arrested.

Starting Point - 1994 Minnesota Twins

1994 was the strike year.  The Twins were bad, but not 90s Twins bad.  They were 53-60 that year, but odds are they would have dropped off significantly because they were terrible.  Their Pythagorean record was 49-64.  So yeah.  The Twins drew 1.4 million fans that year, a 2.1 million fan pace (more or less).  OH!  Alex Cole was on that team.  I think we found our next destination. 

Alex Cole

Alex Cole was 6' 2"!   He was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  He debuted in 1990 at age 24.  He played 7 seasons in the majors.  He stole 40 bases as a rookie.  He only hit 5 career home runs, 4 in 1994 with the Twins.  His speed must have made him a relatively valuable player as he had a WAR around 2 for his first two seasons.  He had good OBPs those years too.  It seems like he should have been a useful player.  I'm not sure what happened to him, but he was a poor defender it seems.  His dWAR was negative pretty much every year.  His most similar player is Nyjer Morgan.  Ok, Alex Cole bores me.  His last game was on May 22, 1996.  Let's look at the box score.

May 22, 1996 - Seattle 6, Boston 1

Russ Davis and Darren Bragg went yard for the Mariners.  Bob Wolcott went 5.2 innings, giving up 1 earned run for the win. 

Short Tangent - Bob Wolcott

Bob Wolcott started 58 games for 3 teams in five seasons.  He was 16 and 21 with a 5.86 ERA.  Career 1.58 K:BB ratio.  He was out of baseball by age 26.

Back to the Box Score!

Tim Wakefield started for the Red Sox.  He gave up 6 ER in 6 IP.  El Guapo, Rich Garces came in and game 2 great innings, striking out 4 and walking none.  Norm Charlton had a wild pitch.  Edgar Martinez was intentionally walked twice.  The Mariners had a 2-3-4 of Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez.  That's solid.  The Mariners stole 3 bases off of Wakefield.  Alex Cole pinch hit for Jose Canseco.  Ok.

Jose Canseco

Apparently his nickname was The Chemist.  Is that a steroids reference?  I forgot that Canseco played for the Red Sox.  Who else played for the Red Sox in '96?

1996 Boston Red Sox

Wil Cordero.  Nomar, he must have been a rookie.  Kevin Mitchell.  Tom Gordon was starting.  Vaughn Eshelman?

Vaughn Eshelman

Hmm, he played 3 seasons with the Red Sox.  He was 15 and 9 with a 6.07 ERA.  His K:BB ratio in 1996 was just barely above 1.  It was a very Samuel Deduno season.  Eshelman was drafted out of the University of Houston in the 4th round by Baltimore. 

University of Houston

Here are some notable players drafted out of the University of Houston:  Michael Bourn, Chris Snyder, Woody Williams, Doug Drabek, Jesse Crain, Anthony Young and of course, Vaughn Eshelman.  Wasn't Anthony Young the guy that lost 20 games that one year?

Anthony Young

Nope, he lost a bunch of games in a row, I think.  He was 1 and 16 for the Mets in 1993, but had a 3.77 ERA.  His K:BB ratio was 1.48, which is bad, but not historically bad.  His ERA+ was 107.  He QUADRUPLED his win total the next season.  Do the math, y'all.  He had a career WAR of 0.8.  He was a 38th round pick in the 1987 draft.  I wonder if anyone else from that round made it to the Majors. 

38th Round of the 1987 amateur draft

Yeah, somehow, yeah.  Todd Haney played 101 games and hit 3 home runs (juiced!) and Tom Thobe pitched 7 games, netting a record of 0 and 1.  The Twins drafted Toi Cook in that round. 

Toi Cook

He went to Stanford.  Nice.  There are no stats.  He throws unknown, which would seem to work in his favor.  He was the 960th player drafted in 1996, let's see if any other players were drafted in that position, who would be notable.

960th Picks Overall

Irving Falu in 2001.  Shayne Bennett in 1992 - career WAR of -1.6.  In 1967, Barton Bell was drafted 960th but the SELECTION WAS VOIDED. 

Irving Falu (minors)

He played in the minors for a really long time.  He was at AAA for 4 years!  Over 400 games.  I guess his MLB debut last season was a better story than I was aware of.  He certainly put in his minor league time.  I like to hear about players who work hard, play in the minors for years and years and then come up and realize their dreams.  He was 28 when he made his debut and that is pretty cool.  So, we went from the 1994 Minnesota Twins and ended with Irving Falu.  Just another BaseballReference.com voyage and it ended on a sweet note.