Leadoff Batters of Major League Baseball

Every sport has its subtleties, and in baseball, one subtlety is the batting line-up. Leadoff batters can make or break a team. Who are the men who have taken that position, and how have they performed in their important role?
From 1900 through 2005, the major leagues’ leadoff batters for more than 160,000 games are covered in this reference work. The first of the book’s five parts discusses the annual records of the principal leadoff batters. Part Two identifies the principal leadoff batter for each team in each year, as well as the top career leadoff batters. Part Three presents composite statistics for those players with five or more principal leadoff batter seasons. Part Four looks at leadoff home runs, and Part Five offers essays on assorted leadoff batter achievements, such as RBIs, runs scored, and awards and honors. Appended to the text is a discussion of the accuracy of the statistics and a list of “Make It Happen” award winners.

Award winner Herman O. Krabbenhoft is a retired research chemist. His articles have appeared in Baseball Digest, The Sporting News, Baseball America, Baseball Weekly and the Baseball Research Journal. He lives in Glenville, New York.

Herman O. Krabbenhoft
Foreword by Pete Palmer
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 424
Bibliographic Info: tables, appendices, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2006
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2291-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0919-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Foreword by Pete Palmer      1
Preface      3
References      5

Part One: The Annual Record of Principal Leadoff Batters (1900–2005)
Introductory Remarks     9
References      20
Results and Discussion      20
Summary     128
Concluding Remarks      148

Part Two: Leadoff Batters of the Individual Teams (1900–2005)
Introductory Remarks           149
Results      150
Atlanta Braves      150
Los Angeles Dodgers      155
Chicago Cubs      161
Cincinnati Reds      166
San Francisco Giants      172
Philadelphia Phillies      177
Pittsburgh Pirates      183
St. Louis Cardinals      188
Houston Astros      194
New York Mets      196
Washington Nationals      199
San Diego Padres      201
Colorado Rockies      203
Florida Marlins      204
Milwaukee Brewers (National League)      205
Arizona Diamondbacks      206
Boston Red Sox      207
Chicago White Sox      212
Cleveland Indians      217
Detroit Tigers      223
New York Yankees      228
Oakland Athletics      234
Baltimore Orioles      239
Minnesota Twins      244
Los Angeles Angels      250
Texas Rangers      252
Kansas City Royals      255
Milwaukee Brewers (American League)      257
Seattle Mariners      259
Toronto Blue Jays      261
Tampa Bay Devil Rays      263
Summary     263

Part Three: Career Leadoff Batters (1900–2005)
Introductory Remarks      266
References      268
Results      268
Discussion      304
Summary      309
Concluding Remarks      310

Part Four: Leadoff Home Runs (1876–2005)
Introductory Remarks      311
Section 1—The Chronology of the Best Leadoff Home Run Hitters in Major League History      311
Section 2—The Leading Leadoff Home Run Hitters for Each Current Major League Team      327
Section 3—Other Interesting Aspects of Leadoff Home Runs      338

Part Five: Special Topics on Leadoff Batters (1900–2005)
(A) Runs Batted In by Principal Leadoff Batters      356
(B) Home Runs by Principal Leadoff Batters      358
(C) Runs Scored by Principal Leadoff Batters      360
(D) Runs Produced by Principal Leadoff Batters      362
(E) Baseball Awards Earned by Principal Leadoff Batters      363
(F) Honors Received by 20th Century Principal Leadoff Batters      364
(G) Full-Time/Full-Season Principal Leadoff Batters Who Were League Leaders      370
Batting Average—On Base Average—Slugging Average—On Base Plus Slugging—Total Average      381
References      382

Appendix 1: Additional Insight on the Accuracy of the Statistical Information      385
References      389
Appendix 2: Make It Happen Award Winners      391
References      394
Index      397

“remarkably thorough”—ARBA; “all you need to know”—Sports Collectors Digest; “Herman Krabbenhoft has set the standard for rigorous study with this volume of baseball’s leadoff hitters. Not content with just a sample of games as a data source, Krabbenhoft collected the details for every game from 1900 to the present. He has taken this mountain of data and sifted it in creative ways to reach some very interesting conclusions. This is no dry volume of dusty numbers, however, as it is the stories associated with each player that are brought to life. Hats off for a sterling investigation”—Dave Smith, Retrosheet; “Herman Krabbenhoft is a respected baseball historian. He brings his scientific methods to the study of the game to produce well-documented, well-thought-out research. In recent years, he has become the leading authority on baseball’s leadoff hitters. Krabbenhoft has studied statistics and box scores to learn as much as anyone else about the topic and poured his knowledge into this book. This work will become a standard reference in the baseball historian’s library”—David Vincent, co-author of The Midsummer Classic: A Complete History of Baseball’s All-Star Game; “with his encyclopedia of “Leadoff Batters”, Herman Krabbenhoft has put baseball stat freaks and crusty old researches in awe again. He found an intriguing subject, attacked it and somehow managed to compile a mind-numbing load of precise information, and then separated that info in readable charts, graphs, and text. Year-by-year, and player-by-player, it seems to be all there for the inquisitive baseball page turner. The only problem for a reader is trying to come up with a realistic question that Herm has not already answered. Definitely a classic work”—Richard “Dixie” Tourangeau, author of the Play Ball! calendar (1981–2005).