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The final tallies are in, and Ivan Rodriguez finished the season with 504 at-bats. And 11 walks. According to Sean Lehman’s database, just 3 men have had seasons of more at-bats with exactly 11 walks:

Buck Weaver’s 1919 season for the White Sox, 571 at-bats;
Tommy Corcoran’s 1902 season for the Reds, 538 at-bats; and
Ozzie Guillen’s 1991 season for the White Sox, 524 at-bats. Yes, that Ozzie Guillen.

And there have only been 12 other seasons of even fewer walks in more at-bats than the year that Pudge threw up on the ol’ stat sheet:

1950, 10 walks, 525 at-bats, Don Mueller, outfielder for the New York Giants
1917, 10 walks, 532 at-bats, Dave Robertson, also an outfielder for the New York Giants
1914, 10 walks, 533 at-bats, John Leary, 1st baseman for the St. Louis Browns
1907, 10 walks, 561 at-bats, Hobe Ferris, 2nd baseman for the Boston Red Sox
1903, 10 walks, 559 at-bats, Lave Cross, 3rd baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics
1903, 10 walks, 548 at-bats, Charlie Carr, 1st baseman for the Detroit Tigers

1966, 9 walks, 541 at-bats, Tito Fuentes, shortstop/2nd baseman for the San Francisco Giants
1949, 9 walks, 575 at-bats, Virgil Stallcup, shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds
1912, 9 walks, 523 at-bats, Buck Weaver, shortstop for the Chicago White Sox

1901, 7 walks, 548 at-bats, Candy LaChance, 1st baseman for the Cleveland Blues

1915, 6 walks, 562 at-bats, Art Fletcher, shortstop for the New York Giants
1909, 6 walks, 565 at-bats, George Stovall, 1st baseman for the Cleveland Naps

For what it’s worth, Ozzie Guillen also walked just 10 times in 499 at-bats in 1996, just missing qualifying for this group a second time (note that with that one more at-bat that year, he would have been the second player – both of them career White Sox – to turn the trick twice in his career).

So, no, he didn’t quite re-write the history books… But he’s in an elite group of 15 men (in 16 seasons) with 11 or fewer walks, but more than 500 at-bats (since 1900). Who is Leyland’s preferred hitting coach again?

at least s tiger did something of rarity this season!

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Posted by Nook Logan Fan on October 6th, 2005 at 1:16 pm

And he really had to rally late in the season to get there.

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Posted by Jeff on October 6th, 2005 at 2:51 pm

Good point, Jeff. As of Labor Day, Pudge was right there with Stovall and Fletcher at 6 walks. The day after Labor Day, he bumped up to 7. His 8th walk came 9 days after that, and his 9th just 5 days later. He hit double digits the following day, and took only 3 days to get to his 11th walk. He only had 8 at-bats the rest of the season.

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Posted by jeff k on October 6th, 2005 at 4:09 pm

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