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As some of you may know, i'm a huge fan of old timey baseball. Pre-Ruth, slap hitting, base stealing, two man "rotations", and lots of bunting. Real men playing a hard brand of baseball, and doing even harder drinking after (and during) the games. Getting in fistfights with fans, beating up umps, and drawing blood on slides. If I had Doc Brown's DeLorean, i'd go straight to 1906, pay my nickle, and watch a baseball game.
Let's talk about an old timey player who played until 1997, smack dab in the steroid era of boring, wait-for-the-three-run-homer baseball. Let's talk about Brett Butler.
Not this Brett Butler:
That would be the unfunny comedian who coat tailed Roseanne Barr during the 90's white trash comedy movement, and ended up with her own Roseanne knockoff sitcom, "Grace Under Fire".
I'm talking about this Brett Butler, the gritty, hard nosed CF who played 17 years in the majors and had the most unique career and astounding statistics of the 1990's:
If you notice, Butler is bunting in the picture. That's not unusual. Google image search "Brett Butler baseball" right now. Do it. You will quickly notice that most of the pictures show Butler bunting. That's because Brett Butler is probably the greatest bunter in the history of baseball. The statistics, which I promise are astounding, are coming. But first some perspective.
As a fan of the Reds, I watch Drew Stubbs play every night. Stubbs is the fastest player I have ever seen, aside from Deion Sanders. He often beats out routine ground balls to SS for infield hits. He's impossible to double up. Last year, Stubbs had 27 infield hits, and so far this year, he has 28. Those are big numbers. What makes them more impressive, is Stubbs only has 8 career bunt hits, so nearly all of his infield hits come from running out ground balls. Stubbs inability to bunt is very frustrating, because a player with his speed should be bunting his way on 20 times per year, minimum.
Let's look at another speedy player, Jose Reyes. When healthy, Reyes is a pest, good for 25-35 infield hits per season, 10 of which come via the bunt.
Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time and one of the greatest players, period, in the history of baseball. In 1992, he had 44 infield hits, a career high. He was usually good for about 20 per season. Henderson, like Stubbs, ignored the bunt. He notched only 8 buunt hits his entire 25 year career.
These three players have notched some of the highest infield hit totals in modern baseball.
Now let's look at Butler. Butler was a fine player. .290 lifetime hitter, nearly 2400 hits, led the league in major categories seven times. Butler wasn't nearly as fast or nearly as talented as the three previous players. But what Butler had was old timey skills. He bunted (a lot), he hit choppers, and he stole bases with reckless abandon. He was perhaps the biggest pest in the history of the game.
The following stats are not errors. The numbers you are about to read are real...
Infield hit and bunt hit stats were not kept until 1988. Butler debuted in 1981 and was a full time player until 1995. Here are Butler's bunt hit totals from 1988 to 1995:
19
20
22
21
42
26
9* (strike year)
20
Those are just bunt hits. The totals are generally higher than the total infield hits produced by the likes of Stubbs, Reyes, and Henderson. Here are Butler's infield hit totals for the same period:
41
45
51
97
109
52
31* (strike year)
42
In 1991, Brett Butler had 182 hits, 97 being infield hits, 21 via the bunt. If that wasn't amazing enough, he topped himself in 1992. Of his 171 total hits, a ridiculous 109 were infield hits, 42 coming via the bunt. When Butler wasn't bunting his way on, he was intentionally slapping choppers to the SS & 3B and beating them out. His infield hit and bunt hit totals are unmatched in modern baseball. Nobody even comes close.
Once Butler was on base, he was almost always running. He stole 558 bases in his career, but was also caught 257 times. He led the league in CS three times. His lifetime SB% is a very pedestrian 68%. But he was constantly on the go as his goal was to harass pitchers. He stole home 4 times. His extra base taken percentages are among the highest of the era. When he actually swung the bat, he led league in triples four times. In 1992, the year he has the astouding 42 bunt hits and 109 infield hits, he also led the league in sac bunts with 24. He usually struck out about 60 times per season, so he always putting the ball in play.
The bunting, the constant base stealing, the aggressive baserunning, the triples, the high caught stealing totals....Butler was a turn of the century player playing in the 1990's. There hasn't been anyone like him in 80 years, and there likely won't be anyone like him ever again.
Brett Butler, the greatest bunter of all time, the guy who should have been playing CF for John McGraw 80 years earlier, and the most atypical player of his era.
Let's talk about an old timey player who played until 1997, smack dab in the steroid era of boring, wait-for-the-three-run-homer baseball. Let's talk about Brett Butler.
Not this Brett Butler:
That would be the unfunny comedian who coat tailed Roseanne Barr during the 90's white trash comedy movement, and ended up with her own Roseanne knockoff sitcom, "Grace Under Fire".
I'm talking about this Brett Butler, the gritty, hard nosed CF who played 17 years in the majors and had the most unique career and astounding statistics of the 1990's:
If you notice, Butler is bunting in the picture. That's not unusual. Google image search "Brett Butler baseball" right now. Do it. You will quickly notice that most of the pictures show Butler bunting. That's because Brett Butler is probably the greatest bunter in the history of baseball. The statistics, which I promise are astounding, are coming. But first some perspective.
As a fan of the Reds, I watch Drew Stubbs play every night. Stubbs is the fastest player I have ever seen, aside from Deion Sanders. He often beats out routine ground balls to SS for infield hits. He's impossible to double up. Last year, Stubbs had 27 infield hits, and so far this year, he has 28. Those are big numbers. What makes them more impressive, is Stubbs only has 8 career bunt hits, so nearly all of his infield hits come from running out ground balls. Stubbs inability to bunt is very frustrating, because a player with his speed should be bunting his way on 20 times per year, minimum.
Let's look at another speedy player, Jose Reyes. When healthy, Reyes is a pest, good for 25-35 infield hits per season, 10 of which come via the bunt.
Rickey Henderson, the greatest leadoff hitter of all time and one of the greatest players, period, in the history of baseball. In 1992, he had 44 infield hits, a career high. He was usually good for about 20 per season. Henderson, like Stubbs, ignored the bunt. He notched only 8 buunt hits his entire 25 year career.
These three players have notched some of the highest infield hit totals in modern baseball.
Now let's look at Butler. Butler was a fine player. .290 lifetime hitter, nearly 2400 hits, led the league in major categories seven times. Butler wasn't nearly as fast or nearly as talented as the three previous players. But what Butler had was old timey skills. He bunted (a lot), he hit choppers, and he stole bases with reckless abandon. He was perhaps the biggest pest in the history of the game.
The following stats are not errors. The numbers you are about to read are real...
Infield hit and bunt hit stats were not kept until 1988. Butler debuted in 1981 and was a full time player until 1995. Here are Butler's bunt hit totals from 1988 to 1995:
19
20
22
21
42
26
9* (strike year)
20
Those are just bunt hits. The totals are generally higher than the total infield hits produced by the likes of Stubbs, Reyes, and Henderson. Here are Butler's infield hit totals for the same period:
41
45
51
97
109
52
31* (strike year)
42
In 1991, Brett Butler had 182 hits, 97 being infield hits, 21 via the bunt. If that wasn't amazing enough, he topped himself in 1992. Of his 171 total hits, a ridiculous 109 were infield hits, 42 coming via the bunt. When Butler wasn't bunting his way on, he was intentionally slapping choppers to the SS & 3B and beating them out. His infield hit and bunt hit totals are unmatched in modern baseball. Nobody even comes close.
Once Butler was on base, he was almost always running. He stole 558 bases in his career, but was also caught 257 times. He led the league in CS three times. His lifetime SB% is a very pedestrian 68%. But he was constantly on the go as his goal was to harass pitchers. He stole home 4 times. His extra base taken percentages are among the highest of the era. When he actually swung the bat, he led league in triples four times. In 1992, the year he has the astouding 42 bunt hits and 109 infield hits, he also led the league in sac bunts with 24. He usually struck out about 60 times per season, so he always putting the ball in play.
The bunting, the constant base stealing, the aggressive baserunning, the triples, the high caught stealing totals....Butler was a turn of the century player playing in the 1990's. There hasn't been anyone like him in 80 years, and there likely won't be anyone like him ever again.
Brett Butler, the greatest bunter of all time, the guy who should have been playing CF for John McGraw 80 years earlier, and the most atypical player of his era.
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