Category: 34 crazy MLB statistical coincidences th
Stan Musial rapped out 3,630 hits during his 22 glorious seasons with the Cardinals, the fourth-highest total in MLB history.Musial, a model of sustained, consistent excellence during his Hall of Fame career, had exactly 1,815 hits at home and 1,815 hits on the road. And though he obviously wasnt much of a stolen-base threat, he also had exactly 39 stolen bases at home and 39 on the road.MORE: But maybe the most amazing coincidence about Musial wasnt even about on-field performance. He was born on Philadelphia 76Ers Jeresy Nov. 21, 1920, in Donora, Pa. Know what other Hall of Famer was born in Donora, Pa., and has a Nov. 21 birthday? Its one of baseballs most well-known wait, what? factoids, so you probably know where this is going.Ken GriffeyJr., is the other left-handed hitting Hall of Fame outfielder from the town of fewer than 5,000 people nestled into a nook of the Monongahela River, just 27 miles south of the heart of Pittsburgh. Its almost impo sible to believe.Maybe the best part, though? Musials nickname is Stan The Man, and Griffeys is The Kid.Seriously, you could not script this stuff. But baseball is full of these statistical oddities and factual coincidences. With the lockout in full force, we thought wed take the opportunity to compile a list of the most mind-blowing statistical/factual baseball coincidences we could find.Huge, ma sive, enormous thanks to those of you on Twitter who helped make this po sible with your overwhelming responses to a random Sunday afternoon crowdsourcing tweet. I've tried to link to as many tweets as po sible to give credit where credit it due.Without further ado, heres baseballs wait, what?!? list. Cecil Fielder made his MLB debut at 21 years old in 1985, but struggled to find consistent at-bats or production Allen Iverson Jersey with the Blue Jays and spent the 1989 season playing in Japan, where he slugged 38 homers in 106 games. The Tigers brought him back to the majors for 1990, and he spent the next seven years as one of the most feared power hitters in the bigs.His son, Prince, made his MLB debut at 21 years old in 2005. Unlike his dad, he was an immediate star in the big leagues, but his career ended at 32 years old when a neck injury that required spinal fusion surgery left him unable to play baseball.Both Cecil and Prince finished with exactly 319 career home runs.Both had one season with a home run total in the 50s, one season with a home run total in the 40s and four seasons with a home run total in the 30s.Oh, and for both father and son, exactly 40 percent of their hits in their career went for extra bases, and exactly 22 percent of the balls they put in play were line drives. And then, theres this bit of jaw-dropping info Prince Fielder & Cecil Fielder each hit 319 career HR, yesDid you know they ALSO matched each other with:- 97 2-out HR- 49 4th-inning HR- 29 5th-inning HR- 18 9th-inning HReach! Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) Yeah. Thats the kind of stuff were going to talk about today. Buckle up.Jim Perry pitched 17 years in the big leagues, finishing second in the 1959 Rookie of the Year race and winning the 1970 AL Cy Young, after a third-place finish the previous season.The last decision of his career came on July 29, 1975; he gave up five earned runs in a game his As lost, 6-1, to the Rangers. That left his career W/L record at 215-174. He made two more relief appearances and then, with a 5.38 ERA on the season, Oakland released the 39-year-old right-hander, and he retired to become a scout with the As.His younger brother, Gaylord, was still in the prime of his career in 1975. Hed been traded from Cleveland to Texas in June and caught fire for the Rangers down the stretch. In 13 starts from mid-June to mid-September, he posted a 9-3 record and 1.69 ERA. The right-hander was brilliant again on Sept. 21 six days after his 37th birthday allowing just two runs in a complete-game win in Chicago against Dwight Howard Jersey the White Sox.The decision gave him a 215-174 career record, .It didnt last long, unfortunately. Gaylord won his final start of the season his 25th complete game effort of the season to improve to 216-174. He would pitch another eight years in the bigs, retiring at 44 with 314 career wins.Brothers B.J. and Justin Upton both hit their Joel Embiid Jersey 99th career , July 20, 2012: B.J. for the Rays at home vs. the Mariners and Justin for the Diamondbacks at home vs. the Astros.And they both hit their 100th career homers on the same day, too!Those came on Aug. 3: B.J. at home vs. the Orioles and Justin on the road against the Phillies. In the 10 games between those two home runs, each brother had seven hits: six singles and an extra-base hit (double for B.J., triple for Justin).Joe DiMaggio owns the longest hitting streak in Yankees history (MLB history, too), with his epic 56-game streak in 1941. Everyone knows this, of course. But who owns the longest hitting streak in the history of the Red Sox, the Yankees arch-rival?That title belongs to a DiMaggio, too. Joes younger brother, Dom, had a 34-game hitting streak for the Red Sox in 1949. In case you were wondering, oldest brother Vince DiMaggios longest streak of games with at least one hit was 12, for the Pirates in 1941.Heres a fun DiMaggio brothers fact: Joe struck out only 369 times in his entire career, spanning 4,313 plate appearances, and never more than the 39 times he struck out in his rookie season of 1936. Vince, on the other hand, was more of a free swinger. He led the NL in strikeouts six times once when he only played 109 of the 154 games and if you add the strikeout totals of his three worst seasons (1937, 1938 and 1943), you Seth Curry Jersey get a total of 371 strikeouts in 1,801 PAs. Yep, more than Joes entire career. On the other hand, you would need Joes four worst seasons to top Vinces single-season high of 134.Dom, by the way, was more Joe than Vince he played 10 full seasons in the bigs, with a low of 46 and a high of 68.Knuckleball pitcher Joe Niekro came to the plate 1,165 times in his 22-year career. He hit exactly one home run, in a game his Astros won4-3against the Braves on May 29, 1976.The home run came off his brother, Phil.Phil didnt hit any homers off Joe in his career, but he did bat .316 against his younger brother in 20 PAs. Joe had the long ball, but batted just .111 in 19 PAs against Joe.The Niekros, by the way, edged out the Perrys for most wins by brothers, 539 to 529. Catcher Mike Tresh played 12 years in the big majors, 11 of those with the White Sox. He finished his career in 1949 with an on-base percentage of .335.His son, Tom, played nine seasons in the majors. He was a much better power hitter, popping 153 home runsover his career compared to the two his dad hit.But his career on-base percentage? You already know it, an identical .335. Only three players with