Last month, Derek Thompson submitted The Most Amazing Statistical Achievement in U.S. Sports History. He then had Ryen Russillo on his podcast to discuss the topic.
Thompson's work reminded me of some sports statistics that I've personally found amazing. But while Thompson's uses "amazing" in the sense of "great" or "insanely good," what I mean by "amazing" is "surprising" or "incomprehensible."
Or, incredibly odd.
Here are my four favorites that I've encountered. They all happen to be football or baseball, but when I find more from other sports, especially from hockey and basketball, I'll write about them. Send your suggestions!
In no particular order:
4. George Blanda, quarterback, Houston Oilers, 1962
42 interceptions, team record: 11-3.
The Oilers lost the AFL championship in double-overtime. You got that right: a quarterback who averaged three interceptions per game during the regular season nearly led his team to the league crown.
One might say, "It was a different era." Well, it's true that decades ago, rules protecting quarterbacks and receivers were less stringent than today and interceptions were more common. But three interceptions a game was a lot even for the 1960's AFL.
Nobody else has thrown more than 35 interceptions in a season. That was Vinny Testaverde in a 16-game season in 1988 His Buccaneers went 5-11.
John Hadl's Chargers went 9-5 in 1968 despite his 32 picks. Sid Luckman's Bears went 8-4 in 1947 even with his 31 picks. So, having a winning season with lots of picks could be done back in the old days. Nonetheless, Blanda threw a lot more interceptions than Hadl or Luckman, and also won more games.
3. Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans quarterback, 2020
112.4 passer rating, team record: 4-12.
Watson's 2020 passer rating is tied for 15th-best season in history. Despite what the critics may say, passer rating is a valid stat; the last time I checked (December 2, 2021), in any given game, the team with the higher passer rating wins 79.6% of the time. The quarterbacks with better seasons than Watson went a combined 188-46 (80.3%) and all had winning seasons. Quarterbacks with the 25 best seasons after Watson went 319-111-2 (75.8%) with two 8-8 seasons and losing seasons of 3-4-1 and 7-9.
The season before,, the Texans had a 24-point lead in a playoff game against the eventual Super Bowl champions. Falling to 4-12 in 2020 might have made sense if the quarterback fell apart. But he didn't; Watson played as well as few ever have. That's why this season is on the list.
2. Steve Carleton, Pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies, 1972
27-10 (73%) as starting pitcher; team record: 59-97 (37.8%).
Without Carleton playing, the Phillies were 32-87 (26.8%). (A few games were missed because of an MLB-wide player strike.)
Carleton's ERA was 1.97; the team's combined ERA (including Carlton's) was 3.66, 8th of 12 NL teams.
The Phillies averaged 3.22 runs per game, 11th of 12 teams. They did bat better when Carleton was pitching
Obviously, it takes more than one ace to make a baseball team good. If the Phillies won half their games without Carleton, they still would have finished nine or ten games behind the division-leading Pirates. If Carlton had been replaced by merely average pitching, the Phillies would have lost 105 or 106 games.
When Carleton pitched, the Phillies were the best team in the Majors by far. When he didn't, they were the worst by far.
1. Paul Molitor, Designated Hitter, Minnesota Twins, 1996
9 Home Runs, 113 RBI (runs batted in)
For years I had known about Jackie Robinson's 1949 season with the Dodgers: 16 Home Runs, 124 RBI. It was actually going to be on my list, because…
If you hit 16 home runs, you're not considered a power hitter; if you bat in 124 runs, you are.
I had, personally, never seen anything like Robinson's stat line. I had thought players with 100+ RBI were power hitters who usually hit at least twice the number of home runs that Robinson did.
The reason I hadn't seen anything like it, however, was because of my own biased sampling. When I would look up historical baseball stats, they were usually Hall of Famers, most of whom had hit a lot of home runs. And, when looking up yearly leaders, there was always a high correlation between home run leaders and RBI leaders.
100+ years ago, home runs were a rarity, but driving in runs was not. As home runs became commonplace, the next batter after a home run had no one on base whom he could advance. So in the old days, the first batter might hit a double, and the second batter would send him home. But in the modern day, the first batter is almost as likely to hit a home run, leaving no one on base for the second batter to drive in.
It was while researching Robinson's exceptional season that I found Molitor's.
Molitor's case is even more unusual. In his only other 100+ RBI season, he hit 22 home runs. In 1996, he hit just nine home runs but batted in 113 runs. The Twins were second in batting average, but were last in home runs.
This may account for Molitor's RBI total. The batters ahead of him were getting on base, but not hitting home runs. So, Molitor had opportunities to drive them in. He did have 225 total hits, most ever for a 39 year-old. A fair number of them took his teammates home.
Since 1946, no player had as many RBI while hitting fewer than 10 home runs. That's what is so incredible about Molitor's achievement.
And, like Blanda's, Watson's, and Carleton's seasons, what's most incredible is that it was incredibly odd.
James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase, Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, and JL Cells. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!
Great stuff James. Re the Blanda stat - it may be that interceptions mattered less in the AFL because of the prevalence of the long bomb. The AFL was known for long passes, and a lot of deep strikes could compensate for interceptions. Large numbers of long passes might also create more possessions per game because the scores happened more quickly. Also, if both sides are throwing more interceptions that should also tend to create extra possessions.