The Consistency King

Two days ago, I received an urgent text from the mountaintop retreat of the foremost paleontologist of the western Carolinas, asking for information regarding the number of career hits as a left-handed batter attained by the switch-hitting Hit King Peter Edward Rose.  Andy was wondering where Pete might rank among the all-time hit leaders when counting only the hits he totaled when batting from his off-hand side (Pete being a natural right-handed player).  Understanding, of course, that there are vastly more right-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball than there are left-handed pitchers, The Hit King would have had many more at-bats as a left-handed batter than he did right-handed and, therefore, the majority of his lifetime hits would have been from the left-handed batters' box.  

Immediately what came to mind were, rather unhelpfully, the lifetime home/away splits for St Louis Cardinal and Hall of Famer Stan "the Man" Musial; 1815 hits at home, 1815 on the road.  

I stayed up until midnight that night - after a long day at the office - compiling all sorts of Peter Edward "splits," as we stat fanatics refer to them, and proceeded to blow up Andy's smartphone with a Witching Hour barrage of texts that revealed all manner of interesting data.

Then, it was brought to my attention that yesterday marked the anniversary of the day in 1985 when MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth re-instated from the so-called Permanently Ineligible List both Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.  The Say Hey Kid and The Commerce Comet had been hired as PR types for different Atlantic City casinos in or around 1983, their services mostly described as being greeters, signing autographs for casino patrons, and making appearances at various casino-sponsored functions (such as at golf outings, etc).  For these associations with known gamblers, and in the best interests of baseball, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned Mantle and Mays from baseball.  Two years afterward, Commissioner Ueberroth's action rendered MLB's Permanently Ineligible List as something significantly less than permanent.  Always remember this commutation - among so many others (Ty Cobb & Tris Speaker most notably) - when one argues that Pete cannot be re-instated simply because of his being placed on the Permanently Ineligible List.  Or for associating with known gambles [see; Mays & Mantle].  Or for betting on (and in the example of Cobb & Speaker, also fixing) games.

With all this Hit King activity, I took it as a sign of divinity from Saint Peter Edward himself to share with you, here, some of the findings I turned up via Baseball-Reference.com for Andy.

As a left-handed batter, Pete recorded 3083 hits (and had a .307 batting average).  If you remove Pete and his 4256 from the #1 spot on the all-time hits leader board and replace Ty Cobb as #1 all-time, Pete's LH hit total still earns him 20th all-time, ahead of such luminaries of the ballpark as; Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Wee Willie Keeler, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth, Ichiro, and Lou Gehrig (to name but a notable few).  

From the right side, Pete had 1171 hits (and a .293 AVG).

The eagle-eyed among you will observe that 3083 + 1171 equals 4254, not 4256.  As to this apparent 2-hits discrepancy with Rose's cumulative total, beats me.  I'm probably missing something obvious.  I'm certain B-R.com wouldn't be wrong.  I wouldn't put it past Commissioner A. Bartlett "Bug" [sic] Selig trying to do everything he can to erase Pete from the record books, even 1 or 2 hits at a time.

At home, Pete had 2123 hits (.310 AVG), away 2133 hits (.296 AVG).

Over the first half of a season, .298 AVG.  Second half, .309 AVG.

Batting average by months -  

March/April:  .301

May:  .283 with 689 hits.

June:  .303 with 739 hits.

July:  .316 with 775 hits.

August:  .309 with 800 hits.

Sept/Oct:  .304 with 756 hits.

Batting average by position (excluding pinch hitting) -

1B:  .284 (1009 hits)
2B:  .297 (745 hits)
3B:  .312 (803 hits)
LF:  .307 (825 hits)
CF:  .295 (82 hits)
RF:  .326 (769 hits)

Pete batted:

.299 when he was the 1st batter in a game (629 hits), .301 when leading off an inning (1471 hits).

.305 with 0 out (1820 hits), .301 with 1 out (1267 hits), and .301 again with 2 outs (1167 hits).  [Again, 4254 hits... I'm missing some small sample of stats.  Maybe Pete had 2 hits with 3 outs, such as when a preceding batter reaches base to extend an inning after striking out on ball dropped by a catcher?]

.311 with RISP.  
.318 with men on base.  
.327 with runner on first base.  
.283 with runner on second base.  
.369 with a runner on third base.  
Runners on first & second, .303  
Runners on first & third, .368 
Runners on second & third, .319
Bases loaded, .342

Two outs and RISP, .308
Late & close, .299
Tie game, .293
.315 when his team was ahead.
.301 when his team was behind.

By inning - 

.287 in the 1st inning.
.336 in the 2nd.
.305 in the 3rd.
.323 in the 4th.
.305 in the 5th.
.295 in the 6th.
.310 in the 7th.
.314 in the 8th.
.292 in the 9th.
.293 in extra innings.

.285 when facing a starting pitcher for the first time in a game.
.306 the second time.
.310 the third time.
.292 when facing a starting pitcher for the fourth+ time.
.321 when facing a relief pitcher for the first time in a game.

.303 in night game (2792 hits).
.302 in day games (1464 hits).  [4256 hits]

.303 in open air stadium (4051 hits).
.301 in a dome (205 hits).  [4256 hits]

.304 on grass surface (2218 hits).
.302 on artificial surface (2038 hits).  [4256 hits]

.317 at Crosley Field (715 hits).
.313 at Riverfront Stadium (1019 hits).

The foregoing illustrates that Pete was consistently great.  No matter the inning, the month, the position, the arena, the playing surface, left-handed, right-handed, day, night or the particular game conditions (RISP, # of outs, etc), Peter Edward Rose produced at an unyielding level of excellence.

As for Stan Musial's own standard of consistency, in addition to his 1815 home/away hits, he batted:

.325 in March/April.

.323 in May, with 86 HR and 374 RBI.

.334 in June, with 93 HR and 353 RBI.

.328 in July, with 83 HR and 361 RBI.

.328 in August, with 92 HR and 372 RBI.

.346 in Sept/Oct.

At home Musial batted .336, and .326 on the road.

First halves of seasons Stan Musial hit .325 with 247 HR and 1001 RBI, in second halves Musial hit .337 with 228 HR and 951 RBI.

Roll the credits!