Sports Reference Blog

We gave this to people as a promotion at the SABR Analytics Convention, and now we're offering it to you -- a free Play Index trial subscription that works through April 15! Just visit http://bbref.com/pi/subscribe.cgi to create an account, and enter the coupon code "Analytics" to redeem the free trial.

As you're doing that, also check out this list of 34 example Play Index searches, the types of queries you can run yourself using the trial subscription:

1. Barry Bonds hit the most HR in a single season with 73 in 2001.

(Batting Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1901 to 2011, sorted by greatest Home Runs)

2. Hank Aaron is the all-time MLB career leader in RBI (2,297).

(Batting Season Finder --> Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, From 1871 to 2011, sorted by greatest Runs Batted In)

3. Tris Speaker had 14 seasons with at least 35 doubles, more than any other player.

(Batting Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1871 to 2011, (requiring 2B>=35), sorted by greatest Seasons matching criteria)

4. A record 7 members of the 1922 Browns had at least 160 hits.

(Batting Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1871 to 2011, (requiring H>=160), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria)

5. Four players have hit 400+ HR in a Giants uniform.

(Batting Season Finder --> Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, From 1871 to 2011, (requiring HR>=400), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria)

6. In 1999, 16 qualified players had an OBP of .420 or better.

(Batting Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1961 to 2011, (requiring onbase_perc>=.420 and Qualified for league batting title), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria in a single season)

7. In 1916, Pete Alexander had a post-1901-record 16 shutouts in a single season.

(Pitching Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1901 to 2011, sorted by greatest Shutouts)

8. Jesse Orosco is the all-time leader in relief appearances (1248).

(Pitching Season Finder --> Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, From 1871 to 2011, sorted by greatest GR)

9. Cy Young had 15 20-win seasons, more than any other pitcher.

(Pitching Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1871 to 2011, (requiring W>=20), sorted by greatest Seasons matching criteria)

10. The 1905 Cubs had a record six qualified pitchers with an ERA+ of 120 or better.

(Pitching Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1871 to 2011, (requiring earned_run_avg_plus>=120 and Qualified for league ERA title), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria)

11. In 1914, a record 96 pitchers had double-digit complete games (in 2011, only James Shields accomplished that feat).

(Pitching Season Finder --> For single seasons, From 1871 to 2011, (requiring CG>=10), sorted by greatest number of players matching criteria in a single season)

12. On two separate occasions, George Sisler had 12 four-hit games in a season (1920 & 1922).

(Batting Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, (requiring H>=4), sorted by greatest number of games in a single season matching the selected criteria)

13. Ken Griffey Jr. had a record 7 multi-HR games in interleague play.

(Batting Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, in Inter-league play, (requiring HR>=2), sorted by greatest number of games in all seasons matching the selected criteria)

14. 24 times, a member of the 1961 Yankees had a multi-HR game.

(Batting Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, (requiring HR>=2), sorted by greatest Performances matching selected criteria by a Team)

15. On June 8, 2004, the Angels Brewers had four players strike out at least 4 times apiece.

(Batting Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, (requiring SO>=4), sorted by greatest number of players matching selected criteria for a Team in a Single Game)

16. On Sept. 28, 1923, Howard Ehmke allowed a post-1919 record 16 earned runs in one game.

(Pitching Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, sorted by greatest ER)

17. The 1931 Yankees scored 6+ runs in 92 of their 155 games, a post-1919 record.

(Team Batting Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, (requiring R>=6), sorted by greatest number of games in a single season matching the selected criteria)

18. On August 25, 1922, the Cubs beat the Phillies 26-23, the only (post-1919) time both teams scored 23 runs in a single game.

(Team Batting Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, (requiring R>=23), sorted by greatest number of teams matching selected criteria in a Single Game)

19. On September 14, 1971, the Indians walked a post-1919 record 19 batters in a single game.

(Team Pitching Game Finder --> From 1919 to 2011, sorted by greatest BB)

20. There were 16 inside-the-park HR in 2011.

(Batting Event Finder --> All of MLB: 16 Home Runs in 2011, to location IPHR-8, to location IPHR-9 or to location IPHR-7)

21. Over the last 2 years, Jason Vargas allowed more singles to right-center (37) than any other pitcher.

(Pitching Event Finder --> All of MLB: 4543 Singles Allowed in 2010-2011, to location 78)

22. There have been 3 walk-off HR in All-Star Game history.

(Batting Event Finder --> All of MLB: 3 Home Runs in the All-Star Game, as last play of game)

23. David Freese’s walk-off HR in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series was the 8th-highest WPA HR in Cardinals postseason history.

(Batting Event Finder --> STL: 139 Home Runs in Postseason --> Sort by WPA)

24. Jimmy Rollins’ 38-game hit streak in 2006-06 was the longest of the 2000s.

(Batting Streak Finder --> Longest Streak with H>=1 From 2000 to 2011, At least one AB or SF)

25. In 1999, the year Derek Jeter hit .349, he hit .273 vs Omar Olivares (against whom the rest of the league hit .278).

(Batter vs. Pitchers --> Derek Jeter --> For 1999, (requiring AB>=10), Order by batting_avg asc)

26. As of 2012, Barry Bonds never faced a Hall of Fame lefty in his career (he faced 5 HoF RHP: Nolan Ryan, Dennis Eckersley, Rich Gossage, Don Sutton, & Bruce Sutter).

(Batter vs. Pitchers --> Barry Bonds --> From 1986 to 2007, Throws LH, Order by PA desc)

27. Mark Teahen is the only lefty batter with double-digit career RBI (12) vs Cliff Lee.

(Pitcher vs. Batters --> Cliff Lee --> From 2002 to 2011, Bats LH or Both, Order by RBI desc)

28. Between 9/2 and 9/6/74, the Baltimore Orioles’ staff pitched 5 consecutive shutouts, the longest such streak of the 1970s.

(Team Pitching Streak Finder --> Longest Streak with R=0 From 1970 to 1979)

29. In 2011, teams that were ahead going into the 7th inning won 1810 of 2104 games (86%).

(Team Scoring and Leads Summary --> 2011 --> All teams)

30. The 2009 Yankees went 21-7 in August games where Derek Jeter hit 1st in the order.

(Batting Order Position Stats Batting 1st --> 2009 --> NYY)

31. The White Sox were 28-43 (.394) on June 19, 1998. From June 20 forward, they went 52-39 (.571).

(Standings Tool --> Standings on Friday, June 19, 1998)

32. The 2011 Giants went 55-9 (.859) when their pitchers had 4 or more runs to work with in a game.

(Situational Records --> In 2011 and Greater Than or Equal to 4 Runs Scored)

33. The best 20-game stretch of the 2011 Red Sox’s season came between 6/30-7/24. They went 17-3 (.850) and outscored foes by 48 runs (2.4 RPG).

(Streaks --> In 2011, Just BOS - Streaks Analyzer)

34. The Cubs and Dodgers are exactly .500 against each other (943 wins apiece) since 1901.

(Head-to-Head --> Chicago Orphans and Chicago Cubs against listed opponents from 1901-2011)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Announcement, Baseball-Reference.com, Features, HowTo, Play Index. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.