Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Red Sox 1-36: 28 is for…

28 Times Manny Ramirez and Trot Nixon homered in the same game

Another statistic that begs the question, “What does it really mean?”

Trot Nixon and Manny Ramirez homered in the same game 28 times as Red Sox teammates. Is that a lot? Well, it’s tied for fifth in Red Sox history. So, that must be a pretty good amount. Especially given all the stars the Red Sox have had over the years. The team leaders in that category? Jim Rice and Dwight Evans. They homered in the same game 56 times. Exactly twice as often as Manny and Trot. But, that’s probably to be expected. After all both Rice and Evans were both borderline Hall of Famers whose careers almost exactly matched up. It would be natural to assume that just by chance they would have homered in the same game quite a bit. As you look up and down the list of Red Sox leaders, you see a lot of those types of combinations. The second place tandem is Ramirez and David Ortiz at 48 games. Again, two sluggers whose prime years overlapped. That’s to be expected. The same with Bobby Doerr and Ted Williams or Tony Conigliaro and Carl Yastrzemski. Then you get to Manny and Trot. Of the names on the leader board, I think Nixon is clearly the one who was carried by the other guy the most. It certainly looks like Manny hit so many home runs, that he was bound to hit one in the same game as lots of teammates. That’s probably why he’s on the top ten list twice. Only Yaz is on more, with an amazing five different teammates. But, Yaz is on with other sluggers. Manny was able to elevate Trot Nixon. That’s saying something.

I think it’s fairly clear that inclusion on the leaders list for this category is mostly good circumstances. Yaz happened to be paired with lots of sluggers. Ted Williams, apparently, was not. (That’s why the team leader in homeruns is only paired with four teammates that cracked the top twenty.) Rice and Evans helped each other. It would be a lot more interesting if a couple middle infielders somehow combined to get on the list.

Manny and Trot are as close as we get.


28 is for the 28 Times Manny Ramirez and Trot Nixon homered in the same game

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