First baseman
The first baseman (abbreviated to 1B or 3) is a fielding position nearest to the first base. One of their main roles is to force batters out who hit ground balls in the infield. A batter who hits the ball on the ground gives the infield an opportunity to play the ball. The batter must run to first base before a fielder is able to throw the ball to the first baseman in order to be safe. The first baseman only needs to catch the ball while touching a foot on the first base bag, and is not required to tag the batter to force the out.
Due to the nature of this position, the first baseman often accumulates a large number of put outs, a common fielding statistic.
Because most batters are right handed, and tend to "pull" the ball to the left side of the playing field, the first baseman gets fewer balls hit directly at them by batters. They less frequently have to play the ball by throwing it to another infielder to force an out. Thus, in conventional baseball strategy, the position tends to be occupied by weaker defensive players who do not throw the ball as well as other infielders.
The greatest defensive first baseman to play in the Bull League was Silas 'Thrill' Clark, a Hall of Famer who played from 1995 to 2007, on four different teams (all in the Lake League). Clark was a solid offensive player, but he was better known as a consistently reliable first baseman who won the Platinum Glove Award at first base in ten seasons, consecutively, from 1995 to 2004, the longest winning streak for that award at any position.[1]
Contents
First basemen records
First basemen are a fielding position, but like most other positions, they also appear in the batting lineup or batting order. Both batting and fielding statistics are recorded for first basemen. The tables below list the season and career batting and fielding records for Bull League first basemen.[2]
Batting records for first basemen (Bull League)
| Statistic | Single-season record |
Year set | Player | Career record | Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | .396 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | .314 | Errol Corfield |
| OBP | .508 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | .386 | Setsuo Kimura |
| SLG Pct | .766 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | .572 | Zenjiro Suga |
| OPS Pct | 1.274 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | .951 | Zenjiro Suga |
| Games | 100 | 2017 | (5 tied) | 1,292 | Setsuo Kimura |
| At Bats | 393 | 2017 | Luis Santos | 4,882 | Barry Janmaat |
| Runs | 76 | 1998 | Bud Letterlite | 805 | Setsuo Kimura |
| Hits | 128 | 2017 | Jim Lahey | 1,511 | Barry Janmaat |
| Total Bases | 236 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | 2,505 | Setsuo Kimura |
| Singles | 99 | 1995 | Rolling Thunder | 1,076 | Barry Janmaat |
| Doubles | 31 | 2014 | Jim Lahey | 297 | Barry Janmaat |
| Triples | 6 | 2008 | Iayasu Ito | 30 | Barry Janmaat |
| Home Runs | 34 | 1998 | Bud Letterlite | 268 | Setsuo Kimura |
| Runs Batted In | 93 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | 871 | Setsuo Kimura |
| Stolen Bases | 32 | 1995 | Joe Repo | 139 | Barry Janmaat |
| Caught Stealing | 13 | 1995 | Joe Repo | 40 | Barry Janmaat |
| Walks | 69 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | 661 | Setsuo Kimura |
| Strikeouts | 109 | 2008 | Ieyasu Ito | 925 | Miguel Tafoya |
| WAR | 6.8 | 2008 | Zenjiro Suga | 40.9 | Zenjiro Suga |
Fielding records for first basemen (Bull League)
| Statistic | Single-season record |
Year set | Player | Career record | Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | 100 | 2017 | (4 tied) | 1,141 | Barry Janmaat |
| Games started | 100 | 2017 | (4 tied) | 1,133 | Barry Janmaat |
| Assists | 98 | 1998 | Bud Letterlite | 1,023 | Barry Janmaat |
| Putouts | 895 | 2017 | Logans Run | 8,875 | Barry Janmaat |
| Total Chances | 973 | 2017 | Logans Run | 9,959 | Barry Janmaat |
| Double Plays | 113 | 2017 | Chris Pratt | 936 | Barry Janmaat |
| Errors | 13 | 1999 2011 |
Eric Roberts Zenjiro Suga |
67 | Cam Bowers |
| Fielding Pct | 1.000 | (12 tied) | (12 tied) | .999 | Ieyasu Ito |
| Innings played | 912 | 2017 | Luis Santos | 10,046.0 | Barry Janmaat |
| Range Factor | 10.33 | 2017 | Glen Bedard | 9.16 | Silas Clark |
| Zone Rating | +8.9 | 2004 | Barry Janmaat | +69.3 | Zenjiro Suga |
| Def. Efficiency | 1.196 | 2003 | Silas Clark | 1.145 | Zenjiro Suga |
Platinum Glove Winners
List of Platinum Glove Award winners at the first baseman position. See the detailed List of Platinum Glove Winners at first base.
Hall of Fame First Basemen
Silas 'Thrill' Clark is currently the only first baseman in the Hall of Fame.
| Team | HoF induction team |
|---|---|
| Years | Years active |
| AVG | Batting average |
| H | Hits |
| HR | Home runs |
| RBI | Runs batted in |
| SB | Stolen bases |
| WAR | Wins above replacement |
| PO | Put outs |
| AS | Assists |
| F PCT | Fielding percentage |
| Refs | References |
| Name | Team | Years | AVG | H | HR | RBI | SB | WAR | PO | AS | F PCT | AS | MVP | GCA | PGA | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silas Clark | MTL | 1995—2007 | .308 | 1,090 | 143 | 654 | 3 | 27.4 | 6,859 | 840 | .994 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 10 | [4][5] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Platinum Glove Winners:Lake League. BNN. [1]. Accessed: 9 December 2016.
- ↑ History Leaderboards. BNN. http://bullleague.org/public_html/bull-league/reports/html/2016/history/league_100_0_3_leaderboards.html. Accessed: 9 December 2016.
- ↑ Platinum Glove Winners:American Eagle League. BNN. [2]. Accessed: 9 December 2016.
- ↑ Bull Baseball League Hall of Fame Inductees. BNN. http://bullleague.org/public_html/bull-league/reports/html/2016/history/league_100_hall_of_fame_inductees.html. Accessed: 9 December 2016.
- ↑ 1B Silas 'Thrill' Clark #22. BNN Profile. http://bullleague.org/public_html/bull-league/reports/html/2016/players/player_297.html. Accessed: 9 December 2016.
