Sarge Matthews and the Cubs love of OBP

[RockTheIvy]

I have a day off today and I drank too much coffee so I am really impatient and bored and wired so I decided to have some fun on Baseball Reference (at ease, ladies).

 

First of all, has anyone ever looked at Gary Matthews' 1984 season? I was 1 and something at the time and only remember weird images from the season, but the dude walked 103 times that season giving him an OBP of .410. This season got me thinking of how many Cubs players in the last 30 years have walked more than 100 times and how many Cubs players have had OBPs of .400 (which seems to be a magic OBP number, kinda like hitting .300).

 

Player/Year	100 Walks	.400 OBP	ISOP
Bill Madlock/1975		0.402	0.048
Bill Madlock/1976		0.412	0.073
Gary Matthews/1984	103	0.41	0.119
Mark Grace/1989		0.405	0.091
Mark Grace/1997		0.409	0.09
Mark Grace/1998		0.401	0.092
Sammy Sosa/2000		0.406	0.086
Sammy Sosa/2001	116	0.437	0.109
Sammy Sosa/2002	103	0.399	0.111
Derrek Lee/2005		0.418	0.083

Cardinals			
Ted Simmons/1977		0.408	0.09
Keith Hernandez/1979		0.417	0.073
Keith Hernandez/1980		0.408	0.087
Keith Hernandez/1981		0.401	0.095
Keither Hernandez/1982	100	0.397	0.098
Tom Herr/1983		0.403	0.08
Jack Clark/1987	136	0.459	0.173
Gregg Jefferies/1993		0.408	0.066
Ray Lankford/1997		0.411	0.116
Mark McGwire/1998	162	0.47	0.171
Mark McGwire/1999	133	0.424	0.146
Jim Edmonds/2000	103	0.411	0.116
JD Drew/2000		0.401	0.106
Jim Edmonds/2001		0.41	0.106
JD Drew/2000		0.414	0.093
Jim Edmonds/2002		0.42	0.109
Albert Pujols/2003		0.439	0.08
Albert Pujols/2004		0.415	0.084
Scott Rolen/2004		0.409	0.095
Jim Edmonds/2004	101	0.418	0.117
Albert Pujols/2005		0.43	0.1

 

I think it is interesting to see that in the last 30 years, only 9 times has a Cubs player had an OBP over .400 and only 3 times has a player walked more than 100 times. Compare that to the Cardinals over the same span, who have had a player with an OBP over .400 20 times, and 6 times have had a player walk more than 100 times. They have also had 11 different players have that OBP, whereas there are only 5 different Cubs to have done it. Also note that it took Hall of Fame seasons by Sosa 3 times two times to reach the .400 OBP marks. And, despite Lee's spectacular season, his career high in walks came in 2002.

 

What is the point of all this? I basically wanted to show how little the organization values the walk, as well as on basepercentage. During this time span, the Cards ahve reached the playoffs 9 times. The Cubs have reached it four times ('84, '89, '98, '03). Also note the diffences in Isolated Patience between the Cubs seasons and the Cardinals seasons. A few of the Cubs seasons have been more average driven, meaning that they probably will not sustain that level of on base ability from season to season.

 

Take from this what you will, I just thought it would be interesting to see The Chicago National League Ballclub's appreciation for OnBase Percentage.

 

PS: I hope that code thing worked. I wish I was as savvy as Fred! :lol: