The best (and the worst): updating the IAL all-time leaderboards

I’ve been seeing some posts on social media about Rich Zawadski’s Greater Michigan Baseball Tournament roll by.  It seems like Rich has really pulled off a fun event!  I really am sorry I didn’t go.  Next time, Rich! 

While I’m waiting for the full report from the tournament, I’ve been updating the Illowa APBA League’s all-time leaderboard.  Commissioner Mike Bunch sent me the standings and stats from our league going back to our first year in 1975 which have now been updated with the 2014 stats.  Since then, I’ve been sorting and filtering them by categories and finding out who what’s changed since last year.

The short answer:  There wasn’t a lot of movement since the 2014 season passed us by.  There was not one performance in 2014 that cracked the single season top ten in any category in either the hitting or pitching.  That’s the first time that’s the first time that’s happened since I’ve started doing this. 

There was some movement (both up and down) on the career charts, though.  The notable ones?  Well, Derek Jeter is only 30 hits away from 3000 hits now.  He will surpass that mark sometime this year.  Also, he will most likely pass Alex Rodriguez who is #2 in runs scored with 1736.  Jeter is only 17 runs away.  Finally, he is also only one double away from passing Ivan Rodriguez who is fifth all time in doubles with 525. 

Also, Albert Pujols was knocked off the top ten career top ten hitting chart.  Relative youngsters like Joe Mauer (.302, 7th all-time), Buster Posey (.299, 9th all-time) are making their move now.  That’s ok with Albert because he is only three homers away from 500.  That’s good for ninth all time.  Pujols still holds on the #2 slot in slugging with a .576.  He’s right behind the guy he replaced at first base for the Thunderchickens.  Mark McGwire leads all IAL hitters with a career .592 mark. 

There wasn’t much change on the pitching top ten lists except for interestingly, career ERA.  Usually, that list is reserved for old timers like Steve Carlton and Catfish Hunter.  They are joined now by newbies like Clayton Kershaw who is #2 all-time with a 3.07 ERA.  Jered Weaver makes a surprising appearance who now qualifies at #4 with a career 3.31 mark and Adam Wainwright is right behind him with a 3.38 ERA. 

The only other active player among the pitching career top ten is Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez who clocks in at #2 with 330 saves behind Mariano Rivera’s 461 saves. 

The IAL’s Worst

Now, I mentioned that no players cracked the top ten in pitching or hitting.  That’s true but only for positive stats.  There was an interesting trend in 2014.  A total of FIVE hitters from 2014 are now on the top ten list for the lowest batting average ever in the IAL.  Not only that, Elvis Andrus’ slugging percentage of .225 is now an all time low for the IAL.  Jose Altuve’s .281 slugging mark ranks #10, too.  To add to all of this, Matt Wieters .211 OBP from last year is the lowest of all time. 

All players noted qualified with at least 500 plate appearances.