Another Sad Club: The Other 99ers

Let’s be honest, a player who scores 100 runs in a season is rarely accorded the same stature as a player who drives in 100 runs. Albert Pujols is Al Pacino. Brian Dozier is Christoph Waltz. Still, even the run scorer covets those big round numbers. Triple digits! On the back of a baseball card, they’re as aesthetically distinct in the run column as they are in the RBI. It has to be disappointing, then, when a player falls just short of the century mark by ending with 99.

What follows, in the spirit of our recent look at 99-RBI guys, is a study of 99-run guys.

Dave Winfield

Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield entered game 161 of 1983 needing to score just once to reach 100 runs for the second time. After going scoreless in four plate appearances, he watched as the Yankees got down to their final out while trailing Baltimore, 4-2. He then looked on as pinch-hitter Graig Nettles clubbed a two-run homer to tie the game. Given reprieve, Winfield stepped to the plate in the top of the 10th…and hit into a double play.

Woof.

Winfield received another stay when the Orioles failed to score in the 11th inning. Then in the 12th, he worked a one-out walk to send Omar Moreno to second base. A passed ball moved Moreno to third and Winfield to second. He now stood 180 feet from his 100th run.

Don Baylor then hit a tapper to third baseman Glenn Gulliver. Catcher John Stefero mishandled the throw to the plate, allowing Moreno to score. But in the confusion–and perhaps in his haste to score his 100th–Winfield had passed Moreno on the base path. Plate umpire Dave Phillips called him out.

But Winfield still had one more game, right? Wrong. In the finale, skipper Billy Martin scratched him from the lineup.

Richie Ashburn

With the 1950s Phillies, Richie Ashburn posted seasons of 91, 92, 93 (twice), 94 and 98 runs scored. Ouch. Of course, the outfielder had not only felt the sting of falling just short, he had also felt the thrill of surpassing 100. In 1953 and 1954, he had scored 110 and 111 runs.

Now in his first season with the Cubs–and his first in the 1960s–he had his best shot since 1954 to plate 100 runs. He had reached the 1960 finale with a flourish, scoring a run in each of three straight games despite notching just one hit. Now he needed three runs to reach the century mark. In the first inning, facing the Dodgers’ Phil Ortega, he worked a leadoff walk and then stole second base to reach scoring position with no outs. A Don Zimmer lineout, a Billy Williams groundout, and an Ernie Banks whiff left him stranded.

In the top of the third inning, he scored on Zimmer’s homer. In the top of the fourth inning, he scored on Williams’ groundout. Two down, one to go.

In the bottom of the fourth, needing just one more run … he got yanked. Talk about a heist!

Seriously. Manager Lou Boudreau replaced him with — wait for it — Al Heist.

Willie Mays

The Say Hey Kid entered the 1966 season having scored at least 101 runs in 12 consecutive seasons. In those seasons, his on-base percentage had averaged .398. As he entered the final game of 1966, his season OBP had dipped to .367. The facts, gathered across decades of statistical analysis, are indisputable: On-base percentage correlates to runs scored. And Willie Mays, down in his OBP, needed to score twice to make it 13 straight years of 100.

He got off to a good start. In the third inning, he hit a two-run homer against Pittsburgh’s Bob Veale to score his 99th run. In the sixth inning, with Jesus Alou on second base, he flied out to center fielder Matty Alou, Jesus’ brother. In the eighth, still facing Veale, he made the final out on a grounder to third base. Would he get one more shot at 100?

He would, thanks to teammate Ozzie Virgil, who hit a two-out single in the ninth inning to plate Jim Ray Hart with the tying run and send the game into extra innings. In the 10th inning and still facing Veale, Mays flied out to right fielder Roberto Clemente to end the frame. The Giants then scored four runs in the 11th, sending eight batters to the plate.

The ninth batter, were it not for Alou’s inning-ending groundout, would have been Mays.

Paul Molitor

In 1996, at age 40, Paul Molitor scored his 96th run in the Twins’ 150th game but then went nine straight contests without touching the plate. After scoring twice in the penultimate game, he needed two runs in the season finale to notch his sixth season of 100-plus runs. Having scored on Roberto Kelly’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth, he stood primed for No. 100 upon doubling with one out in the sixth inning. This time, however, Kelly hit into a double play after White Sox reliever Brian Keyser intentionally walked Marty Cordova to load the bases.

When Molitor struck out in the eighth, his chances looked slim. Appearances can be deceiving. Knotted at 3-3, the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Molitor stepped to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third. His only chances to reach 100 runs: hit a homer, walk and pray for a grand slam, or make an out and extend the game. Instead he singled in the season-ending score.

Bob Allison

On Sept. 21, 1963, Twins first baseman Bob Allison scored his 99th run in the eighth inning of a game against Boston. He had a chance to score his 100th later the same inning. How? Having hit a leadoff double, Allison had sparked a six-run frame in which the Twins batted around, and here he was now, with two outs and a runner on first base, with a chance to reach base again. Allison instead flied out. No big deal, right? He still had five games to go, including another contest that day–the second of the doubleheader.

In the second game, though, he reached base just once and got marooned there. Then in the next three games, Allison went a combined 2-for-11 and never touched the plate. He now had one game left. Unfortunately for the big first baseman, it would come against Yankees starter Whitey Ford, sporting a 2.75 ERA. In his first at-bat, Allison popped out. In his second, he struck out. Then in the fifth inning, Yankees manager Ralph Houk replaced Ford with reliever Al Downing. The good news: Ford was gone. The bad news: Downing, who entered the game with an ERA of 2.37, was no slouch. He proved it by whiffing Allison.

Downing struggled to begin the sixth. Allison’s two-out double plated the second and third runs of the the inning, but a Zoilo Versalles groundout left him stranded. Facing Downing in the eighth, Allison blew his last chance by flying out to right fielder Hector Lopez, who had replaced Roger Maris–the same Roger Maris who had posted his 100th and final RBI of the 1962 season exactly one year earlier, on Sept. 28, with a solo home run.

Whitey Lockman

Early in his career, Whitey Lockman might have thought 100 was an easy mark to reach. After all, in his first full season in the majors, the 21-year-old outfielder scored 117 runs on a 1948 Giants team that boasted two other players, Johnny Mize and Sid Gordon, who scored 100 runs. Lockman had a shot at 100 again as the 1952 season neared its end. In the Giants’ 152nd game of the 154-game season, he scored his 99th run on a seventh-inning homer, but after going scoreless in the penultimate game, he needed one run in the finale.

It wouldn’t be easy. The Giants were set to face Phillies star Robin Roberts, who entered the game with a 2.61 ERA. In the first inning, Lockman connected for a hard line drive…directly to Phillies shortstop Granny Hamner, who threw to first base to double up Daryl Spencer. It would be Lockman’s final at-bat of the day. In the second inning, manager Leo Durocher replaced him with George Wilson, who himself would go scoreless in four at-bats.

As if to emphasize that Lockman had missed his final shot at 100, Wilson popped out to end the game.

Addendum: Though can’t know for sure, we can speculate that Lockman would have traded a chance to score in the bottom of the ninth inning of the final game of 1952 for the run he really did score in the bottom of the ninth inning of a game in 1951: After hitting a run-scoring double off of Dodgers ace Don Newcombe in the final frame 360 days earlier, he scored just ahead of Bobby Thomson on the legendary Shot Heard ’Round the World.

Roy Sievers

Washington outfielder Roy Sievers entered the final game of the 1957 season needing one run to reach 100. The problem? He wasn’t in the lineup. Mired in eighth place, the 55-win Senators were playing for little but the merciful start of the offseason. Finding no reason to post the usual lineup, manager Cookie Lavagetto started Art Schult in Sievers’ place.

Sievers would finish the season with 42 homers and 114 RBI, each a league-leading mark, but he watched from the bench as the Orioles rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 sixth-inning lead. He then watched as Pete Runnels singled to plate Harmon Killebrew with the tying run.

With the game still knotted, 3-3, Schult led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. A Faye Throneberry grounder forced Schult at second base, and a Chuck Stobbs sacrifice bunt moved Throneberry into scoring position. Pinch-hitting, Sievers at last stepped to the plate. Reliever George Zuverink walked him. Now, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of the season finale, Sievers stood on first base with a chance to score his 100th run. Pinch-hitter Eddie Yost then hit a scorching liner…directly to second baseman Billy Gardner for the third out. The Orioles would score four runs in the 10th to win it.

Oh, the first run of the game? Art Schult–remember, he started Sievers–scored it.

Reggie Jackson

In 1969, his second full season in the majors, Reggie Jackson led baseball with 123 runs scored. Not only was it his first time to hit the century mark, it would also be his last.

Jackson would come close again in 1973. He tallied his 99th run in the Athletics’ 159th game, scoring on Angel Mangual’s single after reaching on an error. His run would be Oakland’s only score–and Mangual’s single the only hit–as Twins starter Bert Blyleven pitched a complete-game win. Jackson would have three more games to get his 100th.

In the first inning of the Sept. 28 game, Jackson walked and reached second base on a walk to Gene Tenace. A Joe Rudi flyout left him stranded. In the third inning, he walked again, but another flyout left him stranded once more. In the fifth inning, he grounded out. Facing reliever Goose Gossage to lead off the bottom of the seventh, Jackson doubled. Now he stood in scoring position with no outs. Buzzkill: Utility man Allan Lewis pinch ran for him.

But, hey, Jackson still had two more games, yes? No. Manager Dick Williams held him out of the lineup as the Athletics prepared for the League Championship Series versus Baltimore.

Addendum: It’s fair to speculate now that Jackson is satisfied with the final run he scored in 1973–not the one against Blyleven in the 159th game, but the one against Mets starter Jon Matlack in the 174th game, when Mr. October homered in the third inning of Game Seven of the World Series to give the Athletics a 4-0 lead in their eventual 5-2 victory.

Darrell Evans

The Braves scored just 661 runs in 1974. By comparison, the league-leading Dodgers scored 798–nearly a full run more per game. Not a single player on the Atlanta team posted more than 79 RBI or more than 99 runs. And both marks belonged to Darrell Evans.

As the Braves entered their 162nd game of the season, the big third baseman needed three more runs to notch his second consecutive 100-run season. He had scored 114 runs the previous season, when the Braves scored 799 runs–the best mark in major league baseball.

In the first inning of game 162, Evans stroked a run-scoring double and then scored on Mike Lum’s triple. In the second inning, he reached second base with two outs, but this time Lum popped out. In the fourth inning, Evans grounded out to first baseman Tony Perez. Then in his final two at-bats of game 162, he went down swinging. And that was it.

Or was it? In fact, the Braves would play 163 games that year. Score! Evans had one more shot to get two more runs.

Following a run-scoring single in the finale’s first inning, he scored on catcher Vic Correll’s double. Now Evans needed one more run in the next eight innings. After popping out in the second inning, he walked in the fourth. But a groundout–y none other than Hank Aaron–stranded Evans on first base. In the seventh inning, Aaron homered. This time, however, Evans had made an out.

The Braves would erupt for six runs in the eighth inning, and Evans–holding at 99 runs–would be in the thick of it. His single to right field plated Ralph Garr with the first run of the uprising. Having replaced Aaron in right field, Rowland Office then hit a grounder to second baseman Junior Kennedy, who flipped it to shortstop Dave Concepcion to force Evans at second base. Final score: Braves 13, Reds 0.

And Darrell Evans had scored just one–just one–of those unlucky 13 runs.

Don Buford

On Sept. 28, 1971, Baltimore outfielder Don Buford stepped to the plate in the eighth inning of the first game of a doubleheader in search of his elusive 100th run. He had already scored twice as the 99-win Orioles built an 8-2 lead against the Red Sox, and now, with no outs in a meaningless late-season game, the switch-hitter was set to face 22-year-old lefty Ken Brett, who had entered the contest with a 4.89 ERA and already yielded two runs in the inning. The time was right. Waiting on-deck: Frank Robinson, in search of his 100th RBI.

Instead of reaching base, however, Buford made an out–for just the second time that day. With first base open and a runner on third, Brett intentionally walked Robinson. And so Buford and Robinson would each finish the season a 99er–Buford in runs, Robinson in RBI.

For Robinson, it wasn’t such a terrible fate. Granted, it would be the closest he’d get to the century mark for the rest of his career–he would register 97 RBI in 1973–but the future Hall of Famer already had reached 100 or more RBI in six seasons, including exactly 100 in 1969.

Buford? Poor Buford. The 1971 season marked his third straight season–repeat: third straight season–of totaling 99 runs. To this day, Buford remains the only big leaguer to wear this triple crown. He would never reach 100.

The Twice 99ers

Freddie Lindstrom was no Don Buford, but the future Hall of Famer did suffer 99er status in consecutive years, sandwiched between seasons in which he scored 100-plus runs. In 1928, he got stuck at 99 when Giants manager John McGraw removed him from the finale after two at-bats. In the final game of 1929, McGraw let him play the entire nine innings, but Lindstrom failed to score. Perhaps the cosmos was playing a joke. The opposing pitcher: Sheriff Blake.

Carl Yastrzemski owns the biggest separation between 99-run seasons: 15 years. In 1962, he got stuck at 99 when Red Sox manager Pinky Higgins lifted him in the finale’s fourth inning. In 1977, he got lodged at 99 after going 0-for-4 against Baltimore starter Mike Flanagan in the finale. In the same game, Ken Singleton and Lee May of the Orioles each got locked at 99 RBI.

Like Lindstrom, Yaz and Tight Pants Titus (see below), Darin Erstad became a Twice 99er. Sitting at 99 in 1997, he entered the Angels’ 159th game as a pinch-runner for Jim Edmonds but got stranded at second base. He then got stranded in the dugout as manager Terry Collins kept him out of the lineup in the final three games. In 2002, he scored his 99th run in the first inning of the season finale but failed to reach base in his final three at-bats.

Also finishing with 99 runs scored that season: Erstad’s teammate, Troy Glaus.

Teammates

Glaus, like Erstad, entered the final game of 2002 needing two runs to reach 100. Also like Erstad, Glaus scored in the first inning. Unlike Erstad, he did it by stroking a grand slam. He would not score again. In 2005, Mets infielders David Wright and Jose Reyes each entered the season finale needing one run to notch his first 100-run year. Each went hitless–and scoreless–against Colorado starter Aaron Cook before being lifted in the eighth inning.

Hall of Famers

Ty Cobb became a 99er twice in one season, falling just shy of 100 in both RBI and runs in 1922. After singling and scoring in the first inning of the season finale, Cobb, also serving as Tigers manager, removed himself from the lineup. His replacement, Ira Flagstead, later scored. Six years hence, Rogers Hornsby entered the Boston Braves’ season finale needing just one run to reach the century mark. After going scoreless in three plate appearances, Hornsby, who, like Cobb, doubled as manager, removed himself from the game.

In 1936, Yankees catcher Bill Dickey entered the finale as a pinch-hitter and later scored his 99th and final run. You could argue that the Yankees didn’t need him to score 100. Four Yankees–including HOFers Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio–scored 116 or more.

Other HOFers finished more dramatically, or at least more regrettably. In the finale of 1924, Cleveland shortstop Joe Sewell posted six–six!–RBI but just one run to finish with 106 RBI and, alas, 99 runs. In 1937, Mel Ott went scoreless in the Giants’ final two games to finish with 99 runs. In the penultimate game, Mickey Haslin had replaced Ott at third base after three at-bats. And wouldn’t you know it, Haslin scored in the ninth inning.

Entering the finale of the 1987 season, Robin Yount needed one run to notch his fifth season of 100-plus runs. Unfortunately for the Brewers center fielder, the opposing pitcher, Roger Clemens, would have something to say about it. The Rocket spoke with his arm, yielding two hits and zero walks while striking out 12 in a complete-game shutout.

MVPs

Among the many MVPs to reach 99er status–including Frank McCormick, Sammy Sosa and Albert Pujols–was 1947 NL winner Bob Elliott. In 1948, he entered the Braves’ finale needing two runs to post his first 100-run season. In the first inning, he hit a three-run homer. In the ninth, with two outs and a runner on second base, he doubled to drive in the team’s 11th run. Left fielder Marv Rickert then left him stranded…and marooned on 99 runs. The good news? With his run-scoring double, the man known as Mr. Team had notched RBI 100.

How about Willie McGee? Today, the 1985 NL winner remains the only MVP to become a 99er while playing for two teams. After scoring 76 runs in 125 games with the 1990 Cardinals–including two in his final game with the team–McGee scored 23 runs in 29 games with the A’s following his Aug. 30 trade. Perhaps if he had played in Oakland’s Aug. 30 game, he might have registered his first 100-run season since his MVP campaign. As it stood, McGee entered the finale as a pinch-hitter and scored his 99th and final run in the eighth.

In 1987–his second season in the bigs–Barry Bonds scored three runs in the penultimate game of the season to reach 98. But in the season finale, manager Jim Leyland held him out of the lineup. With the Pirates trailing the Phillies, 2-1, in the bottom of the eighth inning, Leyland sent Bonds to pinch-hit. Bonds worked a two-out walk against eventual Cy Young winner Steve Bedrosian and scored the tying run–his 99th–in an eventual 4-2 win.

In 2006, Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada entered the finale needing one run to reach the century mark for the fifth time. The day would not cooperate. Facing Boston starter Devern Hansack, Tejada went hitless and scoreless through five innings. In fact, every Oriole had gone hitless and scoreless. Then the rains came, giving Hansack a five-inning no-hitter.

In 1991, entering the final week of what would become his second MVP year, Cal Ripken Jr. seemed a lock for his fourth 100-run campaign. After scoring thrice in the Orioles’ 155th game and once more in the 156th, he needed just one run in the seven remaining games. He then went into an offensive funk, going 5-for-25 in the next six games. After failing to reach base in his first three at-bats of the finale, he grounded into a double play to end the game, the season, and his quest for 100 runs. He couldn’t blame his failure on a lack of playing time. For the 10th consecutive season, he had played in every game.

As for Pujols, he entered the 2007 finale needing one score to notch his seventh consecutive season of 100 or more runs. He seemed certain get it. He had gone 13-for-19 with six runs scored in the previous four games. Facing the Pirates’ Bryan Bullington, Pujols went 0-for-3 through five innings. He then flied out in the eighth. Facing Matt Capps in the ninth, he whiffed. A year later, in the Cards’ penultimate game, Pujols would exact his revenge by scoring his 100th and final run on a seventh-inning homer. Of course, 99er fate would exact its own revenge three years later, when Pujols posted one RBI in the finale to finish with 99, thus joining Ty Cobb, Michael Young and Troy Glaus as 99ers in both RBI and runs scored.

All-Timers

Among the top 20 run scorers of all time, seven–Cobb, Bonds, Mays, Ott, Yastrzemski, Molitor and Derek Jeter–were 99ers at some point in their careers. The major league single-season record holder in runs scored– this Billy Hamilton, not that Billy Hamilton–posted 198 runs in 1894. That, of course, is 99 twice.

Others

Future Hall of Famer George Wright was the first to touch the plate 99 times–but not more–when he did it for the Red Stockings in 1873. It is worth noting that Wright achieved the feat in just 59 games, as the Boston squad finished 49-16 to win the American Association under his brother, player-manager Harry Wright. The next to post 99 runs, George “Piano Legs” Gore, led baseball with that number in 1882 while playing for the Cubs. A year after Piano Legs paced baseball with 99 runs, a player with an equally awesome name placed seventh: Cincinnati’s Hick Carpenter achieved the mark in 95 games.

Following the 1883 season, players began scoring more because they began playing more. The schedule jumped from 98 games to 112 games in 1884, to 126 games in 1886, to 140 games in 1888 and to 154 games in 1892. In that span, only two players–Pete Browning and Candy Nelson, each with 98 in 1885–placed in baseball’s top 10 with fewer than 100 runs. In fact, no player would reach the top 10 with fewer than 100 runs until 1902, when Fielder Jones scored 98 and Jesse Burkett and Tommy Leach each scored 97. Run scoring dipped again in 1904, when another 99er–Giants right fielder George Browne–led the NL in scoring. The following season saw outfielder John “Tight Pants” Titus score 99 runs for the Phillies. It wouldn’t be the last time he came up short. Tight Pants also scored 99 times in 1912 while playing for both the Phillies and Braves.

In 1913, Tommy Leach and Max Carey each scored 99 runs to tie for the NL lead. Each of the next two seasons featured a 99er, Vern Duncan in 1914 and Donie Bush in 1915. On the season’s final day, Duncan, a Baltimore Terrapins outfielder, scored in the first game of a doubleheader but failed to score in the second game, a 1-0 defeat of the Brooklyn Tip-Tops, despite notching two hits against Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. The Terrapins’ starter that day? Kaiser Wilhelm. You can’t make this stuff up. As for Bush, he came up just short despite being the only Tiger to notch five plate appearances in the finale.

Once the live-ball era began in 1920, run-scoring again increased. Baseball wouldn’t see another 99er place in the top 10 until 1926, when Heinie Sand and Billy Southworth each hit the mark. Neither Sand nor Southworth would ever reach 100.

Baseball-wide, run scoring remained high for the next decade plus. Not until 1942, when the Giants’ Johnny Mize notched 97, would the top 10 include a runs total of fewer than 100. Johnny Barrett became the next 99er in the top 10 when he did it for Pittsburgh in 1944. In 1948, Barrett finally would reach the century mark–for a Triple-A team.

In 1950, Dodgers outfielder Carl Furillo had a chance for a heroic 100th run, but instead of homering off Philadelphia’s Robin Roberts to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning of the season finale, he popped out to first baseman Eddie Waitkus. You could argue that Waitkus’ catch was heroic enough. Just 16 months earlier, Waitkus had been shot and nearly killed by an obsessed fan. Need more heroism? In the top of the 10th, Waitkus singled off Don Newcombe and then scored the winning run — his 102nd of the season.

The 2016 season saw four players, each an All-Star at one time or another, post 99 runs. One was Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, who, in his final at-bat, lined out to right field.

Like Davis, Ben Zobrist played on the 2013 AL All-Star team. Two years earlier, in 2011, the Tampa Bay second baseman entered the finale in need of two runs to reach 100 for the first time. As the game entered the eighth inning, his chances looked grim. He had gone 0-for-4 on the evening, and the Rays trailed the Yankees, 7-0, to begin the bottom of the frame.

Following a Johnny Damon single, Zobrist doubled. After the next two batters reached base, Zobrist scored the second run–his 99th–on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. He then watched as Evan Longoria’s three-run homer made the score 7-6. In the bottom of the 12th, Zobrist looked on as Longoria stroked an improbable home run to win the game and send the Rays to the postseason. Perhaps no 99er had ever be so happy to have scored his 99th run.