November 8, 2009
Order Now The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010 is now in development and will ship in mid November! This year's book will feature articles by THT's staff as well as Bill James, Tom Tango and Craig Wright. If you use this link to purchase the Annual, you will be in the first group to receive it and you'll be supporting THT. 
Rich Barbieri
John Barten Brian Borawski Craig Brown Evan Brunell David Gassko Jonathan Hale Brandon Isleib Chris Jaffe Max Marchi Bruce Markusen Harry Pavlidis Jeff Sackmann Dave Studeman Steve Treder Bryan Tsao Tuck! Dan Turkenkopf Colin Wyers Geoff Young John Brattain And here's the full roster.
Or you can search by:
Gear up for baseball season with Chicago White Sox tickets and New York Yankees tickets. LA Angels tickets, Houston Astros tickets, and Atlanta Braves tickets are hot sellers! You can get Boston Red Sox tickets, San Diego Padres tickets or Chicago Cubs tickets for your favorite baseball fan. Coast to Coast Tickets has the best MLB tickets like Minnesota Twins tickets, LA Dodgers tickets, Milwaukee Brewers tickets, New York Met tickets and St. Louis Cardinals tickets. Find premium Chicago Cubs tickets and other Chicago tickets at JustGreatTickets.com. Chicago Cubs Tickets Chicago Tickets  All content on this site (including text, graphs, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
About Chris JaffeHistory instructor by day, statnerd by night, Chris Jaffe leads one of the most exciting double lives imaginable; with the exception of every other double life possible to imagine. Despite his lack of comic-book-hero-worthiness, Chris enjoys farting around with this stuff. His new book, Evaluating Baseball's Managers is available for pre-order. Chris welcomes responses to his articles via e-mail.Choose year: 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 Chris Jaffe's ArticlesTHT Live: B-ref User SurveyNovember 08, 2009THT Live: Ranking Yankee World ChampionsNovember 06, 2009THT Live: When down 3 games to 2 in the World Series . . .November 03, 2009Managerial remarriagesNovember 02, 2009Inspired by Houston's consideration of making former manager Phil Garner the team's future manager, Chris looks at times when a skipper came back to his old club. THT Live: Once down 3 games to 1 in the World Series . . .November 02, 200910 worst World Series games everOctober 26, 2009"It's the World Series, Mr. Scrooge!" "Bah humbug!" replied the Cubs fan. THT Live: Random and useless thoughts on the Manny Acta hiringOctober 25, 2009THT Live: Most recent consecutive pennants for all franchisesOctober 22, 2009THT Live: Phun Phillie PhactsOctober 20, 2009Managerial Golden and Dark AgesOctober 19, 2009What are the highs and lows of managerial talent across MLB history? THT Live: Catcher-managersOctober 16, 2009Ten greatest stadium closeoutsOctober 12, 2009What teams left their old home stadiums with the best finales? Now you can find out. THT Live: How dumb are we?October 11, 2009THT Live: Greatest game in Metrodome history?October 06, 2009Eric Wedge’s firing in historic perspectiveOctober 05, 2009I come not to praise the firing, but to analyze it. THT Live: Mr. LaRussa, say goodbye to Mr. McGrawOctober 02, 2009THT Live: Mr. LaRussa, meet Mr. McGrawOctober 01, 2009THT Live: Most recent mid-season managerial change for all 30 teamsSeptember 30, 2009THT Live: Most Recent 100-win season for all franchisesSeptember 28, 2009The Cooper conundrumSeptember 28, 2009Another one bites the dust: a look at the firing of Cecil Cooper. The 10 greatest games in Metrodome historySeptember 21, 2009Presenting it a bit early to beat the Christmas rush, Chris presents the best games ever played in the Metrodome (so far). Ten greatest moments in recent Pirate historySeptember 14, 2009As you probably know, the Pirates recently clinched their 17th consecutive losing season. But what are their highlights in that stretch? THT Live: Longest stretch without a 16-game winning pitcherSeptember 13, 2009THT Live: Most recent 18-win month for all teamsSeptember 13, 2009THT Live: All hail . . . . Ed Kranepool?September 09, 2009THT Live: Interview onlineSeptember 09, 2009THT Live: Unreal. Just unrealSeptember 08, 2009THT Live: Ichiro’s 2000th hitSeptember 07, 2009THT Live: Jim Leyland and the march into historySeptember 06, 2009THT Live: Random Dave Weathers infoSeptember 01, 2009Beloit College Mindset List: baseball versionAugust 31, 2009Chris has fun combining the national pastime with Beloit's annual list of life according to freshmen. Are pitchers clutch when they try to avoid losing 20?August 24, 2009Wouldn't you reach down a little bit deeper if you were a starting pitcher with 19 losses to your name? THT Live: Longest franchise droughts without a 200-hit performanceAugust 21, 2009THT Live: Last 200-hit performance for all franchisesAugust 21, 2009THT Live: Longest franchise droughts without a 20-game winnerAugust 20, 2009THT Live: Last 20-game winners for all 30 teamsAugust 20, 2009THT Live: Useless info on 100-win teams without 20-win pitchersAugust 19, 2009THT Live: Random research inspired by today’s Treder columnAugust 18, 2009THT Live: Today’s random factAugust 17, 2009Managerial differentialsAugust 17, 2009Here is some stuff that Chris would've put in his upcoming book Evaluating Baseball's Managers, had he thought about it before submitting the manuscript to the publisher. THT Live: Your other random fact of the dayAugust 16, 2009THT Live: Your random fact of the dayAugust 16, 2009THT Live: More on last night’s Sox-Mariners gameAugust 13, 2009THT Live: 0-0 Extra inning gamesAugust 13, 2009THT Live: Random Scott Podsednik stuffAugust 12, 2009Random great game: Cubs-Cardinals, August 8, 1990August 10, 2009There is something to be said about enjoying a random game that turns into something special. Ten things I didn’t know before SABR 39August 03, 2009THT's annual recap of the most enjoyable weekend of the year. THT Live: Random notes from SABR 39August 03, 2009THT Live: New day coming for SABR?August 02, 2009THT Live: Talking BaseballJuly 31, 2009THT Live: Ten best teams to lose 10 straightJuly 28, 2009THT Live: Worst teams to win 10 straightJuly 27, 2009Best of the second best (part 2)July 27, 2009So according to Diamondmind and the computer simulation system put together by SG of the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog, what is the best team to lose the World Series? THT Live: Rickey Speaks!July 27, 2009THT Live: Most Recent 10-game losing streaks for all 30 teamsJuly 23, 2009THT Live: Your fun fact for the dayJuly 23, 2009THT Live: Most Recent 10-game winning streaks for all 30 teamsJuly 22, 2009THT Live: Best Dodger team since….July 22, 2009THT Live: 40 games under .500July 21, 2009Best of the second best (part 1)July 20, 2009With help from SG of the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog and his 1,000 season simulator, Chris looks at the best team to lose the World Series. THT Live: Washington’s futility: some historic perspectiveJuly 18, 2009The 2009 Alvin Davis All-StarsJuly 13, 2009Formerly known as the Von Hayes All Stars, Chris looks at which vets have most noticeably declined. THT Live: Padre Offensive WoesJuly 10, 2009THT Live: Cincy ShellackingJuly 06, 2009MLB’s greatest game everJuly 06, 2009Turns out the greatest game of 'em all was a regular-season contest with with no greater significance beyond what happened on the field that day. Really. The 10 worst lineups ever no-hitJune 29, 2009In a sequel to a column from last year, Chris looks at the most pathetic starting lineups ever held hitless. Book Review: Cooperstown ConfidentialJune 22, 2009Not to be confused with Bruce Markusen's feature here at THT, this Cooperstown Confidential is a new book by Zev Chafets. The glory days of card collectingJune 15, 2009Chris doesn't care if you like his centennial column here at THT—he doesn't even care if you read it. He just wants everyone to scroll down and view the photos halfway into it. The Clint Hurdle eraJune 08, 2009A look back at the Rocky Mountain career of Clint Hurdle. Baseball’s most exciting playJune 01, 2009Using some new info available at b-ref, Chris examines the inside-the-park home run. The cost of gougingMay 18, 2009It's Chris' third annual comparison of order processing charges and convenience fees for all MLB teams. Book Review: ‘78 by Bill ReynoldsMay 11, 2009Chris' takes on the new book '78: The Boston Red Sox, A Historic Game and a Divided City Sundays in BrooklynMay 04, 2009A fixing and follow-up to last week's Dazzy Vance tracer column. Dazzy Vance tracerApril 27, 2009Was the story from Ken Burns' baseball true? Was Vance impossible to hit on a Monday in Brooklyn? THT Live: Highest-scoring Yankees-Red Sox games everApril 25, 2009Land of 10,000 coincidencesApril 20, 2009In an extension of a recent column, Chris notes a slew of occasions when life and baseball had something interesting happen to them in the same day. Book review: As They See ‘EmApril 13, 2009Is Bruce Weber's book on umpires a hit or is it out? Land of 1,000 CoincidencesApril 06, 2009A look at occasions when important real life events and famous baseball moments happened at the same time. Book review: The Yankee YearsApril 03, 2009Chris' take on the highly publicized new book by Tom Verducci and Joe Torre Five questions: Chicago White SoxMarch 23, 2009THT's look at what the crystal ball holds for the defending AL Central champs. (Somewhat) sabermetric similarity scoresMarch 09, 2009Based on a database created a few months ago, Chris looks for some context-dependent similarity scores to compare offensive seasons with each other. Book Review: Wally Yonamine: the Man Who Changed Japanese BaseballMarch 02, 2009A recount of Robert Fitts' work on the first notable American-born star in Japanese baseball. The big red oneFebruary 23, 2009A look back at the strange career of Rick Sutcliffe. THT Live: Sean Forman: Stathead MillionareFebruary 17, 2009Tigers Pitchers, 1955-2008February 16, 2009Finishing up where last week left off, the second half of Detroit's history of good but rarely great starting pitchers. Tiger Pitchers, 1901-1954February 09, 2009The first of two articles looking at some of the more notable starting pitchers for a franchise who never had a hurler elected into Cooperstown via the BBWAA 50 great potential closer songsJanuary 26, 2009If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Ted Berg should consider himself extremely flattered by Chris Jaffe's offering this week. THT Live: Aaron Gleeman Wants YOUJanuary 23, 2009Dissecting the 2009 Hall of Fame voteJanuary 19, 2009Chris takes a look at the BBWAA's Cooperstown vote. Again. The Wonder of RickeyJanuary 12, 2009On the day Rickey Henderson gets elected to Cooperstown, THT takes a look back at some of the things that made the game's greatest leadoff man so special. Next Week’s Cooperstown Results TodayJanuary 05, 2009Last year, Chris had the most successful prediction for the BBWAA's Cooperstown vote around. What does his crystal ball foresee in next Monday's announcement? 10 things I didn’t know about THT last yearDecember 29, 2008Ending the year with a look back at 2008, with a big assist from a massive bout of insomnia. Hitler. Stalin. Garvey.December 22, 2008The three worst things a person can be are: 1) child molester, 2) Nazi war criminal, and 3) Steve Garvey Current Cooperstown ConversationsDecember 15, 2008A look at two noteworthy Hall of Fame news items from last week. The George Grantham all-starsDecember 08, 2008What are the most well rounded offensive seasons of all-time? Read and find out. Up and down the Hall of Fame VoteNovember 24, 2008A look at where Hall of Fame candidates stack up based on how long they've been on the ballot. October country’s refugees (part 2 of 2)November 10, 2008Based on the season simulator database put together by SG from the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog, let's find out who were the best teams to ever miss the World Series. THT Live: Happy 90th Birthday, Bob!November 03, 2008October country’s refugees (part 1 of 2)November 03, 2008With the help from the season simulator by SG from the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog, let's find out who was the best team to completely miss the World Series. Interview: Carlos Gomez, MLB scoutOctober 27, 2008An interview with former THT contributor and current Diamondbacks scout Carlos Gomez THT Live: Best Civic Anniversary Ever?October 26, 2008The corpse on the dissecting tableOctober 13, 2008I come not to praise the 2008 Cubs, but to bury them. THT Live: The Gifts of PittsburghOctober 01, 2008THT Live: Ben Jacobs: modern day NostradamusSeptember 30, 2008Cooperstown Calling Contemporary Managers?September 29, 2008A look at the Hall of Fame prospects for the most notable current skippers. THT Live: Fielder vs. BraunSeptember 27, 2008The Yost-ings of yesteryearSeptember 22, 2008THT's (self-proclaimed) manager expert looks at history's managerial removals most similar to Ned Yost's unexpected departure last week. The grand national conversationSeptember 15, 2008Chris takes another look at the BBWAA's voting process to uncover what really makes it tick. 30 teams, 30 theme songsSeptember 08, 2008An attempt to find just the right song to describe each team's 2008 season. In the name of Ethelred and all that is unreadyAugust 25, 2008An examination of the most extreme examples in baseball history when a batter overcame a dreadful start to have a stellar season. Gouge AwayAugust 18, 2008In a follow-up to his most responded to column from last year, Chris compares add-on costs like order processing charges and convenience fees for all 30 teams to see who gouges the most and least in MLB. Matching presidents and ballplayers, 1933-2008August 11, 2008Finishing up where last week left off. Matching presidents and ballplayers, 1869-1933August 04, 2008Just a fun mental exercise — take every president and find the ballplayer from his administration that best resembles him. Rating the BBWAA (Part 2)July 28, 2008Finishing up the investigation on how good a job the BBWAA has done picking Hall of Famers over the years. Rating the BBWAA (Part 1)July 21, 2008So ... how good a job has the BBWAA really done selecting Hall of Famers? The 2008 Von Hayes All-StarsJuly 07, 2008Some men age gracefully and gradually. Then there are these guys. Ten things I didn’t know before SABR 38June 30, 2008THT's annual recap of the most enjoyable weekend of the year. How Joe DiMaggio Revolutionized Cooperstown VotingJune 09, 2008The history of the BBWAA Hall of Fame vote can be divided into two phases: pre- and post-DiMaggio. The bad centuryJune 02, 2008In the century the Cubs have gone without a title, what has been their best squad? Let's have SG from the Replacement Level Yankee Weblog run 1000 sims of the best teams to find out. Ten most impressive no-hitters of all timeMay 26, 2008Or, more precisely, the 10 most impressive lineups ever held hitless. The Julio Franco EraMay 19, 2008Now that he's finally retired, THT looks back at how the world has changed over the course of his life and career. Book Review: The 1973 StoryMay 12, 2008A review of Hammerin' Hank, George Almighty, and the Say Hey Kid: The Year that Changed Baseball Forever by John Rosengren. How Soon is Now?May 05, 2008What does the Cards' hot April start tell us about how they'll play the rest of the season? Franchise Managerial Hiring TendenciesApril 28, 2008Certain teams like going after particular types of managers. A look at the half-dozen teams with the most striking hiring tendencies. THT Live: Streaking CubsApril 22, 2008Joe Posnanski InterviewApril 21, 2008THT sits down with the statworld's favorite mainstream writer. Cubdom’s great lost opportunityApril 14, 2008One of the Cubs' best chances since 1908 to win it all may have come in 1964, when they were 76-86, 17 games out of first. Book Review: Big Book of Baseball LegendsApril 07, 2008A review of a special installment of Mythbusters, featuring Rob Neyer. Baseball’s strangest and most amazing team pitching splits: 1957-2007March 31, 2008Plus a pair of hitting ones for good measure as well. Five Questions: Milwaukee BrewersMarch 10, 2008A look into the crystal ball to see what 2008 holds for the Brew Crew 2007’s Most Historic and Impressive Team SplitsMarch 03, 2008Having downloaded nearly 150 team splits for every squad since 1957, Chris clues us in on which teams' hitting and pitching achievements from last year were the most amazing. Homer trackerFebruary 25, 2008A look at which players and teams should see the biggest changes to their power numbers, based on the info at Greg Rybarczyk’s Hit Tracker website. The Gods and Dogs of Garbage TimeFebruary 18, 2008Traditionally, when people talk about who is a choker and who is clutch, they point to how they hit in clutch situation. Let's flip it around and look at who is at his best when it matters least. Bill James InterviewFebruary 04, 2008He's got a new book coming out. And a new website. So behold THT's interview with baseball's bearded wizard. The 10 greatest Game Sevens in World Series historyJanuary 21, 2008Chris completes his World Series journey with an examination of the ultimate ultimates. Pete Palmer interviewJanuary 14, 2008A chance to pick the brain of one of the godfathers of sabermetrics. THT Live: My predictions vs. RealityJanuary 08, 2008Tomorrow’s Cooperstown election results todayJanuary 07, 2008Well, no, not really. But, if you track 10 basic trends for BBWAA voting, you can essentially figure out how tomorrow's announcement will go before it happens. Ten best World Series Game Sixes everJanuary 04, 2008It turns out a lot of your finest Game Sixes occur when the team that's down three game to two wins. Makes sense if you think about it. Ten Best Game Fives in World Series HistoryDecember 17, 2007Not all Fall Classics get this far, but the pressure really starts building at this point. Ten Best Game Fours in World Series HistoryDecember 10, 2007Another top 10 list containing 14 items. This is when World Series games start getting famous. Interview: John ThornDecember 04, 2007THT's chance to pick the brain of one of the most respected baseball writers out there, John Thorn. The World Series’ Top 10 Game ThreesNovember 28, 2007Turns out this is historically the most poorly played game in the Fall Classic. However, there's still plenty of excitement in these games with all their sloppy glory. 10 Best World Series Game 2s EverNovember 19, 2007Having looked at the best Series openers, an overview of the best Second Acts. Ten best World Series Game Ones everNovember 12, 2007A top ten list that contains 14 games. And I bet you thought a person had to be good at math to write for this place. Ha! Ranking the Recent PostseasonsNovember 05, 2007October 2007 was a disappointment, but let's put it in context by looking at the last 25 postseasons. Forgotten upset: 1958 World SeriesOctober 29, 2007What kind of schmuck says the Casey Stengel-era Yanks winning it all is an upset? The Chris Jaffe kind of schmuck—read and find out why. Rob Neyer InterviewOctober 22, 2007The Man. The Myth. The Flannel. If you frequent this site, here's an interview with the man who has your dream job. How to Pull Off a World Series UpsetOctober 15, 2007A look at history's greatest October upsets to determine what characteristics are most pronounced in these surprising clashes. Oh, and it turns out that this info also describes one of this year's remaining squads. Willie survive?October 08, 2007Apparently, blowing a seven game lead with 17 to play wasn't quite enough to make the Mets dump their manager, Willie Randolph. How much precedent is there for this decision and what will the future likely hold for Randolph? THT Live: 2 Games to 0 Leads in Best-of-5 SeriesOctober 05, 2007More tales from the team splits junk drawerSeptember 24, 2007Having collected a slewload of offensive splits from every team in the last half-century, Chris dives into it a second time to extract some of the more interesting nuggets. BRUUUUUCE!!September 18, 2007A look back on the career of the soon-to-be-retired umpire, Bruce Froemming. Best and Worst MLB Splits, 1957-2006September 10, 2007Chris Jaffe spent this summer downloading over 80 categories of Baseball Reference's offensive splits for all teams from a half-century. Here are some of the most fun and interesting results. Interview: Dave “Retrosheet” SmithSeptember 05, 2007A candid look with the man who created and runs the Retrosheet website. Forgotten pennant push: Jim Kaat, 1967August 27, 2007It's a forgotten story from one of the greatest pennant races ever. But in 1967, Jim Kaat had one of the greatest clutch stretches by any pitcher ever. No mirage in ArizonaAugust 20, 2007The Diamondbacks have the best record in the NL despite getting outscored so far on the year. Sabermetric covnentional wisdom says that they're a fluke who are over their heads. But read and find out why that's wrong Managing and the back of the busAugust 14, 2007A look at race and hiring practices for managers in the last 20 years. Sean Forman interviewAugust 06, 2007The man. The myth. The legend. THT's interview with the founder, owner, operator, & president for life of Baseball-Reference. SABR37 recapJuly 30, 2007Aaron Gleeman may be gone, but "Gleeman-length" recaps of the annual SABR convention remain a THT tradition. The $17 ticket that costs $25July 24, 2007In this age of smaller parks and increased attendance, it's become more difficult to assure seats in a venue without getting them advance and accepting various processing charges. Here's a look at which teams gun up prices the most via add-on charges. Looking for the perfect compJuly 16, 2007What happens when Afrika Bambaataa meets Mark Buehrle? Only the Secret Society of Crafty Soft Tossers knows for sure. Cream of the crap (Part 2)July 09, 2007Look, the 1899 Spiders are the worst. No one can compete. But can you guess who came out as the worst team of the 20th century? Believe me, if I gave you five guesses, you still would not get it right. The cream of the crap (Part 1)July 02, 2007Rather than sit around a bar stool debating who the worst teams ever are, let's run 1000 computer sims of the game's 28 worst clubs. First, to determine which teams go in the hopper. Book Review: Gashouse GangJune 19, 2007A new look at the 1934 World Series champs would be a hit but for too many errors That’s the Chicago WayJune 11, 2007Having looked at starting pitcher leveraging of the last few months, there's still another issue to tackle: which franchises did it the most. Leveraging Across the Eras (SP Lev., Part 8)June 04, 2007Read and find out when starting pitcher leveraging rose and fell over the decades. Managers and leveraging (SP Lev, part 7)May 29, 2007Which managers did the most and least leveraging of the starting pitchers in baseball history? Click here and find out. Book Review: Opening DayMay 14, 2007Take a look at Jonathan Eig's new book on Jackie Robinson's rookie season. Platoon Leveraging Data Dump (Starting Pitcher Leveraging, Part 6)May 10, 2007A continuation of Part 5, this lists the teams that saw the fewest LHP, and then gives the L# for just about every team from the days when teams leveraged their pitchers. Pitcher Platoon Leveraging (SP Lev., Part 5)April 30, 2007Previous articles showed platoon leveraging was a key component to pitcher leveraging. This article, examining SP platoon leveraging head-on, uncovers some interesting information that offers a modest revision to a point Bill James made in his Historical Abstract. The Strange Career of Wes Ferrell (SP Leverage, Part 4)April 23, 2007The inspiration for this study was a work that claimed Wes Ferrell, if adjusted for how he was leveraged, was as good in his prime as Lefty Grove. Yet AOWP+ indicates that Wes Ferrell was rather poorly leveraged. What gives? What’s it All About, AOWPy? (SP Leverage, Part 3)April 16, 2007After going over best/worst leveraged careers and single seasons in the first two articles, how 'bout we figure out how important it was, and how much it impacted pitchers' stats? Soul of BaseballApril 09, 2007A book review of Joe Posnanski's new book about the one and only Buck O'Neil. Starting Pitcher Leverage (Part 2)April 05, 2007Having looked at the best and worst leveraged careers in Part I, now it's time to find out what were the best and worst leveraged single seasons in baseball history for starting pitchers. Starting Pitcher Leverage (Part 1)March 26, 2007Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About and Love Ken Heintzelman. Managerial Aging PatternsMarch 14, 2007What can historical data about teams over and underperforming their talent tell us about managers? Home Sweet HomeJune 26, 2006Guest writer Chris Jaffe looks at how players perform when revisiting teams that traded them. Click here to return to the home page. |