Or, “Ledger Your Cares Away with Expeditious Slugging”

Baseball lost two greats in June. Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda were both tremendous power hitters who incidentally played together with the Giants between 1958 and 1965. They were both MVPs and multiple-time All-Stars. Both were also Rookie of the Year, which brings me to the v-Club focus. Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda demonstrate just how boring it is to be a really, really good home run hitter but how amazingly efficient one can be.

Put those pitchforks down. Neither Mays nor Cepeda were in any way, shape, or form boring players. But their ledgers demonstrate incredible feast (which is exciting!) and famine (which is dull). Let’s summarize their careers by looking at these highs and lows (again, can’t stress this enough, lows from a ledger vantage point).

Say Hey Kid

HIGH: Willie Mays debuted with the Giants on May 25, 1951. He would need to a hit a home run against seven teams to max out. A mere 39 days later he had done it. Mays did not need more than five games to clear any one opponent.

LOW: It would be more than ten full seasons before Mays became ledger-relevant again. 3,933 days elapsed between Mays hitting his seventh ledger and Opening Day 1962.

HIGH: It took Mays slightly longer to max via homers against the expansion Colt .45s and Mets. This time he needed 45 days. He homered against Houston in his fifth career game against them and his first game against the Mets.

LOW: Another 2,507 games elapsed between his first home run against the Mets and Opening Day 1969.

HIGH: It was not a case of Mays slowing down, but rather the schedule when it took 56 days to clear the expansion Padres and Expos. He homered in his first career game against both those opponents.

LOW: Following his ledger home run in Montreal, Mays saw 1,072 more days elapse before a certain low day in San Francisco – the day he was traded to the Mets.

HIGH: Mays was traded on May 11, 1972. He hit a home run against the Giants on May 14, 1972. Only two full days elapsed between these events.

LOW: Mays would end his career in New York with the Mets, not to be bothered again by any ledger possibilities. Between his Mets ledger and retirement, 482 days clicked off the calendar.

SUMMARY: Once all that is added up you find that Willie Mays spent more than 98% of his career in an unwavering I’ve-hit-against-every-opponent-I’ve-had-on-my-schedule state. One-hundred forty-two days in total. Where’s the suspense? Where’s the intrigue? Where’s the underdog makes good story? Where’s the close call? Willie was too good to even think of such things, and for that I say BORING.

Cha Cha

I think there’s consensus is Orlando Cepeda was a very good player, but not Willie Mays good. Let’s see how he stacks up in terms of maxing out ledgers.

HIGH: Cepeda debuted with the Giants on April 15, 1968 and by June 26 he had cleared the seven National League opponents. That’s 72 days.

LOW: Between his seventh ledger and Opening Day 1962, he saw 1384 days get crossed off the calendar.

HIGH: A mere 51 days elapsed before he connected against the Colt .45s and Mets. And for good measure, he and Willie both ledgered against Houston on May 19.

LOW: Cepeda spent a quite a far fewer seasons in San Francisco than did Willie. Between his ninth ledger and a trade to St. Louis on May 8, 1966, 1,435 days elapsed.

HIGH: A second 51-day stretch passed before the new Cardinal managed to hit one against his former team (but he hit it in his third game against them).

LO: Cepeda was traded to the Atlanta before the 1969 season started. 1,013 days passed between his home run against the Giants and the Braves season opener.

HIGH: It only took Cepeda 106 days before he collected the Padres and Expos in 1969. He was again maxed out against the National League. But unlike Willie Mays, Cepeda had a trick up his sleeve – get traded to the American League and try for the v24 Club!

LOW: Cepeda was moved to Oakland on June 29, 1972 which was 1,070 days after his twelfth ledger. Unfortunately for him, he only played in three games for the A’s. He was the moved onto Boston the next season where he collected nine out of the needed twelve ledgers. He finished his career with the Royals in 1974 never having played against the Red Sox and missing ledgers against the Brewers and White Sox.

SUMMARY: Even with his American League stint taking some wind out his sails, Cepeda still managed to spend more than 95% of his career in a maxed out state. Whereas Willie needed a maximum of five games to hit one against every opponent, Orlando had some sixes and sevens and required twelve games to collect the Twins. However, this is still outstanding and even with that intrigue near the end where under different circumstances he possibly/probably could have joined the Club, Cepeda’s career was still kinda boring.

Other Considerations

The catalyst for this post was the Membership Profile for Joe Adcock who hit his home runs early then hit most of the rest late, bypassing his golden years with Milwaukee. Joe Adcock spent about 84% of his career in a maxed out state which is still a huge chuck of days but not quite as efficient as Mays or Cepeda.

If we use a different metric we still see similar results. Consider the average number of plate appearances per team before ledger (e.g. if I took 10 PA to hit my first against the Cubs and 20 PA for my first against the Reds, I would average 15 PA). The inductees’ averages:

• Dixie Walker – 61 plate appearances (five teams required 100+ plate appearances)

• Earl Torgeson – 37 plate appearances (highest count vs Braves, 177 PA)

• Preston Ward – 33 plate appearances (highest count vs Cardinals, 81 PA)

• Joe Adcock – 27 plate appearances (highest count vs Braves, 77 PA)

Orlando Cepeda was nearly twice as “efficient” as Adcock with an average of 14 plate appearances. Willie Mays, though, was shockingly efficient with an average of 10 plate appearances with a highest count of 25. His first career home run came in his first game and first plate appearance against the Braves, one of three instances among our reviewees.

So when Willie needed to be on he was ON (not just for ledgering, of course). That’s exciting! But if you focus on the ledgers, the in between times are quite dull. That is unless you’re not just counting if a home run is hit against every opponent, but how many against all opponents. The next inductee to be profiled will be the first to test this theory.