Extra Base History

With the season rapidly approaching the halfway mark, Magglio Ordonez and Curtis Granderson are still chasing Extra Base Hit history. So today, I'll take a closer look at where they stand. In 73 games, Magglio Ordonez has 34 doubles. If we project that over 162 games, that comes out to 75 doubles. As Table 1 below shows, that would break the all time Major Leagure record set by Earl Webb of the Red Sox in 1931. So Ordonez is chasing a 76 year old record. When you consider that the single season home run record has been broken 4 times since 1931, the doubles record would be quite an accomplishment. Hank Greenberg holds the Tigers record with 63 in 1934.

Table 1: All-Time Single Season Doubles Leaders

Player	Team	Year	Doubles
Magglio Ordonez	DET	2007	75*
Earl Webb	BOS	1931	67
Joe Medwick	STL	1936	64
George Burns	CLE	1926	64
Hank Greenberg	DET	1934	63

*Projected over full season


Curtis Granderson is also chasing history. With 13 triples so far, he is on a pace for 29 triples over 162 games. That would not be a Major League record as Chief Wilson had 36 for the Pirates in 1912 (see Table 2). It would, however, be an American League record. The current American League record is held by Sam Crawford of the Tigers who had 26 in 1914. That's a 93 year old record! Given the smaller sizes of the parks in the modern era, this would be a very difficult record for anyone to break today. It would certainly be one worth national attention if he started getting close.

Table 2: All-Time Single Season Triples Leaders (since 1901)

Player	Team	Year	Triples
Chief Wilson	PIT	1912	36
Curtis Granderson	DET	2007	29*
Joe Jackson	CLE	1912	26
Sam Crawford	DET	1914	26
Kiki Cuyler	PIT	1925	26

*Projected over full season


Both Magglio and Curtis are also collecting a lot of extra base hits (EBH) of all kinds and are on pace for the Tigers all-time record. Ordonez has 47 EBH hits which puts him on a pace for 104 for a full season. Granderson has 44 which projects to 98 over a full season. Neither mark would challenge the all-time record of 119 set by Babe Ruth in 1921 (see Table 3). However, Ordonez would break the all-time Tigers record of 99 posted by Hank Greenberg in 1940.

Table 3: All-Time Single Season Extra Base Hit Leaders

Player	Team	Year	EBH
Babe Ruth	NYY	1921	119
Lou Gehrig	NYY	1927	117
Chuck Klein	PHA	1930	107
Barry Bonds	SF	2001	107
Todd Helton	COL	2001	105
Magglio Ordonez	DET	2007	104*
Hank Greenberg (Tigers Record)	DET	1940	99

*Projected over full season