Tigers Who Got On Base

On Friday, I presented the Times On Base (TOB) leaders for 2010 and throughout baseball history.  Now, I'm going to do the same thing just for Tigers players.  The TOB statistic is the counting stat complement of the rate statistic On Base Percentage.  Whereas rates do a good job of measuring quality of performance, they tell us nothing about playing time.  That is where counting stats come into play.

Table 1 shows that Miguel Cabrera reached base 272 times last year, which was more than any other Tiger.  Austin Jackson (232) and Johnny Damon (217) were next in line.  Victor Martinez (189) should replace Damon in getting on base while adding some power. 

Table 1: Tigers Times On Base Leaders, 2010

Player	Team	PA	H	BB	HBP	TOB
Miguel Cabrera	DET	648	180	89	3	272
Austin Jackson	DET	675	181	47	4	232
Johnny Damon	DET	613	146	69	2	217
Victor Martinez	BOS	538	149	40	0	189
Brandon Inge	DET	580	127	54	5	186
Brennan Boesch	DET	512	119	40	5	164
Ryan Raburn	DET	410	104	27	8	139
Magglio Ordonez	DET	365	98	40	0	138
Ramon Santiago	DET	367	84	30	7	121
Alex Avila	DET	333	67	36	2	105

Table 2 shows that the legendary Ty Cobb reached base 336 times in 1915, a Tigers record which has stood the test of time.  Norm Cash had the second highest total (326) in his big 1961 season.  Cobb and second baseman Charlie Gehringer both appear on the top ten list three times.  For some, the biggest surprise on the list might be Tony Phillips with 313 TOB in 1993.  To put that in perspective, no major league player has reached base that many times in any of the last six seasons.


Table 2: Tigers Single Season Times On Base Leaders

Player	Year	PA	H	BB	HBP	TOB
Ty Cobb	1915	700	208	118	10	336
Norm Cash	1961	672	193	124	9	326
Charlie Gehringer	1934	708	214	99	3	316
Charlie Gehringer	1936	731	227	83	4	314
Tony Phillips	1993	707	177	132	4	313
Hank Greenberg	1937	701	200	102	3	305
Ty Cobb	1911	654	248	44	8	300
Charlie Gehringer	1937	660	209	90	1	300
Ty Cobb	1924	726	211	85	1	297
Hank Greenberg	1938	681	175	119	3	297

Not surprisingly, Ty Cobb, who leads the Tigers in almost everything, finished with over 5,000 TOB (5,133).  That is the third highest total of all time behind Pete Rose and Barry Bonds.   The closest Tiger was Al Kaline with 4,339.  The biggest surprises on the list might be shortstop Donie Bush with 2,899.

Table 3: Tigers Career Times On Base Leaders

Player	First year	Last year	pa	h	bb	hbp	tob
Ty Cobb	1905	1926	12,105	3,900	1,148	85	5,133
Al Kaline	1953	1974	11,597	3,007	1,277	55	4,339
Charlie Gehringer	1924	1942	10,237	2,839	1,186	50	4,075
Lou Whitaker	1977	1995	9,967	2,369	1,197	20	3,586
Harry Heilmann	1914	1929	8,390	2,499	792	39	3,330
Alan Trammell	1977	1996	9,375	2,365	850	37	3,252
Sam Crawford	1903	1917	8,869	2,466	646	16	3,128
Norm Cash	1960	1974	7,772	1,793	1,025	85	2,903
Donie Bush	1908	1921	8,451	1,745	1,125	29	2,899
Bobby Veach	1912	1923	6,782	1,859	512	53	2,424

Note: The raw data used to calculate Times On Base came from Lahman's database.