Thanks very much to long-time Bauxite and first-time poster James Strapp for sending us this article, inspired by Mick's "All My Exes Played for Texas?" piece. James is even willing to share the spreadsheet (a 3.5 MB zip file) he used for this self-described "quick analysis", which to a relative Excel novice, looks like a lot of work. Enjoy.


Debut Teams

by James Strapp

Yesterday’s Baseball's Hall of Names game about what team can boast the best possible roster of players who formerly wore their uniform, got me thinking. What if players were never traded and there were no free agents? The team you started with is the team you stayed with, good or bad. Who would have the best team then? I wanted to know which team has produced the most, good players in the major leagues. Turns out, we should be very proud of our Canadian teams. I thought you might be interested.

To keep it simple, I only look at batting, not pitchers. To get the data, I extracted hits and home runs for each major league batter since 1960 from Sean Lehman’s Baseball Archive and determined the team with which they debut.

Last year, players who played their first major league game with the Blue Jays combined for 2,493 hits. That includes current Jays like Vernon’s league-leading 215 hits, and ex-Jays like Shawn Green (171), John Olerud (145), and Casey Blake (145). In fact, the 2,493 total for this “debut” team of current Jays’ players and those who started with the Jays, was tops in the majors last year.

Since the real Toronto squad were fourth in the majors in hits in 2003, this may not be surprising. But guess who finished second among the “debut” teams? Montreal. Yes, the Expos finished 24th in total hits with only 1,404 from their current team of players. By adding in Marquis Grissom, Mark Grudzielanek and all the others who have left, the “debut” Expos team connected for 2,391 hits. These weren’t cheap singles hitters either. The story is identical for home runs and total bases: debut Toronto #1, debut Montreal #2.

And 2003 is not unique. Players introduced to the majors as Montreal Expos combined to lead the majors in hits in 1995, and every year from 1997 to 2002, until the Jays surpassed them last year. Seven times over the last ten years, the Expos debut team has combined for the most total bases.

In total over the past 10 years, original Expos players have gone onto collect a total of 22,916 hits, the most in the majors. In comparison, of the non-expansion teams, Cincinnati is last with an equivalent of 10,130 hits, less than half of Montreal’s total. Montreal debut players also have the most home runs and total bases during the same period.

As for Toronto, their debut team is fourth in total hits and home runs, and third in total bases over the same 10-year period. Oakland, LA, and Minnesota have also done well. Think Chavez, Giambi, Tejada, Piazza, Konerko, and Hunter.

Interestingly, the Yankees fare pretty well, typically appearing about tenth in the list with Soriano, Jeter, Matsui, Posada, Williams, and others. Of course, they tend to be able to keep their stars. As for player sinks, rather than sources, look to Cincinnati, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Baltimore.

Here are the rankings for total hits, home runs and total bases since 1994 by the team the player made his debut with. I have left off expansion teams such as Florida, Colorado and Tampa Bay.

Team	Hits		Team	HR		Team	TB
1. MON	22,916		1. MON	2,823		1. MON	37,105
2. LAN	19,411		2. OAK	2,553		2. OAK	30,381
3. MIN	19,030		3. ATL	2,469		3. TOR	29,933
4. TOR	18,461		4. TOR	2,339		4. LAN	29,921
5. OAK	18,453		5. CLE	2,274		5. MIN	29,448
6. ATL	17,298		6. TEX	2,212		6. ATL	28,562
7. ATL	17,298		7. HOU	2,155		7. NYA	27,075
8. NYN	16,655		8. NYN	2,076		8. NYN	26,797
9. CLE	16,036		9. LAN	2,042		9. CLE	26,665
10. SEA	16,016		10. SEA	1,998		10. HOU	26,183
11. HOU	15,807		11. NYA	1,956		11. SEA	25,791
12. KCA	15,530		12. MIN	1,895		12.  KCA	24,217
13. CAL	15,263		13. CAL	1,789		13.  CAL	24,158
14. SLN	14,359		14. DET	1,769		14.  TEX	24,112
15. PIT	14,333		15. MIL	1,637		15.  DET	23,139
16. DET	14,305		16. KCA	1,578		16.  SLN	22,449
17. TEX	14,236		17. PIT	1,557		17.  PIT	22,384
18. CHN	13,673		18. SLN	1,520		18.  MIL	21,720
19. MIL	13,623		19. BOS	1,427		19.  CHN	20,879
20. SDN	12,226		20. CHA	1,379		20.  CHA	18,971
21. CHA	11,975		21. CHN	1,362		21.  BOS	18,231
22. BOS	11,250		22. BAL	1,319		22.  SDN	18,096
23. BAL	11,107		23. SFN	1,162		23.  BAL	17,674
24. SFN	10,945		24. CIN	1,109		24.  SFN	16,946
25. PHI	10,615		25. PHI	1,022		25.  PHI	16,393
26. CIN	10,130		26. SDN	1,014		26.  CIN	15,854

And here is what last year’s Expos and Jays team would have looked like under this “keep ‘em” scenario (players with more than 100 plate appearances). Players no longer with their debut team as of October 2003 are marked with an asterisk.

Your Debut Jays	Your Debut Expos
1. Alex Gonzalez*	1. Andres Galarraga*
2. Carlos Delgado	2. Brad Fullmer
3. Casey Blake	3. Brad Wilkerson
4. Cesar Izturis*	4. Brian Schneider
5. Chris Woodward	5. Cliff Floyd*
6. Eric Hinske	6. Geoff Blum*
7. Felipe Lopez*	7. Henry Mateo
8. Fred McGriff*	8. Jamey Carroll
9. Greg Myers	9. John Vander Wal*
10. John Olerud*	10. Larry Walker*
11. Jose Cruz Jr.*	11. Mark Grudzielanek*
12. Josh Phelps	12. Marquis Grissom*
13. Kevin Cash	13. Matt Stairs*
14. Kevin Witt*	14. Michael Barrett
15. Miguel Cairo*	15. Milton Bradley*
16. Orlando Hudson	16. Moises Alou*
17. Reed Johnson	17. Orlando Cabrera
18. Ryan Freel*	18. Ron Calloway
19. Shannon Stewart*	19. Rondell White*
20. Shawn Green*	20. Tim Laker*
21. Tomas Perez*	21. Vladimir Guerrero
22. Vernon Wells	22. Wil Cordero*

A few caveats. I found and corrected a couple of data items I couldn’t explain, such as Matt Williams appearing with Toronto about the time that San Francisco drafted him. There may be others. Also, of course the team a player debuts with may not be the same team that drafted or developed him. For example Fred McGriff is a Toronto product in this analysis, despite (famously) joining them ready for the majors from the Yankees.