Sublime

B. J. Ryan (in 2003, with the Baltimore Orioles) and Alan Embree (in 2009, with the Colorado Rockies) were each credited with a victory in a game in which they threw zero pitches. Both relievers picked a runner off a base to end an inning before their offense plated the winning run.

in 1920, a 25-year-old Hornsby—a lifetime .310/.370/.440 hitter to that point—hit .370/.431/.559, leading the league in all three splits, and he also led the league in hits, doubles, RBIs, and total bases. Over the next five seasons combined—this is so ridiculous—Hornsby would hit .402. Nobody, not even Ty Cobb, hit .400 over five full seasons.

So, in search of baseball simplicity, they turned their attention to what had started the season as a joke but had increasingly become a source of what MLB seemed to have lost the ability to produce. Fun. What was more fun than a basketball player—the basketball player—walking away from a $4 million NBA salary (which, at the time, was astronomical)

OBP = Hits + Walks + Hit By Pitch / At Bats1 + Walks + Hit By Pitch + Sac Flies

Yet the Barry Bonds of the Pacific Association was considered a borderline candidate for high-A, which is three levels below the big leagues. Baseball is hard.