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Earlier this month, in what proved to be a media circus, Derek Jeter moved past Lou Gehrig to sit alone atop the record books as the All-Time Yankee Hit King. It was a huge moment for Jeter, and Yankees fans all over the world celebrated it. To those of us outside of the Yankee Universe, the coverage - on ESPN, the daily newspapers, blogs, and more - seemed excessive for someone passing a seemingly random number (2,721?). Club records get set all the time, and rarely is the feat celebrated to the extent that Jeter's hit was - unless the number also happens to be something more hallowed, like passing the 3,000 hit mark or something similar.
Jeter's milestone had a few things going for it to push it up another level, though, and that's even before considering the New York media: 1) the record he was setting was in a major offensive category, and not something obscure like strikeouts-per-9-innings; 2) the record he was setting was competing with 100-years of history; and 3) he was passing a legendary player that fans across the country love and respect. If any of those three aspects were missing, the story would've been much smaller, even considering the large New York media and ESPN's love for all things Yankees.
Take, for example, this weekend in Milwaukee, when Prince Fielder set the single-season Brewers RBI record with 127 on Saturday night and then set the single-season Brewers walks record with 100 on Sunday afternoon. Both records had the same meaning as Jeter's hits record, but, besides being in Milwaukee and not New York, the big differences were in those three elements: single-season walks/RBIs do not have the same pizzazz as career hits, the Brewers have only a 40-year history to deal with, and the names he was passing (Cecil Cooper, Jeromy Burnitz) don't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Lou Gehrig.
Still, to those of us rooting for the Brewers all year, the records were fun to cheer for and we're genuinely glad for Prince Fielder. With that in mind, I thought it might be interesting to see what franchise records have been set this year. Using the Team Franchise Encyclopedia over at Baseball Reference, I looked at the Team Batting and Pitching records for each club (an example can be found here) and noted any records that were set - or are about to be set - this season. The single-season records were simple to find, but the career records required a little bit of on-the-fly calculations, so I might have missed one or two. I also tried to steer clear of the career rate stats, since it's so hard to come up with a good, standard minimum number of at-bats for each team (is David Wright the Mets career batting average leader? John Olerud? Keith Hernandez?).
Here, then, is the (pseudo-) Complete List of Franchise Records set in 2009, by Team. Please feel free to note any more that I may have missed:
(Please click "Read More" to keep reading.)
Arizona Diamonbacks
Batting: K (SS) - Mark Reynolds, 203 (2nd; 1 behind current record)
Atlanta Braves
Pitching: K/9 (SS) - Javier Vazquez, 9.778 (2nd; 0.014 behind current record)
Baltimore Orioles
Batting: 2B (SS) - Brian Roberts, 54
Boston Red Sox
Batting: SB (SS) - Jacoby Ellsbury, 63
Chicago Cubs
** No records set this year. **
Chicago White Sox
** No records set this year. **
Cincinnati Reds
** No records set this year. **
Cleveland Indians
Batting: HBP (SS) - Kelly Shoppach, 18 (2nd; 2 behind current leader)
Colorado Rockies
Pitching: K/9 (SS) - Jorge De La Rosa, 9.223; GS (Car.) - Aaron Cook, 164; ER (Car.) - Aaron Cook, 522; BF (Car.) - Aaron Cook, 4649
Detroit Tigers
Pitching: K/9 (SS) - Justin Verlander, 10.146
Florida Marlins
Batting: Avg (SS) - Hanley Ramirez, .352
Pitching: WPct (SS) - Josh Johnson, .789
Houston Astros
Batting: GIDP (SS) - Miguel Tejada, 29 (3rd; 3 behind current leader)
Kansas City Royals
Pitching: K/9 (SS) - Zack Greinke, 9.585; K/BB (SS) - Zack Greinke, 5.091; ERA+, Starter (SS) - Zack Greinke, 204
LAnaheim Angels
Batting: CS (Car.) - Chone Figgins, 95
Pitching: WPct (SS) - Matt Palmer, .909; HBP (Car.) - John Lackey, 73
Los Angeles Dodgers
** No records set this year. **
Milwaukee Brewers
Batting: RBI (SS) - Prince Fielder, 128; BB (SS) - Prince Fielder, 100
Pitching: HR Allowed (SS) - Braden Looper, 37
Minnesota Twins
Batting: SLG (SS) - Joe Mauer, .611 (2nd; .003 behind current leader); OPS (SS) - Joe Mauer, 1.054 (2nd; 0.002 behind current leader)
Pitching: Sv (SS) - Joe Nathan, 42 (4th; 3 behind current leader)
New York Mets
** No records set this year. **
New York Yankees
Batting: AB (Car.) - Derek Jeter, 8624; H (Car.) - Derek Jeter, 2732
Oakland Athletics
** No records set this year. **
Philadelphia Phillies
Batting: HBP (Car.) - Chase Utley, 105
Pittsburgh Pirates
** No records set this year. **
San Diego Padres
Batting: GIDP (SS) - Kevin Kouzmanoff, 25; HBP (Car.) - Kevin Kouzmanoff, 35
San Francisco Giants
** No records set this year. **
Seattle Mariners
Pitching: WP (SS) - Felix Hernandez, 15 (2nd; 1 behind current leader)
St. Louis Cardinals
Batting: IBB (SS) - Albert Pujols, 43; GIDP (SS) - Yadier Molina, 27 (2nd, 2 behind current leader)
Tampa Bay Rays
Batting: Avg. (SS) - Jason Bartlett, .323 (2nd; .001 behind current leader); 2B (SS) - Evan Longoria, 44 (2nd; 3 behind current leader); SB (SS) - Carl Crawford, 59; GIDP (SS) - Evan Longoria, 27; CS (SS) - Carl Crawford, 15 (2nd; 1 behind current leader); 2B (Car.) - Carl Crawford, 184; RBI (Car.) - Carl Crawford, 500
Pitching: WPct (SS) - Jeff Neimann, .667
Texas Rangers
** No records set this year. **
Toronto Blue Jays
** No records set this year. **
Washington Nationals
Batting: K (SS) - Adam Dunn, 165 (2nd; 4 behind current leader)
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