World Series Champions: The Minus Years

As any regular reader of this blog knows, I kind of have a fascination with teams that win the World Series. A group of guys that came together to reach the pinnacle of their sport just has a special mystique about it, and when it's in baseball, the only sport that really matters, it takes on an extra special meaning.

A while back I introduced the activity chart, which was inspired by the tidbits from my Profiling the World Series Winners series (which I really ought to resume at some point). I put together an activity chart for each of the World Series Champion teams, and with it I was able to see how different the trends were of players playing for these teams in the years before and after. Some teams kept their core together for many years, while others were dismantled through fire sales shortly after the championship. Similarly, others had their players grow and develop together long before they won anything, while others were put together rather quickly.

I decided to record the number of players who were with the team in each year removed from the championship year. For instance, the 1924 Washington Senators had 35 players get into a game that season. Of those 35, 20 also played a game for the 1923 Senators. Since 1923 was one year before 1924, 1923 is the "Minus-1" year for the 1924 Senators, and we would say their Minus-1 number is 20. Make sense?

With this post I thought I'd examine each Minus number so we can see which teams were the most extreme in the years before they hoisted the trophy.


Minus-24

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1930 PHA

As you can see, only one team makes the cut here. If it weren't for Eddie Collins making a few token appearances when he was primarily a coach, none of these teams would even have a Minus-24 qualifier.


Minus-23

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1929 PHA, 1930 PHA

Same deal here. Collins and the A's went way back.


Minus-22

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1929 PHA, 1930 PHA, 1988 LAD

More of the same deal, except you can add Don Sutton and his return to the Dodgers during the '88 season to the fun.


Minus-21

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1929 PHA, 1930 PHA, 1988 LAD


Minus-20

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1929 PHA, 1930 PHA, 1988 LAD


Minus-19

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1929 PHA, 1930 PHA, 1988 LAD


Minus-18

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1925 PIT, 1929 PHA, 1930 PHA, 1983 BAL, 1988 LAD

Babe Adams' and Jim Palmer's longevity are suddenly of interest to us.


Minus-17

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1930 PHA (2), 1924 WSH, 1929 PHA, 1979 PIT, 1983 BAL, 1987 MIN, 1988 LAD, 1990 CIN, 2004 BOS

The 1930 Athletics had Wally Schang as their backup catcher, giving them the top Minus-17 number.


Minus-16

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1930 PHA (2), 1924 WSH, 1925 PIT, 1929 PHA, 1931 STL, 1939 NYY, 1944 STL, 1959 LAD, 1962 NYY, 1971 PIT, 1979 PIT, 1983 BAL, 1987 MIN, 1988 LAD, 1990 CIN, 2004 BOS

The 1930 A's are still #1, though more teams are joining the fun.


Minus-15

Median: 0
Top Teams: 1924 WSH (2), 1925 PIT (2), 1930 PHA (2), 1945 DET (2), 1971 PIT (2)

By now we have enough twos that we don't need to list all the ones.


Minus-14

Median: 0
Top Teams: 2009 NYY (4), 1925 PIT (2), 1945 DET (2), 1971 PIT (2)

Wow. Now here's an interesting development: The 2009 Yankees had their big four, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada each make their debut in 1995, catapulting them to the #1 spot here with twice as many as anyone else. As much as I wish that team hadn't won the World Series, it's pretty impressive to see what they did here.


Minus-13

Median: 0
Top Teams: 2009 NYY (4), 1925 PIT (2), 1930 PHA (2), 1950 NYY (2), 1971 PIT (2), 1992 TOR (2)


Minus-12

Median: 1
Top Teams: 2009 NYY (4), 1959 LAD (3), 1985 KCR (3)

The median for all the teams is suddenly one, but there are still so many teams with zero that I don't need to list them all.


Minus-11

Median: 1
Top Teams: 1959 LAD (4), 1985 KCR (4), 2009 NYY (4), 1913 PHA (3), 1929 PHA (3), 1941 NYY (3), 1943 NYY (3), 1945 DET (3), 1962 NYY (3), 1981 LAD (3)

Move over, 2009 Yankees, you've got company!


Minus-10

Median: 1
Top Teams: 1985 KCR (5), 1913 PHA (4), 1941 NYY (4), 1947 NYY (4), 1959 LAD (4), 1980 PHI (4), 1981 LAD (4), 1992 TOR (4), 2009 NYY (4)
Bottom Teams: 25 teams

Fewer and fewer teams have zero, but there are still too many to list them all individually. The 1985 Royals have overtaken the "lead."


Minus-9

Median: 2
Top Teams: 1985 KCR (8), 1981 LAD (6), 1909 PIT (5), 1939 NYY (5), 1941 NYY (5), 1959 LAD (5), 1974 OAK (5)
Bottom Teams: 17 teams

Color me impressed. The 1985 Royals' have a Minus-9 number of 8! It's a testament to how committed they were to their core players in that era (or perhaps, how committed their core players were to them).


Minus-8

Median: 3
Top Teams: 1974 OAK (7), 1985 KCR (7), 1939 NYY (6), 1956 NYY (6), 1979 PIT (6), 1980 PHI (6), 1981 LAD (6)
Bottom Teams: 12 teams

The 1974 A's are right there with the Royals now.


Minus-7

Median: 4
Top Teams: 1974 OAK (10), 1962 NYY (9), 1983 BAL (9), 1938 NYY (8), 1955 BRO (8), 1980 PHI (8), 1985 KCR (8)
Bottom Teams: 1905 NYG (0), 1912 BOS (0), 1914 BSN (0), 1919 CIN (0), 1951 NYY (0), 1996 NYY (0), 2006 STL (0), 2010 SFG (0)

Ten in the Minus-7 year! Not bad, '74 A's, not bad. That's going back to the Kansas City Athletics, right there. At this point you can see which teams were built with a homegrown core and which teams came together quickly (although in the case of the 1951 Yankees, World War II was a big factor).

Minus-6

Median: 5
Top Teams: 1973 OAK (11), 1974 OAK (11), 1938 NYY (10), 1962 NYY (10), 1983 BAL (10)
Bottom Teams: 1905 NYG (0), 1951 NYY (0), 2010 SFG (0), 1914 BSN (1), 1919 CIN (1), 1942 STL (1), 1996 NYY (1), 1998 NYY (1), 2006 STL (1)

Five in the double digits now!


Minus-5

Median: 7
Top Teams: 1974 OAK (14), 1946 STL (13), 1983 BAL (13), 1930 PHA (12), 1937 NYY (12), 1956 NYY (12), 1973 OAK (12)
Bottom Teams: 1914 BSN (1), 1919 CIN (1), 2010 SFG (1), 1912 BOS (2), 1969 NYM (2), 1998 NYY (2), 2006 STL (2)

At this point each of the bottom teams has at least one. It'd be really something if a championship team had turned over its entire roster in the previous five years.


Minus-4

Median: 9
Top Teams: 1973 OAK (15), 1983 BAL (15), 1946 STL (14), 1957 MLN (14)
Bottom Teams: 1914 BSN (2), 1919 CIN (2), 1998 NYY (2), 1905 NYG (4), 1922 NYG (4), 1949 NYY (4), 2010 SFG (4)

The 1957 Braves had a huge infusion of future-championship talent coincide with their move to Milwaukee. It's amazing that the famous 114-win Yankees only had a Minus-4 number of 2.


Minus-3

Median: 12
Top Teams: 1957 MLN (19), 1970 BAL (18), 1983 BAL (18), 1972 OAK (17), 1981 LAD (17), 1951 NYY (16), 1958 NYY (16), 1976 CIN (16)
Bottom Teams: 1914 BSN (3), 1919 CIN (5), 1948 CLE (5), 2006 STL (5), 2001 ARI (6)

I'm starting to think the 1914 Boston Braves might be the most surprising World Series Champion ever. They had a bunch of players who came together out of nowhere to somehow form a title-winner. The 2001 Diamondbacks just now qualify, because their Minus-3 year was also the franchise's debut season.


Minus-2

Median: 16
Top Teams: 1970 BAL (21), 1983 BAL (21), 1950 NYY (20), 1951 NYY (20), 1953 NYY (20), 1957 MLN (20)
Bottom Teams: 1914 BSN (5), 1947 NYY (8), 1903 BOS (9), 1907 CHC (10), 1918 BOS (10), 1923 NYY (10), 1924 WSN (10), 1944 STL (10), 1997 FLA (10)

Few are the teams that can crack the 20 mark in the Minus-2 year! Some of the bottom teams, as you might be able to observe, were affected by wars or eras of smaller rosters.


Minus-1

Median: 22
Top Teams: 1956 NYY (30), 1953 NYY (29), 1974 OAK (29), 1992 TOR (29), 1983 BAL (28), 1989 OAK (28), 2009 NYY (28), 2010 SFG (28)
Bottom Teams: 1918 BOS (11), 1933 NYG (13), 1903 BOS (14), 1919 CIN (14), 1946 STL (14), 1909 PIT (15), 1943 NYY (15)

Not much to say about the top teams, but the bottom teams here are interesting. As I said above, the World Wars impacted several of them, and the 1909 Pirates and 1933 Giants featured their share of newcomers.

Next time we'll look at the Plus Years!