Oracle of Baseball

[Max Power]

This is the coolest thing ever!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/

I was amazed on how short the chain was was Honus to A-Rod:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/link.cgi?n1=honus+wagner&n2=Alex+Rodriguez

[Max Power]

Koufax to K-Rod - - short and sweet:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/link.cgi?n1=sandy+koufax&n2=francisco+rodriguez

[rc3000]

Amazing only five steps between the first 3000 hit member to the most recent.
But can it make the link between Cap Anson and Kevin Bacon?

[KCBOOMER]

Man, it only took seven teammates to go from Al Spalding (1871-78) to Aaron Guiel (2002).

[Max Power]

Eddie Bacon works...............

[KCBOOMER]

How about ust eight teammates to go from the unknown John Ward (1884) to Angel Berroa (2001-2002).

[TimmyB]

Pretty short between Jimmy Collins and Nomar. http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/link.cgi?n1=jimmy+collins&n2=nomar+garciaparra

Just as short between Cy Young and a guy who has won a bunch of hardware named after Mr. Young. http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/link.cgi?n1=cy+young&n2=roger+clemens

I don't know what this all means... but I'll echo Max -- it is cool. :cool:

[Skip]

This kind of stuff is really interesting if I'm on beer number 3+ at a sports bar talking smack with my homies; otherwise it does nothing for me. Sorry to be a party-pooper. :(

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Coolest tool I've seen in awhile.

Only 5 links between Rabbit Maranville and Orlando Cabrera.

[TimmyB]

Originally posted by Skip
This kind of stuff is really interesting if I'm on beer number 3+ at a sports bar talking smack with my homies; otherwise it does nothing for me. Sorry to be a party-pooper. :(

Using that logic, I'm sure many of us would find it a good enough excuse for some binge drinking. :beer:

[WiredTiger]

This is why the Kevin Bacon game works. It's amazing how few links it takes to get from the 1900s to the present time.

[Jim Rice]

I played with this and had a very hard time finding any combination of one player from the 19th century and one player from the 21st century that didn't have at least one of their links be Minnie Minoso, Early Wynn, Tommy John, or Rickey Henderson. In some cases, two or three of these guys popped up in a single set of links. The King Kelly to Shea Hillenbrand path includes Wynn, John, AND Henderson.

[Max Power]

Minoso is a helluva wild card - considering he would pop in once a decade for a while..............

[Max Power]

The "one step" selection is a nice way to get a list of all the guys a player played with in his career - - - Mike Morgan has 679. Most I've seen so far........

[sweaver]

I just discovered this, and it's pretty cool. Another point for baseball-reference.com!

[sweaver]

Six degrees of Johnny Bench, featuring 19th century 2nd baseman Bid McPhee:


Bid McPhee played with Jimmy Barrett for the 1899 Cincinnati Reds

Jimmy Barrett played with Tris Speaker for the 1907 Boston Red Sox

Tris Speaker played with Jimmie Foxx for the 1928 Philadelphia Athletics

Jimmie Foxx played with Johnny Pesky for the 1942 Boston Red Sox

Johnny Pesky played with Camilo Pascual for the 1954 Washington Senators

Camilo Pascual played with Johnny Bench for the 1969 Cincinnati Reds

[satchel]

Originally posted by Max Power
The "one step" selection is a nice way to get a list of all the guys a player played with in his career - - - Mike Morgan has 679. Most I've seen so far........

Rickey has 687. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/linkability.cgi?n1=Rickey+Henderson) If he comes back this season ...

[pathogan]

Originally posted by rc3000
Amazing only five steps between the first 3000 hit member to the most recent.
But can it make the link between Cap Anson and Kevin Bacon? :loud: :loud: :loud: :loud: :loud:

[GGC]

Originally posted by Max Power
The "one step" selection is a nice way to get a list of all the guys a player played with in his career - - - Mike Morgan has 679. Most I've seen so far........

Wow, I just found this thread. Here was my article on this phenomenon from back in '01. And, yes, it does give a clue on how to link a player to Kevin Bacon.

GGC

[Rajah]

Joe DiMaggio is three steps from Kevin Bacon
Same with the Babe
a mere 2 steps for mickey mantle
2 for Yogi
3 steps for Ted Williams
2 steps for harmon killebrew

Who woulda thunk it so easy to connect ballplayers to Kevin Bacon :p

[Rajah]

Just cuz I knew you were all wondering:

Howard Maple played with Dick Coffman for the 1932 Washington Senators

Dick Coffman played with Hank Majeski for the 1940 Boston Bees

Hank Majeski played with Brooks Robinson for the 1955 Baltimore Orioles

Brooks Robinson played with Dennis Martinez for the 1976 Baltimore Orioles

Dennis Martinez played with Mark DeRosa for the 1998 Atlanta Braves

[GGC]

Whoops, I forgot the link:

http://www.baseballprimer.com/articles/jondaly_2001-06-13_0.shtml

[Rajah]

Originally posted by rc3000
Amazing only five steps between the first 3000 hit member to the most recent.
But can it make the link between Cap Anson and Kevin Bacon?

6 steps from anson to Kevin bacon:

Cap Anson played with Clark Griffith for the 1894 Chicago Colts

Clark Griffith played with Howie Shanks for the 1914 Washington Senators

Howie Shanks played with Red Ruffing for the 1924 Boston Red Sox

Red Ruffing played with Yogi Berra for the 1946 New York Yankees
Yogi Berra was in That Touch of Mink (1962) with Yvonne Peattie
Yvonne Peattie was in Big Picture, The (1989) with Kevin Bacon

[Rajah]

Originally posted by GGC
Whoops, I forgot the link:

http://www.baseballprimer.com/articles/jondaly_2001-06-13_0.shtml

Ah, very nice!
I think it needs to be amended to the Rickey Number though.

687-679. Rickey wins.

Although Bobo Newsome is an average of 2.942 players away from every other player, the lowest I've found.

[GGC]

Early Wynn=2.901

http://216.239.33.104/custom?q=cache:W37VPMgJbCQJ:www.baseballprimer.com /clutch/archives/00005359.shtml+oracle+newsome&hl=en&ie=UTF-8