Attention Ross Porter and Other Stat Freaks: Some Numbers Just for You

Some numbers you probably didn’t know and aren’t sorry you didn’t:

--The New York Mets have used 78 players at third base since 1962.

--1913 was a bad year for St. Louis fans. It’s the only season the Cardinals and Browns both finished last.

--Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton, who has 3,920 strikeouts, has struck out 806 different batters. He has struck out the side 124 times.

--Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Johnny Ray was the toughest player to strike out in the National League last season. Ray struck out 24 times in 652 plate appearances, a rate of 1 strikeout every 27.2 appearances.

--Atlanta Braves pitcher Terry Forster has a lifetime batting average of .397.

--Fans from 41 states bought tickets to the Braves’ games in 1983-84, supporting Atlanta’s claim as “America’s team.”

--There were 615 pitches thrown in Atlanta’s 19-inning, 16-13 loss to the Mets last Fourth of July.

--Tommy Thevenow batted 1,730 times as a Pirate without hitting a home run.

--Chicago Cubs second baseman Ryne Sandberg, who had 26 home runs and 54 stolen bases last season, is only the third big league player in history to have 25 or more home runs and 50 or more stolen bases in a single season.

--The Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves played the longest game in big league history, a 26-inning, 1-1 tie on May 1, 1920, in Boston. The next day in Brooklyn, the Dodgers lost, 4-3, to the Phillies in 13 innings. The day after that, back in Boston, the Dodgers lost to the Braves, 2-1, in 19 innings.

--Wilver Stargell, the only player to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium during a game, drove it 506 feet 6 inches off Alan Foster of the Dodgers on Aug. 5, 1969.

--The Phillies’ Mike Schmidt, with 458 home runs, has hit them off 235 different pitchers. The most he has hit off one pitcher is nine, a distinction shared by Jerry Reuss and Bob Forsch.

--Dwight Gooden last season had 21 hits, a club record for Met pitchers. That included a three-hit game against Fernando Valenzuela and his first big league home run, off Rick Rhoden.

--Johnny Sain, the Braves’ pitching coach, won 21 games and hit .346 in 1947, becoming one of only 29 pitchers to win 20 and hit more than .300.

--Montreal Expos pitcher Rich Stoll holds the University of Michigan record for wins, 30, having broken Steve Howe’s record of 27.

--Nolan Ryan has thrown 5 no-hitters, 9 one-hitters, 18 two-hitters and 26 three-hitters.