The Outlier Quiz

[batmagadanleadoff]

Some writer determined that Dontrelle Willis's 2005 season was the biggest outlier season in baseball in the last 30 years -- defined as a truly amazing season that wasn't even close, qualitatively, to any other season that athlete had. Of course, everyone's best season is, by definiiton, greater than the rest of that athlete's other seasons. But the writer was looking for career years that were as far apart statistically from the rest of the athlete's body of work, as possible.

The author determined the top 30 outlier baseball seasons of the last 30 years. Two Mets-connected seasons appear on that list. Name the players along with the year in question. One guess per post. No two in a rowing.

[G-Fafif]

Bernard Gilkey 1996?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Yes!

[G-Fafif]

Lance Johnson 1996?

[G-Fafif]

BTW, is "Mets-connected" your way of saying not necessarily two Mets seasons?

[Centerfield]

I would guess '96 Todd Hundley.

[Edgy MD]

G-Fafif wrote: BTW, is "Mets-connected" your way of saying not necessarily two Mets seasons?

And in that spirit, I'll guess Joe Torre, 1971.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy MD wrote: G-Fafif wrote: BTW, is "Mets-connected" your way of saying not necessarily two Mets seasons? And in that spirit, I'll guess Joe Torre, 1971.

Last 30 years.

My non-Mets season guess is Kevin Mitchell, 1989.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: BTW, is "Mets-connected" your way of saying not necessarily two Mets seasons?

Sharp eye, you. It's definitely my way of saying something that I thought needed to be phrased that way, or sort of that way. That's not random phrasing.

And nope on One-Dog.

[Edgy MD]

Good point.

Joe McEwing, 2001.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Centerfield wrote: I would guess '96 Todd Hundley.

Nope. Jeez does everyone here think that the '96 Mets were comprised of the most fantastically outlier players ever?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: G-Fafif wrote: BTW, is "Mets-connected" your way of saying not necessarily two Mets seasons? And in that spirit, I'll guess Joe Torre, 1971.

Nope. We're looking for seasons from the last 30 years. And Torre didn't play for the Mets in '71.

[HahnSolo]

Dickey 2012?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: Good point. Joe McEwing, 2001.

Not on the list. The author was looking for outlier seasons that were all-star or MVP or Cy Young caliber.

[batmagadanleadoff]

HahnSolo wrote: Dickey 2012?

Nope, but good guess, I would think.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Pat Mahomes, 2000?

[G-Fafif]

On the Mets-connected train, Kevin Mitchell's 1989 season (asked above)?

[G-Fafif]

Without having read the article that inspired the quiz, I'm thinking Hundley and Johnson and even Dickey had seasons that echoed or foretold the years we recognize as their breakouts. Gilkey had never done anything like his 1996. I was gonna guess Dykstra's 1993, but he had a top-notch season in 1990 as well.

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: HahnSolo wrote: Dickey 2012? i Nope, but good guess, I would think.

Maybe not such a great guess, on second thought. Dickey was pretty terrific in 2010 and 2011. The players on this list have huge gaps between their best seasons and the rest of their careers.

[Centerfield]

G-Fafif wrote: Without having read the article that inspired the quiz, I'm thinking Hundley and Johnson and even Dickey had seasons that echoed or foretold the years we recognize as their breakouts. Gilkey had never done anything like his 1996. I was gonna guess Dykstra's 1993, but he had a top-notch season in 1990 as well.

Yeah, I looked it up and the Hundley guess is pretty terrible. '96 wasn't even Hundley's best year in terms of OPS. '95 was also very solid, and he had a very good year (though injury shortened) with the Dodgers in 2000. I think I forgot Hundley ended up on the Dodgers.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: On the Mets-connected train, Kevin Mitchell's 1989 season (asked above)?

I thought I answered this one but my post apparently disappeared. Gremlins!

Mitchell '89, like Torre '71, didn't play for the Mets. And on top of that, Mitchell '89 didn't make the author's list, irrespective of what team he played for in '89.

[batmagadanleadoff]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Pat Mahomes, 2000?

Get that shit outta here.

[seawolf17]

The two that immediately come to mind are Brady Anderson's 1995(96?) 50-HR season, and Davey Johnson's 1969 season, but neither of those fit the qualifications.

[G-Fafif]

Apologies for possibly violating the code of consecutive guesses, but just wanted to throw Dave Magadan's outstanding 1990 into the conversation. Probably not high-profile enough to be the answer, but it really was the outlier of his otherwise "oh yeah, him" career. It was certainly the best Dave Magadan-style season one could have imagined.

[G-Fafif]

Can "Mets-connected" be expanded upon without giving away the answer?

[G-Fafif]

seawolf17 wrote: Davey Johnson's 1969 season

I thought of that, too, in the pre-30 years ago, though it was 1973.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: Can "Mets-connected" be expanded upon without giving away the answer?

I've tried to when I wrote the first post. This is the best I could do. Did I provide the best possible phrased clue or do the limits of my abilities prevent me from doing better? Beats me. I dunno? I could rephrase that, but I think I'd be making the answer a lot easier to solve. Maybe that in itself is a clue.

[Guest cooby]

Mike Scott ‘86

[batmagadanleadoff]

cooby wrote: Mike Scott ‘86

'

I love Mike Scott. But '86 was more than 30 years ago; Scott wasn't a Met that season; and '86 wasn't as much of an outlier as the other seasons on the author's list. Scott had a run of five or six straight seasons where he was one of the league's top 10 pitchers every year.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Guest

[Guest cooby]

Ah! On the 30 years thing.

I thought perhaps as an exMet he was your connection