On this week’s Public Display of GRIT, we check out this post that some poor guy at Crabapple made about the failings of the 2009 Mets. Considering the Mets’ season, it’s a bit shocking that the post is so short. But Pseubermetrics was born out of an abusive relationship with the Cubs, so we can empathize with the writer’s plight. Your club fields the best group of players that $140 million can buy (or something close to it, hopefully). Then you, Joe Average Fan, invest in that group of millionaires.

You invest your hopes. You invest your dreams. You invest your $5 hot dog habit.

And then, what do those good-for-nothings do in return? They piss it all away. Lose two of three to a bunch of bums from some third world country that make a fraction of what your guys make. It’s an unhealthy relationship dynamic, but what are you going to do? These are the Mets. You can’t outsource the Mets!

We digress from that digression.

Each week we send out the Pseubermetrics web crawler. He’s a cute little guy that looks for “grit.” Well, we sent him out earlier this week and he comes waddling up to the door with this Crabapple post in his mouth. He dropped it on our doorstep like a present. Sometimes he thinks he’s people. It’s adorable. What got his attention?

Hitters…ugh. They need a new 1st baseman, a new catcher, a new left fielder, and maybe even trade Carlos Beltran. The Mets have always worked best with grit. Beltran has no grit. Reyes has grit. Can’t wait for that guy to return to form next season.

Well, the writer is technically correct in that the Mets have very little grit this year. As of August 21st, the Mets had a team GRIT3 total of 0.82. However, 0.82 is actually a pretty sizable amount as far as team GRIT3 totals go. So sizable, in fact, that the Mets are actually third at present.

Regarding Reyes and Beltran, Crabapple has the basic ontology correct, but they forget that GRIT3 can also be negative. Consequently, Beltran doesn’t have “no grit.” He has negative grit. Per the Ongoing Player Totals table, Beltran is the most non-gritty player on the team this year with a GRIT3 of -7.83. A cursory glance at the same table shows that Reyes only “has grit” when compared relative to Beltran’s negative grit. Since going down with injury in May, Reyes has hovered right around 0 for a good part of this season, finding himself with a GRIT3 of -0.44 as of our latest calculation.

So, who does have grit?

For starters, the loss of Reyes provided the Mets with a 2009 NL All-Gritter at shortstop in Alex Cora. He’s sporting a very solid 6.16 as of August 21st. On the flipside of the keystone, Luis Castillo (5.17) has enjoyed a very gritty season in his own right and his pairing with Cora gives the Mets one of the grittier double-play duos in all of baseball.

When you throw in Fernando Tatis (2.96), Daniel Murphy (.85), and Brian Schneider (.59) the Mets — as they did as recently as August 11 — can field an infield entirely of plus-gritty players.

As for the assertion that the Mets “always worked best with grit,” well we checked that out as well. If “worked best” is meant to be interpreted as “won a lot of baseball games”, then the evidence isn’t there to support the conclusion. The Mets haven’t always worked best with grit. In fact, they’ve worked pretty damn awfully when they’ve had grit. Data?

Here’s a table of every Mets season since 1962

As you can see, the more successful years have almost exclusively occurred when the Mets have been non-gritty. This table of summary statistics best illustrates the point.

During “gritty” seasons, the Mets would have averaged a record of 64-98 over 162 games. Even during seasons when their grittiness ran from moderately gritty to moderately non-gritty, the Mets didn’t fare much better, averaging a record of 70-92. However, in the years when the Mets showed signs of serious non-grittiness, they flashed an average record of 84-78. If you were to drill down and divide the seasons into quartiles, you’d find an even more discernible pattern as the least gritty seasons intersect with some of the most successful. And before you go and argue that the 1969 Miracle Mets won a World Series in spite of their grittiness, keep in mind that that team wasn’t winning games thanks to its high-powered offense. A bigger portion of that team’s success was due to its lights-out pitching staff.

The lesson here? Grittiness doesn’t pay. At least not in terms of baseball success. For that, you’d be better served getting some honest to goodness talent. Or pitching.

If you were paying attention, you may have noticed that we went dark for about a week. No posts. No updates. Nada. And while this furlough was unfortunate, it’s not without several good reasons. Lots of changes are underway here. Here’s a list of them.

First, the home office was moved from the sabermetric hotbed of Iowa City to Madison, Wisconsin. While Iowa City was home to Sean Forman (baseballreference) and Dan Brooks (Brooks Baseball PitchFX tool) among others, it was time to venture out in to the brutal winter abyss of the north for an intense Rocky IV-esque training montage. Actually, this move is intended to reduce the costs of providing comprehensive coverage of Jason Kendall. Actually, that’s a lie too. Whatever the reason, transporting the GRIT mainframes, slide rules, and laptop baseball simulators in to Wisconsin came with the unfortunate side effect of preventing our staff from providing you, our reader, with the gritty updates you know and love. We got drunk on beer, ate a bunch of deep-fried cheese curds, and got lazy for a week. For that, we’re sorry. No we’re not. Those curds were delicious. But, we’re back and more Wisconsinny than ever. To prove it: “Fuck Brett.” That’s Wisconsinese for “hello again, good sir.”

But, like we said, there are lots of changes underway. With all of the changes, we’ve taken the opportunity to set up a satellite office in Kansas City. What, you might be asking, is the purpose of a satellite office in Kansas City? To research pitching, obviously. It also provides a solid hookup for delicious barbecue sauce to go along with our new stockade of cheese and beer. We’re venturing forward in an effort to analyze pitching as well as hitting. How awesome is that? If hunger was a game of Risk, we just surged outward from Australia and ran roughshod across Asia. Yes, that’s right. The establishment of the Grit Baseball Pitching Research Arm will hopefully provide Grit Baseball’s readership with the absolute best quality of baseball analysis. We’ve hired a director for this satellite office. We’re not ready to reveal his identity, but you’ll be hearing from him in the near future.

And while we’re on the subject of the Grit Baseball Pitching Research Arm. About that name. That’s also probably going to have to go. Since GRIT is exclusively concerned with offensive production, there’s little sense in throwing our pitching research under one poor fitting mantle of “Grit Baseball.” So, we’re proud to announce that, after careful deliberation, Grit Baseball is officially changing its name to “Pseübermetrics“. the gritbaseball.com domain will still work, we’re just going by a different, more awesome name.

What does Pseübermetrics mean? Well, Pseübermetrics is that valuable piece of real estate that lies at the nexus of pseudoscience, sabermetrics, and über-awesomeness. To go back to that poorly envisioned Risk analogy, Pseübermetrics is akin to the unholy trifecta of strategic Eurasian choke points: the Middle East, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

That’s right. We’ve got those. All three of them. And we’ve got a set of cards. And, since we’re being nice, we’ll just tell you right now that we’re going to cash those cards in to fortify Ukraine for the impending European invasion.

So, hold on to your hats. And while you’re at it, update your bookmarks.

Big ups to Aaron Castellan over at Points in Case for making a truly gritty post yesterday on the state of the nation’s pastime. Aaron dutifully captured the essence of everything that’s presently wrong with the game by comparing it to the idyllic strawman baseball from days of yore — we never experienced it, but George Will said it was amazing. Head on over there to check out Aaron as he lambasts those good for nothing steroid abusers for taking shortcuts. If you’re running less than 360′ around the bases, you ain’ gritty, son! Here’s an excerpt:

The world we live in is full of quick fixes. You know what quick fixes are? They’re loser talk for cheating. We should not tolerate the use of said fixes in our national pastime, Major League Baseball. The severity of crimes these dirty, stinky cheaters perpetrated on fans and American society cannot be overstated.

It has been shown to the people time and time again that baseball has been corrupted for years. We know this from players making statements, Congressional testimony, personal stories, checks and orders for supplements. For years we have heard Bud Selig insist there is not a drug problem in baseball, only to have George Mitchell come out with a report that essentially calls him a douche, a liar, and a big, dumb nerd. We have the evidence we need. We know people have tested positive for steroids. Alex Rodriguez hits a bunch of home runs but we all know they come in a needle package, wrapped in cheater wrapping paper and topped with a bow of disrespect for the game.

We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves if we had deep-fried our keyboard in readability oil. For this, Aaron Castellan just earned himself one golden star sticker and the respect of everybody here at Grit Baseball.

This magazine was apparently issued shortly after Fox's Bar Mitzvah.

Last week, we unveiled Ron Hunt as the charter member of the Hall of GRIT. This week, we turn our attention to another deserving player: Nellie Fox (BBREF | FanGraphs | Wiki).

Over his 19 seasons in the Majors, Fox amassed a reputation for being one of, if not, the best defensive second basemen in the league. Paired with the gifted defensive stylings of shortstops Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio for much of his career, Fox formed the backbone of the White Sox middle infield in the 1950s and early ’60s.

Like many of history’s grittiest, Fox was as short on power as he was on height. But striking out is for those weak in constitution — and weakness, aside from his lack of muscle mass, wasn’t part of Nellie’s repertoire.

Built from bits of rusted metal pulled from a Pennsylvania scrap heap, Nellie stood in the box at 5′9″ and 150 pounds of guts and hustle. Lil’ Nell, as he was called by people standing over 69 inches in height, choked up on his big boy bat and frustrated pitchers and infielders alike, slapping pitches left and right like a strung-out Ike Turner. And, while few of the balls he put in play were hit far enough to be played by outfielders, Nellie only struck out once every 43 at-bats or so, the fourth highest AB/SO ratio of all time.

You want a first hand account? Here’s what Sports Illustrated had to say about Nellie in a preview of the 1959 World Series.

There is Nellie Fox, short and aggressive, the senior man on the team. If you are a betting man and your favorite cousin is watching a game with you, bet him that Fox hits the ball every time he swings at it. Fox bats left-handed, crouches over the plate and chokes up at least an inch on his very thick bat. His swing is short, more of a chopping motion, so most of his hits are singles. Outside pitches are blocked into left field. Pitches down the middle are stroked through the pitcher’s mound. Inside pitches are pulled to right. Fox is also a very good bunter, and it is certain he will try to lay one down at least once during the Series. When Fox is standing out at second base and there is a lull between pitches you may get a chance to see him reach into his hip pocket and mop his brow with the brightest red handkerchief in the major leagues.

Fox is an odd case in that he’s not only among the career leaders in GRIT — in fact, if comprehensive statistics were available prior to 1955, he might be the all-time leader — but also a member of the Hall of Fame.

Although baseball writers are generally big, big fans of gritty play, they’re a bit more hesitant to put the all-time grittiest players in to the Hall of Fame. Of history’s 100 grittiest, 72 have met the eligibility requirements for induction. 40 of those players, including gritty luminaries such as Ron Hunt, Jim Gilliam, and Cesar Tovar, never received a spot on the ballot. Twenty-one of the 32 players who did make it on to the ballot never survived to see a second.

So, how many gritty players have gained entrance to the Hall of Fame?

Four. Fox, Aparicio, Ozzie Smith, and Richie Ashburn.

Four inductees out of 32 possible works out to a 12.5% induction rate. This is substantially lower than the rate among all other players of 27.1% (224 out of 827). Granted, the number of gritsters in the HOF is likely to increase in years to come. Craig Biggio has earned a spot. Baseball writers love his pine tar encrusted batting helmet. We love his beady eyes, musky scent, and what he’s done to inspire advancements in the statistical scrutiny of the plunking. Omar Vizquel will get a little consideration because he caught pop-ups backwards or something.

This simply confirms what we all assumed: grittiness is a complete and utter act of selflessness. One does not pursue fame and fortune by being gritty. No, no. An excess of grit rarely results in anything more than bad knees and an early death.

Nellie Fox's stint with the Pirates in the early '80s was crucial to his bump in support among the BBWAA.

Which brings us back to Nellie Fox. A lifelong user of tobacco, Fox died of cancer in 1975. As is the case with almost anything a gritster will do, Fox didn’t get in to Cooperstown the easy way. While he received a substantial bump in votes after his death (from 21% in 1975 up to 45% in 1976), Fox’s vote share dropped to about 30% by his twelfth year on the ballot 1982.

Not one to be easily dissuaded, Nellie had an ace up his sleeve. With baseball writers defecting from his side in droves, he was forced to play it. And play it he did.

During late 1981, Fox came back from the dead in the form of “Johnny Ray,” a second baseman for the Pirates. Between 1982 and ‘83, Johnny Ray né Nellie Fox (Fox) put together some solid performances, nearly winning the ROY award and becoming the first person to ever qualify for the award twice.

Fox’s reanimation stunt apparently impressed BBWAA voters. Following 15% bumps in both 1983 and ‘84, Fox was in prime position for induction. After languishing on the ballot for 14 years, 1985 was sure to be his year. However, despite a very productive 1984, Fox received 295 votes out of 396 — 74.7%, barely missing election by two votes. Fox would wait another 12 years before the Veterans’ Committee finally called him to join the ranks of the baseball elite in 1997.

Gritty bona fides:

• 3rd all-time in career GRIT3
• 4th all-time in career DIRT3
• 60th all-time in career DTRM3
• 4th all-time in AB/SO
• League leader in GRIT3: 1955-8, 1960-2
• League leader in DIRT3: 1955, 1958, 1960, 1964
• League leader in DTRM3: 1956, 1958-9, 1961
• League leader in AB/SO: 1951, 1954-64
• League leader in SH: 1961, 1964
• League leader in HBP: 1951
• League leader in Singles: 1952, 1954-60
• League leader in CS: 1951

While Nellie had to wait 27 years before induction in to the Hall of Fame, we here at Grit Baseball are proud to announce Nellie Fox is a charter member of the Hall of GRIT. Receiving a unanimous vote, Fox joins Hunt as a member of the Hall of GRIT’s Inaugural Class of 2009.

Congratulations, Nellie.

Each Friday or thereabout, we hope to recap some highlights from the previous week. This is all a part of our efforts to be the Internet’s number one source of grit-related baseball information as well as baseball-related grit information.

Well, the leader boards have been updated (players | teams) for the week of August 1-7, so let’s get right to it.

Biggest Gainers

2.87: Marlon Byrd

2.50: Paul Konerko

Although he’s at the top of our list, Marlon Byrd put together a fairly average week, most things considered. Sporting a line of .308/.367/.385, Byrd’s OPS was right around league average at .750. While his OMS of .018 was on the gritty side of things, his jump in GRIT3 was largely the cause of his 3 HBP and limited run production (1 run and 2 RBI). Like Byrd, Konerko also experienced a spike in GRIT3 during the past week due to 3 aberrant plunkings. Long term, look for the GRIT3 of both Byrd and Konerko to stay on the negative end of the spectrum as their HBP numbers return to norm.

2.42: Chase Utley

Another surprising name at the top of the TWIG Leaderboard, Utley’s ongoing slump caused him to register a pretty substantial gain in GRIT3. Since the beginning of the month, Utley’s production has stalled with a line of .150/.250/.200. He’s managed to reach base safely six times, two of which were due to the always gritty HBP. Over his career, Utley’s a bit of a strange case. Since debuting in 2003, his GRIT3 has fluctuated quite a bit. Generally, he’s proven to be non-gritty, although his consistently high HBP totals have prevented him from straying too far away from the Bob Johnson Bifurcation. Nonetheless, his 2007 campaign registered as the seventh grittiest of the year. Considering Utley posted an OPS+ of 145 that year, this is solid evidence that GRIT is due for a revision.

2.17: David DeJesus

Among the week’s biggest gainers, DeJesus is the only true gritster of the bunch. Oddly enough, DeJesus’ week of production was actually a lot better than his season-to-date. His numbers of .280/.387/.520 were all above what he’s posted thus far. While his TLNT score no doubt jumped, DeJesus can thank two HBP (he had only four prior to August 1) for his sizeable bump in GRIT. As Jason Kendall dropped .09 points, DeJesus finds himself in second place and only a half of a point back of David Eckstein.

3.04: Kansas City Royals

Kansas City benefited from DeJesus and Mark Teahen (+1.20) to make a move up the leader board. Thanks to the jump, the Royals find themselves in third place, having overtaken the Pirates.

Slippin’ and Slidin’

6.68: Adam Dunn

The Big Donkey had a big donkin’ week, going 8 for 21 with 3 decidedly non-gritty dingers and intentional passes. Dunn went down on strikes 10 out of the 13 times he didn’t reach base safely. While he’s not a strong contender to best Albert Pujols (-1.81 this week), Dunn is currently second to Uncle Albert and is a lock to remain among the ranks of the non-gritty elite.

5.63: Mark Reynolds

Reynolds continued his torrid pace and further validated his claim to throne of all-or-nothing slugger vacated by Dunn. Reynolds slugged a five home runs (35 on the year) and struck out 10 times (a league-leading 151 on the year). According to HitTracker data, the five home runs Reynolds jacked over the first week of August had an average standard distance (corrected for wind and field level) of 429 feet. While power may be impressive to some, it’s narcissistic at best and most definitely not gritty. With this week’s drop, Reynolds’ GRIT3 passed the -25 threshold. Barring an accident, Reynolds is a safe bet to remain among the lowest GRIT scorers for years to come.

10.02: Arizona Diamondbacks

Reynolds’ non-gritty performance almost single-handedly propelled the Diamondbacks’ drop in GRIT3. Arizona retained their position as fifth from the bottom among Major League teams–thanks to Albert Pujols’ continued display of tangible talent, only St. Louis is less gritty in the National League.

8.37: New York Yankees

The Yankee’s drop in GRIT was more of a team effort than that of Arizona. Johnny Damon (-2.34), Mark Teixeira (-2.21), Alex Rodriguez (-1.86), and Melky Cabrera (-1.35) were the teams biggest contributors.

Other News

We added the beginnings of a “Glossary” section to help provide some clarification for confused readers. We’ll continue to expand on it as time allows. We love to hear from our readers. So, if you come across some term that you think needs a definition and you don’t see it in the glossary, feel free to drop us a line and we’ll be glad to set it straight.

In fact, get in touch with us for all of your grit-related questions. Have a burning desire to know who had the grittiest careers among players named “Terry”? Drop us a line and we’ll let you know that it’s Terry Puhl (17.08), Terry Harmon (14.52), and Terry Humphrey (12.35). Need to know the grittiest player on the 1986 Royals to settle a drunken bet with your cousin Roy? No problem, just drop us a line and you’ll know that Roy is correct: Lonnie Smith (9.47).