Ramirez to Ramirez: A Brief History
On Sunday, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Boston reliever Noe Ramirez fielded a comebacker off the bat of Toronto center fielder Kevin Pillar. He flipped it to Hanley Ramirez for the putout. It wasn’t a particularly momentous occasion, but it got me thinking — was this the first ever Ramirez to Ramirez putout in major-league history? I probably would have let it go right there (I’m pretty lazy, after all) but Jim Reedy pointed out that there have only been 29 Ramirezes in major-league history, and that didn’t seem like to daunting of a number. So I dove in.
To be honest, I was surprised there have only been 29 Ramirezes. I suppose growing up in Boston, I’m too used to seeing a “Ramirez” in the starting lineup to have an objective viewpoint on the matter. But while there have been just 29 Ramirezes, they stretch back a number of years. The first Ramirez — Milt Ramirez — debuted with the Cardinals back in 1970. In the meantime, there’s been at least one Ramirez in the majors every year since 1979. The high-water mark came in 2008, when 10 Ramirezes played in the majors. Of the 29 total, 16 have been pitchers, eight have been infielders, four have been outfielders and one has been a catcher. There have been two Erasmos, two Joses and two Ramons. Some have been teammates. Before we go any further, let’s take a look at the full timeline of Ramirezes:
Many, many thanks to Sean Dolinar for whipping up this awesome graphic.
As you can see, there have been several pairs of Ramirezes who have been teammates — eight to be precise. Let’s have a look.
Right off the bat, we can eliminate the two pairings where the teammates were both pitchers — Ramon E. Ramirez and Horacio Ramirez with the 2008 Royals, and the same Ramon E. Ramirez with Elvin Ramirez with the 2012 Mets. So we’re down now to six.
The first pair, Manny Ramirez and Alex Ramirez, couldn’t have recorded a putout together, as Alex only played left field, right field or designated hitter, and Manny only played right field and DH. While I checked most of these by going through each game log, I didn’t here. I have seen many baseball things, but never a putout that involved a right fielder and a left fielder. If such a thing had happened, I assume we all would remember it to this day. Especially in Manny’s case, since there was that one time when he tried to execute a center field to left field putout…
After Alex left Manny, he landed with Aramis Ramirez, via a trade that sent Alex and Enrique Wilson to Pittsburgh in exchange for Wil Cordero. Alex and Aramis shared the diamond for about a month in 2000, before Aramis was lost to injury at the end of August. Sometimes, they hit back-to-back in the batting order. With Alex stationed in right field, and Aramis playing a third base, here we have our first Ramirez-to-Ramirez connection. On Aug. 4, 2000, Alex started a relay that went to Wilson and finished with Aramis, erasing Jeff Kent at third, who was trying to stretch a leadoff double into a triple. Tsk, tsk, Jeff. While not a 100% Ramirez-to-Ramirez connection, this is pretty darn close.
Manny and Hanley Ramirez would have been the best ever Ramirez-to-Ramirez connection with the 2005 Red Sox, but alas, they never shared the diamond. Hanley made appearances in two games in 2005, but Manny was absent from the lineup both times. In the first game, Manny came out in the bottom of the 6th, as the Sox were already ahead 13-2 — thanks in large part to Manny’s 4-for-4 day. Hanley pinch hit in the 7th. In the second, Manny was lifted for a pinch runner in the 6th, after going 2-for-2 with 2 walks. Hanley came in as a pinch hitter five batters later. So close!
In 2008, Horacio left Ramon when he was traded to the White Sox, where he shared the field plenty with Alexei Ramirez over the final two months of the season (the return to Kansas City, interestingly, was Paulo Orlando — the Royals got the better of this deal, though it took awhile for them to realize it). Unfortunately, Horacio never fielded a comebacker that he could toss to second base. No putout there.
Alexei would once again become teammates with a Ramirez in 2010, when Manny was shipped to the South Side from the Dodgers. Unfortunately, Manny served exclusively as a DH and pinch hitter for the White Sox.
Which brings us back to the present. Last year, Noe and Hanley appeared in three games together, but Hanley was in left field. Again, I’ve seen plenty of baseball things, but left field to pitcher putouts are not one of them. Maybe someday. I did check all three of these games, for what it’s worth, just to be sure. This leaves Sunday’s comebacker as the first pure Ramirez-to-Ramirez putout in major-league history. It was a long time coming.
Paul Swydan used to be the managing editor of The Hardball Times, a writer and editor for FanGraphs and a writer for Boston.com and The Boston Globe. Now, he owns The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Acton, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @Swydan. Follow the store @SilUnicornActon.
Riveting stuff
Now for the fun part. What is the most common surname connection? Probably Smith to Smith, but I want numbers.
My first thought though was someone with a fairly common surname playing first base who had a long career. I looked at Tony Perez, but from my cursory review of baseball reference, he did not play with any other Perez’s. I think though that Martinez is promising though. 100 plus games of Edgar to Tino in ’92 plus a handful in ’91 and ’93 should account for a lot of assists and the name is common enough that there are probably other contributors.
I have to think that Ivan caught a fellow Rodriguez at some point.
I see Wandy with Houston, but moreso he played with SS ARod in Texas – every other caught stealing would be an assist and IRod caught a lot of baserunners. Again, it’s a common enough surname that there will be a lot of random ones.
I didn’t check all the split seasons in 2008 and 2009, but Pudge didn’t play with any pitchers named Rodriguez through at least then, and no starting position players, either. I’m surprised, actually.
Ah, missed ARod, somehow. But no other pitchers.
Maybe Jones? First, as a Braves fan, I know there were a fair number of A. Jones to C. Jones putouts. Andruw used to rack up the assists by throwing to third instead of home.
Also, there have been 103 Joneses, included some pretty stellar names: The aforementioned Chipper Jones, plus Tex Jones, Broadway Jones, Ri Jones, Binky Jones, Cowboy Jones, Bumpus Jones, and Sad Sam Jones.
legitimately fascinating
The graphic is amazing.
Seconded. That is some seriously slick information delivery up there.
So I witnessed history yesterday, apparently. I remember this play happening. And I remember when the bullpen screen lit up with “Noe Ramirez is warming up” I thought “who the fuck is Noe Ramirez??”
Not going to lie, when I saw your tweet yesterday I thought that there was no way that this was the first Ramirez-Ramirez putout. Pleasantly surprised to see that I was wrong on this one. I too thought there have been a lot more Ramirez’ than there actually were.
Man, every time I see video of Damon, it just amazes me that his arm was part of a major league outfielder.
The real miracle during that play is that Orsillo and Remy didn’t go into a 3-inning giggle fest where they were unable to provide actual commentary on the game. I miss Don… 🙁
“I have seen many baseball things, but never a putout that involved a right fielder and a left fielder.”
Well, no Ramirezes were involved, but there was the 9-2-7-2 double play on which Buck Martinez was injured in a plate collision, threw the ball into the outfield trying to catch an advancing runner, and the left fielder threw it back to him to get the runner trying to score on the throw.
Also, a couple left field to pitcher putouts for you:
http://www.camdenchat.com/2012/6/13/3084191/orioles-7-pirates-1-jakes-triumphant-return
http://www.sbnation.com/2012/7/20/3171935/the-ol-7-1-putout
(The first one is a pop down the LF line, where the 3B goes out to get it and the pitcher covers third while the runner has to hold at second. The second one is sheer chaos.)