Cubic Players

When Brandon Nimmo took his position in right field on September 26, 2018, in a game at Citi Field, he was wearing his usual number nine and would bat ninth in the batting order. It seemed to me that this was an interesting confluence of facts: a player whose uniform number matches his fielding position and his position in the batting order. I wondered about other players who have achieved this trifecta and become “Cubic Players.”

Of course, fielding position and especially batting position can change daily for some, and players change numbers throughout their careers, so I set out to document the number of games for each player where their three numbers (uniform, batting order, and fielding position) were the same, in the history of baseball. I limited this study to the players in the starting lineup, at their starting fielding position. Pinch hitters, relief pitchers, defensive replacements, and fielding position changes were not considered. I looked at only regular season games for the ninety-year period of 1929–2018. The convention of players wearing numbers began in earnest in 1929, after a few brief experiments, and was completely phased in by the mid-1930s.

This is a very unlikely feat for pitchers. In fact, according to Retrosheet, only one starting pitcher batted leadoff in this period: Cesar Tovar, on September 22, 1968, the day he duplicated Bert Campaneris’s feat of playing all nine positions in a game. He wasn’t wearing number one, however, thus no pitcher (or anyone wearing number one or anyone batting leadoff) has ever been Cubic. Of course, we can also eliminate players wearing a number greater than nine, or less than one, and Designated Hitters.

I employed the Uniform Number Tracker database at the Baseball-Reference website. To identify games in which a player’s batting order position matched his fielding position, I used Retrosheet’s Game Log files, which provide starting lineups and initial fielding positions. Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference are wonderful resources and I am grateful that they make their information available for download free of charge. It would be beneficial, however, if there were a standard for player identification. For instance, Hank Aaron is identified as “aaroh101” by Retrosheet and “aaronha01” by Baseball-Reference (and by Sean Lahman’s Baseball Database, another wonderful free resource). Checking to ensure that the files from the two sources were merged correctly added a lot of time and created an opportunity for errors. Cases like the two players named Abraham Nunez, who played concurrently, required careful handling.

Methodology

My results are not perfectly correct, though they are close as possible under the constraints. Here is why I could not achieve perfection:

1. I relied on Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference exclusively as the source of the data for this study (and again, I am forever grateful to them). Any errors or incomplete information, however, in either source, could have created errors in my results.
2. I already mentioned that the two sources use different IDs for players, creating opportunities for errors.
3. Baseball-Reference provides the numbers a player wore by year and team. It does not provide daily detail. If a player wore more than one number for the same team in the same year, I had no way to tell at what point during the season that the change was made. For instance, in 1972, Bobby Grich started the year wearing number 16, which he had worn since he first reached the majors in 1970. At some point during the year, he switched to number 3, which he wore for the rest of his Oriole career. I considered these cases to be indeterminate and removed them, since I could not verify what uniform number such players wore on a particular day in those years.
4. No source that I am aware of tracks numbers worn by players to commemorate special occasions, such as Jackie Robinson Day, and I made no attempt to identify such days and the players who wore special numbers for a single game.
5. The final source of errors is me. I attempted to automate this to as great an extent as possible but could not do so entirely. Baseball-Reference’s database provided player, team, uniform number, and year, but the downloaded data were not in a usable tabular format. I managed to reformat them into a table, but without the team. I merged the two source files by player and year. Then, for each player who appeared to satisfy the cubic criteria, I looked up their Baseball-Reference page to check that the player actually wore the right number for the right team. For instance, in 1979, Oscar Gamble wore number 7 with the Rangers and number 17 with the Yankees. His only games that year in left field, batting seventh, came with the Yankees, however. Thus, I had to remove those games. I spent a great deal of time checking these cases, but I can’t be sure that errors weren’t made.

Confucius said, “Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.” No, I don’t think he was talking about baseball.

Results by Position

There have been 10,180 instances of a cubic player-game. This works out to be about 113 times per year. Only 335 players have played a cubic game.

As I’m sure you have realized, the frequency of this is vastly different by number. Looking at it through the lens of fielding position, it is far more likely to be accomplished by an infielder than an outfielder; and far more likely for an outfielder than a catcher, as shown in Table 1.

 

Table 1. Cubic Player-Games by Position Category

Catcher	Infielder	Outfielder
44	9,069	1,067

 

Breaking it down further, we see in Table 2 that among infielders, the feat is far more likely to be accomplished by fielders at the corners. In the outfield, the frequency declines as we move from left to right. Cubic right fielders are relatively new, the first one appeared in 1978. On June 1, 1920, right fielder Sammy Vick batted ninth in the Yankee lineup (pitcher Babe Ruth batted fourth). It wasn’t until the Designated Hitter rule was established that a right fielder would bat ninth again.

 

Table 2. Cubic Player-Games by Position

C (2)	1B (3)	2B (4)	3B (5)	SS (6)	LF (7)	CF (8)	RF (9)
44	3,450	987	3,841	791	758	246	63
<1%	34%	10%	38%	8%	7%	2%	1%

 

Of those 63 right field player-games, 61 occurred in the American League. Perhaps as National League managers bat their pitchers eighth, we’ll see more cubic NL right fielders, joining Ryan McGuire and Brandon Nimmo.

When we look at the 335 cubic players by position, in Table 3, we see:

 

Table 3. Cubic Players by Position Category

Catcher	Infielder	Outfielder
7	189	142

 

Table 4 provides the position detail.

 

Table 4. Cubic Players by Position

C (2)	1B (3)	2B (4)	3B (5)	SS (6)	LF (7)	CF (8)	RF (9)
7	56	19	79	37	89	37	20
2%	16%	6%	23%	11%	26%	11%	6%

 

Careful readers will note that outfielders account for only about 10% of cubic player-games (Table 2), yet about 43% of the cubic players have been outfielders (Table 4). Infielders, and particularly first and third basemen, exhibit the opposite relationship. It’s not unusual for a left fielder to bat seventh, for instance, in a particular game. But left fielders who bat seventh don’t tend to have long careers. We will see that cubic records are driven by a few prolific players, and they are infielders, generally first or third basemen.

Results Over Time

I had a hunch that this feat has become more unusual, for three reasons.

1. When uniform numbers were first assigned, they were often assigned based on the player’s position in the batting order, thus creating a systemic link between two of the three figures.
2. Single digit numbers are being retired. Since numbers are seldom un-retired, this factor will have an increasingly strong effect as time goes on. The Yankees have retired numbers one through nine, ensuring that no Yankee will ever play a cubic game again. The last Yankee to do so was Tony Fernandez in 1995.
3. The use of set lineups seems to have become extinct, making it more unlikely for an individual player to amass a high number of cubic games (and perhaps also leading to more cubic players).

To check if this is actually true, I grouped the ninety years in the study into nine ten-year periods: 1929–38, 1939–48, etc. As I expected, I found that the number of cubic player-games, and ratio of cubic player-games to total games played (which is a more meaningful measurement as it normalizes for expansion and a longer regular season schedule), had been steadily declining. However, the trend has reversed and the frequency has increased in the two most recent decades, as shown in Table 5. I believe that the decade 1989–98 is the outlier. We’ve reached a relatively steady state of about 3% to 4% of games played over that last fifty years. By chance, in that one ten-year period, it seldom happened. Prolific cubic players, like the immortals, don’t come around on a regular schedule.

 

Table 5. Cubic Player-Games by Decade

	’29–’38	’39–’48	’49–’58	’59–’68	’69–’78	’79–’88	’89–’98	’99– ’08	’09–’18
Cubic Player- Games	2,581	1,680	1,028	1,142	711	537	226	976	1,299
% of Total Games Played	21%	14%	8%	7%	4%	3%	1%	4%	5%

 

Table 6 provides the number of cubic players in each decade.

 

Table 6. Cubic Players by Decade

’29–’38	’39–’48	’49–’58	’59–’68	’69–’78	’79–’88	’89–’98	’99–’08	’09–’18
50	36	35	30	31	31	44	52	61

 

Table 7 is a matrix of the number of cubic player-games by decade and number. It’s interesting that most of the occurrences for first basemen and shortstops happened in the earlier years, while most of the occurrences for second basemen (due to one player who we will meet in the next paragraph) and outfielders happened in more recent years.

 

Table 7. Cubic Player-Games by Decade and Number

	’29–’38	’39–’48	’49–’58	’59–’68	’69–’78	’79–’88	’89–’98	’99–’08	’09–’18	Total
2	13	3		1	5	12	8	2		44
3	962	1,062	744	379	253	5	10	22	13	3,450
4	95	87	33		2	23	2	200	545	987
5	1,036	374	152	510	406	433	68	549	313	3,841
6	314	148	8	197	11		14	70	29	791
7	118	4	67	50	19	44	82	96	278	758
8	43	2	24	5	10	9	29	14	110	246
9					5	11	13	23	11	63
Total	2,581	1,680	1,028	1,142	711	537	226	976	1,299	10,180

 

Player Records

Brandon Phillips is the all-time leader in career cubic games played. Table 8 provides the top ten.

 

Table 8. Top 10 Leaders in Career Cubic Games

Brandon Phillips	700	2B (4)
Brooks Robinson	668	3B (5)
Pinky Higgins	541	3B (5)
Mickey Vernon	466	1B (3)
Harmon Killebrew	439	1B (3)
Bill Terry	418	1B (3)
George McQuinn	366	1B (3)
David Wright	326	3B (5)
Bob Horner	300	3B (5)
Joe Kuhel	264	1B (3)

 

Appendix A shows the top ten players in lifetime cubic games at each number. In Appendix B you will find the top ten players in cubic games in each decade.

Pinky Higgins established the career mark in 1937 and held the record for thirty-three years, until Brooks Robinson eclipsed him in 1970. Robinson held the record for forty-six years until Brandon Phillips passed him in 2016.

The record for most cubic games in a single season is held by Bill Terry. In 1934 he played 153 cubic games (every game that the Giants played that year). The top ten seasons are shown in Table 9.

 

Table 9. Top 10 Single Seasons

Bill Terry	1934	153
Mickey Vernon	1954	148
Bill Terry	1935	143
Mickey Vernon	1953	141
Pinky Whitney	1932	137
Pinky Higgins	1936	129
Brandon Phillips	2013	127
Brooks Robinson	1969	125
Pinky Higgins	1935	124
Brandon Phillips	2009	122

 

Table 10 provides the single season records for each number.

 

Table 10. Single Season Leaders for each Number

C (2)	Billy Sullivan	1938	13
1B (3)	Bill Terry	1934	153
2B (4)	Brandon Phillips	2013	127
3B (5)	Pinky Whitney	1932	137
SS (6)	Eric McNair	1935	98
LF (7)	David Murphy	2012	64
CF (8)	Joe Marty	1937	30
RF (9)	Jody Gerut	2004	12

 

Brooks Robinson holds the record for most years leading all of baseball: nine. Brandon Phillips led in eight years. No one else led in more than four years.

Brooks Robinson also holds the record for most years with at least one cubic game: seventeen. Harmon Killebrew had eleven such years, and Brandon Phillips had ten. No one else had more than eight.

 

Franchise Records

Table 11 provides the total player-games for each franchise. I’ve grouped the oldest sixteen and the fourteen later expansion teams separately.

 

Table 11. Number of Cubic Player-Games for each Franchise

Older Franchises			Expansion Franchises
Orioles	1,182		Mets	394
Red Sox	1,137		Rangers	235
Twins	1,047		Padres	169
Reds	837		Mariners	117
Athletics	697		Nationals	110
Giants	582		Diamondbacks	80
White Sox	577		Angels	72
Pirates	524		Astros	55
Dodgers	429		Blue Jays	50
Indians	407		Marlins	39
Braves	404		Brewers	29
Phillies	327		Rays	28
Cubs	240		Royals	26
Tigers	152		Rockies	17
Cardinals	122
Yankees	95

 

It wasn’t surprising to me that Yankees are last among the original franchises, given their proclivity for retiring single digit numbers. Incidentally, Babe Ruth was the first cubic Yankee, in 1931. It was his only cubic game.

For no systemic reason, 57% of the cubic player-games have been recorded by teams that were in the American League at the time. However, in the last four decades, 76% of the incidences have been by National League teams. As you’ve seen, one prolific cubic player can leave an imprint on the totals. As shown in Table 8, the top ten most prolific players account for 44% of all the cubic player-games.

Table 12 lists the leaders for each franchise. Notice that Brandon Phillips, the Reds second baseman for eleven years (2006–2016), and Brooks Robinson, the Orioles third baseman for more than two decades (1955–1977), are far ahead of everyone else. Pinky Higgins, next on the all-time list, amassed cubic games for the Athletics and Red Sox. Mickey Vernon, fourth on the list, tallied cubic games for the Indians and Senators.

 

Table 12. All-time Franchise Leaders

Angels	Bobby Grich	23
Astros	Pete Runnels	51
Athletics	Pinky Higgins	344
Blue Jays	Anthony Gose	15
Braves	Bob Horner	300
Brewers	B.J. Surhoff	15
Cardinals	Peter Bourjos	49
Cubs	Ripper Collins	137
Diamondbacks	Stephen Drew	61
Dodgers	Cookie Lavagetto	145
Giants	Bill Terry	418
Indians	Mickey Vernon	87
Mariners	Adrian Beltre	79
Marlins	Jorge Cantu	21
Mets	David Wright	326
Nationals	Sean Berry	29
Orioles	Brooks Robinson	668
Padres	Kevin Kouzmanoff	124
Phillies	Pinky Whitney	173
Pirates	Elbie Fletcher	110
Rangers	David Murphy	126
Rays	Matthew Michael Duffy	14
Red Sox	Jimmie Foxx	228
Reds	Brandon Phillips	700
Rockies	Seth Smith	8
Royals	George Brett	9
Tigers	Billy Rogell	81
Twins	Harmon Killebrew	439
White Sox	Joe Kuhel	264
Yankees	Jake Powell	73

 

Anomalies and Hall of Famers

There are nine players who have played a cubic game at more than one position, as shown in Table 13.

 

Table 13. Players who have played a Cubic Game at more than One Position

Travis Jackson	3B and SS
Bob Bailey	1B and LF
Michael Cuddyer	1B and 3B
David DeJesus	LF and RF
Chris Coghlan	LF and CF
Alex Presley	LF and CF
Eric Owens	1B and CF
Ross Gload	1B and LF
Jason Romano	LF and CF

 

There have been many players who played a cubic game for more than one team, but Hank Majeski is the only one who did it with four different clubs. Mark DeRosa and David DeJesus did it with three teams.

Many players have played a cubic game in each league.

Matt Duffy leads all active players with twenty-seven lifetime cubic games, again, through the 2018 season. Eduardo Escobar is a close second with twenty-five. So, Brandon Phillips’s career record is safe for a while.

Nineteen Hall of Famers have played at least one cubic game, as shown in Table 14. Interestingly, many of them played cubic games at a position other than the one for which they are most renowned. I expect that Adrian Beltre and Albert Pujols will be added to this list.

 

Table 14. Cubic Games by Hall of Famers

Brooks Robinson	668	3B
Harmon Killebrew	439	1B
Bill Terry	418	1B
Jimmie Foxx	228	1B
Joe Gordon	74	2B
Travis Jackson	55	43 at SS and 12 at 3B
Jim Bottomley	52	1B
Johnny Bench	41	3B
Rogers Hornsby	11	2B
George Brett	9	3B
Lou Boudreau	6	3B
Hack Wilson	5	2B
George Kell	5	1B
Joe Medwick	4	LF
Willie Stargell	3	CF
Charlie Gehringer	2	1B
Babe Ruth	1	1B
Arky Vaughan	1	3B
Tony Lazzeri	1	SS

 

There have been many games where multiple players were cubic. For instance, the last one in the period occurred on April 9, 2018, the Rays versus the White Sox, both third baseman, Matt Duffy and Yolmer Sanchez, batted fifth and wore five. The record for most cubic players in a game is three, accomplished sixteen times. The most recent occurrence was a game on April 16, 1969, Baltimore at Boston. The three players were Brooks Robinson (5) for the Orioles, and George Scott (5) and Rico Petrocelli (6) for the Red Sox.

The record for most cubic players for one team in a game is also three. On July 20, 1949, in a game in which he singled, doubled, and was hit by a pitch in five plate appearances, the Indians all-star center fielder Larry Doby was thrown out trying to steal home with the bases loaded and no outs. Doby was fined and benched for the next five games by player-manager Lou Boudreau.1 In those five games, Cleveland’s lineup included Mickey Vernon batting third, Joe Gordon batting clean-up, and Lou Boudreau batting fifth. These are the only five games where as many as three teammates were cubic.

Coming Home

I suppose Babe Ruth was the greatest of all cubic players, but special mention should go to football star D. J. Dozier. He played just one season in the big leagues and appeared in 25 games, yet he tallied five cubic games in his 14 starts.

Fewer than 2% of all major league players have played even one cubic game. The 335 who have form a special fraternity. A few are enshrined in Cooperstown; others didn’t have much more than a cup of coffee. All are bound by this special trait, having played the game in perfect harmony.

RANDY KLIPSTEIN has been a SABR member for thirty-five years. A Yankee fan, he lives happily in Dobbs Ferry, New York, with his wife Lisa, a Red Sox fan. Randy hopes to see an alphabetical batting order. Contact Randy at rbk65@optonline.net.

 

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the peer reviewers who made this a better article and welcomes requests for more information, such as a complete listing of cubic players.

 

Notes

1 “Doby Fined By Boudreau After Boner,” Evening Independent, July 21, 1949.

 

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Appendix A: Top 10 players in lifetime cubic games played at each number

Rank	C (2)		1B (3)		2B (4)
1	Billy Sullivan	13	Mickey Vernon	466	Brandon Phillips	700
2	Mike Heath	12	Harmon Killebrew	439	Joe Gordon	74
3	Rick Wilkins	8	Bill Terry	418	Bill Cissell	52
4	Tim McCarver	5	George McQuinn	366	Johnny Hodapp	26
5	Frankie Pytlak	3	Joe Kuhel	264	Odell Hale	25
6	Brent Mayne	2	Jimmie Foxx	228	Bobby Grich	23
7	Tom Satriano	1	Ripper Collins	137	Johnny Berardino	16
8			Elbie Fletcher	110	Wilmer Flores	14
9			Tony Lupien	110	Scooter Gennett	13
10			Ed Morgan	93	Rogers Hornsby	11
	3B (5)		SS (6)		LF (7)
1	Brooks Robinson	668	Eric McNair	152	David Murphy	127
2	Pinky Higgins	541	Rico Petrocelli	151	Jake Powell	73
3	David Wright	326	Billy Rogell	81	Gregor Blanco	53
4	Bob Horner	300	Irv Hall	67	Jim Rivera	42
5	Jim Tabor	258	Stephen Drew	61	Billy Ashley	25
6	Pinky Whitney	173	Travis Jackson	43	Kenny Lofton	24
7	Kevin Kouzmanoff	167	Ron Hansen	34	Augie Galan	17
8	Cookie Lavagetto	145	Billy Cox	32	Cody Ross	15
9	Cecil Travis	118	Mark Christman	31	3 tied with 13
10	Bill Madlock	108	Billy Urbanski	18
	CF (8)		RF (9)
1	Peter Bourjos	49	Bombo Rivera	12
2	Joe Marty	31	Jody Gerut	12
3	Rip Repulski	21	Ernie Young	6
4	Anthony Gose	15	Ryan Raburn	4
5	Max Venable	11	Jason Dubois	4
6	Juan Samuel	11	Skeeter Barnes	3
7	Ian Happ	10	Jim Dwyer	3
8	Gerardo Parra	8	Tomas Perez	3
9	4 tied with 7		Brady Anderson	3
10			2 tied with 2

 

 

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Appendix B: Top 10 players in lifetime cubic games played in each decade

Rank	1929 – 1938		1939 – 1948		1949 – 1958
1	Pinky Higgins	541	George McQuinn	366	Mickey Vernon	466
2	Bill Terry	418	Joe Kuhel	264	Hank Majeski	76
3	Pinky Whitney	173	Jim Tabor	258	Bob Skinner	55
4	Eric McNair	152	Elbie Fletcher	110	Dick Gernert	54
5	Ripper Collins	137	Tony Lupien	110	Eddie Waitkus	48
6	Jimmie Foxx	124	Jimmie Foxx	104	Vern Stephens	45
7	Ed Morgan	93	Irv Hall	67	Dale Long	44
8	Billy Rogell	81	Cookie Lavagetto	64	Jim Rivera	39
9	Cookie Lavagetto	81	Joe Gordon	45	Dee Fondy	36
10	Cecil Travis	77	Cecil Travis	41	Joe Gordon	29
	1959 – 1968		1969 – 1978		1979 – 1988
1	Brooks Robinson	393	Brooks Robinson	259	Bob Horner	235
2	Harmon Killebrew	269	Harmon Killebrew	170	Bill Madlock	108
3	Rico Petrocelli	150	Bob Horner	65	Johnny Bench	40
4	Pete Runnels	71	Jim Spencer	61	Bobby Grich	23
5	Jim Lefebvre	59	Bob Bailey	20	Randy Ready	21
6	Bubba Phillips	39	George Scott	17	Mike Heath	12
7	Ron Hansen	34	Ed Spiezio	15	Rance Mulliniks	11
8	Ed Charles	19	Ed Charles	15	Dave Meier	10
9	Ken Harrelson	14	Danny Cater	13	Roy Smalley	9
10	Walt Moryn	12	Jim Lefebvre	11	Hector Cruz	9
	1989 – 1998		1999 – 2008		2009 – 2018
1	Sean Berry	29	David Wright	245	Brandon Phillips	505
2	Billy Ashley	25	Brandon Phillips	195	David Murphy	120
3	B.J. Surhoff	13	Kevin Kouzmanoff	86	Kevin Kouzmanoff	81
4	Tony Fernandez	12	Adrian Beltre	79	David Wright	81
5	Juan Samuel	11	Ed Sprague	62	Juan Uribe	55
6	Max Venable	11	Stephen Drew	50	Gregor Blanco	53
7	F.P. Santangelo	10	Nomar Garciaparra	28	Peter Bourjos	49
8	Ron Gant	9	Kenny Lofton	24	Matthew M. Duffy	27
9	3 tied with 8		Jorge Cantu	21	Eduardo Escobar	25
10			Albert Pujols	15	Ian Desmond	16