Ruane: On defensive juggling
From SABR member Tom Ruane at Retrosheet.org on May 8, 2012:
Recently, Rob Neyer pointed out a game in which Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon made six defensive moves at one time (including five players changing positions) and wondered if this constituted a historical amount of maneuvering.
Well, not really. There have been several cases since the 1948 where a team replaced or repositioned it’s entire team prior to an inning or play. Here they are, along with the number of players who moved from one position to another (rather than entered the game at that point):
Team Date Inn Moved CHI A 1959- 9-27 6 0 CLE A 1971- 6-20(2) 8 4 PHI N 1977- 9-18 6 2 CHI A 1983- 9-15 7 0 NY A 1993- 9-15 8 2 NY N 1997- 9- 8 8 1 BOS A 2002- 9-22 9 2 ANA A 2004- 9-11 9 0 NY A 2010- 9-23 8 2 NY A 2011- 9-24 9 2Not too surprisingly, all but one of these occurred during September. And that game was a contest that was suspended in June and resumed (with all those defensive changes) near the end of September.
Read the full article here: http://www.retrosheet.org/Research/RuaneT/retro_fun2.htm#A120508
Originally published: May 8, 2012. Last Updated: May 8, 2012.