One look at the career leaders in sacrifice bunts tells you that the strategy was used far more often back in the olden times than it is now. Last night while watching Tyler Pastornicky lay down a perfect bunt on the first try, I got to thinking about who had the most all-time. When I saw the top 50 filled up with names from the past, I wondered how many Greg Maddux had. Unlike today’s drag bunters, Maddux would always square around with his entire body facing the pitcher…the way we were taught in Little League. When reading about Maddux having the most sac bunts by a right-handed hitting pitcher, the same paragraph mentioned that teammate Tom Glavine had the most ever by a left-handed hitting pitcher. Not only that, but Glavine has more sacrifice bunts than ANY player in the past fifty years. Ozzie Smith retired just two behind Glavine.
In fact, very few modern day players appear on the list. Interesting that sluggers Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, and Lou Gehrig made the list (as did Wally Pipp, who had more). Juan Pierre is the active leader with 163, with Derek Jeter a distant second…74 sacrifices behind. Fun fact: Scrappy Jack Wilson ended his career ranked second on the active list. I suppose we need not worry about seeing Jason Heyward’s name on this list any time soon. Here’s a list of some of the notable names on the all-time sacrifice bunts list:
512 Eddie Collins (1st)
392 Jake Daubert (2nd)
383 Stuffy McInnis
366 Willie Keeler
309 Tris Speaker
300 Rabbit Maranville
291 Ty Cobb
285 Joe Tinker
272 Wally Pipp
254 Fielder Jones
242 Buck Weaver
231 Pie Traynor
226 George Sisler
221 Nap Lajoie & Honus Wagner
216 Tom Glavine & Rogers Hornsby…69th all-time
214 Ozzie Smith
208 Nellie Fox
199 Bert Campaneris
193 Phil Rizzuto
180 Greg Maddux & Possum Whitted…180th all time
169 Tim Foli
163 Juan Pierre…active leader
155 Mark Belanger
151 Larry Bowa & Marty Marion
148 Roberto Alomar
147 Brett Butler
142 Bob Boone
141 Ozzie Guillen & Charlie Gehringer
136 John Smoltz, Don Sutton, & Alfredo Griffin…216th all-time
131 Shoeless Joe Jackson
129 Phil Niekro
128 Rod Carew
123 Livian Hernandez & Luis Castillo
121 Felix Millan, Tom Seaver, & Bucky Dent
113 Babe Ruth, Gaylord Perry, & Royce Clayton
109 Mel Ott
106 Lou Gehrig & Jim Gantner
105 Roy Oswalt, Javier Vazquez, & Gravvy Cravath
104 Jackie Robinson, Jimmy Piersall, Robin Yount, & Jack Wilson
089 Derek Jeter: ranks second among active players
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