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Returning to the franchise list, we now review the players to play first base. When the previous decade ended, there had been 261 players to appear on defense at the first base bag. That has increased to 279 over the past six seasons. But unlike the catching position, only one player has cracked the Top 25, Carlos Santana. He is now tied for 19th in team history with Ryan Garko.
If Santana were to stay at first, which seems a bit doubtful with the signing of Mike Napoli, he could have jumped into the Top 15 this year. If Santana is not dealt this year or next (and I expect that affordable $12M team option to be picked up), he just needs 90 games this year or next to reach the Top 15. And he would just need 114 games to reach the Top 10.
Other new players to the total list include Brandon Moss, Brent Lillibridge, Casey Kotchman, Chris Johnson, Jack Hannahan, Jerry Sands, Jesus Aguilar, Jordan Brown, Jose Lopez, Lonnie Chisenhall, Mark Reynolds, Nick Swisher, Russ Canzler, Russell Branyan, Ryan Raburn, Shelley Duncan and Yan Gomes.
Player |
Years |
Games Played |
|
1 |
Hal Trosky |
1933-1941 |
1111 |
2 |
George Stovall |
1904-1911 |
802 |
3 |
Mike Hargrove |
1979-1985 |
769 |
4 |
Jim Thome |
1997-2002 |
755 |
5 |
Doc Johnston |
1912-14, 1918-21 |
698 |
6 |
George Burns |
1920-21, 1924-28 |
681 |
7 |
Fred Whitfield |
1963-1967 |
491 |
7 |
Tony Horton |
1967-1970 |
491 |
9 |
Ben Broussard |
2002-2006 |
469 |
10 |
Ed Morgan |
1928, 1930-1933 |
456 |
11 |
Vic Power |
1958-1961 |
450 |
12 |
Andre Thornton |
1977-79, 1981-84 |
449 |
13 |
Paul Sorrento |
1992-1995 |
442 |
14 |
Mickey Rocco |
1943-1946 |
431 |
15 |
Luke Easter |
1950-1953 |
427 |
16 |
Vic Wertz |
1954-1958 |
426 |
17 |
Chris Chambliss |
1971-1974 |
398 |
18 |
Pat Tabler |
1984-1988 |
358 |
19 |
Carlos Santana |
2011-2015 |
342 |
19 |
Ryan Garko |
2006-2009 |
342 |
21 |
Les Fleming |
1941-42, 1945-47 |
320 |
22 |
Charlie Hickman |
1902-1904, 1908 |
283 |
23 |
Mickey Vernon |
1949-1950, 1958 |
274 |
24 |
Lew Fonseca |
1927-1931 |
270 |
25 |
Bill Glynn |
1952-1954 |
263 |
With Santana moving up the list, Tito Francona (Terry's dad) is the one who got bumped off the list. Besides Francona, only Eddie Robinson, Matt LaPorta and Boog Powell have cracked 200 games at first base, just 16% of the total. Just 22 have made it past 100, leaving 82% of the players wither fewer than 100. And 51 players have just a single game at first, including Lillibridge, Raburn and Gomes.
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