I've Got Til 5! - Didja Know?

The more I look at Baseball Reference the more cool stuff I find. That website is chock full of awesome data. If you haven't been there (which is quite bothersome as I suggested that site a while back in one of my other I've Got Til 5! articles), then I can't help but ask... what the hell, man? 

Anyway, recently I was looking at their page of season and career batting leaders and came across a handful of interesting things. Here are five of them...

1. In 2003 Hideki Matsui became the only man in the history of the Yankees' organization to have played 163 games in a season. You may be thinking that 163 includes postseason games, but it does not. The Yankees played game 163 during the regular season against the Baltimore Orioles on September 28th, which was due to the two teams playing to a tie ten days earlier in Baltimore.

2. You may know that Derek Jeter has played the most games in pinstripes (2,635 versus Mickey Mantle's 2,401). However, did you know that The Captain has the most plate appearances in Yankee history by 2,208 (12,115 versus Mantle's 9,907). For reference, Brett Gardner had just 20 more plate appearances than that in his previous six seasons.

3. Although Hideki Matsui may have played the most games in a single season in Yankee history, he doesn't even rank in the top 10 in most at bats in a single season. While Hideki had 623 at bats in 2003, in 2002 Alfonso Soriano set the Yankee record by having 696 of them. Matsui walked a heck of a lot more in 2003 (the biggest reason his at bat total was so much lower), but don't let that fool you into thinking all Alfonso did in 2003 was strike out a lot. Soriano actually had one of the most production seasons of his career, hitting 39 home runs, scoring 128 runs, driving in 102 RBI, stealing 41 bases, and had a batting line of .300/.332/.547.

4. It probably doesn't surprise anybody that in 2012 Curtis Granderson set the team record for the most strikeouts in a season with 195. But did you know that the Grandyman had already set the team high in a season with 169 Ks the year before. Meaning in just two seasons, Granderson totaled 264 strikeouts . How about a two for one here? Okay... At his current rate, Yangervis Solarte won't reach strikeout number 264 for 544 more games (he only has 17 in 35 games).

5. Rickey Henderson was a base-stealing machine. While the idea of Billy Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds stealing 70 bases this season has been talked about as very impressive, I'd like to point out that The Man Of Steal stole 70 or more bases in seven different seasons. Actually, Rickey had over 80 stolen bases twice, over 90 once, and stole more than a 100 three times. Henderson actually set the Yankees' record for stolen bases in a season three different times, having stole 80 in 1985, 87 in 1986, and 93 in 1988. What's crazy is that his total of 260 between those three seasons is more than the 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1995 Yankee teams... combined.

Have any other interesting tidbits you want to share? Maybe something from the pitching side of things? Make sure to share them in the comments below.

Enjoy the weekend, and Go Yanks!