One of the best baseball sites on the web is Retrosheet (www.retrosheet.org). They have play by play accounts and box scores of every major league game from 1954 – 2007 (excluding 1955). The data they’ve collected has allowed them to add lots of features. One of the best is data on how a batter or pitcher performed against his counterparts. At the click of a mouse, you can see who your favorite player wore out and who he couldn’t touch.

The possibilities for fun with this are infinite. For example, I found out that one of my favorite players, Roberto Celmente hit the most home runs (six each) against Sandy Koufax and Fergie Jenkins, two Hall of Fame pitchers.

Here’s how you get there: Go to www.retrosheet.org  Click on Players on the menu on the left hand side of the screen. Choose the part of the alphabet the player’s last name includes. Once the player’s statistics appear, click on the “Pitcher Matchups” hyperlink. Once there, you can sort by the opposing pitcher’s name or by OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) your favorite batter achieved against each pitcher. It’s quite cool!

Below, you can read who the 1969 Senators loved to face and who struck fear into their hearts when they took the mound or entered the batter’s box. You’ll see some familiar names here if you’re old enough to have followed baseball in the 1960s. Some may surprise you. Look for Denny McLain and Frank Robinson. First the batters:

Bernie Allen:

Favorite: Denny McLain, 12-27, .444 avg., 2 HR’s, 5 walks, 2 strikeouts

Feared: Steve Hamilton, 0-13, .000 avg., 7 strikeouts

Hank Allen:

Favorite: George Brunet, 8-22, .364 avg., 1 HR

Feared: Joe Sparma, 1-10, .100 avg., 5 strikeouts

Brant Alyea:

Favorite: Wilbur Wood, 7-15, .467 avg., 3 HR’s

Feared: Vida Blue, 0-13, .000 avg., 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

Ed Brinkman:

Favorite: Dick Donovan, 13-19, .684 avg., 0 HR’s

Feared: Dean Chance, 5-50, .100 avg., 0 HR’s, 12 strikeouts

Paul Casanova:

Favorite: Juan Pizarro, 5-10, .500 avg., 1 HR, 3 walks

Feared: Tom Phoebus, 0-17, .000 avg., 0 HR’s, 3 strikeouts

Tim Cullen:

Favorite: Bill Lee, 7-13, .538 avg., 0 HR’s

Feared: Joe Coleman, 2-18, .111 avg., 0 HR’s, 4 strikeouts

Toby Harrah:

Favorite: John Montague, 6-13, .462 avg., 2 HR’s, 6 walks

Feared: Chuck Rainey, 0-13, .000 avg., 2 strikeouts

 Note: Harrah appeared in eight games for the 1969 Senators in September as a pinch-runner.

Frank Howard:

Favorite: Larry Sherry, 5-6, .833 avg., 4 HR’s, 1 walk

Feared: Jim Maloney, 4-34, .118 avg., 0 HR’s, 17 strikeouts

Most Senators fans believe Howard wore out Cleveland Indians’ flame thrower Sam McDowell. That’s correct.  Howard went 25-68 (.368 avg.) with 5 home runs and 34 walks (9 intentional) against McDowell.

Here’s a few other pitchers Hondo crushed (Walks include intentional BB’s):

Clyde Wright: 18-40, .450, 6 HR’s, 18 walks

Robin Roberts, 9-17, .529, 3 HR’s, 3 walks

Whitey Ford, 6-12, .500, 2 HR’s, 3 walks

Dave McNally, 37-110, .336, 13 HR’s, 15 walks

Mike Epstein:

Favorite: Joe Niekro, 7-10, .700 avg., 4 HR’s, 4 walks

Feared: Mike Cuellar, 4-39, .103 avg, 0 HR, 2 walks, 12 strikeouts

Jim French:

Favorite: Jim Palmer, 6-18, .333 avg, 4 walks, 0 HR’s

Feared: Denny McLain, 1-14, .077 avg, 1 walk, 0 HR’s

Lee Maye:

Favorite: Gary Bell, 9-14, .643 avg., 0 HR’s, 1 walk

Feared: Dick Ellsworth, 1-22, .045 avg., 0 HR’s, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts

Ken McMullen:

Favorite: Paul Linblad, 13-25, .520 avg., 3 HR’s, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

Feared: Bruce Howard, 2-28, .071 avg., 0 HR’s, 9 strikeouts

Ed Stroud:

Favorite: Joe Horlen, 7-12, .583 avg., 1 HR, 2 walks

Feared: Rickey Clark, 0-12, .000 avg., 0 HR’s, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts

Del Unser:

Favorite: Lynn McGlothen, 20-50, .400 avg., 4 HR’s, 9 walks, 1 strikeout

Feared: Denny McLain, 1-26, .038 avg., 0 HR’s, 3 strikeouts

Here’s the pitchers:

Dave Baldwin:

Favorite: Frank Robinson, 2-13, .154 avg., 0 HR

Feared: Davey Johnson, 6-10, .600 avg., 2 HRs

Dick Bosman:

Favorite: Don Wert, 3-19, .158 avg., 0 HR’s, 3 strikeouts

Feared: Mickey Mantle, 8-13, .615 avg., 2 HR’s, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

Joe Coleman:

Favorite: Lenny Randle, 5-35, .143 avg., 0 HR’s, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts

Feared: Bobby Murcer, 29-67, .433 avg., 2 HR’s, 12 walks

Casey Cox:

Favorite: Tony Horton, 0-16, .000 avg., 3 strikeouts

Feared: Felipe Alou, 7-14, .500 avg., 2 HR’s, 1 walk

Jim Hannan:

Favorite: Bobby Knoop, 2-21, .095 avg., 0 HR’s, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

Feared: Duke Sims, 8-15, .533 avg., 4 HR’s, 5 walks, 1 strikeout

Dennis Higgins:

Favorite: Frank Robinson, 0-10, .000 avg., 0 HR’s, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Feared: Joe Foy, 6-13, .462 avg., 1 HR, 5 walks

Bob Humphreys:                                                          

Favorite: Tom Tresh, 0-13, .000 avg., 0 HR’s, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts                  

Feared: Jim Northrup, 7-14, .500, 1 HR          

Darold Knowles:

Favorite: Willie Horton, 1-15, .067 avg., 0 HR’s, 7 strikeouts

Feared: Thurman Munson, 8-18, .444 avg., 2 HR’s, 3 walks

Barry Moore:

Favorite: Chico Salmon, 2-19, .105 avg., 0 HR’s, 3 strikeouts

Feared: Reggie Smith, 8-19, .421 avg, 3 HR’s

Jim Shellenback:

Favorite: Mickey Stanley, 0-11, .000 avg, 0 HR’s

Feared: Rico Petrocelli, 10-14, .714 avg., 2 HR’s, 4 walks