As many of you know, millions of people have analyzed thousands of years of baseball statistics and come to the conclusion that clutch hitting does not exist.
Well, here's another
one of those studies . Except this time the conclusion was different: that clutch hitters almost certainly DO exist.
But what I find most interesting is the following:
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First the clutch performers: Ozzie Smith, Dave Collins, Lloyd Moseby, Tony Gwynn, Ruppert Jones, Rafael Ramirez, Alfredo Griffin, Jorge Orta, Rickey Henderson, and
Bill Buckner. Now the chokers: Dave Winfield, Rod Carew, Lance Parrish, Jack Clark, Reggie Jackson, Roy Smalley, Tom Herr, Fred Lynn, Carl Yastrzemski, and Julio Franco. (Note that all of these players are good because of selection effects; one has to be a regular for about 7 seasons to pick up 1000 clutch plate appearances.)
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That's right, from 1970-1992 Bill Buckner was one of the 10 best clutch hitters. Too bad his clutch fielding was not so hot.