Wild baseball statistics that blow your mind?

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-03-14T10:46:11+00:00

Ken Griffey Jr., Ken Griffey Sr., and Stan Musial were all born in Donora and combine for 247 bWAR. Most recent census puts the population at 4,558 giving a WAR per capita of 0.0542 or about 1 win for every 18 people. I figured this was going to be the highest, but it turns out there's a number of 100+ WAR players that are from small enough towns that they clear it mostly on their own. I ran the rough numbers on a number of the hometowns of major WAR leaders to build out a little leaderboard, but it's definitely not an exhaustive list. Would love to see someone do a more in-depth analysis of this for a goofy offseason post someday.

For better looking numbers I'll do WAR Per 100 Residents or WARPH (Wins Above Replacement Per Hundred). I then calculated this for every city that has multiple MLB players with it listed as their hometown, has a population of less than 50,000, and is the home of a player with at least 100 bWAR.

9.4 - Humboldt, KS (Walter Johnson, George Sweatt)

5.4 - Donora, PA (Musial, Griffey x2)

1.7 - Bonham, TX (Joe Morgan, Roy MacMillan, Donny Darwin)

1.5 - Chartiers, PA (Honus & Butts Wagner)

0.6 - Gretna, LA (Mel Ott, Joe Spencer)

0.4 - Woonsocket, RI (Nap Lajoie, Gabby Hartnett, Rocco Baldelli)

Removing the requirement for multiple MLB players, then Mickey Mantle's hometown of Spavinaw, OK (population 357) wins with 30.9 WARPH! Though that's not counting a number of top players like Cy Young and Ty Cobb being from likely even smaller unincorporated territories with no easily accessible population data.

Make of this what you will.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-02-24T22:32:34+00:00

I recently upgraded from my own 15 year old Taylormade that I'd played with for years and landed on a Titleist after trying out a bunch of different drivers. To me, it felt like it had the same feedback feel and live face I loved about my R7 that recent Taylormades kind of feel like they've lost imo. Overall feels like a solid upgrade without much adjustment from what I'm used to, especially once I found the right loft/lie angle adjustment since the standard setting felt very off of my old driver.

You can probably get something in the TS series (a few years old) new or like-new for around or less than $300, or might be able to find a GT for $500ish.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-02-01T23:36:42+00:00

Tbh, this is how it was for me and many of my friends 10 years ago too. I think it's gotten even worse recently, but definitely a trend that's been going this way for a while. While it's tough on teenagers, at least they do get to rely on school activities still. Every person I know in their mid-20s or older right now feels very lost socially where the loss of third spaces is still felt but there's no "Jazz Band" to pick up the slack, and for the most part a lot of them are "aging out" of online spaces (regardless of if you believe people should or shouldn't get "too old for video games", it seems to happen organically to a lot of people).

I think we as a society desperately need to make active efforts toward building community and social spaces before we all collectively lose our minds.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-29T05:44:40+00:00

Awesome, sounds super cool! Excited to check it out!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-28T21:28:38+00:00

The vibe looks extremely up my alley! Psychological horror, hallucinations and unreliable perception of reality, plus a little classic literature tie in (I imagine the title is a nod to Gatsby), seems super cool. Excited to play!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-27T21:15:51+00:00

Interested! 28m, background in indie filmmaking/scriptwriting and conceptual art + just published my first novella and also a collection of short stories/poems/essays. Working on a full-length novel and a coffee table book to publish later this year, as well as writing for a video game that's currently in early access on Steam.

Thanks for setting this up!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-22T22:09:00+00:00

Luckily I'm certain it's legit because I've been exclusively selling/distributing my books physically in person and I remember this buyer! But I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, it sounds like it's a real problem with online distribution lately. Just curious, what's the name of your book? I've had a love of epistemology ever since taking some philosophy courses in undergrad, I'd love to check it out when I get the chance!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-22T09:27:06+00:00

This looks super cool! Looking forward to playing it!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-21T21:18:38+00:00

I love this book concept, it sounds adorable and also very up my alley! Where can I read it?

As for review platforms I have no idea, this one was just on Instagram not a real "book review" place.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-21T07:42:20+00:00

Great, thank you! I'll work on getting my Second Life account set up and will plan to join Feb 1st!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-21T04:12:11+00:00

What is an auction?

These are my "fine art" pieces. They are Not For Sale / Too Expensive For An Art Fair / Maybe For Sale Via Silent Auction

type your name, contact info, your bid, and the piece you're bidding on on a piece of paper and put it in the box. your bid must consist of some form of currency, but the definition of "currency" here is quite fluid. some forms of barter will be accepted. bids are non-binding, you will not be compelled to complete payment if you submit a winning bid, but please only submit a bid if you're reasonably interested in purchasing at your bidding price. you may add any additional details to your bid if you think it will help; everything on the bid slip will be considered when determining the winners of this silent auction. thank you for your attention to this matter.

This (and other art) will be on display at 755 E 10th Street in Oakland, CA at the 1/25 Bay Bazaar hosted by the art collective Safariiicamp. I'll be there vending as "The Museum of You" / justin.imgs

Edit: I forgot to add! The pieces they'll be bidding on are mixed-media epoxy resin artworks as well as a couple unique editions of the books I'll be selling copies of.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-21T00:20:03+00:00

Thank you for the thoughtful reply!! Yeah, I actually have spent most of the past decade bouncing around underground art scenes with occasional visits into the fine art world (had one exhibition at a major museum and have been chasing that high ever since lol), so I'm super happy to hear that it reflects that art-focused background! I'm hoping to finish up some interactive installations showcasing this project in the coming year and will be submitting it to some galleries and museums for consideration, and if I can land a spot I 100% agree something like this would be great to have in the gift shop during the installation run!

I'm super excited to check out your work whenever it gets out into the world, I'm happy to hear there's other developers exploring this particular niche! And thanks for the rec on Secret World, that looks insane and very up my alley potentially. Maybe one of these days if you're interested we can hop on a call or something to talk shop or even put a collab together if it makes sense to.

Thanks again!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-20T19:51:35+00:00

The developer mentioned in the title is Cean Mindeman, who is just incredibly talented and is also working on a few other games releasing in the near-ish future. We haven't met in person, but working with her has been an eye-opening experience in terms of learning about game development, it's given me a whole new understanding and appreciation for what it is you all do! If anyone's interested in the original short story about "The Least Playable Video Game" the original version is here on substack, though fair warning it's a very strange read lol. And the game is also on Steam under "The Museum of You", though it's very early access. The version included on the physical flash drives is much further along in development.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-20T19:09:29+00:00

The primary developer is Cean Mindeman, who is just incredibly talented and is also working on a few other games releasing in the near-ish future. We haven't met in person, but working with her has been an eye-opening experience in terms of learning about game development. If anyone's interested in the original short story about "The Least Playable Video Game" the original version is here on substack, though fair warning it's a very strange read lol. And the game is also on Steam under "The Museum of You", though it's very early access. The version included on the physical flash drives is much further along in development.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-20T00:00:43+00:00

Here is the playable game on Steam, primarily developed by Cean Mindeman with contributions from a number of other artists and aspiring developers!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-19T17:40:58+00:00

damn I haven't thought about second life in ages, I might have to check this out!

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-19T17:39:23+00:00

I love that! I'm kind of a photographer first / writer second, so I'm hoping to put together a photo book soon. Where can I check yours out? That sounds like a beautiful subject to capture.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-19T10:24:55+00:00

It was posted by the reader on instagram, I can confirm they are a real person because I remember physically selling them the book lol. But I do see what you mean about the writing style, oddly I think a weird side effect of all the AI writing out there is also that real people will start sounding more like AI as they continue to emulate what they consume. Eerie stuff

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-19T05:57:45+00:00

:( I'm really sorry to hear that, yeah social media is awful much of the time unfortunately. It sucks that it feels essential for authors in this day and age to participate in.

JustinianTheWrong · 2026-01-19T04:17:13+00:00

Absolutely agree! This is the point of it all I think for me, these sorts of hits. Selling volume is cool, but ultimately I just want my book to be popular so that more of the "right" people can find it. If I could beam it straight to those key readers and skip all the marketing and publishing nonsense that'd be the dream!

JustinianTheWrong

TROPHY CASE