I use numeric indicators when writing a lineup: 1 for pitcher, 2 for catcher, 3 for firstbaseman, etc. Looking at a lineup the other day I wondered how often there had been a perfect “countdown” lineup in MLB, that is, rightfielder (9) leading off, followed by centerfielder (8), all the way down to pitcher (1) batting ninth.
It gave me an opportunity to work with the Retrosheet game logs, as oppposed to the event files, which I’ve used before. I was a bit disappointed to find that the lineup data in the game logs is pretty much limited to the years for which there are event files, basically 1954-2007. No biggie.
Well, I found not one single instance of a 987654321 lineup! I found two examples of 987653421, but that was about the closest. Strange that it’s never happened in the last 50-odd years.
The most common lineup in the period is 847395261, which looks about right.