How About That: Hitters
I’m busy as hell today running all over the place making sure everything for the National Fantasy Baseball Championship is in place for the event to officially begin late tonight (all the players in the database on the correct teams, etc.). Still, I didn’t want to leave you hanging without an update, so here is a quick listing of a few interesting facts that might pique your attention.
* If we remove all 135 hits that Barry Bonds produced in 2004, give him an 0-for-135, his OBP for that season still would have been .391 – a mark that would have been good enough for 12th in the NL in 2009 (Bonds produced a .609 OBP in ’04, the best mark in history).
* There are only three men who have ever had a season of 20 homers and 60 steals. They are Eric Davis in 1986 (27 HR, 80 SB), Joe Morgan in 1973 (26 HR, 67 SB) and 1976 (27 HR, 60 SB) and Rickey Henderson in 1985 (24 HR, 72 SB) 1986 (28 HR, 87 SB) and 1990 (28 HR, 65 SB).
* In 1982 Rickey Henderson set a major league record with 130 SB. He also set the ML record with 42 caught stealing that year as well.
* Jim Rice could really hit, but the hard shots he hit, combined with his cement feet, led to a ton of double plays in his career. Rice is the all-time single season leader with 36 GIDP in 1984. He is also second on the list with 35 in 1985.
* The all-time record for hit-by-pitch in a single season is 51, held by Hughie Jennings in 1896 (the “modern” record is held by Ron Hunt with 50 in 1971). Jennings owns three of the top-4 seasons ever, and is #1 all-time with 287 HBP in his career, two more than Craig Biggio.
* Ty Cobb had seven months with 50+ hits, with a high of 67 twice (July 1912, July 1922).
* Ichiro hit .372 in 2004 on his way to a single season record 262 hits. Even more amazing was the fact that he hit .429 after the All-Star break (143 for 333).
* Nap Lajoie is officially credited with the highest single season batting average of the modern era at .426 in 1901. However the all-time leader is actually Hugh Duffy who hit .440 in 1894.
* Poor Randy Tate. In 1975 he went the entire season without a hit, 41 at-bats in total (with 22 Ks). He never played again making him the all-time leader for most career ABs without ever earning a hit.
* In 1894 the Baltimore Orioles team hit .343…and finished 2nd to the Philadelphia A’s who hit .349 (the league hit .309).
* Ever heard of Bill Bergen? From 1901-1911 he was a major league catcher who couldn’t hit at all. Of all hitters who have ever had at least 3,000 plate appearances, Bergen’s .170 batting average is the worst. How the hell did he earn 3,028 ABs with that average? He must have been one hell of a game manager.
* Ken Boyer hit 24 homers in each of four straight seasons (1961-64). If you think that is impressive, give Adam Dunn’s line a look as he hit 40 homers for 4-straight years (2005-08). In 204 he hit 46, and in 2009 he hit 38, so for that six year span of 2004-2009 Dunn averaged 41 homers a year.
By Ray Flowers
