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September 2, 2006
The Greatest Hitter Ever?
This statistical phenomenon has happened only 22 times since 1910. Several members of this club come as no surpise: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mel Ott, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, and Johnny Mize -- each one a Hall of Famer, though Johnny Mize may be the least well known.
But the other two members were a surprise: Barry Bonds and Yogi Berra (though also a Hall of Famer).
Of this elite group, DiMaggio and, again in a real surprise, Berra are by far the most impressive because, between them, they did it 12 times -- DiMaggio 7 and Berra 5. Williams did it 3 times. Gehrig and Mize twice each. And Musial, Ott, and Bonds once. Also, DiMaggio and Berra won MVP awards in two of their respective seasons. Musial and Bonds were also MVPs during the years they did it ('48 and '04). Perhaps the greatest single season of hitting belongs to Gehrig, who in 1934 hit .363 with 49 HRs and only 31 Ks -- though he lost out to Mickey Cochrane in the MVP voting.
But overall, DiMaggio may be the greatest hitter ever. Because DiMaggio hit more HRs than Ks 5 straight seasons from '37-'41, averaging 32 HRs, only 24 Ks, and a .352 batting average. During the '41 season -- the year of his still unbroken 56-game hitting streak -- he finished the season with 30 HR, a .356 average, and a jaw-dropping 13 Ks. Then, after spending WWII in the service, DiMaggio returned to the Yankees in 1946 and delivered 25 HRs, 24 Ks, and a .290 average. In 1948, he did it again with 39 HRs, 30 Ks, and a .320 average. Of course, Ted Williams' 1941 season was equally remarkable, as he hit .406 -- the last player to break .400 (which is the most exclusive club) -- with 37 HRs and only 27 Ks. He did it again in 1950 (28 HRs, 21 Ks, .317) and 1955 (28 HRs, 24 Ks, .356).
A quick word about Bonds. He became the 8th player in this club in 2004 at the suspicious age of 39. It had been 48 long years since Berra was the last player to reach this milestone, when he hit 30 HRs, 29 Ks, a .298 average. In 2004, Bonds hit 45 HRs with 37 Ks and a .362 average. These are tremendous numbers to be sure. But there remains the issue of steroids for Bonds. And, while there has been innuendo about Pujols and steroids, it remains baseless.
UPDATE: Here are three more players. The first was the biggest surprise: Ted "Big Klu" Kluszewski, who did it four straight years ('53-'56). Big Klu was famous for wearing no sweatshirt under his uniform to show off his sizeable arms. Anyway, in that four-year stretch, he hit: 40 HRs, 34 Ks, .316; 49 HRs, 35 Ks, .326; 47 HRs, 40 Ks, .314; and 35 HRs, 31 Ks, .302. The second was Bill Dickey, the great Yankee catcher who, in '37 and '38 hit: 29 HRs, 22 Ks, .332, 27 HRs, 22 Ks, .313. The third is Al Simmons of the old Philadelphia Athletics who, in 1930, hit more 36 HRs, 34 Ks, .381. Simmons and Dickey, but not Kluszewski, are Hall of Famers.
Posted by shertaugh at September 2, 2006 10:47 AM
Comments
I must say I didn't care for that slate article much. It's awful long on innuendo. For all I know the author stole it all from someone else, or that a research assistent wrote it and he just put his name on it. I mean, that's happend a lot, too, and we've not checked everything he's written, so we'll never know, and now I'm just too jaded to trust writers anymore, my boyish illusions having all been stolen and the like, so I'm just going to assume he plagerized until it's proven otherwise.
Posted by: Matt at September 2, 2006 10:27 PM
okay. so no evidence implicating pujols for bad stuff has been adduced. as i read the slate article and the implication from your phrase, albert may have done steroids or hgh because other baseball players have, baseball has turned a blind eye, and albert is really freakin' good. that's hardly enough to say that albert "may" be brought in to the mess. in the absence of actual evidence, i'll continue to enjoy the player for what he is: an incredibly disciplined student of the game with exceptional visual talents (see www.wustl.edu) and the best pair of hands in baseball. just because baseball is messed up (as evidence shows), don't implicate albert without evidence.
Posted by: Anon at September 2, 2006 10:57 PM
More homers that strike outs is a pretty snazzy stat, but any discussion of greatest hitters ever needs to include Willie Mays. He's got a lifetime average over .300, and he's 4th on the list of lifetime homeruns. He could hit for power and he could hit for average. What more could you want in a hitter?
Posted by: Emily at September 3, 2006 10:12 AM
PS--Mays is also 9th on the list for career RBIs. Not only did he hit for power and average, but he could hit in the clutch, too.
Posted by: Emily at September 4, 2006 8:59 AM
Homers-to-strikeout ratio is kind of a freak show stat. While it's interesting that DiMaggio had such a favorable ratio, that doesn't justify annointing him "the greatest hitter ever." There is much more to hitting than homering more than you strike out. With the understanding that Barry Bonds' historical standing is indeterminate at this point, the greatest hitter ever is almost certainly Williams or Ruth.
Posted by: Mark at September 5, 2006 3:02 AM
HR/K ratio has to do with eye, pitch selection and patience at the plate. Bonds has the best knowledge of the strike zone in baseball today. You almost never see an umpire call a strike on a pitch he takes. Pujols is not far behind. They also have very compact smooth swings, not the wild swings of many of today's sluggers.
Posted by: Jim Caserta at September 8, 2006 8:18 AM