By Blaidd Drwg

Part one of a two parter! In the immortal words of Mel Allen, “How about that?”

In the history of baseball, there have been 43 instances of a player hitting 50 or more home runs in a season. For reference, here is the breakdown of those seasons:

Number of HRs	Number of Times Accomplished
73	1
70	1
66	1
65	1
64	1
63	1
62	0
61	1
60	1
59	1
58	4
57	2
56	3
55	0
54	7
53	1
52	6
51	5
50	6

 

Here is the same list with one additional column – Number of Times Lead League. That column represents the number of times that the corresponding number of home runs was the highest total in the AL or NL in its respective season.

Number of HRs	Number of Times Accomplished	Number of Times Lead League
73	1	1
70	1	1
66	1	0
65	1	1
64	1	0
63	1	0
61	1	1
60	1	1
59	1	1
58	4	3*
57	2	1
56	3	3
54	7	6
53	1	1
52	6	5
51	5	5
50	6	3

 

The asterisk is an unusual case – in 1997, thanks to a mid-season trade, Mark McGwire was in the unusual position of leading MLB in home runs with 58 without leading one of the individual leagues – he would hit 34 for the A’s, which ranked 9^th in the AL in 1997, and 24 for the Cardinals, which ranked outside of the top 10. For the sake of this article we won’t consider that one.

This leaves 9 times that a player topped 50 HR’s without leading the league, which leads to my favorite list, the players who did not lead the league when hitting 50 HRs:

Year	Player	HR	Rank	Leader (HR)
1998	Sammy Sosa	66	2nd (NL)	Mark McGwire (70)
2001	Sammy Sosa	64	2nd (NL)	Barry Bonds (73)
1999	Sammy Sosa	63	2nd (NL)	Mark McGwire (65)
2001	Luis Gonzalez	57	3rd (NL)	Mark McGwire (70)
1961	Mickey Mantle	54	2nd (NL)	Roger Maris (61)
2002	Jim Thome	52	2nd (AL)	Alex Rodriguez (57)
1996	Brady Anderson	50	2nd (AL)	Mark McGwire (52)
1938	Jimmie Foxx	50	2nd (AL)	Hank Greenberg (58)
1998	Greg Vaughn	50	3rd (NL)	Mark McGwire (70)

 

I feel bad for Luis Gonzalez and Greg Vaughn. They both had the misfortune of hitting a ton of HRs in years where two other player hit a ton more home runs than they did. Of course, then you have Sammy Sosa. Sosa lead the league twice in home runs – in 2000 and 2002, with totals of 50 and 49 and managed to lead the NL in HRs exactly 0 times in years that he hit 60+ home runs. Talk about bad timing.

The player that intrigued me the most is Jimmie Foxx and his 1938 campaign. In that season, Foxx would reach 50 home runs for the second time, to go along with 139 runs, 197 hits, 175 RBI, 119 BB, a .349 BA, 1.166 OPS, 182 OPS+ and 7.6 WAR to win his 3^rd MVP award, missing out on the triple crown in only the home run category. It would be the second time that Foxx missed out in one category – he finished 2^nd in the AL to Dale Alexander in 1932 in BA by .003 points. You shouldn’t feel too bad for Foxx though, he did win the 1932 MVP award (posting an insane 10.5 WAR, a number that has only been reached 36 times in baseball history) and he did manage to secure the Triple Crown the following season as well as also winning an MVP.  The 1930’s were good for offense, what can I say, but Foxx is still arguably one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. If that isn’t enough, Foxx was also good enough to appear as a pitcher in 11 games in his career, including 9 in 1945, including 2 starts, when he was 37 years old. He posted a 1.59 ERA (albeit with not so stellar peripheral stats). It is also worth noting that when Foxx retired, he was #2 on the all-time career HR list, 170ish HR’s behind some guy named Ruth. For nearly 20 years, the 500 HR club was Foxx, Ruth and Mel Ott.

So why is this part 1 of a 2 parter? Well, it goes back to the guy who had a slightly higher BA in 1932 than Jimmie Foxx. Part 2 is going to answer the question I had when I was writing this piece – “Who the hell is Dale Alexander and why have I never heard of him?”

by Coltrane

100th post.  It could be about anything!   I was strongly considering yet another Howard Schultz rant, but we’ll save that for another day.

Boycott Starbucks!  Howard Schultz is a traitor to the community that made him filthy stinkin’ rich!  He’s a back-stabbing…backstabber!

There.  I got it out of my system.

Onto the subject of the post — Vern Stephens.

Stephens came up as a 20 year-old in 1941 with the St. Louis Browns.  He avoided service in the war due to bad knees, instead working at a shipyard when he wasn’t playing baseball.  In the winter of 1947 he was traded to the Red Sox.  By 1949 he was in his prime, as a 28 year-old playing shortstop and hitting the cover off of the ball.  The Red Sox that year went 96-58, finishing 2nd in the American League, one game behind the Yankees.  Here’s his age 28 season as compared to the age 28 seasons of some other well-known-and-fairly-recent shortstops:

Age 28 Year	Average	HR	RBI	OPS+
Vern Stephens	.290	39	159	138
Barry Larkin	.304	12	78	132
Alex Rodriguez	.286	36	106	131
Miguel Tejada	.308	34	131	128
Nomar Garciaparra	.310	24	120	127
Alan Trammel	.277	21	75	120
Derek Jeter	.297	18	75	111
Cal Ripken	.257	21	93	105

39 HR!  159 RBI!  (And yeah, RBI is a flawed stat, but 159 RBI is a huge total.)

In 1949 he totalled 8.2 WAR — a figure Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols would be happy with.  Stephens totalled 53.7 WAR for his career.  By comparison, Bill Buckner (the subject of the last Athlete Restrospective) totalled 24.6, and Buckner was a really good player who played seven more seasons than Stephens.  (Stephens’ knees quit on him.  His last good, healthy year was his age 29 season in 1950.)

Why am I so hooked on Vern Stephens?  I really have no idea.  He hit for average, he hit for power, and he did it while playing shortstop.  He played with Ted Williams and was a comparable hitter.  I probably learned about him in 1985 from reading the Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, so in my consciousness he predates A-Rod and Jeter and the rest.  I didn’t see a picture of him until maybe 15-20 years later, which added to the intrigue.  For a while he was one of the all-time greats, and nobody really remembers him any more. 

That’s kind of what this series of posts are about.

by Coltrane

This is the first in what I expect to be a series of posts, featuring former athletes that for one reason or another captured my attention and never really went away.

—

Bill Buckner is a player who always gets talked about when the Red Sox are in town. He’s well-known, but it occurred to me that I didn’t really know how valuable he was over the course of his career. I decided it would be fun to do a little digging…

Exhibit One–

Bill Buckner played four decades in the major leagues, from 1969 (one AB) up through his age 40 season in 1990. When he was young he played for the Dodgers, in mid-career the Cubs, and in the twilight of his career he played for the Red Sox (and the Royals and the Angels.)  He played 22 years in total, mixing some big seasons in with years that were less than great.

Buckner totalled 24.6 career WAR, good for 735th all-time among position players. As the chart illustrates, he would have had a great career, rather than a really good one — had his production just resembled a bell curve a little more than it did.

Exhibit Two– Hitters that rank just ahead of Buckner on the Career WAR list:

Mike Bordick

Irish Meusel
Sammy Strang
Johnny Kling
Charlie Hollocher
Gus Suhr
Joe Cunningham
Ed Charles
Jeff Conine
Bill Buckner

Bordick, Conine, and Buckner were all “good” players for a long time. Catcher Johnny Kling had a more sustained peak but shorter career. Kling played from 1900 to 1913, his good years coming with the Cubs.

Exhibit Three– The 10 most similar hitters to Buckner (using career totals) from Baseball-Reference.com:

1. Mickey Vernon (876)

2. Al Oliver (866)

3. Steve Garvey (855)

4. Mark Grace (853)

5. Willie Davis (850)

6. B.J. Surhoff (839)

7. Buddy Bell (838)

8. Vada Pinson (833)

9. Jose Cruz (828)

10. Julio Franco (826)

This one is fun. I had guessed Steve Garvey and Mark Grace would be comps — they shared many traits with Buckner: marginal speed, middling power, and no patience at the plate.  Buckner’s career highs were 18 HRs and 39 walks. He’d usually hit around .300, finishing his career with a .289/.329/.408 slash line, 174 career HR. Buckner could run when he was young, topping out at 32 stolen bases. As he got older his legs abandoned him.

Interestingly, Buckner and Garvey both had their fist cup of coffee with the Dodgers in 1969.  They remained teammates through the 1976 season.  Buckner was traded to the Cubs in the winter of 1977, along with Jeff Albert and Ivan De Jesus.  In return the Cubs sent back  Mike Garman and Rick Monday.

Exhibit Four– Hall of Fame Voting:

Buckner became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1996. In order to remain on the ballot a player must receive at least 5% of the vote. The results:

Finish	Name	Year on Ballot	Votes	Percent
22	Fred Lynn	1st	26	5.50%
23	Bobby Bonds	10th	24	5.10%
24	Rusty Staub	6th	24	5.10%
25	Keith Hernandez	1st	24	5.10%
26	Frank White	1st	18	3.80%
27	Dan Quisenberry	1st	18	3.80%
28	Bill Buckner	1st	10	2.10%
29	Jerry Reuss	1st	2	0.40%
30	John Tudor	1st	2	0.40%
31	Chet Lemon	1st	1	0.20%
32	Jeffrey Leonard	1st	0	0.00%
33	Johnny Ray	1st	0	0.00%
34	Claudell Washington	1st	0	0.00%
35	Bob Knepper	1st	0	0.00%

There’s a first baseman who was a contemporary of Buckner’s on the list — “I’m Keith Hernandez“. (Link is to the Youtube “JFK” Seinfeld episode.) It’s an interesting peer group.  Seattle Mariners fans will remember the revolving door in LF, starring such players as Jeffrey Leonard. 

Frank White really got the shaft in the voting that year.

Other Bill Buckner facts:

Buckner won the batting championship while playing for the Cubs in 1981. He led the league in doubles twice.

Buckner retired with 2715 hits. He had nearly as many career walks (450), as strikeouts (453.) These are both incredibly low totals for a 22-year career.

He was once traded for Mike Brumley and Dennis Eckersley.

He made one All-Star team.

In April 2008 Buckner threw out the first pitch in Fenway park.

I believe the picture above was taken at a sports memorabilia show — Buckner and Mookie Wilson were signing pictures together at the event.   Beats working I guess.