Blackout Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 I've decided to figure out who hit the most homers above the league average. I did this only for 1901 and since, I figured with league leaders hitting 5-6 hrs/year and the league hitting one HR every 320 ABs one to two HRs can really skew the average. I'm sure you guys already know how to do this, since its basic mathmatics, but I'll explain how this is done for those of you who dropped out of high school My methodology: Find league average AB/HRs for every year after 1900= LeagueHRAvg Find AB/HRs for every player (1+ HRs, 300+ ABs) for every year = PlayerHRAvg (PlayerHRAvg)/(LeagueHRAvg)=HRs above average (lower is obviously better). For an example we'll use Ruth's 1920 season. Ruth had 1 HR every 8.48 ABs, the League as a whole hit one every 133.61 ABs. 8.48/133.61=.063. Make sense? Well here we go: Single Season: 1920 Ruth .063 1919 Ruth .089 1927 Ruth .098 1918 Ruth .100 1921 Ruth .100 1926 Ruth .108 1915 Gavvy Cravath .113 1924 Ruth .121 1906 Tim Jordan .123 1928 Ruth .128 For career I took the average "HRs above average" for all qualifying seasons (300+ ABs, 1+ HRs). A player had to have at least 9 qualifying seasons. the greatest home run hitter of all time is: 1. Babe Ruth (of course) .141 2. Lou Gehrig .249 3. Cy Williams .250 4. Jimmy Foxx .261 5. Hank Greenberg .276 6. Mel Ott .276 7. Hack Wilson .300 8. Rogers Hornsby .303 9. Ken Williams .304 10. Mark McGwire .308 11. Ted Williams .313 12. Ralph Kiner .327 13. Rudy York .335 14. Dave Kingman .341 15. Fred Luderus (and his 84 career HRs) .348 16. Harmon Killebrew .350 17. Wally Berger .352 18. Johnny Mize .354 19. Joe DiMaggio .361 20. Dolph Camilli .372 21. Mike Schmidt .373 22. Hal Trosky .380 23. Gorman Thomas .385 24. Willie McCovey .387 25. Darryl Strawberry .388 26. Bob Johnson .391 27. Joe Gordon .394 28. Willie Stargell .394 29. Mickey Mantle .402 30. Barry Bonds .404 31. Frank Baker .413 32. Jeff Heath .416 33. Reggie Jackson .419 Therefore proving my hypothesis: Gorman Thomas was a better home run hitter than Barry Bonds and Mickey Mantle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout Posted July 14, 2005 Author Share Posted July 14, 2005 I've decided to figure out who hit the most homers above the league average. I did this only for 1901 and since, I figured with league leaders hitting 5-6 hrs/year and the league hitting one HR every 320 ABs one to two HRs can really skew the average. I'm sure you guys already know how to do this, since its basic mathmatics, but I'll explain how this is done for those of you who dropped out of high school My methodology: Find league average AB/HRs for every year after 1900= LeagueHRAvg Find AB/HRs for every player (1+ HRs, 300+ ABs) for every year = PlayerHRAvg (PlayerHRAvg)/(LeagueHRAvg)=HRs above average (lower is obviously better). For an example we'll use Ruth's 1920 season. Ruth had 1 HR every 8.48 ABs, the League as a whole hit one every 133.61 ABs. 8.48/133.61=.063. Make sense? Well here we go: Single Season: 1920 Ruth .063 1919 Ruth .089 1927 Ruth .098 1918 Ruth .100 1921 Ruth .100 1926 Ruth .108 1915 Gavvy Cravath .113 1924 Ruth .121 1906 Tim Jordan .123 1928 Ruth .128 For career I took the average "HRs above average" for all qualifying seasons (300+ ABs, 1+ HRs). A player had to have at least 9 qualifying seasons. the greatest home run hitter of all time is: 1. Babe Ruth (of course) .141 2. Lou Gehrig .249 3. Cy Williams .250 4. Jimmy Foxx .261 5. Hank Greenberg .276 6. Mel Ott .276 7. Hack Wilson .300 8. Rogers Hornsby .303 9. Ken Williams .304 10. Mark McGwire .308 11. Ted Williams .313 12. Ralph Kiner .327 13. Rudy York .335 14. Dave Kingman .341 15. Fred Luderus (and his 84 career HRs) .348 16. Harmon Killebrew .350 17. Wally Berger .352 18. Johnny Mize .354 19. Joe DiMaggio .361 20. Dolph Camilli .372 21. Mike Schmidt .373 22. Hal Trosky .380 23. Gorman Thomas .385 24. Willie McCovey .387 25. Darryl Strawberry .388 26. Bob Johnson .391 27. Joe Gordon .394 28. Willie Stargell .394 29. Mickey Mantle .402 30. Barry Bonds .404 31. Frank Baker .413 32. Jeff Heath .416 33. Reggie Jackson .419 Therefore proving my hypothesis: Gorman Thomas was a better home run hitter than Barry Bonds and Mickey Mantle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 But does a better "home run hitter" necessarily mean a better offensive player for his team?What about all the times Bonds, Dimaggio or Mantle wer walked or pitched around? You could figure in intentional walks, but what about times when they gave him nothing with an open base, or just decided to go to the #5 hitter. The name "Dave Kingman" practically gives up the ghost. Other than hitting homeruns, he was practically useless.Mantle also killed his numebrs by playing after 1965, when he was a waste. mays same thing his last 3 years. Aaron doesn't make your list at all which also boggles the mind. Even with all the extra ABs, he did it through a dead ball era, and I'm not sure how you'd account for that. . Interesting anyway. Nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugg Posted July 14, 2005 Share Posted July 14, 2005 But does a better "home run hitter" necessarily mean a better offensive player for his team?What about all the times Bonds, Dimaggio or Mantle wer walked or pitched around? You could figure in intentional walks, but what about times when they gave him nothing with an open base, or just decided to go to the #5 hitter. The name "Dave Kingman" practically gives up the ghost. Other than hitting homeruns, he was practically useless.Mantle also killed his numebrs by playing after 1965, when he was a waste. mays same thing his last 3 years. Aaron doesn't make your list at all which also boggles the mind. Even with all the extra ABs, he did it through a dead ball era, and I'm not sure how you'd account for that. . Interesting anyway. Nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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