Quote:
Originally Posted by 1963Topps Set
He came within .001 point of winning the triple crown of hitting in 1953.
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Huh, I just learned something new. Thanks, Tom.
I also learned that Mickey Vernon won two batting titles. And talk about a weird career. After hitting .271 and .268 in 1942 and 1943, he explodes to hit .353 in 1946, after a two year military commitment.
Then, he falls back to Earth, hitting ..265, .242, .291, .281, .293, .253. A couple decent seasons in there. Then, whamo, he hits .337, winning another batting title. Then hits .290, .301, .310 before getting older, and slowing down.
It's very weird seeing a guy have the two great seasons like he had, mixed in with a bunch of average to below average ones.
He had 2,495 hits, which completely caught me off guard. Pretty good hitter, overall, at a .285 career. Those two seasons were enough to raise his career batting average by 10 points. In all the other seasons he played, he was a career .276 hitter.
This is one of the things I love about baseball's history. I've literally spent thousands of hours reading about the players that have made up the game's rich tapestry, and I will still find players I knew little to nothing about, and love learning about them.
This is like when I learned about Vern Stephens about a month ago, or so. I'd always been under the impression that Ernie Banks was the first true power hitting shortstop. Well, I'd now have to say Stephens should get that distinction. I knew of him, but I'd never looked at his stats. Wow. He led the AL in home runs with the St. Louis Browns, hitting 24 in 1945. The year before, he hit .293 with 20 home runs, and a league leading 109 RBI.
But when he joined Boston, he hit his stride, and put together three of the best seasons ever by a shortstop. In 1948, Stephens hit .269 with 29 home runs, and 137 RBI. He finished 4th in the MVP vote. In 1949, again, while playing purely as a shortstop, Stephens hit .290 with 39 home runs, and a league leading 159 RBI. He had a whopping .930 OPS, finishing 7th in the MVP vote. Then, in 1950, he had another stellar season. He hit .295 with 30 home runs and a league leading 144 RBI. He scored 125 runs, had 70 extra base hits, an .872 OPS, and 321 total bases...and finished 24th in the MVP vote!
But it was his years with the Sox that really took his game to another level. Between 1948 and 1950, Stephens hit 98 home runs, and drove in an incredible 440 runs...as a shortstop! He had an .874 OPS. Beside the eye popping home run and RBI totals he had in 1949, he also walked 101 times, and had 329 total bases (with 31 doubles and 2 triples).
Look at the offense the Sox had in that period. In 1950, they had five guys score 100 runs, and Ted Williams
was not one of them! Check this out:
C Birdie Tebbets hits .310 (though only has 299 PA)
1B Walt Dropo scores 101 runs, has 34 HR, 144 RBI, hits .322. Wins AL ROY.
2B Bobby Doerr scores 103 runs, has 27 HR, 120 RBI, hits .294.
SS Vern Stephens scores 125 runs, has 30 HR, 144 RBI, hits .295.
3B Johnny Pesky scores 112 runs, only hits 1 HR, 49 RBI, hits .312. Walks 104 times, .437 OBP!
RF Al Zarilla scores 92 runs, hits 9 HR, 74 RBI, hits .325.
CF Dom DiMaggio scores 131 runs, hits 7 HR, 70 RBI, hits .328
LF Ted Williams scores 82 runs, hits 28 HR, 97 RBI, hits .317.
Look at those starters. How many times have the starting 8 on a baseball team combined to hit
.312? Those 8 scored 779 runs, and would have easily averaged over 100 runs scored per player if Williams hadn't missed the second half of the season, even with their catcher only playing half the season.
Williams was simply unbelievable. It boggles my mind that he only played in 89 games, and drove in 97 runs. The prior six season, Williams combined to hit .359 with an 1.161 OPS. His 162 game averages for that period will never be duplicated again:
149 runs, 203 hits, 42 doubles, 6 triples, 39 home runs, 142 RBI, 164 BB, 47 SO, .359 AVG, .505 OBP, .657 SLG, 1.161 OPS, 208 OPS +.
He led the league in walks, OBP, SLG, OPS each year for six years.
I love baseball. And I am SUCH a nerd, lol.
