Too Many Strikeouts - See 1959 Topps Card
 

I'm tired of all the strikeouts in today's game. I was loooking thru my 1959 Topps Set and read this on the back of the Nellie Fox All-Star Card :

Willie Keeler had 633 plate appearances in 1899 and struck out twice. That season he had 1 homer and batted .379 with an OPS of .876

In his 19 year MLB career he had 9607 PA and 136 SO. He was pretty good.

Nobody beat Joe Sewell.

In 1925 he struck out 4 times in 699 plate appearances while batting 336.

His all time walk to strike out ratio is almost 8 to 1.

There was a time when players took pride in not striking out. Now the game is all about swinging for the fences.

This season 22 out of the 30 major league teams are on a pace to hit 200 home runs, with Minnesota having a very good chance of surpassing 300.

It's still an art. The most Andrelton Simmons has ever struck out in a season is 67 times. Willians Astudillo hardly ever strikes out either. In 2,520 minor at bats he only struck out 82 times. In 239 major league at bats he's only struck out 8 times. His problem is he never walks either.

Nellie Fox and Wee Willie Keeler, now there's an exciting pair of hitters. I'm sure they brought the crowd to their feet in anticipation each and every at bat;)

My dad grew up during the dead ball era, and to him, striking out was a sin. So, growing up, my favorite players were those who didn't strike out much. And, this probably explains why I now collect cards of Sam Rice.

Rice's best year probably was 1925; in 710 PAs, he had 227 hits, batted .350 and struck out only 10 times. In 1930 at age 40, in 669 PAs, Rice had 207 hits, batted .349 and struck out only 14 times. Not too shabby!

Yogi Berra hit 358 home runs from a valuable position...struck out 414 times in 8300 at bats.

1950 struck out 12 times and hit .322/28/124 with 192 hits

Not only singles artists with the low K totals

George Phair
 

How dear to my heart was the old-fashioned batter, who scattered line drives from the spring to the fall.

He did not resemble the up-to-date batter, who swings from the heels and misses the ball.

The up-to-date batter, I’m not very strong for; he shatters the ozone with all of his might.

And that is the reason I hanker and long for –

Those who doubled to left, and tripled to right.

The old-fashioned batter,

The eagle-eyed batter,

The thinking-man’s batter,

Who tripled to right.

Good to hear that your dad's good sense still prevails! My father was born at the end of the dead ball era, but he inherited HIS father's aversion to what they called the "rabbit ball" that they started using in 1920. He encouraged me to value getting on base, moving runners over, etc. and to look on those home run hitters with suspicion.

It's apples and oranges though. The pitching nowadays is completely different. The game/strategy is completely different.

I agree there are way too many strikeouts in today's game, we can thank MLB for making the balls tighter and (if the players can't juice anymore, might as well juice the ball!), but comparing strikeout stats from 50-100 years ago to the current era is a pointless and meaningless. It's not the same game anymore.

In 1960 I played youth ball using a Nellie Fox model bottle bat. I rarely struck out and led the league in hits. The next season I switched to a more traditional Roy Sievers model and stunk up the league. I credit the bat in both instances.

And, I betcha lots of those 192 base hits were made on pitches that weren't in the strike zone! I was a Yankees hater from early on (because they always beat up on my 1950's Senators), but the one Yankees' player I rooted for was Yogi. I feel he was more important to the Yankees immense success during his time than any other Yankee player.

That's why I was a Tony Gwynn fan growing up, still am. He normally kept it to under 25 SO a year.

The constant use of the shift really punishes contact hitters these days. I wonder if MLB could consider limiting how far players can range out of position to cut down on that. This is a really recent change even from three or four years ago, I remember Albert Pujols, whose numbers have just dropped off a cliff the last few years, but who used to be a solid low .300s hitter, lamenting how hard it is to get a groundball out of the infield what with the way managers use the shift these days. If you don't have a chance of slapping a ball for a hit, your better statistical option becomes to swing for the fences or strike out.

I think the extreme shifts most punish the power, pull hitters the most. Actually, I think the extreme shifts could benefit the contact hitters.