The Hall of Fame of Uniform Numbers

[bobbvc]

And for that matter, Jim Bouton at #56.

[Peter_Spaeth]

After Ted Williams, Bouton is definitely the next guy that came to mind.

[the 'stache]

Frank spoke with me this morning, and brought up Joe DiMaggio's home run per strikeout rate, which I had completely overlooked while putting together the information to support my assertion that DiMaggio was in fact the greatest offensive center fielder in the modern baseball era. While Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak is, in my opinion, the single greatest individual accomplishment in the history of American sports, his career home run to strikeout ratio is one of the most overlooked career accomplishments, certainly in baseball. DiMaggio's career numbers suffer from three full seasons lost to military service. But while he did play, he was a superstar, an elite hitter on par with Gehrig and Babe Ruth before him. And while Ruth and Gehrig both had an outstanding home run per strikeout rate, nobody in the game's history has combined power discipline at the plate quite as well as DiMaggio.

There have been 91 hitters in Major League history to amass 350 or more home runs during their playing careers. I had Baseball Reference generate a list of those players, which I imported into Excel. I then sorted the players to show who had the best Home run per strikeout rate in Major League History among power hitters. Joltin' Joe was at the very top of the list. He hit 361 home runs while only striking out 369 times. I feel very safe in saying that I don't ever see this mark by DiMaggio ever being bested.

[icollectDCsports]

Haven't read every page of the thread, but I'd nominate Sammy Baugh for #33 if he hasn't been listed already.

[Paul S]

If only Nellie Fox had power

[Peter_Spaeth]

A hitting streak is part luck, and essentially meaningless. I would rank other single season accomplishments ahead of it. Williams' .406 the same year. Brett's .390. Maris' 61. Henderson's however many steals it was. And that's just baseball. Overall, I would rank Beamon's long jump first -- never has a record been broken by that much -- it was literally a quantum leap.

[frankbmd]

one quantum leap for Bob. At the National in Chicago last year we chatted for 30 minutes. The highlight of the show for me. I'll add Bob to the list at 254.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

A hitting streak is part luck, and essentially meaningless. I would rank other single season accomplishments ahead of it. Williams' .406 the same year. Brett's .390. Maris' 61. Henderson's however many steals it was. And that's just baseball. Overall, I would rank Beamon's long jump first -- never has a record been broken by that much -- it was literally a quantum leap.

In 1920 Babe Ruth himself hit more home runs than any other team in both leagues except 1. That is also quite dominant.

[Beatles Guy]

Not surprised to see Adam Dunn last on that list, but really surprised that Gary Sheffield is #14.

[Butch7999]

While there's still time and while there's still room, we'll add a nomination at 70 for Tom Sestak, legendary AFL DT, member of the All-Time AFL Team.