Most Underrated Hitting Season of All Time?

[lampertb]

If this is not the epitome of water cooler talk, then I don't know what is.

In 1947, Johnny Mize became the only player in MLB history (he still is) to hit 50+ homers while striking out fewer than 50 times. DiMaggio didn't, Gehrig didn't, etc.

However, that's not as impressive as Klu. In 1954, Ted Kluszewski hit 49 dingers, only 1 away from the magic number of 50... and he only struck out 35 times. Especially relative to today's MLB approach at the plate, that's incredible!

I guess all this talk about HOF-worthy players in other threads has me thinking about Klu. His career numbers are not Hall-worthy, but that particular season was ridiculous. He lost out to Say Hey Willie in the MVP voting, but that's probably only because the Giants went to the Series while the Redlegs were lousy. Incredible hitting.

[isiahfan]

One of my top 10 favorite guys...for no reason at all...Ellis Burks 1996 season...criminally robbed of the MVP IMO

https://www.baseball-reference.com/a..._NL_MVP_voting

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by isiahfan

One of my top 10 favorite guys...for no reason at all...Ellis Burks 1996 season...criminally robbed of the MVP IMO

https://www.baseball-reference.com/a..._NL_MVP_voting

That robbery was criminal. I also really liked Ellis. His career 175 HRs in the NL and 177 in the AL is pretty cool.

[packs]

Whoops this was just about hitting.

It depends on how you look at the game but Joe Sewell's 1925 season was pretty impressive. He collected 204 hits, 98 RBIs to one home run, with a 336 batting average. But what was incredible was that he only struck out 4 times in 699 plate appearances.

[Casey2296]

I'm not sure folks really appreciate how good a hitter Tony Gwynn was, and a special human being on top of all that.

[Peter_Spaeth]

When you factor in all the walks and look at the absurd on base percentages, a few of Ted's lesser publicized seasons.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

I'm not sure folks really appreciate how good a hitter Tony Gwynn was, and a special human being on top of all that.

This is my pick positively.

His 94’ season is likely to stay as the highest average for a modern player with at least 110 games or even 100 to lower the bar for the future. I remember really hoping he could finish.400, but he was oh so close.

He just was a true hitter and not a hr slugger which clouds memories. I wish for the true return of the pre espn highlights reliable hitter.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by lampertb

If this is not the epitome of water cooler talk, then I don't know what is.

In 1947, Johnny Mize became the only player in MLB history (he still is) to hit 50+ homers while striking out fewer than 50 times. DiMaggio didn't, Gehrig didn't, etc.

However, that's not as impressive as Klu. In 1954, Ted Kluszewski hit 49 dingers, only 1 away from the magic number of 50... and he only struck out 35 times. Especially relative to today's MLB approach at the plate, that's incredible!

I guess all this talk about HOF-worthy players in other threads has me thinking about Klu. His career numbers are not Hall-worthy, but that particular season was ridiculous. He lost out to Say Hey Willie in the MVP voting, but that's probably only because the Giants went to the Series while the Redlegs were lousy. Incredible hitting.

If you're a fan of Klu, be sure to check out the thread on the main forum, OT: The '56 Cincinnati Reds on What's My Line, if you haven't already seen it. Links to an episode of the show the Reds team appeared on, and Klu is the spokesman and does all the talking. Shows a young and skinny Frank Robinson as well.

[G1911]

Hornsby has several to nominate. Overshadowed by the AL sluggers of the era and often left out.

Dave Orr’s 1885 is a great one that is completely ignored entirely now.

[Lucas00]

Maybe not the Most underrated but definitely one of the craziest. Brady Anderson 1996.

Would nominate Wally Bergers 1930 rookie year as very underrated. A top 3 Power threat of the early-mid 30s. He is seemingly completely forgotten and very underrated.

https://youtu.be/67kJpWG-iQY

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Maybe not the Most underrated but definitely one of the craziest. Brady Anderson 1996.

Would nominate Wally Bergers 1930 rookie year as very underrated. A top 3 Power threat of the early-mid 30s. He is seemingly completely forgotten and very underrated.

https://youtu.be/67kJpWG-iQY

Brady Anderson = Roids

Bergers a good one

Hornsby amazing years in the 20's but it was all about Ruth

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Maybe not the Most underrated but definitely one of the craziest. Brady Anderson 1996.

Would nominate Wally Bergers 1930 rookie year as very underrated. A top 3 Power threat of the early-mid 30s. He is seemingly completely forgotten and very underrated.

https://youtu.be/67kJpWG-iQY

Brady Anderson = Roids

Bergers a good one

Hornsby amazing years in the 20's but it was all about Ruth

[BobC]

The fact that no one has even mentioned his name yet tells you how underrated he is. In 2004, Ichiro Suzuki batted .372 while collecting 262 hits to set the all-time ML record for hits in a single season. He broke Rogers Hornsby's previous record of 257 hits set in 1920, 84 years earlier. And despite leading the majors in hits and average that year, he only came in a distant 7th in the MVP voting. Think about that, he set an all-time batting record and topped the previous record that had existed for over 80 years, and couldn't even crack the top 5 in MVP voting. All during the height of the steroid era.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by BobC

The fact that no one has even mentioned his name yet tells you how underrated he is. In 2004, Ichiro Suzuki batted .372 while collecting 262 hits to set the all-time ML record for hits in a single season. He broke Rogers Hornsby's previous record of 257 hits set in 1920, 84 years earlier. And despite leading the majors in hits and average that year, he only came in a distant 7th in the MVP voting. Think about that, he set an all-time batting record and topped the previous record that had existed for over 80 years, and couldn't even crack the top 5 in MVP voting. All during the height of the steroid era.

Mariners were horrible that year to. Bunch of guys on that team who used to be good. If he had a better lineup behind him, he might have gotten more at bats and maybe 10-15 more hits that year then he already compiled, and probably more MVP votes.

Never helped him that he didn't exactly pile up the extra base hits or walks. Reason why I always ranked Boggs and Gwynn well ahead of him, offensively at least. Ichiro was probably superior defensively for the first half of his career anyways, even though Boggs was always better defensively, then he got credit for.

[lampertb]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Mariners were horrible that year to. Bunch of guys on that team who used to be good. If he had a better lineup behind him, he might have gotten more at bats and maybe 10-15 more hits that year then he already compiled, and probably more MVP votes.

Never helped him that he didn't exactly pile up the extra base hits or walks. Reason why I always ranked Boggs and Gwynn well ahead of him, offensively at least. Ichiro was probably superior defensively for the first half of his career anyways, even though Boggs was always better defensively, then he got credit for.

Wish the Majors would swing back to that style of hits over HR... it won't happen because of what sells tickets and advertising dollars in the modern age, but Boggs, Gwynn, Ichiro... my kind of baseball.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Mariners were horrible that year to. Bunch of guys on that team who used to be good. If he had a better lineup behind him, he might have gotten more at bats and maybe 10-15 more hits that year then he already compiled, and probably more MVP votes.

Never helped him that he didn't exactly pile up the extra base hits or walks. Reason why I always ranked Boggs and Gwynn well ahead of him, offensively at least. Ichiro was probably superior defensively for the first half of his career anyways, even though Boggs was always better defensively, then he got credit for.

I know Dave, but he broke an all-time record and the best he could get was 7th for the MVP!?!?!? How often does someone break an all-time record like that? Just goes to show how everyone was so enamored with the PED users and the long ball back then.

And as for Boggs and Gwynn being better offensively, how often did either of them bat leadoff? Wasn't that where Ichiro usually was in the order back then? As you mentioned, the Mariners were not very great then so he's not getting up a lot with people on base and chances to drive in runs. He's just trying to get on base, which he succeeded in doing a lot. As for walks, since he wasn't such a huge home run threat, and the rest of the team not that great as you say, I can see opposing pitchers pitching to him so he has to put the ball in play to get on, rather than letting him just walk a lot. Even so, he still lead the AL in intentional walks that year, but of course Bonds lead the majors with some ridiculously higher number.