This is our old blog. It hasn't been active since 2011. Please see the link above for our current blog or click the logo above to see all of the great data and content on this site.

Players who’ve batted under .210 and over .290 in different seasons

Posted by Andy on April 22, 2011

Using the new two-tiered search feature, I generated a list of players who have had at least one season with a batting average under .210 as well as at least one season with a batting average over .290. In each season, the player had to have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.

This particular question has been asked by a lot of readers over the years. I think many folks noticed that Mark McGwire did it by hitting .201 in 1991 and .312 in 1996.

Anyway, now it's easy to answer, and here are the 30 guys since 1901 to do it:

Rk Yrs To
1 Aaron Hill 2 2007
2 Nick Punto 1 2006
3 Mark McGwire 2 1998
4 Scott Brosius 1 1998
5 Jim Sundberg 1 1977
6 Don Buford 2 1971
7 Brooks Robinson 4 1965
8 Al Lopez 2 1933
9 Charlie Jamieson 11 1930
10 Joe Dugan 4 1925
11 Bill Wambsganss 2 1923
12 Steve O'Neill 3 1922
13 Eddie Ainsmith 1 1922
14 Ralph Young 2 1921
15 Howie Shanks 1 1921
16 Clyde Milan 7 1920
17 Shano Collins 2 1920
18 Zip Collins 1 1915
19 Dode Paskert 2 1912
20 Bobby Byrne 1 1910
21 Jimmy Sheckard 3 1905
22 Frank Isbell 1 1905
23 Bill Bradley
4 1904
24 Freddy Parent 3 1904
25 Jimmy Williams 2 1902
26 Ossee Schrecongost 2 1902
27 George Barclay 1 1902
28 Deacon McGuire 1 1901
29 Billy Maloney 1 1901
30 Ducky Holmes 1 1901
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/21/2011.

The additional columns are number of qualified seasons with a batting average over .290 and the most recent season that was achieved.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that Mike Schmidt's name is missing from this list. He hit .196 in 1973 but must have just barely missed the cutoff to qualify for the batting title.

So I made a second list. Click here to see guys who have batted both under .200 and over .280 in seasons with at least 400 plate appearances. It includes Carlos Pena, Mike Pagliarulo, Mike Schmidt, and Reggie Jackson as recent entries.

15 Responses to “Players who’ve batted under .210 and over .290 in different seasons”

  1. jiffy Says:

    I'm astonished Nick Punto hit over .290. I'm almost surprised he slugged over .290, really.

  2. Dr. Doom Says:

    Anytime Ossee Schrecongost's name comes up, it's a good thing.

  3. steven Says:

    The first name I thought of was George Scott, but in his horrible (.171) 1968 season, he fell short of plate appearances-not to mention hits- to qualify for the batting title.

  4. Spartan Bill Says:

    @3 I thought the same thing about Mike Schmidt, but he had only 443 PA in his rookie year when he hit .196

  5. Andy Says:

    #4, I did address Schmidt in the final paragraph along with another list.

  6. fred Says:

    Has anyone ever had both a .300 season?

  7. Artie Z Says:

    Just wondering how Bill Bradley is on the list. He hit under .210 3 times (.196, .187, and .186) but had 233, 220, and 376 plate appearances in those seasons (1910, 1915, 1909) respectively. In 1909, when he had 376 PAs, the Indians played 153 games. In the other two years his teams played 152 and 153 games.

  8. Richard Chester Says:

    @7

    Back in the early part of the 20th century the requirement for the batting title was less than 400 AB. Ty Cobb won the 1914 title with 345 AB.

  9. Ted Says:

    Did anyone find the largest spread?

    I noticed Scott Brosius did it in consecutive years hitting .304 with a 127 OPS+ in 1996 then .203 with a 53 OPS+ in '97. Ouch.

  10. Indy Says:

    I wonder what the all time biggest average drop in one season is. Tip O'Neill managed to drop exactly 100 BA points from 1887 to 1888 and still lead the league both times (which is pretty cool). Fred Dunlap lost 152 points after 1884, but you can't really count the UA as a major league, I don't think. Does anybody know? Has anyone dropped, say, 160 points in BA from year to year and still had enough AB to qualify for the title?

  11. Harborist Says:

    Norm Cash dropped from .361 in 1961 to .243 in 1962 - a 118 point drop with enough appearances to qualify each year.

  12. Richard Chester Says:

    @10

    George Sisler hit .420 in 1922, missed the entire 1923 season due to sinusitis and vision problems and returned in 1924 and hit .305, a drop of 115 points.

  13. Players who batted under .210 and over .290 in different seasons » Stathead » Blog Archive Says:

    [...] From Andy K. and B-R, the post title say it all. Link [...]

  14. John Autin Says:

    @7 / @8, re: historical requirements to qualify for the batting title -- The B-R info is here:
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/leader_glossary.shtml#min_req

  15. Charlie C Says:

    This is my first post on this blog -

    Anyway, just wanted to mention Roy Campenella's 105 point drop from 1953 (.312) to 1954 (.207) - looks like he didn't have enough PA to qualify in '54.

    Also, his OPS+ dropped 80 points (from 154 to 74). George Sisler dropped 79 points (from 170 to 91) and Norm Cash dropped just 65 points (from 201 to 136).