Whiffing Without Clout
Posted by Raphy on March 1, 2009
In 2008 Emilio Bonifacio struck out 46 times. While this may not sound like a lot, it was enough to lead the league among players without a home run. Just one year earlier, in 2007, Bonifacio's total would have placed him fifth, a full 40 strikeouts behind league leader Nook Logan.
Here are the all-time leaders for strikeouts in a season without a home run (Strikeouts became an official NL stat in 1910 and an official AL stat in 1913):
Cnt Player **SO** HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions ----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------- 1 Manuel Lee 107 0 1991 26 TOR AL 138 485 445 41 104 18 3 29 24 0 2 10 4 11 7 2 .234 .274 .288 .562 *6 2 Vince Coleman 98 0 1986 24 STL NL 154 670 600 94 139 13 8 29 60 0 2 3 5 4 107 14 .232 .301 .280 .581 *78 3 Steve Jeltz 97 0 1986 27 PHI NL 145 510 439 44 96 11 4 36 65 9 1 3 2 9 6 3 .219 .320 .262 .582 *6 4 Tim Johnson 93 0 1973 23 MIL AL 136 510 465 39 99 10 2 32 29 2 1 11 4 10 6 3 .213 .259 .243 .502 *6 5 Gary Pettis 91 0 1991 33 TEX AL 137 343 282 37 61 7 5 19 54 0 0 6 1 4 29 13 .216 .341 .277 .618 *8 6 Nook Logan 86 0 2007 27 WSN NL 118 350 325 39 86 18 4 21 19 1 0 5 1 9 23 5 .265 .304 .345 .649 *8 7 Luis Castillo 85 0 1999 23 FLA NL 128 563 487 76 147 23 4 28 67 0 0 6 3 3 50 17 .302 .384 .366 .750 *4 8 Otis Nixon 85 0 1995 36 TEX AL 139 656 589 87 174 21 2 45 58 1 0 6 3 6 50 21 .295 .357 .338 .695 *8 9 Reggie Willits 83 0 2007 26 LAA AL 136 518 430 74 126 20 1 34 69 2 3 11 5 7 27 8 .293 .391 .344 .735 798D 10 Marvell Wynne 81 0 1984 24 PIT NL 154 702 653 77 174 24 11 39 42 0 0 5 2 8 24 19 .266 .310 .337 .647 *8 11 Don Kessinger 80 0 1967 24 CHC NL 145 628 580 61 134 10 7 42 33 1 4 7 4 3 6 13 .231 .275 .272 .547 *6
One more list, just because . Here are the seasons since 1913, in which there were 5 or more players with 50 strikeouts and no home runs.
1914 18 Donie Bush / Jack Farrell / George McBride / Burt Shotton / John Leary / Joe Agler / Hughie Miller / Jimmy Austin / Walter Blair / Oscar Stanage / Nemo Leibold / Sam Agnew / Ed Holly / John Misse / Charlie Mullen / Everett Booe / Earl Moseley / George Kaiserling 1965 9 Hal Lanier / Maury Wills / Dick Groat / Ty Cline / Jimmy Stewart / Chris Cannizzaro / Woody Woodward / Bob Veale / Dean Chance 1971 8 Larry Bowa / Roger Metzger / Bud Harrelson / Tim Foli / Mickey Lolich / Wilbur Wood / Bill Stoneman / Vida Blue 1991 6 Lance Johnson / Rafael Belliard / Manuel Lee / Gary Pettis / Dick Schofield / Gilberto Reyes 1969 6 Hal Lanier / Bud Harrelson / Tom Matchick / Darrel Chaney / Bill Stoneman / Gary Gentry 1968 6 Maury Wills / Hal Lanier / Bud Harrelson / Dean Chance / Bill Hands / Bob Veale 1967 6 Hal Lanier / Don Kessinger / Woody Woodward / Nate Oliver / Dean Chance / Jim Lonborg 1976 5 Roger Metzger / Juan Beniquez / Frank Taveras / Dave Chalk / Gene Clines 1966 5 Woody Woodward / Dal Maxvill / Al Weis / Dean Chance / Sandy Koufax
A lot of years from the late '60's and early '70's. In 1913 four players qualified for this list and in 1915 it was only 3. So what happened in 1914 that an amazing 18 players qualified for this list? For one thing, eight of the 18 players played for the Federal League which only existed for the 1914 and 1915 seasons (2 of the 3 from 1915 were also from the Federal League). I would also assume that there was some watering down of talent that resulted from the creation of the Federal League that helped add to the astronomical total of 1914.
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 am
Interesting stuff.
I am actually surprised that this list is comprised mostly of modern era guys (1969-present), if only because there is so much more emphasis on the long ball these days back now than there was back then. Even most utility infielders can scrounger one or two a year.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:23 am
There was another post a bit ago which had abnormal figures for 1914. The Federal League probably really messed things up.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 am
1914 was a real scoring trough. Scoring bottomed out around 1908, and I think a new ball was experimented with, which pushed scoring up a bit for a couple years. But then offense fell again in the mid-teens. Then there's also the fact that these stats (batter strikeouts and, in the previous post, caught stealing) were counted in 1914, but not in some of the surrounding seasons, and I guess it really makes that year stand out.