Fewst games to a 30 HR, 100 RBI season
Posted by Andy on October 5, 2009
Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez had a single monster inning to bring his season totals to 30 HR and 100 RBI, very impressive feats given that he played in only about 3/4ths of the season.
Anyway, here are the fewest games in a season where a player reached 30 HR and 100 RBI:
Cnt Player **G** HR RBI Year Age Tm Lg PA AB R H 2B 3B BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+--+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Rudy York 104 35 103 1937 23 DET AL 417 375 72 115 18 3 41 0 52 0 1 0 0 3 2 .307 .375 .651 1.026 *25/3 2 Albert Belle 106 36 101 1994 27 CLE AL 480 412 90 147 35 2 58 9 71 5 1 4 5 9 6 .357 .438 .714 1.152 *7/D 3 Jeff Bagwell 110 39 116 1994 26 HOU NL 479 400 104 147 32 2 65 14 65 4 0 10 12 15 4 .368 .451 .750 1.201 *3/9 4 Frank Thomas 113 38 101 1994 26 CHW AL 517 399 106 141 34 1 109 12 61 2 0 7 15 2 3 .353 .487 .729 1.216 *3D 5 Manny Ramirez 118 38 122 2000 28 CLE AL 532 439 92 154 34 2 86 9 117 3 0 4 9 1 1 .351 .457 .697 1.154 *9D 6 Manny Ramirez 120 33 107 2002 30 BOS AL 518 436 84 152 31 0 73 14 85 8 0 1 13 0 0 .349 .450 .647 1.097 *7D/9 7 Joe DiMaggio 120 30 126 1939 24 NYY AL 524 462 108 176 32 6 52 0 20 4 6 0 11 3 0 .381 .448 .671 1.119 *8 8 Dick Allen 122 34 101 1970 28 STL NL 533 459 88 128 17 5 71 16 118 2 0 1 9 5 4 .279 .377 .560 .937 *35/7 9 Roy Campanella 123 32 107 1955 33 BRO NL 522 446 81 142 20 1 56 9 41 6 5 9 14 2 3 .318 .395 .583 .978 *2 10 Alex Rodriguez 124 30 100 2009 33 NYY AL 535 444 78 127 17 1 80 7 97 8 0 3 13 14 2 .286 .402 .532 .934 *5/D 11 Sammy Sosa 124 40 100 1996 27 CHC NL 541 498 84 136 21 2 34 6 134 5 0 4 14 18 5 .273 .323 .564 .887 *9 12 Jimmie Foxx 124 35 105 1939 31 BOS AL 563 467 130 168 31 10 89 0 72 2 5 0 17 4 3 .360 .464 .694 1.158 *3/1 13 Moises Alou 126 30 114 2000 33 HOU NL 517 454 82 161 28 2 52 4 45 2 0 9 21 3 3 .355 .416 .623 1.039 *97/D 14 Jay Buhner 126 40 121 1995 30 SEA AL 539 470 86 123 23 0 60 7 120 1 2 6 15 0 1 .262 .343 .566 .909 *9/D 15 Larry Walker 127 37 115 1999 32 COL NL 513 438 108 166 26 4 57 8 52 12 0 6 12 11 4 .379 .458 .710 1.168 *9/D 16 David Ortiz 128 31 101 2003 27 BOS AL 509 448 79 129 39 2 58 8 83 1 0 2 9 0 0 .288 .369 .592 .961 *D3 17 Frank Thomas 128 30 102 1953 24 PIT NL 510 455 68 116 22 1 50 0 93 2 3 0 12 1 2 .255 .331 .505 .836 *89/7 18 Travis Hafner 129 42 117 2006 29 CLE AL 563 454 100 140 31 1 100 16 111 7 0 2 10 0 0 .308 .439 .659 1.098 *D/3 19 Javy Lopez 129 43 109 2003 32 ATL NL 495 457 89 150 29 3 33 5 90 4 0 1 10 0 1 .328 .378 .687 1.065 *2/D 20 Alex Rodriguez 129 42 111 1999 23 SEA AL 572 502 110 143 25 0 56 2 109 5 1 8 12 21 7 .285 .357 .586 .943 *6
A-rod's 2009 season cracks the top 10 and his 1999 rounds out the top 20.
I love this list. It's all modern players except for a sprinkling of star players from long ago: York in 1937, DiMaggio in 1939, Allen in 1970, Campanella in 1955, Foxx in 1939, and Thomas in 1953. That's right--both Frank Thomases appear in this list!
Notice that the strike year of 1994 is prominently represented at positions 2 through 4.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
1994 Frank Thomas...strike season (boooo!)
October 5th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I'm waiting for some Giants fan to mention Matt Williams...
October 5th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
While we know that Rodriguez reached both threshholds in exactly 124 games this year, we don't know how few games any of the others took to reach those minimums. A quick check shows that Bagwell needed only 97 games in '94, Ramirez needed only 99 in 2000, and Rodriguez himself needed only 113 in his '99 season. If the list were computed that way, Juan Gonzalez would also be up there, needing only 100 games in '98. He just happened to be healthy enough to play far more games by season's end.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Good point JDV...I would love the PI to add a feature to search for season totals in the first X games of the season but it's not set up to do that. (That's a very intensive search if you think about it.) The GAME finder can do it, but in that case it's only looking at game-by-game totals, not cumulative totals for season-to-date which involves another big math step.
October 5th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Sadly, while A-Rod's 30 HR/100 RBI streak continues, he wasn't even close to extending his 13 straight seasons of scoring 100 runs. With just 78, it's no sure thing he would have made it even in a full season.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Buhner could really put some numbers. In 1995, he ended up 5th in the MVP vote, right behind Jose Mesa.
October 5th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Dick Allen counts as a player from long ago? I must be getting old....
October 5th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Steroid era players obviously are going to be prominently featured on this list. I would like to see how many games it took Sosa, McGwire and Bonds to reach 30 and 100 in the years they were hitting 60-70 homers. Probably like 80 games or something ridiculous like that.
October 5th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Jimmie Foxx in 1932 hit the 30+ HR/100+ RBI mark on July 10 in his 81st game with his 3 HR 8 RBI performance. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1932/Jfoxxj1010081932.htm
October 5th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
1994 was going to be a wild year if it had finished out. Several guys might have gone to 50 homers and several others might have sniffed the upper reaches of the all-time season doubles list. It definitely made a difference in some guys' career numbers--think Bonds' 2000 RBIs or 3000 hits...
Check the list of most RBIs by season to see who racked them up fastest. Old school wins that battle--in 154-game seasons.
October 6th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Gerry, sorry--I wrote that before I noticed Allen and then should have changed the wording in my post. He's certainly not as old as the other guys I mentioned.
But it is true that you appear to be our resident expert on eras gone by...so instead of calling you "old" let's call you "our resident historian." OK?
October 6th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Rudy York is pretty underrated. To get that kind of production out of a catcher is terrific, and he wasn't just a one-year wonder, either -- he had two 150 OPS+ seasons, four 140 OPS+ years, seven seasons of at least 120 OPS+, and was an above-average hitter in 10 of his 13 years. Now, he apparently wasn't the greatest fielder ever, but he still had a very good career for somebody that you hardly ever hear about.
October 6th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Ya Johnny you're right about the A-Rod runs thing. The hitters behind him just seemed to have a tough time knocking him in (only 48 of about 190 non homer times, and that was with A-Rod sporting a .402 obp and stealing 14 bags). I remember at least two games specifically where he reached base four times in each game and didn't score at all.
October 6th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
I had thought that Rudy York was a 1st baseman, in fact, a 1st baseman who was not capable of playing the outfield. The Tigers moved Hank Greenberg to left field because he was either okay as an outfielder or was the lesser of two evils when compared to York.
But I just looked up York's player page, and he did indeed play some catcher, as well as the other corner infield position, 3rd base, early in his career, including the year in question, 1937.