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Most extra-base hits in a season with no singles

Posted by Andy on March 1, 2010

If you read my Card of the Week post on Saturday you'll remember Ron Fairly's fairly odd 1960 season where he had 3 triples but no singles. Here are the leaders since 1901 in most extra-base hits in a season with no singles.

Rk Player XBH 1B Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Rick Wrona 5 0 1994 30 MIL AL 6 12 10 2 5 4 0 1 3 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 .545 1.200 1.745 /*23
2 Dixie Howell 5 0 1957 37 CHW AL 42 29 27 4 5 1 1 3 3 2 0 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 .185 .241 .630 .871 *1
3 Wilson Delgado 4 0 2002 29 STL NL 12 21 20 2 4 2 0 2 5 0 0 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200 .200 .600 .800 /*6
4 Mickey Tettleton 4 0 1997 36 TEX AL 17 48 44 5 4 1 0 3 4 3 1 12 1 0 0 1 0 0 .091 .167 .318 .485 *D
5 Joe Lis 4 0 1975 28 CLE AL 9 18 13 4 4 2 0 2 8 3 0 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 .308 .444 .923 1.368 /*3
6 Ron Fairly 4 0 1960 21 LAD NL 14 45 37 6 4 0 3 1 3 7 0 12 0 1 0 1 0 0 .108 .250 .351 .601 /*97
7 Hank Arft 4 0 1952 30 SLB AL 15 33 28 1 4 3 1 0 4 5 0 7 0 0 0 1 0 0 .143 .273 .321 .594 *3
8 Bill Connelly 4 0 1952 27 NYG NL 11 12 11 2 4 2 2 0 3 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 .364 .417 .909 1.326 *1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/25/2010.

Fairly makes in on there with 4, having added in a homer with his triples.

I bet you never expected to see Rick Wrona and Dixie Howell together at the top of a leaderboard. Wrona's season makes sense--he had only 12 plate appearances and manage to whack a bunch of doubles and a homer. Obviously if he had played more, his hits distribution would have evened out a little more.

Most of the other seasons on the list, including Fairly's, are more surprising. I find it wild that a guy can go 30-40 plate appearances without a single but still hitting several extra-base hits. Of course, the fact that this list is so short backs up the idea that it's quite rare.

4 Responses to “Most extra-base hits in a season with no singles”

  1. Larry R. Says:

    Hank Arft has one of my favorite nicknames...Bow Wow. Hank "Bow Wow" Arft! I love it!

  2. Whiz Says:

    It's interesting how some of these people did this with a few PA and have a high OPS, while some took many more PA and have a low OPS. Not too many offensive leader boards would have such a range.

  3. bdunc8 Says:

    That Mickey Tettleton season is amazing. 4 for 44 with 3 HR's and 1 2B. Unreal.

  4. john Says:

    that was mickey tettleton- all or nothing