More HR than walks
Posted by Andy on February 1, 2008
This REALLY surprised me.
I checked to see if anybody has ever had more homers in a season than walks, and the answer that it's happened lots and lots of times.
Here are guys who had 20 or more homers but 19 or fewer walks.
Cnt Player **HR** BB Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Andres Galarraga 31 19 1994 33 COL NL 103 449 417 77 133 21 0 85 8 93 8 0 5 10 8 3 .319 .356 .592 .948 *3 2 Jorge Cantu 28 19 2005 23 TBD AL 150 630 598 73 171 40 1 117 1 83 6 0 7 24 1 0 .286 .311 .497 .808 *45D 3 Ivan Rodriguez 27 19 2000 28 TEX AL 91 389 363 66 126 27 4 83 5 48 1 0 6 17 5 5 .347 .375 .667 1.042 *2/D 4 Glenallen Hill 27 19 2000 35 TOT ML 104 321 300 45 88 9 1 58 2 76 1 0 1 6 0 1 .293 .336 .600 .936 7D 5 Juan Gonzalez 27 17 1995 25 TEX AL 90 374 352 57 104 20 2 82 3 66 0 0 5 15 0 0 .295 .324 .594 .918 *D/7 6 Dante Bichette 27 19 1994 30 COL NL 116 509 484 74 147 33 2 95 3 70 4 0 2 17 21 8 .304 .334 .548 .882 *9 7 Fred Whitfield 26 16 1965 27 CLE AL 132 492 468 49 137 23 1 90 7 42 2 2 4 12 2 2 .293 .316 .513 .829 *3 8 Juan Gonzalez 24 14 2003 33 TEX AL 82 346 327 49 96 17 1 70 1 73 4 0 1 10 1 1 .294 .329 .572 .901 *9D 9 Cory Snyder 24 16 1986 23 CLE AL 103 433 416 58 113 21 1 69 0 123 0 1 0 8 2 3 .272 .299 .500 .799 *965/7D 10 Lee May 24 17 1974 31 HOU NL 152 590 556 59 149 26 0 85 2 97 7 1 9 12 1 0 .268 .294 .444 .738 *3 11 Ruben Sierra 23 19 2001 35 TEX AL 94 369 344 55 100 22 1 67 0 52 0 0 6 13 2 0 .291 .322 .561 .883 *D9/7 12 Tony Armas 23 18 1985 31 BOS AL 103 410 385 50 102 17 5 64 4 90 2 0 5 14 0 0 .265 .298 .514 .812 *8D7/9 13 Tony Armas 22 19 1981 27 OAK AL 109 462 440 51 115 24 3 76 6 115 2 0 1 6 5 1 .261 .294 .480 .774 *9/8 14 Don Demeter 22 17 1964 29 DET AL 134 470 441 57 113 22 1 80 6 85 5 4 3 6 4 1 .256 .290 .460 .750 8739 15 Juan Uribe 21 13 2006 26 CHW AL 132 495 463 53 109 28 2 71 1 82 3 9 7 10 1 1 .235 .257 .441 .698 *6 16 Marquis Grissom 21 16 2001 34 LAD NL 135 468 448 56 99 17 1 60 0 107 2 0 2 12 7 5 .221 .250 .404 .654 *87/9D 17 Sandy Alomar 21 19 1997 31 CLE AL 125 480 451 63 146 37 0 83 2 48 3 6 1 16 0 2 .324 .354 .545 .899 *2/D 18 Bill Robinson 21 16 1976 33 PIT NL 122 416 393 55 119 22 3 64 1 73 1 3 3 14 2 4 .303 .329 .534 .863 5987/3 19 Dave Roberts 21 17 1973 22 SDP NL 125 503 479 56 137 20 3 64 3 83 1 3 3 6 11 2 .286 .310 .472 .782 *54 20 Willie Stargell 21 17 1964 24 PIT NL 117 442 421 53 115 19 7 78 2 92 2 1 1 7 1 1 .273 .304 .501 .805 73/98 21 Daryle Ward 20 15 2000 25 HOU NL 119 281 264 36 68 10 2 47 2 61 0 0 2 6 0 0 .258 .295 .538 .833 73/D9 22 Rip Repulski 20 19 1957 28 PHI NL 134 548 516 65 134 23 4 68 0 74 5 3 5 10 7 1 .260 .290 .436 .726 *97
Here are guys with 30 or more homers and 29 or fewer walks.
Cnt Player **HR** BB Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Dante Bichette 40 22 1995 31 COL NL 139 612 579 102 197 38 2 128 5 96 4 0 7 16 13 9 .340 .364 .620 .984 *79 2 Alfonso Soriano 39 23 2002 26 NYY AL 156 741 696 128 209 51 2 102 1 157 14 1 7 8 41 13 .300 .332 .547 .879 *4 3 Matt Williams 38 27 1993 27 SFG NL 145 619 579 105 170 33 4 110 4 80 4 0 9 12 1 3 .294 .325 .561 .886 *5 4 Dave Kingman 37 28 1976 27 NYM NL 123 510 474 70 113 14 1 86 4 135 5 0 3 11 7 4 .238 .286 .506 .792 *93/7 5 Tony Armas 36 29 1983 29 BOS AL 145 613 574 77 125 23 2 107 0 131 2 0 8 31 0 1 .218 .254 .453 .707 *8D 6 Garret Anderson 35 24 2000 28 ANA AL 159 681 647 92 185 40 3 117 5 87 0 1 9 21 7 6 .286 .307 .519 .826 *89D 7 Ivan Rodriguez 35 24 1999 27 TEX AL 144 630 600 116 199 29 1 113 2 64 1 0 5 31 25 12 .332 .356 .558 .914 *2/D 8 Tony Armas 35 29 1980 26 OAK AL 158 666 628 87 175 18 8 109 4 128 2 2 5 22 5 3 .279 .310 .500 .810 *98 9 Bob Horner 35 27 1980 22 ATL NL 124 495 463 81 124 14 1 89 3 50 1 0 4 16 3 1 .268 .307 .529 .836 *5/3 10 Walker Cooper 35 24 1947 32 NYG NL 140 546 515 79 157 24 8 122 0 43 3 4 0 13 2 0 .305 .339 .586 .925 *2 11 Ryan Braun 34 29 2007 23 MIL NL 113 492 451 91 146 26 6 97 1 112 7 0 5 13 15 5 .324 .370 .634 1.004 *5 12 Bob Horner 33 22 1979 21 ATL NL 121 515 487 66 153 15 1 98 6 74 3 0 3 9 0 2 .314 .346 .552 .898 *53 13 Tony Batista 32 26 2004 30 MON NL 157 650 606 76 146 30 2 110 4 78 4 4 10 14 14 6 .241 .272 .455 .727 *5 14 Joe Carter 32 27 1987 27 CLE AL 149 629 588 83 155 27 2 106 6 105 9 1 4 8 31 6 .264 .304 .480 .784 *3798/D 15 Ernie Banks 32 27 1968 37 CHC NL 150 595 552 71 136 27 0 83 4 67 5 9 2 12 2 0 .246 .287 .469 .756 *3 16 Jose Guillen 31 24 2003 27 TOT ML 136 534 485 77 151 28 2 86 2 95 14 8 3 16 1 3 .311 .359 .569 .928 *97/8D 17 Andres Galarraga 31 19 1994 33 COL NL 103 449 417 77 133 21 0 85 8 93 8 0 5 10 8 3 .319 .356 .592 .948 *3 18 Andre Dawson 31 22 1991 36 CHC NL 149 596 563 69 153 21 4 104 3 80 5 0 6 10 4 5 .272 .302 .488 .790 *9 19 Joe Pepitone 31 29 1966 25 NYY AL 152 621 585 85 149 21 4 83 6 58 2 0 5 14 4 3 .255 .290 .463 .753 *38/9 20 Felipe Alou 31 24 1966 31 ATL NL 154 706 666 122 218 32 6 74 6 51 12 2 2 11 5 7 .327 .361 .533 .894 *378/956 21 Mack Jones 31 29 1965 26 MLN NL 143 546 504 78 132 18 7 75 1 122 9 2 2 5 8 2 .262 .313 .510 .823 *87 22 Joe Crede 30 28 2006 28 CHW AL 150 586 544 76 154 31 0 94 1 58 7 0 7 18 0 2 .283 .323 .506 .829 *5 23 Butch Hobson 30 27 1977 25 BOS AL 159 637 593 77 157 33 5 112 4 162 4 10 3 17 5 4 .265 .300 .489 .789 *5
40+ homers and no more than 39 walks:
Cnt Player **HR** BB Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Andre Dawson 49 32 1987 32 CHC NL 153 662 621 90 178 24 2 137 7 103 7 0 2 15 11 3 .287 .328 .568 .896 *9 2 George Bell 47 39 1987 27 TOR AL 156 665 610 111 188 32 4 134 9 75 7 0 9 17 5 1 .308 .352 .605 .957 *7/D45 3 Juan Gonzalez 46 37 1993 23 TEX AL 140 587 536 105 166 33 1 118 7 99 13 0 1 12 4 1 .310 .368 .632 1.000 *7D 4 Orlando Cepeda 46 39 1961 23 SFG NL 152 636 585 105 182 28 4 142 11 91 9 0 3 21 12 8 .311 .362 .609 .971 *379 5 Javy Lopez 43 33 2003 32 ATL NL 129 495 457 89 150 29 3 109 5 90 4 0 1 10 0 1 .328 .378 .687 1.065 *2/D 6 Matt Williams 43 33 1994 28 SFG NL 112 483 445 74 119 16 3 96 7 87 2 0 3 11 1 0 .267 .319 .607 .926 *5 7 Juan Gonzalez 43 35 1992 22 TEX AL 155 632 584 77 152 24 2 109 1 143 5 0 8 16 0 1 .260 .304 .529 .833 *87/D9 8 Tony Armas 43 32 1984 30 BOS AL 157 679 639 107 171 29 5 123 9 156 1 0 7 13 1 3 .268 .300 .531 .831 *8D/9 9 Juan Gonzalez 42 33 1997 27 TEX AL 133 579 533 87 158 24 3 131 7 107 3 0 10 12 0 0 .296 .335 .589 .924 *D9 10 Hal Trosky 42 36 1936 23 CLE AL 151 671 629 124 216 45 9 162 0 58 3 3 0 0 6 5 .343 .382 .644 1.026 *3/4 11 Tony Batista 41 35 2000 26 TOR AL 154 664 620 96 163 32 2 114 1 121 6 0 3 15 5 4 .263 .307 .519 .826 *5 12 Vinny Castilla 40 35 1996 28 COL NL 160 673 629 97 191 34 0 113 7 88 5 0 4 20 7 2 .304 .343 .548 .891 *5 13 Sammy Sosa 40 34 1996 27 CHC NL 124 541 498 84 136 21 2 100 6 134 5 0 4 14 18 5 .273 .323 .564 .887 *9 14 Dante Bichette 40 22 1995 31 COL NL 139 612 579 102 197 38 2 128 5 96 4 0 7 16 13 9 .340 .364 .620 .984 *79
I did some checking, and I think Dawson has the record for most homers in a season with fewer walks than homers.
Tony Armas finished his career with 251 HR and 260 walks. If not for 1988, his second-to-last year where he homered 13 times and walked 22 times, he might have finished up even.
I couldn't find anyone with at least 100 HR who had fewer walks, but it's not an easy thing to currently do with the PI. (Really, you'd need to search for HR>100,BB<99, then HR>101,BB<100, then HR>102,BB<101, etc.) I proposed to Sean that he add a simple dropdown arithmetic operator to the PI. This way, we could do something like minimum 100 career HR, show me the players with the largest value for HR MINUS WALKS. Virtually all players will have a negative value, but there must be a few out there with a positive value.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:52 am
Yeah the arithmetic operations would be great. Think back to what we were doing with Mike Moore and pitchers with low winning percentages. So much easier. Or if you wanted to find any season with the greatest, say, XBH-to-hits ratio minimum 400 PA or something, you wouldn't have to search through all the output and do calcuations on everything just to find it.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Even without arithmetic operations (which would be a terrific addition), I was able to somewhat check this... Season search with HR>=100, and sort (ascending) by total walks. Just scan down the list, and look for numbers that jump out.
Aside from the aforementioned Armas, you've got Alfonso Soriano (255 BB, 241 HR), and the leader, at least as far as totals amassed: Juan Gonzalez (457 BB, 434 HR). In fact, Gonzalez, through the end of the 1998 season, had totalled 301 HR and 293 walks.
(Side note - Vinny Castilla, through 1998, had 170 BB and 170 HR, but finished his career 423 BB to 320 HR -- once he left Colorado, he wasn't able to keep his pace.)
February 1st, 2008 at 9:26 am
Stats like this show how the game has changed. Prior to 1950, never been done - guys were willing to take a walk and there weren't that many sluggers on a team (1, 2 guys w 20+ HRs). Even through the 60s, only 4 players had reached the 20+ HR,
February 1st, 2008 at 9:30 am
I think there are four HoF batters on the lists: Banks, Cepeda, Stargell, and (looking forward) Ivan Rodriguez.
These sluggers had value or they wouldn't have gotten enough PA to hit 20+ home runs. But such free-swinging also has its natural limitations, as the strikeout totals for most of these seasons indicate.
Have you run a thread on batters with more home runs than strikeouts in a season? The total numbers are similar to the lists above, but it's a very different group of guys.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:44 am
There are others (including HoFs) who meet the criteria. On a search looking for 24+ HR and 25- BB, I found Joe DiMaggio's rookie year of 1936: 29 home runs, 24 walks, 39 strikeouts. While he never walked at close to a Ted Williams rate, DiMag always got more free passes than HR after that, and he never struck out as many times again.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I'm guessing that the career leaders in "homers greater than walks" are Todd Greene (71 HRs, 67 walks) and Bill Schroeder (61/58).
February 1st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hey, wow, cool, something I can add to my Bill Schroeder page at the 88 Topps Cards blog.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm
The first thing I went looking for in these lists was to see if anyone had finished with a OBP less than half their SLG. Junk stat, but fun for me. Plus it would take some serious power and the kind of plate discipline Gary DiSarcina would appreciate - basically have to average better than two bases per hit and not walk. Matt Williams came pretty close in his glory year.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Grissom's 2001 also jumped out as impressive to me. 20+ HRs and an OPS of .654! I'd say the Dodgers got the worse of the Devon White trade.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I remember following Bonds in '02, and hoping he would finish with more HRs than SOs - I love statistical anomalies, especially those with minimal dependence on luck - and I was pretty jazzed to see him actually do it in '04.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:17 am
Speaking of more HR's than SO's, Joe DiMaggio did it in 7 of his 13 seasons. In 1941, the year of the streak, he hit 30 HR while striking out just 13 times!! Going into his final season, he had 349 HR & 333 SO. Finished with 369/361. Amazing.
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:18 am
That should read 361 HR & 369 K
February 4th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Grissom's is the worst 20 HR season of all time.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Could be...a .654 OPS is nothing to write home about.