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This came up in the comments on another thread, so here is the list. Here are reasons where the batter had at least 3 times as many homers as doubles, minimum 20 HR:

Rk	Player	Year	HR	OPS+	2B	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Frank Thomas	2006	39	140	11	38	OAK	137	559	466	77	126	0	114	81	81	.270	.381	.545	.926	*D
2	Mark McGwire	2001	29	105	4	37	STL	97	364	299	48	56	0	64	56	118	.187	.316	.492	.808	*3
3	Mark McGwire	2000	32	202	8	36	STL	89	321	236	60	72	0	73	76	78	.305	.483	.746	1.229	*3/467
4	Glenallen Hill	2000	27	133	9	35	TOT	104	321	300	45	88	1	58	19	76	.293	.336	.600	.936	7D
5	Mark McGwire	1999	65	176	21	35	STL	153	661	521	118	145	1	147	133	141	.278	.424	.697	1.120	*3
6	Sammy Sosa	1998	66	160	20	29	CHC	159	722	643	134	198	0	158	73	171	.308	.377	.647	1.024	*9/8
7	Mark McGwire	1998	70	216	21	34	STL	155	681	509	130	152	0	147	162	155	.299	.470	.752	1.222	*3
8	Mark McGwire	1995	39	200	13	31	OAK	104	422	317	75	87	0	90	88	77	.274	.441	.685	1.125	*3D
9	Lance Parrish	1986	22	122	6	30	DET	91	374	327	53	84	1	62	38	83	.257	.340	.483	.824	*2/D
10	Dave Kingman	1982	37	99	9	33	NYM	149	607	535	80	109	1	99	59	156	.204	.285	.432	.717	*3
11	Dale Murphy	1979	21	113	7	23	ATL	104	429	384	53	106	2	57	38	67	.276	.340	.469	.809	*32
12	Hank Aaron	1973	40	177	12	39	ATL	120	465	392	84	118	1	96	68	51	.301	.402	.643	1.045	*79
13	Hank Aaron	1972	34	147	10	38	ATL	129	544	449	75	119	0	77	92	55	.265	.390	.514	.904	*39
14	Norm Cash	1971	32	149	10	36	DET	135	523	452	72	128	3	91	59	86	.283	.372	.531	.903	*3
15	Art Shamsky	1966	21	121	5	24	CIN	96	271	234	41	54	0	47	32	45	.231	.321	.521	.842	79
16	Harmon Killebrew	1964	49	153	11	28	MIN	158	682	577	95	156	1	111	93	135	.270	.377	.548	.924	*7/9
17	Willie McCovey	1962	20	154	6	24	SFG	91	261	229	41	67	1	54	29	35	.293	.368	.590	.957	739
18	Roger Maris	1961	61	167	16	26	NYY	161	698	590	132	159	4	141	94	67	.269	.372	.620	.993	*98
19	Mickey Mantle	1961	54	206	16	29	NYY	153	646	514	131	163	6	128	126	112	.317	.448	.687	1.135	*8
20	Jim Lemon	1960	38	130	10	32	WSH	148	611	528	81	142	1	100	67	114	.269	.354	.508	.861	*7
21	Gus Triandos	1959	25	110	7	28	BAL	126	468	393	43	85	1	73	65	56	.216	.330	.430	.760	*2
22	Gus Triandos	1958	30	119	10	27	BAL	137	544	474	59	116	0	79	60	65	.245	.327	.456	.782	*2
23	Wes Covington	1957	21	138	4	25	MLN	96	371	328	51	93	8	65	29	44	.284	.339	.537	.875	*7
24	Roy Campanella	1956	20	88	6	34	BRO	124	461	388	39	85	1	73	66	61	.219	.333	.394	.727	*2
25	Ed Bailey	1956	28	142	8	25	CIN	118	446	383	59	115	2	75	52	50	.300	.385	.551	.936	*2
26	Gus Zernial	1955	30	116	9	32	KCA	120	454	413	62	105	3	84	30	90	.254	.304	.508	.812	*7
27	Luke Easter	1952	31	141	10	36	CLE	127	486	437	63	115	3	97	44	84	.263	.337	.513	.850	*3
28	Babe Ruth	1932	41	200	13	37	NYY	133	589	457	120	156	5	137	130	62	.341	.489	.661	1.150	*97/3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/30/2011.

I included OPS+ to show that most of these were sublime seasons.

Posted in Season Finders | 28 Comments »

Most Career HR, Listed Height 5′ 6″ Or Less

29th January 2011

Since 1901, who has hit the most career homeruns of any player with a listed height of 5' 6" or less?

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Posted in Season Finders | 49 Comments »

Most homers in a season where all hits are homers

27th January 2011

I know we've posted this before, but I get a lot of email questions about this so I thought I'd post it again.

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Posted in Season Finders | 29 Comments »

Highest career WAR with more fielding runs than batting runs

25th January 2011

(Thanks to reader Andy P. for emailing in this idea.)

Think of the best defensive players of all time. Now, among them, who was the worst hitter?

There's a decent chance you came up with Ozzie Smith, or one of a few other players we're about to discuss.

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Posted in Season Finders | 20 Comments »

2010: Year of the Strikeout

24th January 2011

(Thanks to reader Kahuna Tuna who pointed out the central stat used in this post.)

Strikeouts are more prevalent now than at any time in MLB history. Last year we looked at this, showing how strikeouts per inning pitched are now at 7 per 9 innings while walks remain between 3 and 4 per 9 innings, where they've been for 40 years. The data is available in raw form on the MLB Pitching Encyclopedia page, where you can see that the final K/9 number for 2010 was a staggering 7.1.

As league-wide strikeout rates have gone up, the rates for individual pitchers have gone up as well. It used to be that a pitcher with 1 K/inning was a rare feat. Check out who did it 25 years ago (minimum 30 IP):

Rk	Player ▾	Year	SO/9	IP	G	GS	SV	H	BB	SO	ERA+
1	Tom Henke	1986	11.63	91.1	63	0	27	63	32	118	128
2	Ron Robinson	1986	9.03	116.2	70	0	14	110	43	117	120
3	Nolan Ryan	1986	9.81	178.0	30	30	0	119	82	194	107
4	Mike Scott	1986	10.00	275.1	37	37	0	182	72	306	161
5	Mark Langston	1986	9.21	239.1	37	36	0	234	123	245	87
6	Mark Eichhorn	1986	9.52	157.0	69	0	10	105	45	166	249
7	Mark Davis	1986	9.60	84.1	67	2	4	63	34	90	119
8	Mark Clear	1986	10.38	73.2	59	0	16	53	36	85	199
9	Lee Smith	1986	9.27	90.1	66	0	31	69	42	93	131
10	Ken Howell	1986	9.58	97.2	62	0	12	86	63	104	90
11	Calvin Schiraldi	1986	9.71	51.0	25	0	9	36	15	55	299
12	Bobby Witt	1986	9.93	157.2	31	31	0	130	143	174	79

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/20/2011.

But now check out the teams with the most such pitchers (>1 K/IP, minimum 30 IP) in 2010:

Rk	Year	Lg	Tm	#Matching
1	2010	NL	San Diego Padres	7	Mike Adams / Heath Bell / Ernesto Frieri / Luke Gregerson / Mat Latos / Edward Mujica / Joe Thatcher
2	2010	NL	San Francisco Giants	7	Denny Bautista / Santiago Casilla / Tim Lincecum / Sergio Romo / Dan Runzler / Jonathan Sanchez / Brian Wilson
3	2010	AL	Chicago White Sox	5	Edwin Jackson / Bobby Jenks / J.J. Putz / Sergio Santos / Matt Thornton
4	2010	NL	Los Angeles Dodgers	5	Jonathan Broxton / Charlie Haeger / Clayton Kershaw / Hong-Chih Kuo / Ted Lilly
5	2010	NL	Milwaukee Brewers	5	John Axford / Zach Braddock / Yovani Gallardo / Manny Parra / Carlos Villanueva
6	2010	NL	Atlanta Braves	4	Mike Minor / Takashi Saito / Jonny Venters / Billy Wagner
7	2010	NL	Florida Marlins	4	Clay Hensley / Josh Johnson / Leo Nunez / Jose Veras
8	2010	NL	Philadelphia Phillies	4	Jose Contreras / Cole Hamels / Brad Lidge / Ryan Madson

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/20/2011.

Yeah, two teams had 7 pitchers on their own staffs, as compared to 12 total players from all teams doing it in 1985. In total, in 2010, 78 pitchers achieved the feat (out of 411 with at least 30 IP, or 19.0%).

By comparison, in 1986, it was 12 pitchers out of 302 with at least 30 IP (4.0%).

None of this is all that surprising. It just means that the arbitrary number of 1K/IP for a pitcher, while still above average, is not as impressive at it used to be.

Posted in Season Finders | 60 Comments »

200+ Hits & 80 Runs Scored Or Less

20th January 2011

Since 1876, how many players have scored 80 runs or less in a season where they had 200+ hits that year?

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Posted in Season Finders | 74 Comments »

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