The Other 400

I started the research for this entry a long, long time ago. The original inspiration was some more man-love for Al Pujols, who has a chance to be in the conversation as the greatest hitter of all time. I decided to compare his statistics to the age-based statistics for some of the greatest hitters ever.

He compares to them all, except maybe Jimmy Foxx*, who was a sick, sick, sick hitter until he turned 33, when his drinking and injuries did him in. At age 33 Foxx had already hit 519 homers. He only hit 15 more. At 33 he had 1849 RBIs. He only had 73 more. He was a monster.

*If you aren't aware, Tom Hanks played Jimmy Dugan in Penny Marshall's "A League of Their Own." Dugan was really Jimmy Foxx.

Of course the comparisons do not include Babe Ruth, who spent his first few years as a pitcher. Nor do they include Ted Williams and others who spent some of their 20s in the service. But he’s on par in virtually all categories with Gehrig, Aaron, Mantle, Musial and Frank Robinson, who put up some serious numbers during their careers. I sure hope Big Al stays healthy.

In the process, I started looking at total bases. The basis of my support for Andre Dawson for the Hall of Fame is that he is #25 on the career total bases list. What I noticed is that a truly rare statistic is reaching 400 total bases in a year. It has only been done 29 times by 18 hitters.

It requires lots of hits and lots of power. You have to have them both. Ichiro (the only AL player I love – true man-love here) set the hits record in 2004 with 262 hits. That’s well over half way there. But he only had 320 total bases. At the other end of the spectrum, Mark McGwire hit 70 homers in 1998, which translates to 280 total bases. Yet he only finished with 383 total bases, because he only had 152 hits. Lots of hits AND lots of power. It’s incredibly difficult.

It was first done by the Babe, in his incredible 1921 season. He set the homer record that year with 59, drove in 181, batted .378, slugged .846, hit 44 doubles and even had 16 triples. His total bases figure of 457 stands as the record today. We all think his 1927 season with 60 homers was his greatest, but 1921 was possibly the greatest season by anyone ever.* Second place in homers was only 24.

*Did you know that the Babe led the major leagues with 11 homers while he was still a pitcher with the Red Sox in 1918? Actually, he was tied with the unforgettable Tilly Walker. He hit .300, had 66 RBIs, had 26 doubles and 11 triples in 317 at bats, while he pitched his way to a 13-7 record with an ERA 2.22 and a WHIP of 1.046. Maybe that’s the greatest season ever.

1918 was the first of his 12 home run crowns. And yet the Babe only had 400 total bases in 1921 and again in 1927 (417 TB). That’s it for the greatest baseball player ever. He only had 388 total bases in 1920 when he hit a then-record 54 homers while he had a batting average of .376. Yes, 400 total bases is a big number.

Here is how big: Ted Williams never did it. Willie Mays never did it. Mickey never did it. Hank Greenberg didn’t do it, not even in the season he hit 58 homers. Neither A-Rod nor Junior have done it, despite hitting over 50 homers multiple times.

Albert Belle had the only 50-50 year in 1995 when he hit 52 homers and 50 doubles. That’s 308 total bases, but he only finished with 377 total bases. His career top was 399 total bases in 1998, when he almost duplicated his 50-50 year. He had 48 doubles and 49 homers and he had 200 hits, and he STILL didn’t reach it.

Yes, it is incredibly difficult.

The list of players who had achieved it is fascinating. It includes a bunch of guys who played in the late twenties and thirties. It also includes a couple of the pre-humidor Colorado players from the past decade. And as you might guess, there are some steroid induced seasons.

Only one player did it in the 1940s, one in the 1950s, none in the 1960s, one in the 1970s and none in the 1980s. From 1938 to 1996 it was only done 3 times. Go ahead and guess. They are big names.

Stan the Man Musial did it in his career year of 1948. He had 230 hits including 46 doubles, 18 triples, (I don’t remember him being fast, but he had 177 career triples) 39 homers, 131 RBIs, while hitting .376 and slugging .702. Joe Posnanski is crazy about Musial, and this is part of the reason why. He had 429 total bases in 1948.

Hammerin’ Hank Aaron had 403 total bases in 1959. He had 223 hits including 46 doubles, 7 triples, 39 homers.

The most recent HOF inductee, Jim Rice, had 406 total bases in his career season of 1978, the only time it was done in a 38 year stretch. Rice had 213 hits, with 46 homers. He had the lowest total of extra base hits (86) and the second lowest batting average (.315) to reach 400. His key – he had the most at bats (677) of any player to make the list.

The second lowest number of hits to make the list was 189. Low hits means monster power, and is a hint of steroid use. Got a guess of the lowest number of hits to make the list? 156. The hitter? It’s obvious – Barry Bonds. His 73 homers in 2001 was worth 292 total bases alone. Barry finished with 411, his only year over 400.

Three other players made the list in 2001. Sammy Sosa had 425 total bases that season, followed by – get this! – Luis Gonzalez* with 419. They were joined by Todd Helton with 402. All three had less than 200 hits. Sammy hit 64 homers that year. Gonzalez hit 57. And Helton, aided by the Coors Effect, almost joined Albert Belle in the 50-50 club, by hitting 54 doubles and 49 homers.

*For the BABI guys, we traded a $17 Gonzalez to the Elder Barry before the 2001 season . We threw in a $1 Felix Rodriguez who won 9 games and had a 1.68 ERA. What we got: the forgettable Dave Veres, who lost his closer job in a month.

Sammy had 416 total bases in 1998 as well, when he hit 66 homers. In 1999 he only had 397 TB despite hitting 63 homers.

Helton reached the list a second time as well, in 2000, when he hit 59 doubles and 42 homers. Larry Walker also benefitted from Coors by reaching the list in 1997, when he had 208 hits including 46 doubles and 49 homers, while batting .366.

That accounts for all of the modern hitters. The rest of the guys played in the Roaring Twenties and the Depression Thirties.

Hack Wilson did it in 1930 the year he set the RBI record of 191. Babe Herman also did it in 1930 in a year he had 241 hits including 46 doubles and 35 homers while hitting .393. Joe Medwick had 406 TB in 1937 thanks to his 237 hits.

Here is a huge name that made the list once: Joe DiMaggio. The Yankee Clipper had 418 total bases when he had 215 hits including 35 doubles, 15 triples and 46 homers. He hit .346 and drove in 167 runs. Joe never hit over 40 homers again.

There were 4 other players who reached the total more than once. One was the above-mentioned Foxx, who did it in 1932 and 1933. These were monster years. Big Al Pujols had better take good care of himself, because Foxx’s numbers were ridiculous until he fell apart.

Rogers Hornsby had 450 total bases in 1922 and 409 in 1929. He’s the only guy on the list who did it (in 1922) while hitting over .400 (.401). He had the most hits on the list (250 – 6th all-time). 102 of those hits were for extra bases, including 46 doubles, 14 triples and 42 homers. Throw in 152 RBIs and this season is on the list of greatest seasons ever.

A somewhat obscure (well, let’s say forgotten) hall of famer made the list three times. Chuck Klein was the big power hitter of the National League in the 1930s when everyone was paying attention to the AL. He led the NL in homers 4 times, and won the NL triple crown in 1933. His 400+ total base years were 1929, 1930 and 1932. He had a short career, which kept him out of the Hall until 1980, but he had some amazing years. For example, how about 1930, when he had 250 hits including 59 doubles, 8 triples, 40 homers, plus he had 170 RBIs, batted .386 and had 445 total bases. Whew!

By the way, the triple crown was won 11 times after Ty Cobb did it in 1909. Only 4 of those seasons hit this list, including Hornsby in 1922, Foxx in 1933 and Medwick in 1937.

The fourth triple crown - 400 total base achievement was by my nominee for the greatest hitter ever. Lou Gehrig had 400 total bases 5 times. He did it in 1927, 1930, 1931, 1934 (triple crown – 49-165-.363) and 1936. He had over 400 total bases in seasons 9 years apart. In these 5 seasons, the fewest hits he had was 205, the fewest homers 41, the fewest RBIs 152 and the lowest batting average .341.

Did you realize that the Iron Horse had a better season than Babe Ruth in 1927? The Babe set the homer record that lasted until Roger Maris' 61 in '61, but Gehrig topped him in every other category – hits (218-192), doubles (52-29), triples (18-8), RBIs (175-164), total bases (447-417), and batting average (.373-.356). Who would have won the MVP award that year if they had one?

Have you ever really looked at a scan of Gehrig’s stats? From 1926-1937 the consistency of monster stats is unparalleled. Look at this string of RBIs: 112, 175, 142, 126, 174, 184, 151, 139, 165, 119, 152. He had over 312 total bases in every one of those years. And, of course, he played every game in those 12 years. Here was his worst year, when he was 23: 179 hits, 47 doubles, 20 triples, 16 homers, 112 RBIs, 314 total bases, BA .313. That’s his WORST year. 23 years old. He was out of baseball at 36 years old, and dead 17 days before his 38th birthday.

He only had 28 at bats in 1939 before he stopped the great streak and hung them up. You know he had to be showing symptoms of ALS in during the previous season 1938, and though it was his worst season since he was a kid, he still hit .295, 29 homers, had 114 RBIs and had 301 total bases. That might not be the greatest season ever, but it’s probably the most incredible season ever.

By the way, the most total bases Pujols has had was 394 in 2003. The lowest figure he's ever had was 321, but as his walks rise, his total bases decline. This, of course, was a problem for Barry Bonds, and Ted Williams before him.

I had to save one personal favorite for last. The final member of the 400 total base club was Hal Trosky, who I wrote about a long time ago, and who I called the first Al Pujols. In 1936 Trosky had 405 total bases, with 216 hits, 45 doubles, 9 triples and 42 homers. He drove in 162 runs and batted .343. And he didn’t make the all-star team. They had high standards at first base in the AL back in 1936.