Hello Baseball Fans,
As things start to heat up at these opening couple of weeks of summer, both outside and in the pennant races, we here at VFTD figured we’d take a look back at the game. You can always learn new things right? We figured we can at least try. Even in summer. For our history lesson, we’ll ‘travel’ to St. Louis, Missouri. The year: Nineteen hundred and twenty-two. We had two home teams then with the Cardinals in the N.L. of course, and the Browns in the A.L. It was a cool ninety-six years ago. Ready? Here we go!
We’re pretty sure you’ve heard the name Rogers Hornsby. Hall of famer. Answer to, at least in part, to a ton of trivia questions. Legendary second sacker, although he played several positions including a bunch at shortstop. Hornsby’s 1922 season is among the best of all-time. Here’s the batting line: .401 batting average, .459 OBP, 141 Runs, 250 Hits, 42 HR, 152 RBI, 17 SB, 65 BB, .722 Slugging Percentage, 1.181 OPS, and 450 Total Bases. All of those numbers are just unbelievably sick. Even with a couple of those stats in one season, it would be a career year for many, many players! And his Total Bases mark is still 2nd all-time to Babe Ruth’s 457 in 1921. Think about that. All those great sluggers since then, even with 8 more season games (‘only’ 154 games on the schedule until 1961), and Hornsby still stands up there with Ruth. And Hornsby does hold the record by a right-handed batter (just a little FYI there). Also, his ’22 season was good for a whopping 10.0 WAR rating.
So that’s what Rogers compiled over at Sportsman’s Park, or roughly half of it anyway. Lighting up pitchers. Practically every day. Meanwhile, also in Sportsman’s Park (Yep, two teams in the same park!), another HOF guy you may have heard of, George Sisler, was tearing the covers of baseballs off as well. He rocked the A.L. like this: .420 batting average, .467 OBP, 134 Runs, 246 Hits, 8 HR, 105 RBI, 51 SB, 49 BB, .594 Slugging Percentage, 1.061 OPS, and 348 Total Bases. That .420 batting average and 51 bags swiped is an AWESOME combo! WOW!! He compiled an 8.7 WAR that year, which was tops among A.L. every day players.
Now, those are very impressive stats and a couple of tremendous seasons by Hornsby and Sisler. You would think they were both MVP’s of their respective leagues that year, right? Keep in mind that Babe Ruth only played 110 games that year in regard to Sisler. Well, the N.L. had no MVP in 1922. In fact, they didn’t have one from 1915 all the way thru the 1923 season. I can’t see how Hornsby would NOT have won it had the press bothered to vote for one other than a ‘we-don’t-like-you-so-we’re-not-votin’-for-ya’ type of scenario. Meanwhile, Sisler did win the A.L. MVP, which was the first MVP award since the 1914 campaign (the A.L. also did not award an MVP in 1929). However, we’re wondering if Sisler really was the MVP of his league and if he was even his team’s MVP. Why? Introducing Ken Williams.
Williams was a left fielder who played from 1915 to 1929. In ’22, he hit for a .332 batting average, .413 OBP, 128 Runs, 194 Hits, 39 HR, 155 RBI, 37 SB, 74 BB, .627 Slugging Percentage, 1.040 OPS, and 367 Total Bases. He paced the league in HR, RBI and TB. He also had a 7.9 WAR, which was 2nd to Sisler of course. Now, perhaps you can’t make the argument for him being MVP over Sisler based on this comparison, BUT as great as Williams’ season was, he was cheated nonetheless as far as we can see here at VFTD. According to BaseballReference.com, he was not even among the 26 vote getters in the MVP balloting. Preposterous! THAT’S a baseball injustice! This guy had a spectacular season. And it shouldn’t be a secret. He was 30-30 Club (30+ HR and SB) with 155 RBI! That’s an MVP folks. Or at least a runner-up.
So that’s the story of what was happening in St. Louis in 1922. One ball park for two teams and three MVP-caliber seasons. Hornsby’s went unrewarded in the N.L., yet it is still appropriately famous, and Sisler’s output was deservedly awarded while Williams’ great season was shamefully disregarded. That’s some history for you fans.
And if you’re in need of more: For the record for Total Bases in a Season by a Switch-Hitter (since we mentioned above it’s Ruth and Hornsby for Left and Right-handers, respectively), Mickey Mantle comes in second with 376 TB in 1956 while playing in 150 Games for 652 Plate Appearances with 22 2B, 5 3B, 52 HR, 188 Hits, and a .353 batting average. That’s some serious production! And your Switch-Hitter Total Bases record holder is NOT named Chipper (Jones) or Eddie (Murray) either. In fact, it’s Jimmy Rollins. In 2007, he racked up 380 TB while he played in all 162 Games for 778 Plate Appearances with 38 2B, 20 3B, 30 HR, 212 Hits, and a .294 batting average. Rollins’ 380 TB is good for 68th all-time, and his 778 PA is indeed number one all-time.
Later Baseball Fans.