Kardiac Kids, part II

On Sept. 11, I posted a list of the worst season ERA's by pitchers who saved 30 or more games. Brad Lidge of the Philadelphia Phillies now tops the list. While saving 31 games for the NL East champs, Lidge compiled a 7.21 ERA, beating the old record held by Shawn Chacon (who at least had the excuse of pitching in Coors Field). Incidentally, Lidge was 0-8 with 11 blown saves, after blowing no saves in 41 chances in 2008.

The revised list:

7.21 - Brad Lidge, 2009 Phi. NL, 31 saves
7.11 - Shawn Chacon, 2004 Col. NL, 35
5.79 - Mike Henneman, 1996 Tex. AL, 31
5.28 - Brad Lidge, 2006 Hou. NL, 32
5.28 - Todd Worrell, 1997 L.A. NL, 35
5.14 - Dave Veres, 1999 Col. NL, 31
5.07 - Joe Borowski, 2007 Cle. AL, 45
4.98 - Jose Mesa, 1999 Sea. AL, 33
4.98 - Jeff Montgomery, 1998 K.C. AL, 36
4.80 - Billy Koch, 2001 Tor. AL, 36

.440*

The most famous asterisk in baseball history is the one that accompanied Roger Maris' record 61 home runs in 1961. However, there are multiple batting average records that could have been accompanied by asterisks, making the question of who holds the record for highest batting average in a season a surprisingly difficult one to answer.

In 1887, outfielder Tip O'Neill of the St. Louis Browns of the American Association (a relatively short-lived major league) hit for an average that, at the time, was considered to be .492. This is by far the highest figure ever recognized as leading a major league. The catch was that during 1887, walks were counted as hits. Once the walks are removed from O'Neill's stats, his average drops to .435, still one of the highest ever recorded.

But not THE highest. In 1894, outfielder Hugh Duffy of the National League's Boston franchise hit for an average recognized as .438 at the time and since revised by historians to .440. This stands as the highest average since the mound was moved to 60' 6" from home plate. The catch in Duffy's case was that the switch in mound distance from 50' had taken place after the 1892 season, leading to an unprecedented domination of the sport by hitters for a couple of years until the pitchers managed to adjust. In 1894, the batting average for the National League as a whole was .309, with eight out of the league's twelve teams hitting better than .300, and five scoring more than a thousand runs, led by Boston's 1220.

In 1901 second baseman Nap Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics hit .426, the highest average in the twentieth century. However, Lajoie was playing in the American League during its inagural year as a self-declared major league and its highly doubtful that the quality of play in the league truly measured up to major league standards. In essence, Lajoie was playing mostly against minor-leaguers. Also, foul balls were not counted as strikes in the AL during this time.

Willie Keeler of the 1897 Baltimore Orioles and Rogers Hornsby of the 1924 Cardinals both hit .424. Keeler's average is actually slightly higher (.4238 to .4235), but he was playing in an era in which fouls were not counted as strikes. Like Duffy, Hornsby played in a big-hitting era, though an era not quite as historically out-of-whack as Duffy's. Trying to figure out the batting average "record" serves as a strong reminder of how much statistics depend on playing conditions.

Lightning in a Bottle

Players with 50 or more extra base hits, but fewer than 100 total hits, season:

Mark McGwire, Oak. AL 1995, 87 hits, 52 XBH (13 2B, 0 3B, 39 HR)
Bob Hamelin, K.C. AL 1994, 88 hits, 50 XBH (25 2B, 1 3B, 24 HR)
Barry Bonds, S.F. NL 1999, 93 hits, 56 XBH (20 2B, 2 3B, 34 HR)
Luke Scott, Hou. NL 2007, 94 hits, 51 XBH (28 2B, 5 3B, 18 HR)
Jose Valentin, Chi. AL 2004, 97 hits, 53 XBH (20 2B, 3 3B, 30 HR)
Rob Deer, Det. AL 1992, 97 hits, 53 XBH (20 2B, 1 3B, 32 HR)
Luis Gonzalez, Ari. NL 2004, 98 hits, 50 XBH (28 2B, 5 3B, 17 HR)
Ray Lankford, St.L.-S.D. NL 2001, 98 hits, 51 XBH (28 2B, 4 3B, 19 HR)