Playing with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder, and doing the flip-side of yesterday's fun, I looked for how many times each season, since 1901, has a batter qualified for the batting title while having his strikeouts be less than one-tenth of his outs made. Basically, I was looking for regular position players since 1901 who make a ton of contact at the plate. The year-by-year breakdown of this search follows below.

It's interesting that extreme contact starting pitchers left the scene in 1984 - as yesterday's data suggested - but, the extreme contact hitter didn't start to disappear until 1997.

I have no idea what this means. I'm a baseball fan and not a math major. And, there may be some mathematical application to explain why this happened. Perhaps it's just because there are probably twice as many batters to qualify for the batting title each season there are pitchers to qualify for the ERA title? I dunno. But, nonetheless, it's fun to look at some of the names that made this list.  And, it's sorta cool that this "event" has never NOT happened since 1901.  How long will that streak last?

Rk	Year	#Matching
109	2009	1
102	2008	3
105	2007	2
106	2006	2
97	2005	4
98	2004	4
107	2003	2
92	2002	6
99	2001	4
100	2000	4
108	1999	2
103	1998	3
101	1997	4
89	1996	7
93	1995	6
85	1994	8
75	1993	10
76	1992	10
77	1991	10
90	1990	7
86	1989	8
72	1988	11
87	1987	8
94	1986	6
58	1985	15
88	1984	8
59	1983	15
60	1982	15
53	1981	23
64	1980	13
61	1979	14
68	1978	12
57	1977	17
65	1976	13
69	1975	12
70	1974	12
66	1973	13
82	1972	9
62	1971	14
73	1970	11
63	1969	14
83	1968	9
104	1967	3
78	1966	10
95	1965	5
96	1964	5
91	1963	7
79	1962	10
74	1961	11
71	1960	12
80	1959	10
84	1958	9
67	1957	13
81	1956	10
56	1955	18
55	1954	20
50	1953	32
54	1952	21
49	1951	33
47	1950	35
51	1949	30
46	1948	36
45	1947	37
52	1946	28
40	1945	45
30	1944	56
42	1943	42
32	1942	55
37	1941	49
39	1940	47
41	1939	43
36	1938	51
34	1937	52
27	1936	60
29	1935	58
35	1934	52
26	1933	62
25	1932	63
33	1931	55
31	1930	56
19	1929	69
24	1928	64
14	1927	73
17	1926	70
20	1925	69
13	1924	74
23	1923	67
10	1922	79
12	1921	76
18	1920	70
22	1919	68
11	1918	77
43	1917	41
48	1916	34
28	1915	60
38	1914	48
44	1913	38
15	1912	72
21	1911	69
16	1910	71
7	1909	111
2	1908	119
3	1907	119
6	1906	113
1	1905	120
4	1904	119
5	1903	116
9	1902	101
8	1901	110

To see the batters, by name, for each season, see below.

.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.