The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time by Elliott Kalb

Author:Elliott Kalb
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-26T10:00:00+00:00

Major Leaguers striking out 100+ times in a season

1960: 7

1980: 11

1985: 29

1992: 34

1993: 41

1996: 62

1997: 72

1998: 73

1999: 71

2001: 74

2002: 71

It was a red herring for many people, myself included. Players were playing a different game, closer to “Home Run Derby” than conventional baseball. Everyone went up to the plate trying to hit home runs. Look at the numbers:

For baseball fans in need of a good trivia question, the seven players who struck out more than 100 times in 1960 were Pancho Herrera, Mickey Mantle, Jim Lemon, Eddie Matthews, Frank Howard, Dick Stuart, and Harmon Killebrew. Even the best baseball fans will have trouble remembering Pancho Herrera, who sounds more like a tennis player than baseball player.

Herrera was a first baseman for the Phillies. I can use any benchmark, not just 100 strikeouts in a season. In 1960, only fourteen players struck out as many as ninety times. In 1998, however, there were 104 players that struck out 90+ times. Even accounting for many more Major Leaguers in 1998, you can see my point. There were sixteen Major League teams in 1960, and only fourteen players (not even one per team) struck out ninety or more times. That rate would multiply 3½ times in the late 1990s.

It’s not because the pitching has gotten better. If anything, pitching has gotten worse. Pitchers walk more batters, hit more batters, allow more hits, more runs, and more home runs. But they strike out far more batters. Maybe home runs were just hit at a greater rate before because players tried like hell to swing for the fences, which put them on nightly highlight shows and gave them ammunition when seeking new contracts.

Players worked out with weights—used supplements to do extensive weight training, like football players or weightlifters—and baseball became a hit or miss game.

The old-time baseball players didn’t look like defensive ends or weightlifters. In fact, they didn’t even lift weights. The best home run hitters of all time didn’t even weigh 200 pounds. Hank Aaron hit 755 home runs, mostly with his powerful wrists, and never struck out 100 times in a season. Ted Williams hit 521 home runs, and never struck out more than sixty-four times in any year. Mel Ott hit 511 homers, but never struck out seventy times in a season. Willie Mays had exactly one year that he struck out more than 100 times.

So, one reason the players hit more (and longer) home runs was that they built up their bodies with weightlifting and supplements and went up swinging for the fences. They were able to generate greater bat speed. Another reason was little fear or repercussions from strikeouts. The computer-generated statistics—and men like Bill James who were capable of analyzing the numbers—further advocated the end of bunting, sacrificing, and giving up outs to play for a single run.

I was not only a member of the media in 1996, but also a fan. I took my sons to baseball games, and wanted them to become fans, too. They wanted to see home runs.

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