1958 AL Home Run race. Who "led the league in hitting" ... home runs?

Jackie Jensen (Boston Red Sox) was the American League (AL) MVP in 1958. Jensen led the AL with 122 RBI and was fifth with 35 home runs (HR). Jensen had 24 HR in the first half. In June Jensen hit 14 HR in only 97 at bats (AB). But in the final three months: 6, 4, 2. So Jensen was not really in the HR race down the stretch.

Bob Cerv (Kansas City As) was fourth in HR with 38. In 1959 Cerv hit the second most HR of his career: 20. He did not lead the AL in any significant batting category in 1958. Cerv hit only one HR in August and had only 29 entering September but hit nine that month to get close but not really compete.

Roy Sievers (Washington Senators) was third with 39. Sievers did not lead the AL in any significant batting category in 1958. He had led the AL with 42 HR in 1957. Those were his only seasons with more than 29 HR. He held the Senators season record. In 1958: half splits: 19/22. 34 HR entering September.

Rocky Colavito (Cleveland Indians) was second with 41. Colavito led the AL in slugging average. In 1959 Colavito would tie Washington Senator Harmon Killebrew for most AL HR with 42. It was Colavito's only HR championship. Colavito's career highs in HR and RBI were in 1961 with the Detroit Tigers: 45 and 140; neither led the AL. Colavito returned to Cleveland in 1965 and led the AL with 109 RBI. In 1958 Colavito hit his 41 HR in only 489 AB; at home: 20 HR in only 219 AB. Half splits: 13/28. Colavito hit 13 HR in August to blow past Cerv and pull even with Sievers at 34 entering September.

Mickey Mantle (New York Yankees) was in the first of three HR races: 1958, 1960, 1961. Mantle won the first two. The second and third were against his new teammate Roger Maris, who set the season HR record in the first 162 game schedule with 61 in 1961 when Mantle hit his career high of 54. Mantle led the AL in HR in:
1955 37
1956 52
1958 42
1960 40.

Techie note: I wasted an hour trying to make the fonts uniform. After a copy/paste of the baseball-reference.com list of the five players below, Google's blogger.com, which hosts this blog, behaved erratically. So please excuse the appearance and try to absorb the content. Thanks.

Rk	Player	HR	OPS+	SLG	Born	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	OPS	Pos
1	Mickey Mantle	42	188	.592	1931	1958	26	NYY	AL	150	654	519	127	158	21	1	97	129	13	120	2	2	2	11	18	3	.304	.443	1.035	*8
2	Rocky Colavito	41	180	.620	1933	1958	24	CLE	AL	143	578	489	80	148	26	3	113	84	6	89	2	0	3	16	0	2	.303	.405	1.024	*93/H17
3	Roy Sievers	39	147	.544	1926	1958	31	WSH	AL	148	614	550	85	162	18	1	108	53	2	63	4	0	7	13	3	1	.295	.357	.900	*73/H
4	Bob Cerv	38	159	.592	1925	1958	33	KCA	AL	141	571	515	93	157	20	7	104	50	10	82	5	0	2	19	3	3	.305	.371	.963	*7/H
5	Jackie Jensen	35	148	.535	1927	1958	31	BOS	AL	154	654	548	83	157	31	0	122	99	7	65	3	1	4	13	9	4	.286	.396	.931	*9/7H

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 3/30/2016.

In their careers Colavito and Cerv never hit an inside the park HR (IPHR). Sievers hit one: June 28, 1955 in Washington. Mantle hit six, three in 1958 batting lefty:
- Senators: May 9 off Pedro Ramos in Yankee Stadium
- White Sox: May 20 off Dick Donovan and June 5 off Early Wynn, first in Chicago then in Yankee Stadium.

The matrix below is a list of dates for Mantle's 42 HR and the total through each date for the other four players. Mantle played in but did not homer in the final three games of the season: 6 PA, 4 AB in 12 innings Friday and a doubleheader Sunday (4 PA, 3 AB; 4 PA, 4 AB in 8 innings). Mantle left that final game with 3 hits. Since Colavito played only one game that final day, by the 8th inning of Yankee game two the Yankees must have known that Colavito had finished with 41 HR. Leading 6-2, Yankee manager Casey Stengel replaced Shantz on the mound and removed Mantle:
Norm Siebern moves from CF to LF 
Bobby Shantz moves from P to CF. 

Yanks won 6-3. IPHR

Date			Pitcher	MM	Colavito	Sievers	Cerv	Jensen
Thu, Apr 17.	@	BOS	Tom Brewer	1	0	0	2	3
Fri, May 9.		WSH	Pedro Ramos	2	2	3	8	4
Sun, May 18.	@	WSH	Pedro Ramos	3	2	4	11	8
Tue, May 20.	@	CHW	Dick Donovan	4	2	4	11	8
Mon, Jun 2.		CHW	Jim Wilson	5	5	8	14	10
Tue, Jun 3.		CHW	Dick Donovan	6	5	9	15	10
Wed, Jun 4.		CHW	Billy Pierce	7	5	9	15	10
Thu, Jun 5.		CHW	Early Wynn	8	5	9	15	11
Fri, Jun 6.		CLE	Dick Tomanek	9	5	9	15	11
Fri, Jun 6.		CLE	Dick Tomanek	10	5	9	15	11
Sun, Jun 8.		CLE	Mudcat Grant	11	7	10	15	13
Fri, Jun 13.		DET	Billy Hoeft	12	8	12	16	15
Tue, Jun 24.	@	CHW	Early Wynn	13	11	13	19	19
Sun, Jun 29.	@	KCA	Ralph Terry	14	12	18	19	23
Tue, Jul 1.	@	BAL	Hal Brown	15	12	18	21	24
Tue, Jul 1.	@	BAL	Jack Harshman	16	12	18	21	24
Thu, Jul 3.	@	WSH	Russ Kemmerer	17	12	18	21	24
Thu, Jul 3.	@	WSH	Russ Kemmerer	18	12	18	21	24
Fri, Jul 4.	@	WSH	Chuck Stobbs	19	12	19	22	24
Sat, Jul 5.		BOS	Dave Sisler	20	13	19	22	24
Sun, Jul 6.		BOS	Ike Delock	21	13	19	22	24
Fri, Jul 11.		CLE	Ray Narleski	22	14	20	23	26
Mon, Jul 14.		CHW	Early Wynn	23	14	20	23	26
Tue, Jul 15.		DET	Frank Lary	24	14	21	23	27
Wed, Jul 23.	@	DET	Bill Fischer	25	16	25	24	28
Thu, Jul 24.	@	DET	Paul Foytack	26	18	25	24	28
Mon, Jul 28.	@	KCA	Dick Tomanek	27	19	26	28	29
Mon, Jul 28.	@	KCA	Ray Herbert	28	19	26	28	29
Mon, Aug 4.	@	BAL	Charlie Beamon	29	23	28	28	30
Tue, Aug 5.	@	BAL	Connie Johnson	30	23	28	28	30
Sat, Aug 9.		BOS	Dave Sisler	31	23	31	29	31
Mon, Aug 11.		BAL	Connie Johnson	32	24	32	29	32
Tue, Aug 12.		BAL	Ken Lehman	33	24	32	29	32
Sat, Aug 16.	@	BOS	Tom Brewer	34	26	33	29	32
Sun, Aug 17.	@	BOS	Ike Delock	35	27	33	29	32
Fri, Aug 22.		CHW	Early Wynn	36	29	34	29	33
Wed, Aug 27.		KCA	Tom Gorman	37	31	34	29	33
Tue, Sep 2.		BOS	Dave Sisler	38	34	34	30	33
Wed, Sep 3.		BOS	Frank Sullivan	39	34	34	31	33
Tue, Sep 9.	@	CLE	Cal McLish	40	34	36	32	34
Wed, Sep 17.	@	DET	Jim Bunning	41	38	38	36	34
Wed, Sep 24.	@	BOS	Tom Brewer	42	39	38	38	34
Fri, Sep 26.				42	40	38	38	34
Sat, Sep 27.				42	40	39	38	34
Sun, Sep 28.				42	41	39	38	35
Date			Pitcher	MM	Colavito	Sievers	Cerv	Jensen

Cerv dominated early, then MVP Jensen in the middle. Colavito never led on the dates when Mantle homered.

	HR	HR	HR	HR	HR
	Mantle	Colavito	Sievers	Cerv	Jensen
April	1	2	2	6	4
May	3	3	5	8	5
June	10	7	11	6	14
July	14	9	8	8	6
Aug	9	13	8	1	4
Sep	5	7	5	9	2
	42	41	39	38	35

	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB
	Mantle	Colavito	Sievers	Cerv	Jensen
April	43	26	42	45	51
May	83	80	65	78	92
June	102	109	124	128	97
July	106	98	117	80	107
Aug	104	109	104	98	109
Sep	81	67	98	86	92
	519	489	550	515	548

	AB/HR	AB/HR	AB/HR	AB/HR	AB/HR
	Mantle	Colavito	Sievers	Cerv	Jensen
April	43.0	13.0	21.0	7.5	12.8
May	27.7	26.7	13.0	9.8	18.4
June	10.2	15.6	11.3	21.3	6.9
July	7.6	10.9	14.6	10.0	17.8
Aug	11.6	8.4	13.0	98.0	27.3
Sep	16.2	9.6	19.6	9.6	46.0
	12.4	11.9	14.1	13.6	15.7

In 1958 the batter who "led the league in hitting" was Ted Williams, who had the highest batting average (BA) with .328. But Nellie Fox, White Sox second baseman, had the most hits; Williams was not even in the top ten. So why wasn't Fox regarded as the best hitter? If the best rate or average of something defines the best, then why wasn't Rocky Colavito the Home Run King in 1958, instead of Mickey Mantle. The old phrase "led the league in hitting" has faded but not completely. But looking at HR rate has never taken hold. We still deal with HR as totals.

Today's smarties are into WAR (Wins Above Replacement) as a unifying theory. WAR is a total. So, how far have we come?