1958 AL Home Run King: Rocky Colavito or Mickey Mantle?

1958 AL Home Run race. Who "led the league in hitting" ... home runs?  Thursday, March 31, 2016

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?
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Top ten in American League (AL) home runs sorted by HRrate: AB/HR:

qryBA_HR

nameFirst	nameLast	yearID	teamID	AB	HR	HRrate	PA	BA
Rocky	Colavito	1958	CLE	489	41	11.9	578	.303
Mickey	Mantle	1958	NYA	519	42	12.4	654	.304
Bob	Cerv	1958	KC1	515	38	13.6	572	.305
Roy	Sievers	1958	WS1	550	39	14.1	614	.295
Jackie	Jensen	1958	BOS	548	35	15.7	655	.286
Ted	Williams	1958	BOS	411	26	15.8	517	.328
Gus	Triandos	1958	BAL	474	30	15.8	544	.245
Jim	Lemon	1958	WS1	501	26	19.3	555	.246
Yogi	Berra	1958	NYA	433	22	19.7	476	.266
Minnie	Minoso	1958	CLE	556	24	23.2	638	.302

When the criteria was expanded in include all 34 batters with at least 10 HR, Colavito still had the best HR Rate. That expanded list included seven batters with fewer than 400 at bats (AB) and one, Larry Doby, with fewer than 300: 247.

Clearly, Rocky Colavito had the best HR Rate in the AL in 1958. Colavito had one fewer HR than the AL leader Mickey Mantle, who was second to Colavito in HR Rate. On average, Mantle took an extra half AB to homer.

So, who was the 1958 AL Home Run King: Rocky Colavito or Mickey Mantle?