Ted Williams in 1954 second in home runs, which should qualify him for HR Rate.

Qualifying for leading in a rate or average stat should be based on opportunities, such as at bats (AB), or accomplishments, such as Hits for batting average (BA) or home runs (HR) for HR Rate (AB/HR). Top ten 1954 American League (AL) HR:

Rk	Player	HR	AB	BA	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Larry Doby	32	577	.272	1954	30	CLE	AL	153	673	94	157	18	4	126	85		94	3	1	9	7	3	1	.364	.484	.847	*8
2	Ted Williams	29	386	.345	1954	35	BOS	AL	117	526	93	133	23	1	89	136		32	1	0	3	10	0	0	.513	.635	1.148	*7/H
3	Mickey Mantle	27	543	.300	1954	22	NYY	AL	146	649	129	163	17	12	102	102		107	0	2	4	3	5	2	.408	.525	.933	*8/6H49
4	Jackie Jensen	25	580	.276	1954	27	BOS	AL	152	674	92	160	25	7	117	79		52	2	1	11	32	22	7	.359	.472	.831	*89/7H
5	Al Rosen	24	466	.300	1954	30	CLE	AL	137	566	76	140	20	2	102	85		43	3	1	11	14	6	2	.404	.506	.910	*53/H64
6	Roy Sievers	24	514	.232	1954	27	WSH	AL	145	609	75	119	26	6	102	80		77	2	2	11	17	2	1	.331	.446	.777	*7/3H
7	Yogi Berra	22	584	.307	1954	29	NYY	AL	151	651	88	179	28	6	125	56		29	4	1	7	9	0	1	.367	.488	.855	*2/H5
8	Mickey Vernon	20	597	.290	1954	36	WSH	AL	151	674	90	173	33	14	97	61		61	5	4	6	10	1	4	.357	.492	.850	*3/H
9	Ray Boone	20	543	.295	1954	30	DET	AL	148	620	75	160	19	7	85	71		53	2	2	4	18	4	2	.376	.466	.842	*5/6
10	Minnie Minoso	19	568	.320	1954	28	CHW	AL	153	676	119	182	29	18	116	77		46	16	6	8	20	18	11	.411	.535	.946	*798/5H

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/5/2016.

As you can see Ted Williams was second in HR and had 80 fewer AB than Al Rosen, the only other HR leader with fewer than 500 AB.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/1954-batting-leaders.shtml

AB per HR  s c a p y
1.	Williams (BOS)	**13.3
2.	Doby (CLE)	18.0
3.	Rosen (CLE)	19.4
4.	Mantle (NYY)	20.1
5.	Sievers (WSH)	21.4
6.	Jensen (BOS)	23.2
7.	Wilson (2TM)	**21.1
8.	Berra (NYY)	26.5
9.	Wertz (2TM)	**25.9
10.	Boone (DET)	27.2

A ** by the stat's value indicates the player had fewer than the required number of at bats or plate appearances for the BA, OBP, SLG or OPS title that year. In order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to the player's season total. The value printed here is their actual value and not the value used to rank them, therefore some numbers may appear out of order.
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Ted Williams in 1954 is a good example for both excluding from BA leaders but including among HR Rate leaders.

Ted Williams in 1954 did not qualify for Batting Average (BA).  Tuesday, April 5, 2016

In 1954 Williams played in 117 games: 526 plate appearances (PA), 386 at bats (AB), American League (AL) leading 136 Bases on Balls (BB) and 133 Hits. Since the 162 game schedule started in the AL in 1961, 502 PA qualifies a batter for rate or average stats. It shouldn't. The criteria in 1954 was silly but Williams should not have qualified for BA. He just didn't have enough AB (#43) or Hits (#24).
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So, who was the 1954 AL Home Run King: Larry Doby or Ted Williams?

1958 AL Home Run King: Rocky Colavito or Mickey Mantle?  Monday, April 4, 2016

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?
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