2. 1954 AL/NL Home Run rates.

American League (AL):

	1954					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1954
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Larry Doby*	CLE	32	577	18.031	191	4,213	22.058	4.026	18.25%	2	Doby*
2	Ted Williams*	BOS	29	386	13.310	194	4,404	22.701	9.391	41.37%	1	Williams*
3	Mickey Mantle#	NYY	27	543	20.111	196	4,247	21.668	1.557	7.19%	4	Mantle#
4	Jackie Jensen	BOS	25	580	23.200	198	4,210	21.263	-1.937	-9.11%	6	Jensen
5	Al Rosen	CLE	24	466	19.417	199	4,324	21.729	2.312	10.64%	3	Rosen
5	Roy Sievers	WSH	24	514	21.417	199	4,276	21.487	.071	0.33%	5	Sievers
7	Yogi Berra*	NYY	22	584	26.545	201	4,206	20.925	-5.620	-26.86%	7	Berra*
8	Ray Boone	DET	20	543	27.150	203	4,247	20.921	-6.229	-29.77%	8	Boone
8	Mickey Vernon*	WSH	20	597	29.850	203	4,193	20.655	-9.195	-44.52%	9	Vernon*
	Group		223	4,790	21.480

Larry Doby, the first modern black player in the AL, leads in HR but Ted Williams leads in HR rate (PctDif 41.37%) with Doby second, followed by Rosen and Mantle. Seventh is 1954 MVP: Yankee catcher Yogi Berra. Roy Sievers will lead in HR in 1957. Doby had three more HR than Williams but in 191 more AB.

The AL group has 9 HR leaders, not 8, because Boone and Vernon tied for 8th.

National League (NL):

	1954					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1954
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Ted Kluszewski*	CIN	49	573	11.694	266	3,857	14.500	2.806	19.35%	1	Kluszewski*
2	Gil Hodges	BRO	42	579	13.786	273	3,851	14.106	.321	2.27%	5	Hodges
3	Willie Mays	NYG	41	565	13.780	274	3,865	14.106	.325	2.31%	4	Mays
3	Hank Sauer	CHC	41	520	12.683	274	3,910	14.270	1.587	11.12%	3	Sauer
5	Eddie Mathews*	MLN	40	476	11.900	275	3,954	14.378	2.478	17.24%	2	Mathews*
5	Duke Snider*	BRO	40	584	14.600	275	3,846	13.985	-.615	-4.39%	6	Snider*
7	Stan Musial*	STL	35	591	16.886	280	3,839	13.711	-3.175	-23.16%	7	Musial*
8	Jim Greengrass	CIN	27	542	20.074	288	3,888	13.500	-6.574	-48.70%	8	Greengrass
	Group		315	4,430	14.063

Ted Kluszewski sweeps, leading NL in both total HR and rate (PctDif 19.35%). NL had six players with at least 40 HR. Eddie Mathews had hit 47 HR in 1953 and is second in HR rate in 1954. Willie Mays is in his second full season after returning from the Army; Mays led NL in BA and was NL MVP; his New York Giants swept Doby's Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series.

Click this link to view detailed data for this series.

1. Ted Williams, Home Run King? Yes, using AB/HR. Wednesday, December 18, 2019

... Home Run hitting by individuals should be judged by more than the total...

... for this new series:
- look at batters in their own league
- subtract the individual's numbers from that of the group of other batters before making the comparison...

Finally, this new series is being done on somewhat of an anecdotal basis using a spreadsheet, not a database of all batters 1920-2019, 100 years as in the recent 2019 series. This time it's only 8 years: 1954-1961.

Why those years? They're interesting. They are before the designated hitter (DH) was introduced in the American League (AL) in 1973 and before modern expansion, except for the AL in 1961 when it added the Angels and new Senators, who later moved to Texas and changed their name to Rangers. Obviously, the years are also way before inter-league play started in 1997...

Players in bold led that league in Home Runs that season.

	AL best PctDif	AL	AL		NL best PctDif	NL	NL
year	Name	HR	PctDif	year	Name	HR	PctDif
1954	Ted Williams*	27	41.37%	1954	Ted Kluszewski*	49	19.35%
1955	Ted Williams*	28	36.53%	1955	Willie Mays	51	17.67%
1956	Mickey Mantle#	52	45.55%	1956	Joe Adcock	38	20.25%
1957	Ted Williams*	38	34.32%	1957	Duke Snider*	40	22.32%
1958	Rocky Colavito	41	23.22%	1958	Ernie Banks	47	31.69%
1959	Harmon Killebrew	42	23.53%	1959	Eddie Mathews*	46	21.82%
1960	Ted Williams*	28	28.29%	1960	Eddie Mathews*	39	19.62%
1961	Mickey Mantle#	54	30.73%	1961	Orlando Cepeda	46	21.03%

* lefty # switch hitter

AB: At Bats
HR: Home Runs
American League (AL) and National League (NL)
Home Run Rate: AB/HR (lower is better)
N: number of AL or NL teams that season
Top home run hitters: N hitters with the most HR, plus any ties at the bottom
Home Run Rate AL or NL: for N hitters: total AB / total HR
Home Run Rate hitters: AB/HR
Dif: Home Run Rate hitter - other Home Run Rate AL or NL N hitters
PctDif: Dif/Home Run Rate AL or NL
PctDif#: rank among N hitters for PctDif

Hitters are ranked by relative position: 1, 2, 3, ... Ties would have the same number and then rank number would resume. For example, if four players are tied at third place: 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 7, 8, ...
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