3. 1955 AL/NL Home Run rates.

American League (AL):

	1955					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1955
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Mickey Mantle#	NYY	37	517	13.973	191	3,404	17.822	3.849	21.60%	3	Mantle#
2	Gus Zernial	KCA	30	413	13.767	198	3,508	17.717	3.951	22.30%	2	Zernial
3	Ted Williams*	BOS	28	320	11.429	200	3,601	18.005	6.576	36.53%	1	Williams*
4	Yogi Berra*	NYY	27	541	20.037	201	3,380	16.816	-3.221	-19.16%	6	Berra*
4	Al Kaline	DET	27	588	21.778	201	3,333	16.582	-5.196	-31.33%	7	Kaline
4	Norm Zauchin	BOS	27	477	17.667	201	3,444	17.134	-.532	-3.11%	4	Zauchin
7	Larry Doby*	CLE	26	491	18.885	202	3,430	16.980	-1.904	-11.22%	5	Doby*
7	Jackie Jensen	BOS	26	574	22.077	202	3,347	16.569	-5.508	-33.24%	8	Jensen
	Group		228	3,921	17.197

Mantle led AL in HR for the first of four times but Williams again led in HR rate because he took only 320 AB to hit his 28 HR. 

Catcher Berra won his third and final AL MVP.

National League (NL):

	1955					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1955
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Willie Mays	NYG	51	580	11.373	279	3,854	13.814	2.441	17.67%	1	Mays
2	Ted Kluszewski*	CIN	47	612	13.021	283	3,822	13.505	.484	3.58%	4	Kluszewski*
3	Ernie Banks	CHC	44	596	13.545	286	3,838	13.420	-.126	-0.94%	5	Banks
4	Duke Snider*	BRO	42	538	12.810	288	3,896	13.528	.718	5.31%	3	Snider*
5	Eddie Mathews*	MLN	41	499	12.171	289	3,935	13.616	1.445	10.61%	2	Mathews*
6	Wally Post	CIN	40	601	15.025	290	3,833	13.217	-1.808	-13.68%	7	Post
7	Stan Musial*	STL	33	562	17.030	297	3,872	13.037	-3.993	-30.63%	8	Musial*
8	Roy Campanella	BRO	32	446	13.938	298	3,988	13.383	-.555	-4.15%	6	Campanella
	Group		330	4,434	13.436

Six NL players hit at least 40 HR, three more than Mantle's AL leading 37. Mays led NL in HR for the first of four times and also in HR rate. Both Mays and Mantle also led in triples: 13 and 11. Only one other player since 1903 led in both 3B and HR in the same year: NL 1928, Jim Bottomley 31 HR, 20 3B. Mays and Mantle both played center field in New York. The Giants and Dodgers move to California after the 1957 season.

Catcher Campanella won his third and final NL MVP.

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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