4. 1956 AL/NL Home Run rates.

American League (AL):

	1956					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1956
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Mickey Mantle#	NYY	52	533	10.250	199	3,746	18.824	8.574	45.55%	1	Mantle#
2	Vic Wertz*	CLE	32	481	15.031	219	3,798	17.342	2.311	13.33%	2	Wertz*
3	Yogi Berra*	NYY	30	521	17.367	221	3,758	17.005	-.362	-2.13%	3	Berra*
4	Roy Sievers	WSH	29	550	18.966	222	3,729	16.797	-2.168	-12.91%	5	Sievers
5	Charlie Maxwell*	DET	28	500	17.857	223	3,779	16.946	-.911	-5.38%	4	Maxwell*
6	Al Kaline	DET	27	617	22.852	224	3,662	16.348	-6.504	-39.78%	8	Kaline
6	Jim Lemon	WSH	27	538	19.926	224	3,741	16.701	-3.225	-19.31%	6	Lemon
8	Hank Bauer	NYY	26	539	20.731	225	3,740	16.622	-4.109	-24.72%	7	Bauer
	Group		251	4,279	17.048

Mantle sweeps HR and HR rate. Mantle won "triple crown", leading his league in batting average (BA), HR, RBI. First since Williams in 1947 and 1942. Berra is number 3 and among the leaders in 1954, 1955, 1956. Mantle's PctDif 45.55% is the highest in either AL or NL for the years in this series: 1954-1961. Mantle wins first of three AL MVP.

National League (NL):

	1956					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1956
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Duke Snider*	BRO	43	542	12.605	252	3,762	14.929	2.324	15.57%	2	Snider*
2	Joe Adcock	MLN	38	454	11.947	257	3,850	14.981	3.033	20.25%	1	Adcock
2	Frank Robinson	CIN	38	572	15.053	257	3,732	14.521	-.531	-3.66%	6	Robinson
4	Eddie Mathews*	MLN	37	552	14.919	258	3,752	14.543	-.376	-2.59%	4	Mathews*
5	Willie Mays	NYG	36	578	16.056	259	3,726	14.386	-1.669	-11.60%	7	Mays
5	Wally Post	CIN	36	539	14.972	259	3,765	14.537	-.436	-3.00%	5	Post
7	Ted Kluszewski*	CIN	35	517	14.771	260	3,787	14.565	-.206	-1.41%	3	Kluszewski*
8	Gil Hodges	BRO	32	550	17.188	263	3,754	14.274	-2.914	-20.41%	8	Hodges
	Group		295	4,304	14.590

Snider hit his career high in HR but was second in PctDif to Adcock who had 5 fewer HR but also 88 fewer AB.

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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