5. 1957 AL/NL Home Run rates.

American League (AL):

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	1957					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1957
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Roy Sievers	WSH	42	572	13.619	200	3,281	16.405	2.786	16.98%	2	Sievers
2	Ted Williams*	BOS	38	420	11.053	204	3,433	16.828	5.776	34.32%	1	Williams*
3	Mickey Mantle#	NYY	34	474	13.941	208	3,379	16.245	2.304	14.18%	3	Mantle#
4	Vic Wertz*	CLE	28	515	18.393	214	3,338	15.598	-2.795	-17.92%	5	Wertz*
5	Gus Zernial	KCA	27	437	16.185	215	3,416	15.888	-.297	-1.87%	4	Zernial
6	Rocky Colavito	CLE	25	461	18.440	217	3,392	15.631	-2.809	-17.97%	6	Colavito
7	Yogi Berra*	NYY	24	482	20.083	218	3,371	15.463	-4.620	-29.88%	7	Berra*
8	Charlie Maxwell*	DET	24	492	20.500	218	3,361	15.417	-5.083	-32.97%	8	Maxwell*
	Group		242	3,853	15.921

After missing the cut in 1956 Williams is back on top in 1957 in PctDif, leading AL 3 of 4 years. Mantle slips from first to third but wins second consecutive AL MVP.

National League (NL):

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	1957					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1957
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Hank Aaron	MLN	44	615	13.977	239	3,866	16.176	2.198	13.59%	3	Aaron
2	Ernie Banks	CHC	43	594	13.814	240	3,887	16.196	2.382	14.71%	2	Banks
3	Duke Snider*	BRO	40	508	12.700	243	3,973	16.350	3.650	22.32%	1	Snider*
4	Willie Mays	NYG	35	585	16.714	248	3,896	15.710	-1.005	-6.39%	5	Mays
5	Eddie Mathews*	MLN	32	572	17.875	251	3,909	15.574	-2.301	-14.78%	7	Mathews*
6	George Crowe*	CIN	31	494	15.935	252	3,987	15.821	-.114	-0.72%	4	Crowe*
7	Stan Musial*	STL	29	502	17.310	254	3,979	15.665	-1.645	-10.50%	6	Musial*
7	Frank Robinson	CIN	29	611	21.069	254	3,870	15.236	-5.833	-38.28%	8	Robinson
	Group		283	4,481	15.834

Aaron leads NL in HR for the first of four times but is third in PctDif behind Snider and Banks. Aaron had the most AB among this group of the 8 leading NL HR hitters. Aaron won his only 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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