6. 1958 AL/NL Home Run rates.

American League (AL):

	1958					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1958
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Mickey Mantle#	NYY	42	519	12.357	263	4,071	15.479	3.122	20.17%	2	Mantle#
2	Rocky Colavito	CLE	41	489	11.927	264	4,101	15.534	3.607	23.22%	1	Colavito
3	Roy Sievers	WSH	39	550	14.103	266	4,040	15.188	1.085	7.15%	4	Sievers
4	Bob Cerv	KCA	38	515	13.553	267	4,075	15.262	1.710	11.20%	3	Cerv
5	Jackie Jensen	BOS	35	548	15.657	270	4,042	14.970	-.687	-4.59%	5	Jensen
6	Gus Triandos	BAL	30	474	15.800	275	4,116	14.967	-.833	-5.56%	7	Triandos
7	Roger Maris*	TOT	28	583	20.821	277	4,007	14.466	-6.356	-43.94%	9	Maris*
8	Jim Lemon	WSH	26	501	19.269	279	4,089	14.656	-4.613	-31.48%	8	Lemon
8	Ted Williams*	BOS	26	411	15.808	279	4,179	14.978	-.829	-5.54%	6	Williams*
	Group		305	4,590	15.049

After leading in PctDif 3 of 4 years Williams dropped to 6th. Mantle led in HR for the third time in four years but was second to Colavito in PctDif. Maris is among AL leaders for the first time. Jensen was AL MVP.

-->
National League (NL):
-->

	1958					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1958
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Ernie Banks	CHC	47	617	13.128	207	3,978	19.217	6.090	31.69%	1	Banks
2	Frank Thomas	PIT	35	562	16.057	219	4,033	18.416	2.358	12.81%	2	Thomas
3	Eddie Mathews*	MLN	31	546	17.613	223	4,049	18.157	.544	3.00%	3	Mathews*
3	Frank Robinson	CIN	31	554	17.871	223	4,041	18.121	.250	1.38%	4	Robinson
5	Hank Aaron	MLN	30	601	20.033	224	3,994	17.830	-2.203	-12.36%	6	Aaron
6	Willie Mays	SFG	29	600	20.690	225	3,995	17.756	-2.934	-16.52%	7	Mays
7	Walt Moryn*	CHC	26	512	19.692	228	4,083	17.908	-1.784	-9.96%	5	Moryn*
8	Orlando Cepeda	SFG	25	603	24.120	229	3,992	17.432	-6.688	-38.36%	8	Cepeda
	Group		254	4,595	18.091

Banks dominates with career high 47 HR and NL high 617 AB. Sweeps HR total and HR rate. Banks 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, ...
______________________