7. 1959 AL/NL Home Run rates.

American League (AL):

	1959					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1959
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Rocky Colavito	CLE	42	588	14.000	224	3,766	16.813	2.813	16.73%	2	Colavito
1	Harmon Killebrew	WSH	42	546	13.000	224	3,808	17.000	4.000	23.53%	1	Killebrew
3	Jim Lemon	WSH	33	531	16.091	233	3,823	16.408	.317	1.93%	3	Lemon
4	Mickey Mantle#	NYY	31	541	17.452	235	3,813	16.226	-1.226	-7.56%	5	Mantle#
4	Charlie Maxwell*	DET	31	518	16.710	235	3,836	16.323	-.386	-2.37%	4	Maxwell*
6	Bob Allison	WSH	30	570	19.000	236	3,784	16.034	-2.966	-18.50%	7	Allison
7	Woodie Held	CLE	29	525	18.103	237	3,829	16.156	-1.947	-12.05%	6	Held
8	Jackie Jensen	BOS	28	535	19.107	238	3,819	16.046	-3.061	-19.08%	8	Jensen
	Group		266	4,354	16.368

40 year old Ted Williams is injured and hits only 10 HR. Mantle drops to 5th in PctDif but Killebrew ties Colavito for most HR and leads in PctDif.

National League (NL):

	1959					G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	G-P	1959
HR#	Name	Tm	HR	AB	AB/HR	HR	AB	AB/HR	Dif	PctDif	PctDif#	Name
1	Eddie Mathews*	MLN	46	594	12.913	236	3,898	16.517	3.604	21.82%	1	Mathews*
2	Ernie Banks	CHC	45	589	13.089	237	3,903	16.468	3.379	20.52%	2	Banks
3	Hank Aaron	MLN	39	629	16.128	243	3,863	15.897	-.231	-1.45%	5	Aaron
4	Frank Robinson	CIN	36	540	15.000	246	3,952	16.065	1.065	6.63%	4	Robinson
5	Willie Mays	SFG	34	575	16.912	248	3,917	15.794	-1.117	-7.07%	6	Mays
6	Ken Boyer	STL	28	563	20.107	254	3,929	15.469	-4.639	-29.99%	7	Boyer
7	Orlando Cepeda	SFG	27	605	22.407	255	3,887	15.243	-7.164	-47.00%	8	Cepeda
7	Dick Stuart	PIT	27	397	14.704	255	4,095	16.059	1.355	8.44%	3	Stuart
	Group		282	4,492	15.929

Mathews hit his second most HR to lead NL and also lead in PctDif. Banks is a close second in both and wins his second consecutive 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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