Those five batters held the rookie Home Run record progressive going back to 1930.
Aaron Judge was the first rookie to reach 50 Home Runs: 52 in 2017. But then Pete Alonso hit 53 in 2019. So Alonso is the answer, right? Well, yes, if all you do is what pretty much all baseball fans do when considering Home Runs: stare at the totals.
What about the number of plate appearances (PA: AB + BB + HBP + SF + SH) or at bats (AB)? AB:
Judge 542Alonso 597
Alonso took 55 more AB to hit only one more Home Run, so it must be Aaron Judge between those two, right? But they played in different leagues in different years. So we should look at Home Run hitting in each league in those years, right?
That's basically the flow of my logic. See my next post:
Should Sacrifice Flies (SF) be in the Home Run rate: (AB+SF)/HR? Saturday, December 18, 2021
Oh, in 1937 Detroit rookie Rudy York hit 35 Home Runs in only 375 AB! So, let's extend our evaluation beyond the six progressive record holders. Let's look at rookie seasons with at least 30 Home Runs. That list contains 32 rookies: AL 21, NL 11. Boston Brave rookie Wally Berger was the first with 38 in 1930.
This post will look at the Home Run rate: AB/HR. Lower is better. The objective is to see the percent difference between the AB/HR for the player and his league that season: Dif/(L AB/HR).
Ballpark factor for Home Run hitting should be factored in but it's beyond the scope of this post. As suggested in this blog years ago, there should be a HR+ that takes all this into account, instead of just staring at totals, which we hardly do anymore with anything else.
Below the list of 32 is sorted twice. First by Home Runs descending, year ascending. Then by percent difference from the league Home Run rate. Bold is max. Red is min.
Sorted by % Dif:
The leaders in number of rookie Home Runs drop down significantly in rank except for one who moves up:
Alonso 20
Judge 11
McGwire 9
Berger 3
Frank Robinson 18
Rudy York
Positions: First Baseman and Catcher
Bats: Right • Throws: Right
6-1, 209lb (185cm, 94kg)
Born: August 17, 1913 in Ragland, AL us
Died: February 5, 1970
Rudy York is our champ with 35 Home Runs in 1937 in only 375 AB. He hit 34 in in 1943 for the only time he led the league but that was in the middle of World War II. He also hit 33 in both 1938 and 1940. He played in seven games in each of three World Series: 1940 (one homer) and 1945 with Detroit and 1946 with the Boston Red Sox (two homers). Here are the 1937 Home Run leaders:
1. | DiMaggio • NYY | 46 |
2. | Greenberg • DET | 40 |
3. | Gehrig • NYY | 37 |
4. | Foxx • BOS | 36 |
5. | York • DET | 35 |
6. | Trosky • CLE | 32 |
7. | Clift • SLB | 29 |
Dickey • NYY | 29 | |
9. | Johnson • PHA | 25 |
Moses • PHA | 25 |
1. | York • DET | 10.7 |
2. | DiMaggio • NYY | 13.5 |
3. | Greenberg • DET | 14.9 |
4. | Gehrig • NYY | 15.4 |
5. | Foxx • BOS | 15.8 |
6. | Dickey • NYY | 18.3 |
7. | Trosky • CLE | 18.8 |
8. | Johnson • PHA | 19.1 |
9. | Clift • SLB | 19.7 |
10. | Bonura • CHW | 23.5 |
Joe DiMaggio was in his second season in 1937. His Home Run rate was 75% above the AL rate.
Source: https://stathead.com/ by way of https://www.baseball-reference.com/
2 comments:
York had 375 official at bats that season.
Thanks, Vinnie. The correct number was in the table. It was my verbiage that was off. I corrected that. Ken
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