Babe Ruth: better career Home Run rate against lefties among 19 lefty batters with at least 100 HR against lefty pitchers.

Babe Ruth is the only one with better Home Run rates against lefty pitchers than against righty pitchers, both PA/HR and AB/HR. Mel Ott also has a better PA/HR but not as good as Ruth.

This is among the 19 lefty batters with at least 100 career Home Runs (HR) against lefty pitchers as derived:

In Cumulative Seasons, In the Regular Season, from 1901 to 2024, Bats LH, vs LHP (within Platoon Splits), requiring Home Runs >= 100, sorted by greatest Home Runs.

https://stathead.com/tiny/DSbNZ

Sorted by HR against lefty pitchers:

					L	R	T		L	R
Rk	???	Player	From	To	HR	HR	HR		HR%	HR%	Player
1		Barry Bonds	1986	2007	227	535	762		29.79%	70.21%	Barry Bonds
2	20	Babe Ruth	1915	1935	210	484	714		29.41%	67.79%	Babe Ruth
3		Ken Griffey Jr.	1989	2010	186	444	630		29.52%	70.48%	Ken Griffey Jr.
4		Reggie Jackson	1967	1987	179	384	563		31.79%	68.21%	Reggie Jackson
5		Rafael Palmeiro	1986	2005	160	409	569		28.12%	71.88%	Rafael Palmeiro
6	38	Stan Musial	1941	1963	140	297	475		29.47%	62.53%	Stan Musial
7	15	Lou Gehrig	1923	1939	136	342	493		27.59%	69.37%	Lou Gehrig
8		Fred McGriff	1987	2004	126	367	493		25.56%	74.44%	Fred McGriff
9		David Ortiz	1997	2016	120	421	541		22.18%	77.82%	David Ortiz
10		Adam Dunn	2001	2014	118	344	462		25.54%	74.46%	Adam Dunn
11		Jim Thome	1991	2012	118	494	612		19.28%	80.72%	Jim Thome
12		Graig Nettles	1968	1988	109	281	390		27.95%	72.05%	Graig Nettles
13		Jason Giambi	1995	2013	108	332	440		24.55%	75.45%	Jason Giambi
14	17	Mel Ott	1927	1946	107	387	511		20.94%	75.73%	Mel Ott
15	5	Willie Stargell	1962	1982	103	367	475		21.68%	77.26%	Willie Stargell
16		Dave Parker	1973	1991	101	238	339		29.79%	70.21%	Dave Parker
17		Darryl Strawberry	1983	1999	101	234	335		30.15%	69.85%	Darryl Strawberry
18	0	Billy Williams	1959	1976	101	325	426		23.71%	76.29%	Billy Williams
19		Willie McCovey	1959	1980	100	421	521		19.19%	80.81%	Willie McCovey
		max	2001	2016		535	762		31.79%	80.81%	max
		min	1915	1935		234	335		19.19%	62.53%	min

The second column (???) shows the number of career Home Runs (HR) for which the opposing pitcher is unknown. Plate Appearances (PA) and At Bats (AB) are also not known. The discrepancies for Billy Williams are for stats other than HR. L/R splits for Ruth, Musial, Gehrig, Ott, Stargell do not add up to the total for each. This accounts for why Musial, not Jackson, has the lowest percent of Home Runs off righties. Musial has by far the highest percent of his homers missing the identity of the pitcher: 38/475 = 8%.

From baseball-reference.com:

vs Starter batting splits are for the entire game when the starter was LH or RH. These splits include any subsequent plate appearances against a reliever regardless of their throwing hand. These splits are a proxy for platoon splits for seasons we lack play-by-play data. from GL team pitching splits indicate how batters did against the team and use the batter's overall batting handedness for this split.

_______________

HR are attributed to the starting pitcher when it's unknown whether the batter homered off the starter or a relief pitcher. Example Musial: 168+307=475.

Simply staring at totals doesn't do much. So, ...

In the table above the percent of homers off lefties:
highest: Jackson 31.79%
Ruth: 29.41%
lowest: McCovey 19.19%

Some people get HR rate using PA. I prefer AB. Below both are shown.

PA/HR:

example against lefties:

dif: T (total) PA/HR - L (lefties) PA/HR

%dif: T-L dif / (T PA/HR)

PA/HR	L	R	T	T-L	T-R	T-L	T-R
Player	PA/HR	PA/HR	PA/HR	dif	dif	%dif	%dif	Player
Barry Bonds	18.27	15.81	16.54	-1.73	0.73	-10.43%	4.43%	Barry Bonds
Babe Ruth	13.98	15.08	14.89	0.91	-0.20	6.11%	-1.31%	Babe Ruth
Ken Griffey Jr.	18.75	17.60	17.94	-0.81	0.34	-4.51%	1.89%	Ken Griffey Jr.
Reggie Jackson	21.92	19.52	20.28	-1.64	0.76	-8.06%	3.76%	Reggie Jackson
Rafael Palmeiro	22.04	20.83	21.17	-0.87	0.34	-4.10%	1.60%	Rafael Palmeiro
Stan Musial	29.26	25.38	26.78	-2.48	1.40	-9.25%	5.22%	Stan Musial
Lou Gehrig	19.93	19.30	19.60	-0.33	0.31	-1.68%	1.56%	Lou Gehrig
Fred McGriff	25.28	19.04	20.64	-4.64	1.59	-22.49%	7.72%	Fred McGriff
David Ortiz	25.08	16.82	18.65	-6.42	1.83	-34.43%	9.81%	David Ortiz
Adam Dunn	20.41	17.21	18.03	-2.38	0.82	-13.21%	4.53%	Adam Dunn
Jim Thome	24.58	15.00	16.85	-7.73	1.85	-45.89%	10.96%	Jim Thome
Graig Nettles	35.47	22.64	26.23	-9.24	3.59	-35.24%	13.67%	Graig Nettles
Jason Giambi	23.17	19.30	20.25	-2.92	0.95	-14.43%	4.69%	Jason Giambi
Mel Ott	21.34	22.11	22.21	0.87	0.09	3.91%	0.42%	Mel Ott
Willie Stargell	23.89	17.66	19.00	-4.89	1.35	-25.73%	7.09%	Willie Stargell
Dave Parker	31.17	29.56	30.04	-1.13	0.48	-3.75%	1.59%	Dave Parker
Darryl Strawberry	21.43	17.79	18.88	-2.54	1.10	-13.46%	5.81%	Darryl Strawberry
Billy Williams	30.44	22.85	24.69	-5.74	1.84	-23.26%	7.46%	Billy Williams
Willie McCovey	23.48	17.44	18.60	-4.88	1.16	-26.22%	6.23%	Willie McCovey
max	35.47	29.56	30.04	0.91	3.59	6.11%	13.67%	max
min	13.98	15.00	14.89	-9.24	-0.20	-45.89%	-1.31%	min

Ruth dominates against lefty pitchers. Ruth and Ott are the only batters among these 19 who have better PA/HR against lefties, Ott by a tiny amount. Nettles and Thome are the worst: T-R %dif.

AB/HR:

AB/HR	L	R	T	T-L	T-R	T-L	T-R
Player	AB/HR	AB/HR	AB/HR	dif	dif	%dif	%dif	Player
Barry Bonds	14.76	12.14	12.92	-1.84	0.78	-14.24%	6.04%	Barry Bonds
Babe Ruth	11.09	11.86	11.76	0.67	-0.09	5.72%	-0.78%	Babe Ruth
Ken Griffey Jr.	16.62	15.11	15.56	-1.06	0.44	-6.82%	2.86%	Ken Griffey Jr.
Reggie Jackson	19.55	16.58	17.52	-2.03	0.94	-11.57%	5.39%	Reggie Jackson
Rafael Palmeiro	19.64	17.92	18.40	-1.23	0.48	-6.70%	2.62%	Rafael Palmeiro
Stan Musial	25.67	21.77	23.10	-2.57	1.32	-11.14%	5.73%	Stan Musial
Lou Gehrig	16.78	15.86	16.23	-0.55	0.37	-3.39%	2.28%	Lou Gehrig
Fred McGriff	22.31	16.20	17.76	-4.55	1.56	-25.60%	8.79%	Fred McGriff
David Ortiz	22.27	14.18	15.97	-6.30	1.79	-39.42%	11.24%	David Ortiz
Adam Dunn	17.18	14.12	14.90	-2.28	0.78	-15.30%	5.25%	Adam Dunn
Jim Thome	21.09	12.01	13.76	-7.33	1.75	-53.28%	12.73%	Jim Thome
Graig Nettles	31.70	19.68	23.04	-8.66	3.36	-37.57%	14.57%	Graig Nettles
Jason Giambi	19.22	15.64	16.52	-2.71	0.88	-16.39%	5.33%	Jason Giambi
Mel Ott	18.60	18.25	18.50	-0.09	0.26	-0.50%	1.40%	Mel Ott
Willie Stargell	21.30	15.41	16.69	-4.61	1.28	-27.64%	7.68%	Willie Stargell
Dave Parker	29.40	26.84	27.60	-1.79	0.76	-6.49%	2.75%	Dave Parker
Darryl Strawberry	18.89	15.00	16.17	-2.72	1.17	-16.81%	7.25%	Darryl Strawberry
Billy Williams	27.42	20.20	21.95	-5.47	1.75	-24.91%	7.98%	Billy Williams
Willie McCovey	20.40	14.62	15.73	-4.67	1.11	-29.66%	7.05%	Willie McCovey
max	31.70	26.84	27.60	0.67	3.36	5.72%	14.57%	max
min	11.09	11.86	11.76	-8.66	-0.09	-53.28%	-0.78%	min

Ruth dominates again and is the only batter with better AB/HR against lefties than righties. His two %dif are better using AB/HR than PA/HR, probably because he had so many BB.

Ortiz joins Nettles and Thome in double digit T-R %dif.

PA & AB stats:

	L	R	L	R		L	R	T		L	R	T
Player	PA%	PA%	AB%	AB%		PA	PA	PA		AB	AB	AB	Player
Barry Bonds	32.90%	67.10%	34.03%	65.97%		4,147	8,459	12,606		3,351	6,496	9,847	Barry Bonds
Babe Ruth	27.62%	68.68%	27.73%	68.32%		2,935	7,299	10,628		2,329	5,738	8,399	Babe Ruth
Ken Griffey Jr.	30.86%	69.14%	31.54%	68.46%		3,488	7,816	11,304		3,091	6,710	9,801	Ken Griffey Jr.
Reggie Jackson	34.36%	65.64%	35.47%	64.53%		3,923	7,495	11,418		3,499	6,365	9,864	Reggie Jackson
Rafael Palmeiro	29.27%	70.73%	30.00%	70.00%		3,526	8,520	12,046		3,142	7,330	10,472	Rafael Palmeiro
Stan Musial	32.20%	59.26%	32.76%	58.94%		4,096	7,539	12,721		3,594	6,467	10,972	Stan Musial
Lou Gehrig	28.05%	68.29%	28.52%	67.79%		2,711	6,600	9,665		2,282	5,424	8,001	Lou Gehrig
Fred McGriff	31.31%	68.69%	32.10%	67.90%		3,185	6,989	10,174		2,811	5,946	8,757	Fred McGriff
David Ortiz	29.82%	70.18%	30.93%	69.07%		3,009	7,082	10,091		2,672	5,968	8,640	David Ortiz
Adam Dunn	28.91%	71.09%	29.45%	70.55%		2,408	5,920	8,328		2,027	4,856	6,883	Adam Dunn
Jim Thome	28.13%	71.87%	29.55%	70.45%		2,901	7,412	10,313		2,489	5,933	8,422	Jim Thome
Graig Nettles	37.80%	62.20%	38.45%	61.55%		3,866	6,362	10,228		3,455	5,531	8,986	Graig Nettles
Jason Giambi	28.09%	71.91%	28.57%	71.43%		2,502	6,406	8,908		2,076	5,191	7,267	Jason Giambi
Mel Ott	20.12%	75.41%	21.04%	74.67%		2,283	8,557	11,347		1,990	7,061	9,456	Mel Ott
Willie Stargell	27.26%	71.78%	27.68%	71.33%		2,461	6,480	9,027		2,194	5,654	7,927	Willie Stargell
Dave Parker	30.91%	69.09%	31.73%	68.27%		3,148	7,036	10,184		2,969	6,389	9,358	Dave Parker
Darryl Strawberry	34.21%	65.79%	35.22%	64.78%		2,164	4,162	6,326		1,908	3,510	5,418	Darryl Strawberry
Billy Williams	29.22%	70.60%	29.61%	70.20%		3,074	7,426	10,519		2,769	6,564	9,350	Billy Williams
Willie McCovey	24.23%	75.77%	24.89%	75.11%		2,348	7,344	9,692		2,040	6,157	8,197	Willie McCovey
max	37.80%	75.77%	38.45%	75.11%		4,147	8,557	12,721		3,594	7,330	10,972	max
min	20.12%	59.26%	21.04%	58.94%		2,164	4,162	6,326		1,908	3,510	5,418	min

Generic averages:

	L	L	L	L	R	R	R	R	T	T	T	T	T
Player	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
Barry Bonds	.289	.417	.569	.986	.303	.458	.626	1.084	.298	.444	.607	1.051	182
Babe Ruth	.319	.449	.660	1.109	.351	.481	.705	1.186	.342	.474	.690	1.164	206
Ken Griffey Jr.	.269	.341	.503	.844	.291	.382	.554	.936	.284	.370	.538	.907	136
Reggie Jackson	.249	.321	.455	.776	.269	.374	.509	.883	.262	.356	.490	.846	139
Rafael Palmeiro	.278	.343	.486	.830	.293	.382	.527	.909	.288	.371	.515	.885	132
Stan Musial	.316	.392	.523	.915	.337	.426	.573	.999	.331	.417	.559	.976	159
Lou Gehrig	.302	.401	.578	.978	.356	.462	.656	1.117	.340	.447	.632	1.080	179
Fred McGriff	.265	.344	.448	.791	.294	.391	.598	.989	.284	.377	.509	.886	134
David Ortiz	.268	.338	.478	.817	.294	.397	.584	.981	.286	.380	.552	.931	141
Adam Dunn	.218	.337	.436	.773	.245	.376	.512	.888	.237	.364	.490	.854	124
Jim Thome	.238	.340	.427	.766	.292	.426	.608	1.034	.276	.402	.554	.956	147
Graig Nettles	.234	.304	.373	.677	.256	.345	.450	.795	.248	.329	.421	.750	110
Jason Giambi	.265	.379	.473	.852	.281	.407	.534	.941	.277	.399	.516	.916	139
Mel Ott	.289	.369	.510	.879	.308	.423	.542	.965	.304	.414	.533	.947	155
Willie Stargell	.251	.319	.449	.768	.293	.376	.559	.935	.282	.360	.529	.889	147
Dave Parker	.280	.314	.456	.770	.295	.350	.478	.828	.290	.339	.471	.810	121
Darryl Strawberry	.239	.319	.444	.763	.270	.376	.538	.914	.259	.357	.505	.862	138
Billy Williams	.290	.351	.462	.813	.290	.366	.505	.871	.290	.361	.492	.853	133
Willie McCovey	.248	.336	.440	.776	.277	.387	.539	.926	.270	.374	.515	.889	147
max	.319	.449	.660	1.109	.356	.481	.705	1.186	.342	.474	.690	1.164	206
min	.218	.304	.373	.677	.245	.345	.450	.795	.237	.329	.421	.750	110

Lefty Matt Olson: most season Home Runs off lefty pitchers: 22 but not in his 54 HR season. 9 of 10: better HR rate against lefties. Sunday, August 11, 2024