From: genetic+@pitt.edu (Dr. Dave)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Times on Base: all-time records and Frank Thomas
Date: 7 Sep 92 15:27:53 GMT
Organization: Department of Industrial Engineering

I've spent a lot of time in this group blowing Frank Thomas's horn, and
much of that time has been concerned with how many times he reaches base
every year.  I've talked about the 300/300 club (300 times on base, 300
total bases in one season), and how he is on a pace this season to become
one of its very few back-to-back members.

Still, I bet very few people have a good feel for what constitutes an ungodly
number of times on base in one season.  It's not a record that gets a lot of
PR, and it's not an easy one to look up.  So, I did a little digging through
some of my references, and came up with the following list of all-time great
seasons for reaching base.  Numbers with a "+" after them denote players for
whom I couldn't find hit-by-pitch numbers, so they might have had a few more
times on base than are listed.  HBP numbers for a season tend to range between
zero and ten-to-twelve, with no real pattern that I can detect.  (I mean, I
can understand why Ty Cobb would get hit 13 times in a season, but not why
Kiki Cuyler would...)

Here are the top few of all time:

	   Player		Year		TOB
	   ------		----		---
	1. Babe Ruth		1923		379	Unbelievable
	2. Ted Williams		1949		358
	3. Babe Ruth		1921		352
	4. Billy Hamilton	1894		346+
	5. Babe Ruth		1924		346
	6. Ted Williams		1947		345
	7. Wade Boggs		1988		342
	   Lou Gehrig		1936		342
	9. Wade Boggs		1985		340
	10. Ty Cobb		1915		336
	11. Ted Willams		1942		335
	12. Ted Williams	1946		334
	13. Ted Williams	1941		333
	14. Lou Gehrig		1937		331
	    Babe Ruth		1926		331
	16. Lefty O'Doul	1929		330+
	17. Babe Ruth		1927		330
	    Lou Gehrig		1927		330
	19. Jimmy Foxx		1932		329
	20. Norm Cash		1961		326

(I'd be delighted if one of you Franklin Encyclopedia types could double-
check my list, and fill in any missing folk, and maybe extend it down to
the 315 TOB range...)

A few comments:

Babe Ruth set some astonishing records.  I've always felt that his most
astonishing ones were the .690 liftime slugging average and .845+ single
season slugging average (twice!).  Seeing this, though, I think I'd have
to put 379 times on base in one season right up there, especially when you
consider that his team only played 152 games that year.

The record for times on base by teammates will never be broken:  Ruth and
Gehrig with 330 each in 1927.  Oof.

Wade Boggs is the only player born after WW2 to achieve a season rate of 2
or more times on base per game his team played.  Frank Thomas last year 
reached base 317 times in 162 ChiSox games, for a rate of 1.96 times per
team game, and a rate of 2.01 times per game played.  For his career, through
September first, Thomas had reached base 678+ times in 346 games played.  His
overall rate is brought down by numerous pinch-hitting appearances during his
first season.  So far this year, Thomas has reached base 1.97+ times per game
played.  (The plusses are because I don't know how many times he's been hit
by pitches so far; if it's more than 3, then his rate is over 2.0 for the 
season.)  He's on a pace for 315+ times on base, and 307 total bases.

If I get a chance, I'll compile some other players' career rates.
-- 
      David M. Tate      | From my dugout sleep I fell into the Game
 dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu | And I crouched in the circle while my insides froze
 Randall 'Chico' Jarrell | One out from death, one hit from dreamt-of glory
"Death of a Pinch Hitter"| I woke to 'Strike One!' and the nightmare sliders...