Hitters with 80+ More BB Than K in a Season Since 1901

Contact hitters don't strike out often. Patient hitters are adept at drawing walks. A hitter who can combine both skills is going to be pretty valuable. Of course, being very good at both is pretty rare. Below are the only 44 times since 1901 that a hitter has drawn 80+ more walks than strikeouts in a single season. Why did I use eighty and not some other number? Simply because it didn't make the list too long.

I find it interesting that, given the fact Joe Sewell didn't even reach double digits in strikeouts in most seasons of his career, the only time he shows up is one year he did. Lou Boudreau's 1948 season is pretty impressive. Also, given the number of guys on the list that played in the late forties, perhaps it's no wonder the league K:BB ratio dipped so much as I alluded to yesterday (or perhaps it just made it easier for them to make the list).

The fact Barry Bonds leads the list by so much brings up a good point: there are no IBB numbers for most of the players on the list on Baseball-Reference.com (I believe 1955 is when they start). Therefore I didn't want to take Bonds off the list without knowing if Williams would be similarly affected, so I just left it. If you're such a threat teams want to walk you instead of trying to strike you out, that's its own reward I suppose. Bonds just missed placing on the list again in 2007 with 132 free passes against 54 strikeouts. No one else was even close.

Name	Year	BB	SO	BB-K	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Barry Bonds	2004	232	41	191	.362	.609	.812	1.422
Barry Bonds	2002	198	47	151	.370	.582	.799	1.381
Ted Williams	1941	147	27	120	.406	.553	.735	1.287
Ted Williams	1947	162	47	115	.343	.499	.634	1.133
Ted Williams	1949	162	48	114	.343	.490	.650	1.141
Ted Williams	1946	156	44	112	.342	.497	.667	1.164
Ferris Fain	1950	133	26	107	.282	.430	.402	.832
Eddie Stanky	1945	148	42	106	.258	.417	.333	.751
Ted Williams	1954	136	32	104	.345	.513	.635	1.148
Ted Williams	1951	144	45	99	.318	.464	.556	1.019
Arky Vaughan	1936	118	21	97	.335	.453	.474	.927
Luke Appling	1949	121	24	97	.301	.439	.394	.833
Lu Blue	1929	126	32	94	.293	.422	.429	.852
Lou Gehrig	1935	132	38	94	.329	.466	.583	1.049
Ted Williams	1942	145	51	94	.356	.499	.648	1.147
Eddie Stanky	1950	144	50	94	.300	.460	.412	.872
Eddie Collins	1915	119	27	92	.332	.460	.436	.896
Charlie Gehringer	1938	113	21	92	.306	.425	.486	.911
Wade Boggs	1988	125	34	91	.366	.476	.490	.965
Johnny Evers	1910	108	18	90	.263	.413	.321	.734
Barry Bonds	2003	148	58	90	.341	.529	.749	1.278
Jim Sheckard	1911	147	58	89	.276	.434	.388	.822
Lou Boudreau	1948	98	9	89	.355	.453	.534	.987
Augie Galan	1945	114	27	87	.307	.423	.441	.864
Elmer Valo	1949	119	32	87	.283	.413	.404	.817
Joe Sewell	1923	98	12	86	.353	.456	.479	.935
Roy Cullenbine	1947	137	51	86	.224	.401	.422	.823
Ted Williams	1948	126	41	85	.369	.497	.615	1.112
Ferris Fain	1949	136	51	85	.263	.415	.339	.754
Elmer Valo	1952	101	16	85	.281	.432	.407	.839
Tris Speaker	1920	97	13	84	.388	.483	.562	1.045
Max Bishop	1929	128	44	84	.232	.398	.316	.713
Mickey Cochrane	1933	106	22	84	.322	.459	.515	.974
Lou Gehrig	1936	130	46	84	.354	.478	.696	1.174
Charlie Gehringer	1940	101	17	84	.313	.428	.447	.875
Barry Bonds	2001	177	93	84	.328	.515	.863	1.379
Arky Vaughan	1938	104	21	83	.322	.433	.444	.876
Luke Appling	1935	122	40	82	.307	.437	.389	.826
Mickey Cochrane	1935	96	15	81	.319	.452	.450	.902
Eddie Stanky	1946	137	56	81	.273	.436	.352	.788
Johnny Pesky	1949	100	19	81	.306	.408	.384	.792
Ralph Kiner	1951	137	57	80	.309	.452	.627	1.079
Ferris Fain	1953	108	28	80	.256	.405	.345	.750
Joe Morgan	1975	132	52	80	.327	.466	.508	.974