Three True Outcomes per Plate Apperance

Baseball Prospectus has an article (well, many of them) about the "Three True Outcomes" (TTO) that you can read here. The long and short of it is that strikeouts, walks, and home runs are "true outcomes" in the sense that fielders don't have to get involved at all in the play (Jose Canseco excepted). That article details hitters from 2003 and normalizes the rates of each statistic to determine the guys who fit the mold of TTO guys perfectly, but I just want to put the raw career numbers out there. If a guy is good enough to draw a fantastically high number of walks or lasts forever swinging and missing, so be it.

One thing to note, however: since strikeout data is unavailable prior to 1913, I'm just going to look at statistics from 1913-2007, as I did with the SO/PA post a few days ago. It shouldn't have a big effect on the list of the top players since hardly anyone was hitting home runs prior to 1913, but the bottom of the list would be skewed badly by including the pre-1913 hitters.

Most Career TTO/PA, 1913-2007, min. 3000 PA

Rank	Name	PA	SO	BB	HR	TTO/PA
1	Rob Deer	4512	1409	575	230	.4907
2	Adam Dunn	4098	1092	675	238	.4893
3	Jim Thome	8427	2043	1459	507	.4757
4	Mark McGwire	7660	1596	1317	583	.4564
5	Mickey Tettleton	5745	1307	949	245	.4353
6	Pat Burrell	4743	1137	683	218	.4297
7	Jay Buhner	5927	1406	792	310	.4231
8	Brad Wilkerson	3444	879	457	118	.4222
9	Gorman Thomas	5486	1339	697	268	.4200
10	Troy Glaus	5203	1165	701	277	.4119
11	Danny Tartabull	5842	1362	768	262	.4094
12	Don Lock	3116	776	373	122	.4079
13	Jose Canseco	8129	1942	906	462	.4072
14	Mickey Mantle	9909	1710	1733	536	.4016
15	Reggie Jackson	11416	2597	1375	563	.3972
16	Darryl Strawberry	6326	1352	816	335	.3957
17	Gene Tenace	5525	998	984	201	.3951
18	Pete Incaviglia	4677	1277	360	206	.3941
19	Eric Davis	6147	1398	740	282	.3937
20	Jim Edmonds	7307	1587	919	362	.3925

It's crazy to think that almost half the plate appearances of guys like Dunn, and Thome are ones during which the defense can rest.

Fewest Career TTO/PA, 1913-2007, min. 3000 PA

Rank	Name	PA	SO	BB	HR	TTO/PA
1377	Emil Verban	3110	74	108	1	.0588
1376	Stuffy McInnis	7325	189	297	13	.0681
1375	Lloyd Waner	8326	173	420	27	.0745
1374	Eddie Brown	3126	109	127	16	.0806
1373	Homer Summa	3318	88	166	18	.0820
1372	Don Mueller	4594	146	167	65	.0823
1371	Charlie Deal	3091	121	126	11	.0835
1370	Ivy Olson	5498	222	230	12	.0844
1369	Everett Scott	6373	282	243	20	.0855
1368	Burgess Whitehead	3562	138	150	17	.0856
1367	Johnny Cooney	3675	107	208	2	.0863
1366	Buddy Hassett	3807	116	209	12	.0885
1365	George Cutshaw	5808	226	269	25	.0895
1364	Hughie Critz	6415	257	289	38	.0910
1363	Jimmy Brown	3832	110	231	9	.0913
1362	Felix Millan	6325	242	318	22	.0920
1361	Bobby Richardson	5783	243	262	34	.0932
1360	Art Fletcher	4966	283	152	30	.0936
1359	Nellie Fox	10349	216	719	35	.0937
1358	Glenn Beckert	5572	243	260	22	.0942

A rare day indeed saw Nellie Fox not put the ball in play.