Ryan Howard is on pace to lead the NL in RBIs with an abysmal .220 batting average. Do you have any idea what the record is for the lowest batting average while leading his league in RBIs for the season? Thanks.I thought that question was pretty interesting, so I decided to look it up. Howard is now hitting a robust .223 (75 for 337) and his 76 RBI still leads the National League. Below I've listed the fifteen lowest batting averages by a league RBI leader for both the American and National leagues since 1901. I've expanded tied (to three decimal places) batting averages to four decimal places to make the actual order clearer.
Lowest Batting Average by an NL RBI Leader, 1901-2007
- Jim Nealon, 1906 PIT, .255
- Howard Johnson, 1991 NYM, .259
- Andruw Jones, 2005 ATL, .263
- George Kelly, 1920 NYG, .266
- Bill Dahlen, 1904 NYG, .268
- Johnny Bench, 1972 CIN, .2695
- Hank Sauer, 1952 CHC, .2699
- Darren Daulton, 1992 PHI, .2701
- Vinny Castilla, 2004 COL, .271
- Mike Schmidt, 1984 PHI, .2765
- Matt Williams, 1990 SFG, .2772
- Mark McGwire, 1999 STL, .278
- Hank Aaron, 1966 ATL, .279
- Johnny Bench, 1974 CIN, .2802
- Sam Mertes, 1903 NYG, .2805
Lowest Batting Average by an AL RBI Leader, 1901-2007
So if Ryan Howard manages to keep on top of the RBI leaderboard without improving his batting average, he'll set a record. His batting average looks as though it will see some improvement however: his BABIP sits at .268 while his line drive percentage of 20.3% suggest his BABIP should be about fifty points higher. Once those hits start falling in, his batting average will improve. Going half a season with such a poor batting average, however, means he would have to have an amazing second half to avoid appearing on the above NL list following the season if he keeps driving in runners.
- Harmon Killebrew, 1962 MIN, .243
- Cecil Fielder, 1992 DET, .244
- Harmon Killebrew, 1971 MIN, .254
- Lee May, 1976 BAL, .258
- Cecil Fielder, 1991 DET, .2612
- Dick Stuart, 1963 BOS, .2614
- Del Pratt, 1916 SLB, .267
- Tony Armas, 1984 BOS, .2676
- Gus Zernial, 1951 CHW/PHA, .2680
- Roger Maris, 1961 NYY, .269
- Rudy York, 1943 DET, .271
- Larry Doby, 1954 CLE, .272
- Ken Harrelson, 1968 BOS, .2748
- Jackie Jensen, 1955 BOS, .2753
- Harmon Killebrew, 1969 MIN, .276
4 comments:
Except for Maris, I didn't see any world series champion teams represented on the list.
pretty much wht I had on my mind and inded very interesting--what I would lke toknow, after watching Carlos Pena tonight leading the league with 39 homers and a .223 batting average---Who has hit the most homers in a season with the lowest batting average--I bet we see some duplicattions on this list.
Dave Kingman hit 37 home runs in 1982 with a .204 average. The lowest average for a 40 home run player is Adam Dunn's .234.
Great blog I enjoyed reading it.
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