Effective at 19

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Bryce Harper debuted last night, and all things considered, it went fairly well for a super-prospect who made the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16. While his Washington Nationals fell 4-3 to the Dodgers in 11 innings, Harper went 1-for-3 with a double and sacrifice fly and nearly threw out a runner at home. Best case scenario, Harper’s first game proves to be a hint of good to come and his rookie season puts him in league with a handful of other iconic players.

Harper is 19. In baseball history, 20 players have had at least 2 WAR in a season at his age. Fourteen of those players have been pitchers, and of the six batters who’ve done it, three are in the Hall of Fame, and another will be shortly.

Let’s start by looking at the players who’ve done this. First, here are the offensive players who had at least 2 WAR at 19:

Rk	Player	HR	WAR/pos ▾	Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Mel Ott	18	3.5	1928	19	NYG	124	500	435	69	140	26	4	77	52	36	3		.322	.397	.524	.921
2	Edgar Renteria	5	3.0	1996	19	FLA	106	471	431	68	133	18	3	31	33	68	16	2	.309	.358	.399	.757
3	Ken Griffey	16	2.8	1989	19	SEA	127	506	455	61	120	23	0	61	44	83	16	7	.264	.329	.420	.748
4	Ty Cobb	1	2.6	1906	19	DET	98	394	358	45	113	15	5	34	19	41	23		.316	.355	.394	.749
5	Travis Jackson	4	2.3	1923	19	NYG	96	350	327	45	90	12	7	37	22	40	3	3	.275	.321	.391	.712
6	Buddy Lewis	6	2.1	1936	19	WSH	143	657	601	100	175	21	13	67	47	46	6	6	.291	.347	.399	.746

And here are the pitchers who’ve done it:

Rk	Player	SO	WAR ▾	Year	Age	Tm	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	ERA	ERA+	HR
1	Gary Nolan	206	6.8	1967	19	CIN	33	32	8	5	1	14	8	.636	0	226.2	193	73	65	62	2.58	147	18
2	Dwight Gooden	276	5.4	1984	19	NYM	31	31	7	3	0	17	9	.654	0	218.0	161	72	63	73	2.60	137	7
3	Bob Feller	240	5.3	1938	19	CLE	39	36	20	2	3	17	11	.607	1	277.2	225	136	126	208	4.08	114	13
4	Larry Dierker	108	4.0	1966	19	HOU	29	28	8	2	0	10	8	.556	0	187.0	173	73	66	45	3.18	107	17
5	Rube Bressler	96	3.5	1914	19	PHA	29	10	8	1	15	10	4	.714	2	147.2	112	37	29	56	1.77	148	1
6	Chief Bender	127	3.4	1903	19	PHA	36	33	29	2	2	17	14	.548	0	270.0	239	115	92	65	3.07	100	6
7	Wally Bunker	96	2.9	1964	19	BAL	29	29	12	1	0	19	5	.792	0	214.0	161	72	64	62	2.69	134	17
8	Felix Hernandez	77	2.9	2005	19	SEA	12	12	0	0	0	4	4	.500	0	84.1	61	26	25	23	2.67	158	5
9	Smoky Joe Wood	88	2.4	1909	19	BOS	24	19	13	4	3	11	7	.611	0	160.2	121	51	39	43	2.18	115	1
10	Ray Sadecki	95	2.3	1960	19	STL	26	26	7	1	0	9	9	.500	0	157.1	148	76	66	86	3.78	109	15
11	Chuck Stobbs	70	2.3	1949	19	BOS	26	19	10	0	2	11	6	.647	0	152.0	145	72	68	75	4.03	109	10
12	Walter Johnson	71	2.2	1907	19	WSH	14	12	11	2	2	5	9	.357	0	110.1	100	35	23	20	1.88	129	1
13	Bert Blyleven	135	2.1	1970	19	MIN	27	25	5	1	1	10	9	.526	0	164.0	143	66	58	47	3.18	119	17
14	Pete Schneider	108	2.0	1915	19	CIN	48	35	16	5	11	14	19	.424	2	275.2	254	110	76	104	2.48	115	4

Why is it rarer for an offensive player to be effective at 19? Looking over the lists, a few things come to mind.

Nine of the pitchers made their mark here in either the 1960s or prior to 1920, times that offense took a backseat in baseball. It doesn’t necessarily explain how a 19-year-old pitcher could shine above other pitchers in a given year, since all could theoretically benefit from depressed offensive conditions. Perhaps pitchers get more opportunities to put up big numbers when hitting’s down in baseball, though and there’s less risk in trotting a 19-year-old hurler out.

Other factors could be at work, too. Many of the pitchers listed here were used extensively early in their careers, too much really. Smoky Joe Wood, Rube Bressler, Wally Bunker, and Gary Nolan all famously blew their arms out (Wood and Bressler at least came back later as outfielders.) Felix Hernandez and Larry Dierker each had big years in pitchers’ parks. In fact, Dierker was essentially two pitchers in 1966: Playing at home in the Astrodome, he was 8-2 with a 2.34 ERA; on the road, he was 2-6 with a 4.42 ERA.

As for the hitters, there’ve been many times in baseball history when 19-year-old future stars have sat the bench, from Jimmie Foxx in 1927 to Alex Rodriguez in 1995. More often, batters have either been in the minors or college at 19, MLB players below age 20 a rarity in general. Perhaps hitters need more time to find timing at the plate in the same respect that pitchers often have the edge early in a season.

Foxx barely made it off the bench his first three years in Philadelphia. It was how Connie Mack and other managers essentially operated in those days. It makes Mel Ott’s 3.5 WAR for John McGraw and the New York Giants in 1928 all the more impressive and aberrational. Is Bryce Harper the next Mel Ott? Only time will tell.

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John Autin

12 years ago

“”Why is it rarer for an offensive player to be effective at 19?” Graham, I think the main reason is that natural ability plays a bigger role in pitching success than in hitting success. It’s not uncommon for a pitcher’s fastball to peak at 19 or 20. And sometimes a rookie pitcher can be very effective for a season relying mainly on that fastball. And some pitchers have had early success with some kind of trick pitch that loses effectiveness as hitters get used to it. Gene Bearden, although he was not so young at the time, is one such… Read more »

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

It’s definitely rare that young aces stay good. I was inspired to write this post after I noticed that Bob Feller had 16 10-strikeout games by the time he was 20. More impressively, he did it in the offensive boon of the late 1930s. It’s amazing both that Feller made his mark and that he didn’t flame out spectacularly as many of the other pitchers here did.

Timmy Pea

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

Feller was great.

Mike L

12 years ago

Reply to Timmy Pea

Feller might have been helped by taking essentially four years out for WWII. He threw 960 innings in the three years before, then 371 innings his first full year back. But he was a vastly different pitcher after that. His k/9 was 5.9 in 1947, 5.3 in 1948, and was never again above 4.6.

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Mike L

Feller’s a bit like Lefty Grove. I want to say both were young flamethrowers who had to reinvent themselves as junk ballers after hurting their arms.

Timmy Pea

12 years ago

Reply to Mike L

Good points about the war and reinventing themselves. Old timers talk about the young Feller having the best fastball they’d ever seen.

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Timmy Pea

Feller’s strikeout totals were unreal for his era. Consider 1936: While the American League SO/9 total was 3.3, Feller was at 11.0. And the first-time Feller led the majors in strikeouts with 240 in 1938, he had over 100 more K’s than all but one pitcher in the bigs.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Mike L

@11, the amazing thing is Bob Feller always said his fastball was not as good as Walter Johnson’s. That’s the really scary thing.

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to Mike L

It’s possible the war years saved Feller allowing him to pitch longer, but I think his arm would have blown out early on if he was prone to injuries that clearly happened back then, although they didn’t know what they were. I’m talking about rotator cuff injuries, torn labrums, and elbow ligament damage requiring TJS. Pitchers probably showed up with sore arms and elbows, rubbed some dirt on it, and hoped for the best. Some may have learned to pitch differently, like Frank Tanana did decades later, where most just ended their careers. Feller didn’t injure his arm, but he… Read more »

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

JA, with respect to 19-year old hitters being better able to deal with the major leagues than 19-year-old pitchers, I think that only Griffey and Renteria are relevant to the current discussion sine they are from the modern big-money ear of baseball. Therefore, I respectively disagree that hitters are better equipped. Both Edgar Renteria and Ken Griffey Jr hit the major league ground with their feet moving, but they are such rare exceptions as to make the stategy of bringing up a 19-year-old almost untenable. Travis Snider is an enigmatic example of calling up a rookie too soon. He came… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Neil, here are the hitters from the 20-year period 1989-2008 who were in the majors by age 19:

Junior Griffey, Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Juan Gonzalez, Edgar Renteria, Adrian Beltre, B.J. Upton, Justin Upton, Wilson Betemit, Karim Garcia.

Out of 11 players, there are at least 3 Hall of Famers, and 7 other fine MLB careers. Only Garcia didn’t pan out.

Now the 8 pitchers in that span who reached the bigs by 19:

Felix Hernandez, Edwin Jackson, Rick Ankiel, Wilson Alvarez, Rich Garces, Rosario Rodriguez, Matt Riley, Todd Van Poppel.

Any further questions? 🙂

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Another interesting thing is to look at guys who managed 100 OPS+ or better in at least 300 plate appearances at 19. These players are:

Mel Ott, 139 OPS+ in 1928
Mickey Mantle, 116 OPS+ in 1951
Ton Conigliaro, 137 OPS+ in 1964
Cesar Cedeno, 114 OPS+ in 1970
Edgar Renteria, 103 OPS+ in 1996

Mantle, Conigliaro, and Cedeno were all kept from 2 WAR by their poor defensive WAR showings.

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

Oops, I mistakenly stipulated in my Play Index search that the 19-year-olds in question needed to have a .750 OPS. Three more of these players who had at least 100 OPS+ and 300 PAs are:

Sherry Magee, 121 OPS+ in 1904
Ty Cobb, 131 OPS+ in 1906
Ken Griffey Jr., 108 OPS+ in 1989

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

Are we still insisting with this nonsense that Edgar Renteria was actually only 19-years-old in 1996? 🙂

brp

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

“Who are you, Karim Garcia?”

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

No further questions. Hmmm…. I think I just got posterized by the HHS equivalent of a slam dunk. 🙂

Nice list, John. It doesn’t leave much room for discussion.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

I guess I got carried away again, Neil. I didn’t mean to cut off discussion; I … um … just meant to … um … make it very challenging for you to retort?

Editor

Doug

12 years ago

If Harper faces Jamie Moyer, it will be the biggest age gap ever between batter and pitcher (excepting “stunt” games), and only the 4th time with a gap of over 29 years.

The earlier times are mentioned in this post.

http://www.highheatstats.com/2012/04/jamie-moyer-and-passing-the-torch/

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Let’s keep track of the schedule to see when the Nationals and Rockies might meet, Doug.

Speaking of Moyer, 5 of his 11 runs allowed this year are unearned, resulting in an immpeccable 2.28 ERA.

At least Jamie Moyer can’t face Omar Vizquel this year to potentially set a record for the oldest combined age of pitcher facing batter!

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Moyer could face Omar, if an NL team decides they need a 45 year old utility guy at the trade deadline.

Anybody notice that on opening day Omar entered the game in the 12th inning, and played in Left Field for the first time in his career?

Then, one inning later, played first base for the 2nd time.

Then scored the winning run in the 16th.

Not bad for a 45 year old.

Shping

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Too bad the ageless Julio Franco isnt playing anymore!

The Rockies and Moyer, by the way, don’t play the Nationals until late June. Something to look forward to.

I wonder how many father-son combinations Moyer has faced? Eric Young and Young Jr.? The Gwynn family? The Griffeys, Boones…?

Evan

12 years ago

Reply to Shping

The Fielders…

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Evan

Based on a quick-and-dirty look at Moyer’s Pitcher-Batter Matchup page on Retrosheet, he’s faced the following father-son combos:

Buddy and David Bell
Bob, Bret, and Aaron Boone
Jose Cruz Sr. and Jr.
Cecil and Prince Fielder

Shping

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

The Fielders too — of course. Thanks again Graham! I definitely owe you a round of fine ales for all your helpful legwork.

Jeff

12 years ago

Reply to Evan

And Moyer is older than BOTH Fielders, and BOTH Eric Young and E.Y. Jr.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Shping

Reversing this for hitters facing father-son pitching combinations, Ted Williams faced both Thornton Lee and Don Lee. I think that he hit HRs off of both of them.

Mike L

12 years ago

With service time becoming much more important, I wonder if you are going to see this happen even more infrequently. For hitters, if they are viewed as potential stars, you either want them in the line up full time, or in the minors. For pitchers, the balance between service time/innings pitched/arm wear makes it a disincentive to bring someone up too soon. Wally Bunker is interesting-a star at 19, solid at 20, only one good year after that, and retired at 26

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Mike L

Bunker was a hit early on, with the mound in Memorial Stadium being renamed Bunker Hill for a time (I wrote about him awhile back on my blog.) He finished 19-5 with a 2.69 ERA and took second in Rookie of the Year voting in 1964. Bunker hurt his arm near the end of that year, though and was never as effective thereafter.

Doug

12 years ago

Nats were incredibly careful about not bringing up Strasberg too soon. Aand he still hurt his arm. But, it seems he has recovered very well.

donburgh

12 years ago

Nats visit Rockies for four June 25-28, and Rockies are in DC July 6-8.

Chuck

12 years ago

Can you please add SO to the pitcher table?

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Chuck

It’s already there, right next to the names of the pitchers.

Timmy Pea

12 years ago

Speaking of very young players, it looks like Starlin Castro will have 500+ hits before his 23rd birthday. He gets beat up here quite a bit because he does not walk much and he’d been hitting leadoff. This year he’s been hitting 3rd and he’s off to a good start. He seems to be able to get good wood on just about any pitch and they’re letting him run quite a bit so far this year.

Shping

12 years ago

As little as i know about WAR, it’s interesting to see King Felix on this list with only 84 Inn Pitched. Seems like a pretty big impact for barely a cup of coffee or two. And my favorite youngster, Robin Yount, who broke in at 18, was nowhere near the hitters list. He broke in at age 18 and played every day forever after, but had a total WAR of only 4.8 his first 4 years, with a low WAR of 0.1 his 2nd year in 1975. It took at least 4-5 yrs for him to get “good” and at… Read more »

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Shping

Yount had 4.8 WAR cumulative through his first four seasons. Surprisingly, at least to me, 18 Hall of Fame players did worse than this, Willie Stargell, Brooks Robinson, and Harmon Killebrew being some of the bigger names that struggled early on.

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

Graham:
I think the PI is giving you guys like Killebrew who were required to stay with the parent club on ML rosters and sat as bonus babie. Killebrew might not have gotten 500 PA’s in his first 5 seasons. Through age 24, a guy named Clemente had an OPS+ of 89 and 1.2 oWAR through his first five seasons in over 2000 PA’s. However, he did accumulate dWAR of significanc. But still, hitting sure appeared to be a challenge to the young fella’

Paul E

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

I guess I’m doubling-up on this. Clemente’s batting runs were a -43 through age 24. Amongst players with 2,500 PA’s through age 24, this would rank 80th out of 85 eligible players. Honestly, if that ain’t struggling, I don’t know what is…..He had 6.7 dWAR over that period and, I imagine, all that spectacular defense had somebody in the Pirates front office bedazzled while he struggled at the plate. He was another mandatory roster guy since the Bucs stole him from the Dodgers in the Rule V draft?

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Paul E

Yes, per B-R: “November 22, 1954: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1954 rule 5 draft. ” This meant that Clemente had to spend the entire 1955 season on the Pirates roster, or be offered back to the Dodgers. I guess that (in theory) the Pirates still could’ve sent him down to the minors after 1955, but in 1956 and 1957 they were still a pretty bad club (7th place, both years, way under .500), so he still was the best option in RF. In the big-picture view, it was the right decision – letting… Read more »

Neil L.

12 years ago

Graham, great blog, as usual. Your posts have been money, garnering over 75 comments and replies each time. I, clearly, must be from another planet (or country) because I had not heard of Bryce Harper until recently. Looking at his (scanty) minor league stats, what is the big whoop? As an outfielder, his slash last year at AA and AAA was 0.287/0.392/.501, in 452 PA with a noticeable drop off when he was promoted to AAA. This year with Syracuse he went .250/.333/.375 before being called up. Are all of us, including the Washington brass, victims of the Baseball America… Read more »

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Hey, thanks Neil. Much obliged, and I’ve liked seeing your name popping up over at my website as well. I first heard of Harper while he was still in high school. He had enough hype that he took his GED at 16, proceeded to tear up the junior college circuit, and went No. 1 in the draft as soon as he was eligible. I know part of what has people excited is Harper’s power. I want to say I’ve heard hitter comparisons to Mike Schmidt for him. Harper’s arm also sounds pretty good, seeing as he was a catcher in… Read more »

Evan

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

He’s the real life version of Harrison Bergeron. [I’m hoping that at least one reader gets that reference]

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to Evan

OK, Evan, either I’m slow-witted or have lead a sheltered life. Explain it to me later.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Evan

I enjoyed the Vonnegut reference, Evan, but didn’t get the fit. Is Harper required to wear handicapping devices to drag him down to average level?

Evan

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

No, but to read some of the reports he his some kind of superhuman. His ability to hit for power, his speed, his hustle, his throwing arm. Probably not the best analogy.

Neil,

Harrison Bergeron is the title character of a Kurt Vonnegut short story. It’s worth a read. It is included in his collection of short stories Welcome to the Monkey House or may be available online.

Neil L.

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

Graham, I don’t have access to Bryce’s junior college stats, but looking at his 3 HR in 147 PA at AA last year and his 1 HR in 82 PA this year at Syracuse, his power doesn’t look exceptional.

His brief acquaintance with the minors, in my opinion, smacks of soneone being rushed to the bigs by his organization.

I know that scouts and general managers are generally to be trusted because they can see the intangibles of Bryce Harper, but their judgement can be clouded by the press clipping just as much as the rest of us.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

Neil, Harper’s pattern, all the way back to high school, is to struggle early at whatever level he goes to next and then dominate. Also, he absolutely dominated the Arizona Fall League last year. So I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see Bryce struggle early but then find his bearings later(maybe even next year if he sticks around).

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Neil L.

“Why not at least wait until September to see what he can do?” The Nationals don’t have that kind of luxury right now. They are off to an excellent start, the best since moving from Montreal. Their pitching is great (1st in ERA), but their offense is bad (12/16 in the NL in runs, 13/11/15 in the slash stats), and getting worse with Zimmerman on the DL. Left field, in particular, is an absolute sinkhole, with Nady, Derosa, and Bernadino having OPS+’s of 9, -1(!),and 44. Harper can only help, he can’t be any worse. Forget the minor-league slash numbers,… Read more »

Shping

12 years ago

Thanks for the additions, Graham. 18 is a lot. As usual, i’m better at asking questions than answering them. My only quibble, however, is that Yount was playing full-time his first four years, and i think most of the others were not. Killebrew, for instance, didnt play full-time until his 6th year, Robinson and Stargell until their 3rd and 4th years. So naturally their WAR scores were lower. I guess i should have asked, have any future HOF hitters started as slowly in their first four, full-time years? Not sure how significant that is to anyone else, i just always… Read more »

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Shping

Limiting the Play Index search to 1,500 plate appearances (Yount had 2,324 his first four seasons), only two players had lower cumulative WAR:

George Kell, 4.7 WAR, 1,740 PAs
Luke Appling, 4.7 WAR, 1,560 PAs

If we do a search around HOFers who matched or exceeded Yount for PAs their first four seasons, the two enshrined players that come closest for WAR are:

Ozzie Smith, 6.3 WAR, 2,536 PAs
Red Schoendienst, 5.9 WAR, 2,396 PAs

Shping

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

All of them at the infield “skill positions.” Makes sense. Seems like teams can be more patient with them, for obvious reasons.

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

It may be worth noting, too, that Kell and Schoendienst both got their starts in the majors during World War II when the talent levels were much lower.

Shping

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

True. The era of Joe Nuxhall at age 15, i believe, and one-armed Pete Gray, etc.

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Shping

I should have a longish post going up on WWII-era Major League Baseball at another site sometime in the next month. I’ll put the word out here when it’s up.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Graham

Another way to look at this.

Among non-pitchers, Yount is one of 35 HOF players with under 10 WAR through age 22. Move that ahead to age 24, and there are still 24 players not yet at 10 WAR. Even at age 26, there are still 11 players on the list.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Good point, Doug. Yount played just one short year in the minors. The Brewers put him in the lineup in ’74 and kept him there because, frankly, they were a lousy team, they were trying to get established in town (their attendance was mediocre to poor from 1970-74) and they needed a few youngsters to make it look like the club had a bright future. So Yount spent 3 seasons (age 18-20) in the majors when he didn’t look anything like a future HOFer. But he still posted 2.2 WAR combined for those years; only 7 AL shortstops did better… Read more »

Shping

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Thanks for the additions John, and very true about the early Brewers situation. It didnt hurt that thousands of young girls were in love with the curly-haired kid either. That last note on 2nd best surprised me too! It’s easy to forget what we expected out of shortstops before Yount, Harrah, Ripken, Trammell… And at age 24, Yount — already a 5-year veteran who was tired of losing all the time –almost quit the game to pursue a golfing career. So the Brewers moved another young kid named Molitor to SS for awhile. Yount soon returned, hit the weights, and… Read more »

Steven

12 years ago

Wally Bunker shut out the Dodgers, 1-0, in game three of the 1966 series. He had enough left in the tank at the ripe old age of 24 with the expansion Royals to win twelve games. Ten complete games.

Author

Graham

12 years ago

Reply to Steven

Even Bunker’s stats from 1968 hint at what might have been. He was buried deep in the Orioles’ bullpen but managed to get in 71 innings, compiling a 2.41 ERA with a 1.028 WHIP and 5.6 SO/9. On a lesser team, I could see him putting up similar numbers, at least, to what he did with the Royals in 1969.

Thomas Court

12 years ago

Something new always jumps out at me when I decide to surf through the career numbers of some of the players mentioned in these posts.

This time it was some of Mel Ott’s numbers.

He led the league 6 times in home runs, but averaged less than 34 dingers a year in those seasons. That is a remarkably low number for pacing the senior circuit so many times in the live ball era. His high of 38 in those seasons would barely make the National League top 10 in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Thomas Court

Even though we think of the 20s/30s between-the-wars era as the firdt “lively ball” era, the offensive levels in the 30s were nioticeably lower in the NL than the AL. This true for both runs scored and HRs. I looked over Ott’s full-time career from 1928 to 1945. Incredibly enough, he was in the NL Top-10 in HRs _every single year_ , eighteen years in a row. During that time, there were far far fewer 35-or-more HR seasons in the NL than the AL, 15 to 34 (and nine of them were in 1929-30). Scoring was also down in the… Read more »

Author

Graham

12 years ago