120 BBs & 120 Ks – The Jim Thome Award
Posted by Raphy on March 1, 2009
Prior to 1958 no player had ever walked and struck out 120 times in times in the same season. (In fact there had only been 8 seasons of 120 SO to that point.) In 1958 Mickey Mantle became he charter member of the 120/120 club with 120 strikeouts and 129 walks. Over the next 28 years only Jimmy Winn (1969), Frank Howard (1970) and Mike Schmidt (1983) would match Mantle's feat. However, since 1987 there have been 16 such seasons by 9 players, including 4 by Jim Thome and multiple seasons by Jack Clark, Jeff Bagwell, Mark McGwire and Adam Dunn. Dunn was the only player to do it in '08.
Here are the members of the 120/120 club:
Cnt Player Year SO BB Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions ----+-----------------+----+---+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+--------- 1 Adam Dunn 2008 164 122 28 TOT NL 158 651 517 79 122 23 0 40 100 13 7 0 5 7 2 1 .236 .386 .513 .899 *793/D 2 Bobby Abreu 2006 138 124 32 TOT ML 156 686 548 98 163 41 2 15 107 6 3 2 9 13 30 6 .297 .424 .462 .886 *9/8D 3 Jason Giambi 2003 140 129 32 NYY AL 156 690 535 97 134 25 0 41 107 9 21 0 5 9 2 1 .250 .412 .527 .939 *3D 4 Jim Thome 2002 139 122 31 CLE AL 147 613 480 101 146 19 2 52 118 18 5 0 6 5 1 2 .304 .445 .677 1.122 *3D 5 Adam Dunn 2002 170 128 22 CIN NL 158 676 535 84 133 28 2 26 71 13 9 1 3 8 19 9 .249 .400 .454 .854 *739/D 6 Jim Thome 1999 171 127 28 CLE AL 146 629 494 101 137 27 2 33 108 13 4 0 4 6 0 0 .277 .426 .540 .966 *3D 7 Jeff Bagwell 1999 127 149 31 HOU NL 162 729 562 143 171 35 0 42 126 16 11 0 7 18 30 11 .304 .454 .591 1.045 *3/D 8 Mark McGwire 1999 141 133 35 STL NL 153 661 521 118 145 21 1 65 147 21 2 0 5 12 0 0 .278 .424 .697 1.121 *3 9 Mark McGwire 1998 155 162 34 STL NL 155 681 509 130 152 21 0 70 147 28 6 0 4 8 1 0 .299 .470 .752 1.222 *3 10 Jeff Bagwell 1997 122 127 29 HOU NL 162 717 566 109 162 40 2 43 135 27 16 0 8 10 31 10 .286 .425 .592 1.017 *3/D 11 Jim Thome 1997 146 120 26 CLE AL 147 627 496 104 142 25 0 40 102 9 3 0 8 9 1 1 .286 .423 .579 1.002 *3 12 Jim Thome 1996 141 123 25 CLE AL 151 636 505 122 157 28 5 38 116 8 6 0 2 13 2 2 .311 .450 .612 1.062 *5/D 13 Tony Phillips 1996 132 125 37 CHW AL 153 719 581 119 161 29 3 12 63 9 4 1 8 6 13 8 .277 .404 .399 .803 *7/843 14 Mickey Tettleton 1992 137 122 31 DET AL 157 654 525 82 125 25 0 32 83 18 1 0 6 5 0 6 .238 .379 .469 .848 *2D/379 15 Jack Clark 1989 145 132 33 SDP NL 142 593 455 76 110 19 1 26 94 18 1 0 5 10 6 2 .242 .410 .459 .869 *39 16 Jack Clark 1987 139 136 31 STL NL 131 558 419 93 120 23 1 35 106 13 0 0 3 5 1 2 .286 .459 .597 1.056 *3/9 17 Mike Schmidt 1983 148 128 33 PHI NL 154 669 534 104 136 16 4 40 109 17 3 0 4 10 7 8 .255 .399 .524 .923 *5/6 18 Frank Howard 1970 125 132 33 WSA AL 161 706 566 90 160 15 1 44 126 29 2 0 6 23 1 2 .283 .416 .546 .962 *73/9 19 Jimmy Wynn 1969 142 148 27 HOU NL 149 653 495 113 133 17 1 33 87 14 3 2 5 5 23 7 .269 .436 .507 .943 *8 20 Mickey Mantle 1958 120 129 26 NYY AL 150 654 519 127 158 21 1 42 97 13 2 2 2 11 18 3 .304 .443 .592 1.035 *8
Jack Clark's seasons both stand out. In 1987 he managed to do 130/130 without the benefit of 600 PA. In 1989 Clark once again had more than 130 Ks and BBs, but this time with only 110 hits.
Also of note were Jeff Bagwell's 1999 and McGwire's 1998 seasons in which they added more than 120 runs and RBI to their walks and strikeouts.
March 1st, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Clark didn't strike out or walk 100 times until that 1987 season, his 13th, when he blew past both figures with 139 and 136. Then he did it again in his 14th and 15th seasons, cracking this list in 1989 with 145 and 132.
March 1st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
It is no surpise that most of these guys are modern power hitters. The only guy on that list that doesnt have much power is Tony Phillips and perhaps bobby abreu
March 1st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
In 1993, I posted to rec.sport.baseball about players going AWOC - that's Atbats WithOut Contact - and noted that the career record holder was Reggie Jackson at 3972 (1375 walks + 2597 strikeouts). I also listed the 9 players who had gone AWOC over 260 times in a season. Babe Ruth set a record with 263 in 1923 that was broken by Bobby Bonds and Jimmy Wynn in 1969, and Wynn's 290 still stood in 1993.
A few years later, I expanded my post to an essay in the Big Bad Baseball Annual, I think it was in honor of Jay Buhner breaking Wynn's record in 1997. Buhner doesn't appear on the list above because he had only 119 walks to go with his 175 strikeouts, but the total of 294 went past Wynn.
When people talk about Ruth's single season record being broken in the 1960s and the new record lasting until the 1990s, you may think of home runs - I think of AWOC.
March 1st, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Gerry - is there a reason that you left HBP out of your stat?
Anyway, since Buhner broke the AWOC record in 1997, eight players have surpassed him. McGwire set and still holds the record with 317 in 1998. Jack Cust in 2008 (111+197) is second followed by Dunn ('06), Howard ('07), Dunn ('04), Thome ('99), Dunn ('02) and Thome ('01).
March 1st, 2009 at 11:00 pm
ZimJim, are you referring to HOMERUN DERBY CHAMPION Bobby Abreu?
He really did seem to leave all his homers at that event. How bizarre.
March 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 am
I suppose Johnny, I was referring to the fact that all of the other guys on the list are good for atleast 30+ home runs and most of them are good for 40+. While abreu has eclipsed the 30 home run mark before he usually hits a lot of line drive doubles. I also read that he looks at the most pitches in baseball, but i cant back this up with statitics or references right now.
I do remember that year, he was hot, real hot for about a month, even hotter for a week (he hit like .900 for a week) and then cooled off after that derby. bizarre
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:32 am
ZimJim- Here is where Abreau has ranked among MLB players in total pitches seen and pitches per plate appearance (I could only find info back until 2002).
2008 (2nd, 6th)
2007 (2nd, 3rd)
2006 (1st, 1st)
2005 (1st, 1st)
2004 (1st, 1st)
2003 (1st, 2nd)
2002 (1st, 2nd)
Source: ESPN Sortable Stats
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:55 am
Raphy, remember, I was counting appearances without contact - if HBP doesn't count as contact, I don't know what does! Thanks for the update on the single season record.
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
even though he has never walked 120 times in a season, Jack Cust's numbers fascinates me- he is now the leader in TTO% at .574, blowing away Dave Nicholson who finished at .521.
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Guys,
Seeing incredible numbers here for % of hits being homers. Have you done the numbers for HRs as a % of hits in a season? Career? Would be interested
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
rico - I've never posted that exact query, but I did post this:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/748
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:59 am
Awesome Raphy.
McGwire is the only guy to ever have 1/2 his hits be homers.
He owns this category,and did it once hitting .305!
Thanks
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:25 am
That McGwire season got me to search for the highest single-season OPS+ when batting under .200, minimum 250 PA. The immortal Roger Repoz had a 107 for the '71 Angels while batting .199. McGwire is second at 105, the only other player with an above avg OPS. I'd still give McGwire the edge on that one, as Repoz's season was during a low-scoring year when the league only hit .247. McGwire managed his when the league hit .261.
There's some good players on that list who are at the very end or beginning of their careers.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
To further on Zimjim's response to Ralphy, I would separate HBP from BB because of the batter's intent and skill. Bases on balls are determined in large measure by a batter's ability to discern a ball from a strike and his discipline not to swing at balls. Being a good enough hitter to make pitchers not want to throw you strikes helps, too. This is not to say that it is solely the batter's ability - the pitcher's intent and skill come into play as wll - but the batter has an equal share of the outcome. The difference between a full-time player who gets 100 BB a year and one who gets 40 is not due to the pitchers they faced, it's their skill at drawing the walk.
Being hit by a pitch, however, is almost totally due to the intent/skill of the pitcher. With the exception of those few players who lean into a pitch - or make no effort to get out of the way - it is the pitcher's talents that decides when a batter is plunked. While those hitters whose HBP totals are real outliers indicate a guy leaning into pitches, the difference between a player who gets 7 HBP in a year and one who gets 3 is more likely a product of chance (or pitchers faced) than of the batter's "skill" at drawing the beaning.
Besides, the 'technical definition of contact' arguement falls apart when you consider that a lot of walks are drawn, and outs are created, after foul balls, which are technically "contact" as well. (Even moreso as the ball actually contacted the BAT, not just the batter!)