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Most hits in the 1980s

Posted by Andy on August 3, 2007

No cheating. Can you guess who it was? Post a comment with your guess.

I'll post the answer in a few days.

17 Responses to “Most hits in the 1980s”

  1. ryn0mite Says:

    Dave Winfield

  2. Andy Says:

    Believe it or not, Winfield was just 17th in the 1980s in hits, with 1441.

  3. mabe_xc Says:

    Tony Gywnn

  4. licklavin Says:

    Wade Boggs

  5. Andy Says:

    Boggs was 4th with 1597 hits, hurt by the fact that he didn't come up to the bigs until 1982 (but he started hitting immediately.)

    Gwynn, believe it or not, was just 26th in the 1980s with 1354 hits. He didn't play a full season until 1984.

  6. dustininminny Says:

    Rickey Henderson was always getting 150-170 hits a year, and he came up in 1979, I'm doubting he is the leader, but if Boggs was 4th at 1600 or so, Rickey's in the top 10.

  7. ehanczyc Says:

    How about Robin Yount?

  8. apbadogs Says:

    Mark Grace

  9. mabe_xc Says:

    Dale Murphy???

  10. Andy Says:

    We have a winner. Not Henderson, who was 8th with 1507 hits, but HOFer Robin Yount, who was first by a HUGE margin. He had 1731 hits in the 1980s, whereas the second place guy Eddie Murray had 1642. I will post the entire list in the next comment, assuming the spam filter doesn't catch it.

    Good job, ehanczyc, whoever you are. (ehanczyc happens to be a good friend of mine...)

  11. Andy Says:

    The top 25 in the 1980s:

    Cnt Player H From To
    +----+-----------------+----+----+----+
    1 Robin Yount 1731 1980 1989
    2 Eddie Murray 1642 1980 1989
    3 Willie Wilson 1639 1980 1989
    4 Wade Boggs 1597 1982 1989
    5 Dale Murphy 1553 1980 1989
    6 Harold Baines 1547 1980 1989
    7 Andre Dawson 1539 1980 1989
    8 Rickey Henderson 1507 1980 1989
    9 Alan Trammell 1504 1980 1989
    10 Dwight Evans 1497 1980 1989
    11 Carney Lansford 1486 1980 1989
    12 Keith Hernandez 1480 1980 1989
    13 Jim Rice 1476 1980 1989
    14 Tim Raines 1467 1980 1989
    15 Lou Whitaker 1452 1980 1989
    16 George Brett 1446 1980 1989
    17 Dave Winfield 1441 1980 1988
    18 Bill Buckner 1437 1980 1989
    19 Steve Sax 1423 1981 1989
    20 Paul Molitor 1421 1980 1989
    21 Cal Ripken 1402 1981 1989
    22 Ryne Sandberg 1395 1981 1989
    23 Ozzie Smith 1392 1980 1989
    24 Johnny Ray 1390 1981 1989
    25 Dave Parker 1372 1980 1989

  12. apbadogs Says:

    D'oh!! Wrong decade, Gracie was best in the 90's I believe.

    I amend my answer to be Cal Ripken.

  13. mabe_xc Says:

    ANDRE DAWSON!

  14. Andy Says:

    Indeed, Grace was #1 in the 1990s, just narrowly beating one-time teammate Palmeiro. Kudos to those who guessed Murphy and Dawson. Both ranked quite high on the list. Sometimes it's easy to forget how good Murphy was in the early 80s (because the Braves were so bad.)

  15. dustininminny Says:

    Rearranging that list by AB's shows just how crazy Bogg's decade was!
    AB's Hit Rank
    Yount 5683 1
    Wilson 5666 3
    Murray 5612 2
    Murphy 5604 5
    Dawson 5398 7
    Baines 5364 6
    Evans 5350 10
    Smith 5330 23
    Whitaker 5282 15
    Trammell 5192 9
    Henderson 5173 8
    Rice 5073 13
    Ripken 5055 21
    Lansford 5029 11
    Buckner 4996 18
    Winfield 4982 17
    Sax 4963 19
    Parker 4952 25
    Sandberg 4893 22
    Raines 4849 14
    Hernandez 4832 12
    Ray 4784 24
    Molitor 4723 20
    Brett 4653 16
    Boggs 4534 4

  16. dustininminny Says:

    Well, that worked out horribly.

  17. Andy Says:

    Your point is clear, though. There's no doubt that Boggs was the very best hitter of the 1980s (in my mind at least.)