I was just perusing Greg Brock's stats and noticed that he hit 20 HR in 1983 while slugging just .396. Got me to wondering how many others have had such a season. Click on through to the other side.

It's been done 28 times since 1901:

  Cnt Player            **HR**  SLG  Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Tony Batista        26    .393 2003  29 BAL AL 161 670 631  76 148 20  1  99  28   4 102   5   0   6  20   4  3  .235  .270  .663 *5/D
    2 Rob Deer            25    .386 1991  30 DET AL 134 539 448  64  80 14  2  64  89   1 175   0   0   2   3   1  3  .179  .314  .700 *9/D
    3 Joe Carter          24    .391 1990  30 SDP NL 162 697 634  79 147 27  1 115  48  18  93   7   0   8  12  22  6  .232  .290  .681 *873
    4 Kevin Maas          23    .390 1991  26 NYY AL 148 592 500  69 110 14  1  63  83   3 128   4   0   5   4   5  1  .220  .333  .723 *D3
    5 Dale Murphy         23    .394 1978  22 ATL NL 151 583 530  66 120 14  3  79  42   3 145   3   3   5  15  11  7  .226  .284  .678 *32
    6 Brooks Robinson     23    .395 1969  32 BAL AL 156 670 598  73 140 21  3  84  56  10  55   3   3  10  19   2  1  .234  .298  .693 *5
    7 Ruben Sierra        22    .390 1993  27 OAK AL 158 692 630  77 147 23  5 101  52  16  97   0   0  10  17  25  5  .233  .288  .678 *9D
    8 Mark McGwire        22    .383 1991  27 OAK AL 154 585 483  62  97 22  0  75  93   3 116   3   1   5  13   2  1  .201  .330  .713 *3
    9 Darrell Evans       22    .380 1988  41 DET AL 144 522 437  48  91  9  0  64  84   4  89   1   0   0  14   1  4  .208  .337  .717 *D3
   10 Gorman Thomas       22    .379 1983  32 TOT AL 152 629 535  72 112 23  1  69  80   2 148   2   4   8  13  10  4  .209  .310  .689 *8
   11 Jeff Newman         22    .399 1979  30 OAK AL 143 552 516  53 119 17  2  71  27   2  88   1   2   6  17   2  1  .231  .267  .666 *23/D5
   12 Graig Nettles       22    .386 1973  28 NYY AL 160 641 552  65 129 18  0  81  78   3  76   7   0   4  15   0  0  .234  .334  .720 *5/D
   13 Richie Sexson       21    .399 2007  32 SEA AL 121 491 434  58  89 21  0  63  51   1 100   5   0   1  12   1  0  .205  .295  .694 *3/D
   14 Joe Carter          21    .399 1997  37 TOR AL 157 668 612  76 143 30  4 102  40   5 105   7   0   9  12   8  2  .234  .284  .683 D379
   15 Rob Deer            21    .386 1993  32 TOT AL 128 532 466  66  98 17  1  55  58   1 169   5   0   3   6   5  2  .210  .303  .689 *9/D8
   16 Ken McMullen        21    .395 1971  29 CAL AL 160 657 593  63 148 19  2  68  53  10  74   3   4   4  18   1  1  .250  .312  .707 *5
   17 Max Alvis           21    .397 1965  27 CLE AL 159 670 604  88 149 24  2  61  47   4 121   9   5   5   9  12  8  .247  .308  .705 *5
   18 Willie Kirkland     21    .377 1962  28 CLE AL 137 470 419  56  84  9  1  72  43   3  62   0   3   5  10   9  1  .200  .272  .649 *98
   19 Frank Thomas        21    .399 1960  31 CHC NL 135 509 479  54 114 12  1  64  28   4  74   0   1   1  12   1  0  .238  .280  .679 375/9
   20 Rudy York           21    .397 1947  33 TOT AL 150 643 584  56 136 25  4  91  58   0  87   0   1   0  22   1  0  .233  .302  .699 *3
   21 Juan Uribe          20    .394 2007  27 CHW AL 150 563 513  55 120 18  2  68  34   2 112   4   7   5   6   1  9  .234  .284  .678 *6
   22 Matt Williams       20    .384 1992  26 SFG NL 146 576 529  58 120 13  5  66  39  11 109   6   0   2  15   7  7  .227  .286  .670 *5
   23 Dale Murphy         20    .361 1989  33 ATL NL 154 647 574  60 131 16  0  84  65  10 142   2   0   6  14   3  2  .228  .306  .667 *89
   24 Gary Carter         20    .392 1987  33 NYM NL 139 573 523  55 123 18  2  83  42   1  73   1   1   6  14   0  0  .235  .290  .682 *2/39
   25 Greg Brock          20    .396 1983  26 LAD NL 146 543 455  64 102 14  2  66  83  12  81   1   0   4  13   5  1  .224  .343  .739 *3
+----+-----------------+------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+
  Cnt Player            **HR**  SLG  Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+
   26 Jimmy Wynn          20    .395 1973  31 HOU NL 139 581 481  90 106 14  5  55  91   9 102   4   1   4  11  14 11  .220  .347  .742 *98/7
   27 Ken McMullen        20    .382 1968  26 WSA AL 151 626 557  66 138 11  2  62  63   5  66   3   0   3  12   1  3  .248  .326  .708 *56
   28 Roy Campanella      20    .394 1956  34 BRO NL 124 461 388  39  85  6  1  73  66  15  61   1   4   2  20   1  0  .219  .333  .727 *2

• For those scoring at home (lucky you), it's been done twice by four players: Deer, Carter, Murphy, and Ken McMullen. We have spoken at length about Joe Carter's poor SLG on previous posts. (Just put "Joe Carter" in that search box on the left and you'll see what I mean.)
• Two guys did it this past season: Richie Sexson and Juan Uribe.
• Now, there's something special about that Sexson season, which is that he did it in just 434 at-bats. To me, it's one thing to play an entire season, slug less than .400, and hit 20 homers, versus playing only part or most of a season. I mean--a guy who bats under the Mendoza line can still get 100 hits in a season if he gets 600 at-bats. Similarly, a low SLG will still allow you to rack up a bunch of homers if you play enough. That's how, for example, Ruben Sierra made this list. He slugged only .390 but got 630 at-bats. For Sexson, it's truly amazing that he missed so many games, slugged so poorly, but still got 20 homers.
• Willie Kirkland in 1962 and Roy Campanella in 1956 actually had even fewer at-bats than Sexson.

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