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400 total bases

Posted by Andy on January 16, 2009

Four hundred total bases in a season is one of the truly magical numbers. It's far rarer than hitting .300 or driving in 100 runs in a season. In fact, in baseball history, it's been done just 29 times:

  Cnt Player            Year  TB Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Sammy Sosa        2001 425  32 CHC NL 160 711 577 146 189 34  5 64 160 116  37 153   6   0  12   6   0  2  .328  .437  .737 1.174 *9        
    2 Todd Helton       2001 402  27 COL NL 159 696 587 132 197 54  2 49 146  98  15 104   5   1   5  14   7  5  .336  .432  .685 1.117 *3        
    3 Luis Gonzalez     2001 419  33 ARI NL 162 728 609 128 198 36  7 57 142 100  24  83  14   0   5  14   1  1  .325  .429  .688 1.117 *7        
    4 Barry Bonds       2001 411  36 SFG NL 153 664 476 129 156 32  2 73 137 177  35  93   9   0   2   5  13  3  .328  .515  .863 1.378 *7/D      
    5 Todd Helton       2000 405  26 COL NL 160 697 580 138 216 59  2 42 147 103  22  61   4   0  10  12   5  3  .372  .463  .698 1.161 *3        
    6 Sammy Sosa        1998 416  29 CHC NL 159 722 643 134 198 20  0 66 158  73  14 171   1   0   5  20  18  9  .308  .377  .647 1.024 *9/8      
    7 Larry Walker      1997 409  30 COL NL 153 664 568 143 208 46  4 49 130  78  14  90  14   0   4  15  33  8  .366  .452  .720 1.172 *9/38D    
    8 Jim Rice          1978 406  25 BOS AL 163 746 677 121 213 25 15 46 139  58   7 126   5   1   5  15   7  5  .315  .370  .600  .970 *7D9/8    
    9 Hank Aaron        1959 400  25 MLN NL 154 693 629 116 223 46  7 39 123  51  17  54   4   0   9  19   8  0  .355  .401  .636 1.037 *98/5     
   10 Stan Musial       1948 429  27 STL NL 155 694 611 135 230 46 18 39 131  79   0  34   3   1   0  18   7  0  .376  .450  .702 1.152 987/3     
   11 Joe Medwick       1937 406  25 STL NL 156 677 633 111 237 56 10 31 154  41   0  50   2   1   0  11   4  0  .374  .414  .641 1.055 *7        
   12 Joe DiMaggio      1937 418  22 NYY AL 151 692 621 151 215 35 15 46 167  64   0  37   5   2   0   0   3  0  .346  .412  .673 1.085 *8        
   13 Hal Trosky        1936 405  23 CLE AL 151 671 629 124 216 45  9 42 162  36   0  58   3   3   0   0   6  5  .343  .382  .644 1.026 *3/4      
   14 Lou Gehrig        1936 403  33 NYY AL 155 719 579 167 205 37  7 49 152 130   0  46   7   3   0   0   3  4  .354  .478  .696 1.174 *3        
   15 Lou Gehrig        1934 409  31 NYY AL 154 690 579 128 210 40  6 49 165 109   0  31   2   0   0   0   9  5  .363  .465  .706 1.171 *3/6      
   16 Jimmie Foxx       1933 403  25 PHA AL 149 670 573 125 204 37  9 48 163  96   0  93   1   0   0   0   2  2  .356  .449  .703 1.152 *3/6      
   17 Chuck Klein       1932 420  27 PHI NL 154 711 650 152 226 50 15 38 137  60   0  49   1   0   0   0  20  0  .348  .404  .646 1.050 *9        
   18 Jimmie Foxx       1932 438  24 PHA AL 154 701 585 151 213 33  9 58 169 116   0  96   0   0   0   0   3  7  .364  .469  .749 1.218 *35       
   19 Lou Gehrig        1931 410  28 NYY AL 155 738 619 163 211 31 15 46 184 117   0  56   0   2   0   0  17 12  .341  .446  .662 1.108 *3/9      
   20 Lou Gehrig        1930 419  27 NYY AL 154 703 581 143 220 42 17 41 174 101   0  63   3  18   0   0  12 14  .379  .473  .721 1.194 *3/7      
   21 Babe Herman       1930 416  27 BRO NL 153 699 614 143 241 48 11 35 130  66   0  56   4  15   0   0  18  0  .393  .455  .678 1.133 *9        
   22 Chuck Klein       1930 445  25 PHI NL 156 719 648 158 250 59  8 40 170  54   0  50   4  13   0   0   4  0  .386  .436  .687 1.123 *9        
   23 Hack Wilson       1930 423  30 CHC NL 155 709 585 146 208 35  6 56 191 105   0  84   1  18   0   0   3  0  .356  .454  .723 1.177 *8        
   24 Chuck Klein       1929 405  24 PHI NL 149 679 616 126 219 45  6 43 145  54   0  61   0   9   0   0   5  0  .356  .407  .657 1.064 *98       
   25 Rogers Hornsby    1929 409  33 CHC NL 156 712 602 156 229 47  8 39 149  87   0  65   1  22   0   0   2  0  .380  .459  .679 1.138 *4        
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
  Cnt Player            Year  TB Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
   26 Babe Ruth         1927 417  32 NYY AL 151 691 540 158 192 29  8 60 164 137   0  89   0  14   0   0   7  6  .356  .486  .772 1.258 *97       
   27 Lou Gehrig        1927 447  24 NYY AL 155 717 584 149 218 52 18 47 175 109   0  84   3  21   0   0  10  8  .373  .474  .765 1.239 *3        
   28 Rogers Hornsby    1922 450  26 STL NL 154 704 623 141 250 46 14 42 152  65   0  50   1  15   0   0  17 12  .401  .459  .722 1.181 *4        
   29 Babe Ruth         1921 457  26 NYY AL 152 693 540 177 204 44 16 59 171 145   0  81   4   4   0   0  17 13  .378  .512  .846 1.358 *78/13   

A few things to notice about this list:

  • So much for the claim that the current is era is the greatest offensive era in history. 19 of the 29 seasons came before 1940. Keep in mind that there were fewer games in a season back then, too, making it so much more difficult.
  • 2001 was a flukey year, with 4 different guys doing it. But it's not so flukey, with 6 other years with multiple guys doing it, including another quartet in 1930.
  • Most of these seasons are also among the highest single-season RBI totals.

There have been some near misses recently, although it's surprising that this list is actually shorter than the guys to break 400.

  Cnt Player            Year  TB Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Derrek Lee        2005 393  29 CHC NL 158 691 594 120 199 50  3 46 107  85  23 109   5   0   7  12  15  3  .335  .418  .662 1.080 *3        
    2 Albert Pujols     2003 394  23 STL NL 157 685 591 137 212 51  1 43 124  79  12  65  10   0   5  13   5  1  .359  .439  .667 1.106 *73/D     
    3 Alex Rodriguez    2001 393  25 TEX AL 162 732 632 133 201 34  1 52 135  75   6 131  16   0   9  17  18  3  .318  .399  .622 1.021 *6/D      
    4 Sammy Sosa        1999 397  30 CHC NL 162 712 625 114 180 24  2 63 141  78   8 171   3   0   6  17   7  8  .288  .367  .635 1.002 *98       
    5 Albert Belle      1998 399  31 CHW AL 163 706 609 113 200 48  2 49 152  81  10  84   1   0  15  17   6  4  .328  .399  .655 1.054 *7/D      
    6 Ken Griffey       1997 393  27 SEA AL 157 704 608 125 185 34  3 56 147  76  23 121   8   0  12  12  15  4  .304  .382  .646 1.028 *8/D7     
    7 Ellis Burks       1996 392  31 COL NL 156 685 613 142 211 45  8 40 128  61   2 114   6   3   2  19  32  6  .344  .408  .639 1.047 *78       
    8 Jimmie Foxx       1938 398  30 BOS AL 149 685 565 139 197 33  9 50 175 119   0  76   0   1   0   0   5  4  .349  .462  .704 1.166 *3        
    9 Hank Greenberg    1937 397  26 DET AL 154 701 594 137 200 49 14 40 183 102   0 101   3   2   0   0   8  3  .337  .436  .668 1.104 *3        
   10 Bill Terry        1930 392  31 NYG NL 154 710 633 139 254 39 15 23 129  57   0  33   1  19   0   0   8  0  .401  .452  .619 1.071 *3        
   11 Al Simmons        1930 392  28 PHA AL 138 611 554 152 211 41 16 36 165  39   0  34   1  17   0   0   9  2  .381  .423  .708 1.131 *7/8      
   12 Lefty O'Doul      1929 397  32 PHI NL 154 731 638 152 254 35  6 32 122  76   0  19   4  13   0   0   2  0  .398  .465  .622 1.087 *79       
   13 Al Simmons        1925 392  23 PHA AL 153 696 654 122 253 43 12 24 129  35   0  41   1   6   0   0   7 14  .387  .419  .599 1.018 *8        
   14 Babe Ruth         1924 391  29 NYY AL 153 681 529 143 200 39  7 46 121 142   0  81   4   6   0   0   9 13  .378  .513  .739 1.252 *97/8     
   15 Babe Ruth         1923 399  28 NYY AL 152 699 522 151 205 45 13 41 131 170   0  93   4   3   0   0  17 21  .393  .545  .764 1.309 97/83     
   16 George Sisler     1920 399  27 SLB AL 154 692 631 137 257 49 18 19 122  46   0  19   2  13   0   0  42 17  .407  .449  .632 1.081 *3/1      

One Response to “400 total bases”

  1. ollie1000 Says:

    what's amazing is that Bonds it it with 156 hits, and when Rice did it in '78 the next highest guy was Murray with 293