"What?? Why should I bother walkin' if sooner or later, the ball's gonna go right through the first baseman's legs?" - totally fabricated quote from Mookie Wilson Icon SMI |
The most common plate appearances that don't count as at bats are walks, hits-by-pitch, sacrifice bunts, and sacrifice flies.
In 2011, there were 7 players to qualify for the batting title with at least 20% more plate appearances than at bats (Joey Votto, Jose Bautista, Lance Berkman, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Carlos Pena, and Nick Swisher.) All of these guys had a lot of walks as well as a bunch of HBP and SF.
But occasionally we see a player who does very little of any of these things. Here are the players since 1901 who qualified for the batting title while accumulating no more than 4% more plate appearances than at bats:
Rk | Player | Year | PA | AB | Tm | G | H | BB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ivan Rodriguez | 2007 | 515 | 502 | DET | 129 | 141 | 9 | 96 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .281 | .294 |
2 | Andres Thomas | 1989 | 571 | 554 | ATL | 141 | 118 | 12 | 62 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .213 | .228 |
3 | Andres Thomas | 1988 | 627 | 606 | ATL | 153 | 153 | 14 | 95 | 1 | 0 | 6 | .252 | .268 |
4 | Mookie Wilson | 1983 | 663 | 638 | NYM | 152 | 176 | 18 | 103 | 4 | 2 | 1 | .276 | .300 |
5 | Garry Templeton | 1980 | 524 | 504 | STL | 118 | 161 | 18 | 43 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .319 | .342 |
6 | Garry Templeton | 1979 | 696 | 672 | STL | 154 | 211 | 18 | 91 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .314 | .331 |
7 | Garry Templeton | 1977 | 644 | 621 | STL | 153 | 200 | 15 | 70 | 1 | 2 | 5 | .322 | .336 |
8 | Mickey Rivers | 1976 | 613 | 590 | NYY | 137 | 184 | 13 | 51 | 3 | 2 | 5 | .312 | .327 |
9 | Tommy Helms | 1968 | 526 | 507 | CIN | 127 | 146 | 12 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 3 | .288 | .305 |
10 | Don Mueller | 1950 | 539 | 525 | NYG | 132 | 153 | 10 | 26 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .291 | .309 |
11 | Virgil Stallcup | 1949 | 589 | 575 | CIN | 141 | 146 | 9 | 44 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .254 | .268 |
12 | Ted Kluszewski | 1949 | 550 | 531 | CIN | 136 | 164 | 19 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .309 | .333 |
13 | Don Kolloway | 1946 | 500 | 482 | CHW | 123 | 135 | 9 | 29 | 0 | 9 | 0 | .280 | .293 |
14 | Max Macon | 1944 | 380 | 366 | BSN | 106 | 100 | 12 | 23 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .273 | .296 |
15 | Gee Walker | 1943 | 445 | 429 | CIN | 114 | 105 | 12 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .245 | .270 |
16 | Al Todd | 1937 | 534 | 514 | PIT | 133 | 158 | 16 | 36 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .307 | .330 |
17 | Les Scarsella | 1936 | 502 | 485 | CIN | 115 | 152 | 14 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .313 | .335 |
18 | Jim Bucher | 1935 | 487 | 473 | BRO | 123 | 143 | 10 | 33 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .302 | .317 |
19 | Blondy Ryan | 1933 | 543 | 525 | NYG | 146 | 125 | 15 | 62 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .238 | .259 |
20 | John Leary | 1914 | 552 | 533 | SLB | 144 | 141 | 10 | 71 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .265 | .282 |
21 | Hobe Ferris | 1907 | 583 | 561 | BOS | 150 | 135 | 10 | 56 | 0 | 12 | 0 | .241 | .254 |
22 | Ossee Schrecongost | 1906 | 351 | 338 | PHA | 98 | 96 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .284 | .305 |
23 | Ossee Schrecongost | 1905 | 429 | 420 | PHA | 123 | 114 | 3 | 24 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .271 | .278 |
24 | Red Dooin | 1904 | 367 | 355 | PHI | 108 | 86 | 8 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .242 | .261 |
25 | Lave Cross | 1903 | 577 | 559 | PHA | 137 | 163 | 10 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 0 | .292 | .304 |
26 | Bill Coughlin | 1903 | 490 | 473 | WSH | 125 | 116 | 9 | 57 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .245 | .267 |
27 | Tommy Corcoran | 1903 | 473 | 459 | CIN | 115 | 113 | 12 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .246 | .267 |
28 | Billy Lauder | 1902 | 504 | 490 | NYG | 127 | 115 | 10 | 53 | 0 | 4 | 0 | .235 | .250 |
29 | Tommy Corcoran | 1902 | 557 | 538 | CIN | 138 | 136 | 11 | 29 | 0 | 8 | 0 | .253 | .268 |
30 | Erve Beck | 1902 | 362 | 349 | TOT | 89 | 105 | 7 | 33 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .301 | .317 |
31 | Candy LaChance | 1901 | 564 | 548 | CLE | 133 | 166 | 7 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 0 | .303 | .314 |
There's a cap at about 25 for total BB + HBP + SH + SF for these guys. That's pretty amazing and results in very small gaps between BA and OBP.
There are several names on the above table that are new to me, but none more interesting that Ossee Schrecongost.
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