More Home Runs Than Strikeouts

As I was browsing the new leaderboards, I noticed that Albert Pujols has the 10th fewest strikeouts among qualified players with only 43. That’s pretty damn impressive for a guy who’s hit 45 home runs this season. Actually, it’s a little more than impressive as there’s only been six other players who have more home runs than strikeouts and have hit over 40 home runs.

Name            Season       HR       SO
---------------------------------------------
Mel Ott           1929       42       38
Lou Gehrig        1934       49       31
Lou Gehrig        1936       49       46
Joe DiMaggio      1937       46       37
Johnny Mize       1947       51       42
Johnny Mize       1948       40       37
Ted Kluszewski    1953       40       34
Ted Kluszewski    1954       49       35
Ted Kluszewski    1955       47       40
*Barry Bonds      2004       45       41

* - denotes MVP Season

Only Barry Bonds has accomplished the 40-plus home run season with fewer strikeouts since 1955 and he’s the only one to win an MVP award in the same season. Hitting 30 home runs with fewer strikeouts has been slightly more rewarding in the MVP department and is still a very exclusive club.

Name            Season       HR       SO
---------------------------------------------
Ken Williams      1922       39       31
Lefty O'Doul      1929       32       19
Al Simmons        1930       36       34
Joe DiMaggio      1938       32       31
*Joe DiMaggio     1939       30       20
Joe DiMaggio      1940       31       30
Ted Williams      1941       37       27
*Joe DiMaggio     1941       30       13
Willard Marshal   1947       36       30
*Stan Musial      1948       39       34
Joe DiMaggio      1948       39       30
Andy Pafko        1950       36       32
Yogi Berra        1952       30       24
Yogi Berra        1956       30       29
Ted Kluszewski    1956       35       31

* - denotes MVP Season

Is there a point to this? Not really, but it’s fun trivia and maybe fodder for your MVP discussions.

And speaking of the MVP, a few days ago (September 9th), Ryan Howard briefly overtook Pujols for the major league lead in WPA. Before that, Pujols led the majors in WPA since April 16th (145 days). Last night’s 2-run walk-off double put Pujols back on top by a margin of 0.73 wins.



David Appelman is the creator of FanGraphs.

8 Responses to “More Home Runs Than Strikeouts”

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  1. sd2528 says:

    Joe D for his career hit 361 HR and SO 369 times.

    Taking out his last season he hit 349 HR and SO 333 times. Sick.

  2. chase says:

    you are the best people to get stats from

  3. tom says:

    do you know where i can get pitcher pick-off statistics online ?

  4. Jane says:

    I searched and searched and YOU had it. The best ratio of homeruns to strikeouts. I’m a Cardinals fan and of course an Albert Pujols fan. I thought I had heard the announcer (during one of our games) say that there is a record for 50 HR vs 50 Strike Outs and I don’t remember Barry Bonds name mentioned. It was a record that had not been broken in 30-40 years. Can you add anything to this?

  5. Johnny Mize is the only player to my knowledge that has ever hit 50 home runs and struck out less. That was way back in 1947. If Pujols can somehow manage another 4 home runs with only 4 or fewer strikeouts in the next week or so, he’ll join the club. At this late in the season, I think he’ll fall just shy of 50, but it’s certainly not out of the realm of possiblity.

  6. Buddy Munson says:

    The thing that sticks out to me is that all of these hitters who did this were from the 20’s through the 50’s except for a possibly juiced Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols now. During these decades, the starting pitching staffs were made up of 3 or 4 starters with some relievers. I would have to assume that the starters in that era, didn’t throw 100% on every pitch like they do now since they had to tow the line every 3rd or 4th day and it was understood unless they got totally rocked, they would be finishing the game. Do you think that is why that almost all players who hit for a high average now like Ichiro, Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, etc.. don’t hit many home runs and the hitters who hit tons of home runs also strike out a ton? Just wanted your opinion on this. Thanks!

  7. Jim McLennan says:

    Just a note to the above questioner, who was looking for pickoff statistics - I came across this page while I was looking for the same thing! The following link has them under the ‘Special Pitching’ section for each league:

    http://stats.globesports.com/mlb/index.asp

  8. andyf says:

    Y Berra 1950
    28/12

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