Baseball's Best Decade (4 page)

Hank Aaron
finished among the top 5 hitters in both the 1950s and 1960s. He batted a combined .313 over the two decades.

Roberto Clemente collected 4 National League batting titles during the 1960s, and posted a .317 batting average over his 18-year major league career.

Of all the league batting champions during the 1960s, Detroit Tigers first baseman Cash had both the highest single-season average (.361) and the lowest combined average for the decade (.275).

1950s –
Ted Williams and Stan Musial again ranked first and second for the decade, with Williams winning 2 batting titles and Musial 4 batting crowns. Williams actually had the American League’s highest batting average in 1954 (.345), but didn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the hitting crown, which went to Cleveland’s Bobby Avila (.341). Hank Aaron won 2 batting titles, and Willie Mays and Harvey Kuenn each won one, during the 1950s.

Who almost made the list?
Richie Ashburn at .313, Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson at .311.

1960s –
In terms of batting average consistency, Roberto Clemente was clearly the dominant hitter of the 1960s. He won 4 batting titles during the decade, and hit less than .300 for a season only once (.291 in 1968). He also had the most hits during the decade (1,877), 58 more than Hank Aaron and 101 more than Vada Pinson. Matty Alou’s impressive hitting decade included a batting title in 1966 with a .342 average. Pete Rose won his first 2 batting titles in 1968 (.335) and 1969 (.348).

Who almost made the list?
Tony Oliva at .308, Frank Robinson at .304, Willie Mays at .303.

1970s –
Rod Carew dominated hitting for average in the 1970s the way Ted Williams did in the 1940s and 1950s. After winning his first batting championship in 1969 (.hitting .332), Carew collected 6 more batting titles in the 1970s. Although Pete Rose had more hits during the decade, (2,045 to Carew’s 1,787), Carew accomplished his total with 1,300 at-bats
fewer
than Rose, accounting for a decade batting average almost 30 points higher than Rose’s.

Who almost made the list?
Steve Garvey at .304, Al Oliver at .303, Bob Watson at .301.

Richie Ashburn
won 2 National League batting titles during the 1950s. He led the NL in on-base percentage 4 times.

The Giants’ Willie Mays won his only batting title in 1954 with a .345 average. He led the league in home runs 4 times (3 times in the 1960s), but was never the league leader in RBIs.

Though he led the league in batting, home runs and RBIs only once in his career (all in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles), Frank Robinson was consistently one of the most feared sluggers in both major leagues, leading the league in slugging 4 times during the 1960s.

The Top
Player Batting Averages for Each Decade: 1980s-2000s

1980s –
Boston’s Wade Boggs, and his 5 American League batting titles, set the pace for all hitters during the 1980s. The most hits during the decade were collected by Milwaukee shortstop Robin Yount, with a total of 1,731. (Baltimore’s Eddie Murray finished second in hits with 1,642.) Tony Gwynn accumulated 4 batting titles in posting his .332 decade average.

Who almost made the list?
George Brett at .311, Robin Yount at .305, Tim Raines at .303.

1990s –
Tony Gwynn was the only hitter to appear in the top five for the 1980s and 1990s, collecting four National League batting titles in each decade. His .358 average in 1993 was only good enough for second place to Andres Galarraga’s .370. In leading the league in hitting from 1994-1997, Gwynn averaged .371 over that 4-year period. Edgar Martinez led the American League in hitting twice during the 1990s.

Who almost made the list?
Vladimir Guerrero at .314, Paul Molitor and Larry Walker at .313.