Baseball's Best Decade (8 page)

The other aspect of power hitting examined in the pages that follow is slugging average – the percentage of extra-base hits out of total hits and at-bats. While batting averages have generally declined over the last 8 decades, slugging averages have been at .370 or better in every decade except the 1940s.

Babe Ruth was the first player to break the .700 barrier in slugging average, which he accomplished 9 times. Rogers Hornsby was the first National Leaguer to top .700 in slugging average, which he did twice. Lou Gehrig slugged for an average of .700 or better 3 times. Barry Bonds reached that mark 4 times … all after 2000.

Half the decades have recorded slugging averages of .390 or better, with the 1980s coming close at .388.
The most recent 2 decades are the first where the combined major league slugging averages topped .400. The major league slugging average has risen steadily since the 1960s, and dramatically in the last 3 decades – when the designated hitter has been in effect for the full decades.

The presence of the designated hitter in American League lineups
probably accounts more than any other single factor for the disparity in slugging percentages between the 2 major leagues during the last 3 decades. Another factor may be the American League expansion from 12 to 14 teams in 1977.

This unilateral expansion necessarily diluted
the talent pool among American League pitching staffs, and that – combined with a full decade of designated hitters – resulted in American League teams amassing over 60,000 more total bases than National League teams during the 1980s. The National League did not increase to 14 teams until 1993.

After smashing the major league home run record with 29 in 1919, Babe Ruth
averaged
47 home runs per season through the 1920s, while batting a combined .355 for the decade. He hit more than 50 home runs 4 times between 1920 and 1928.

The Top Home Run Hitters for Each Decade: 1920s-1940s

During the 1920s, Rogers Hornsby led the National League in home runs twice and in runs batted in 4 times. He led the league in slugging average 8 times during that decade.

Babe Ruth tops all major league hitters in the number of seasons batting .300 or better with at least 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. The Babe had 12 such seasons. Lou Gehrig had 10.

During the 1920s, the only two players to hit more home runs in a season than Babe Ruth were Ken Williams (left) of the St. Louis Browns in 1922 and fellow Yankee Bob Meusel in 1925.

As a home run hitter in the 1930s, Jimmie Foxx was a worthy successor to Babe Ruth. Foxx averaged 42 home runs per season, topping 50 twice and leading the American League 3 times.

1920s –
No player has single handedly dominated any major team sport the way Babe Ruth did for baseball, particularly in the 1920s. In amassing 467 home runs in that decade –
averaging
over 46 home runs per year – the Babe led the American League, and in fact the majors, in home runs 8 out of 10 seasons, while batting an incredible .355 over that span.

Who almost made the list?
Harry Heilmann at 142, Hack Wilson at 137, Al Simmons at 115.