Trivia

[metirish]

Tim Kurkjian in an article on baseball numbers said this....

] An interest in baseball statistics has become, for some, an obsession. A colleague from ESPN recently asked me to name the 10 guys who have hit .370 or better, starting with the 1980 season. Using a couple of hours that I didn't have, I couldn't rest until I'd made my 10 guesses.

Kurkjan didn't give the names of the players or what they hit,so I did some research .

Trivia -

Name the ten players that starting in 1980 until 2006 have hit .370 or better, batting average and year for bonus points,one player has done it more than once,a few have Met connections.

* In 1999 David Dellucci hit .394 in 109 AB'S,played in 63 games,

* In 1980 Broderick Perkins hit .370 in 100 ABs,played in 43 games,

For this trivia they do not count.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Brett, 1980

Larry Walker, 1996

Tony Gwynn, coupla times

[Guest Edgy DC]

Bonds, aught-two.

[Elster88]

Nomahhhhh (Nomar)

Olerud

Ichiro

[seawolf17]

I'm sure Gwynn's done it, probably more than once. Olerud was .363, so he wouldn't be one. Wade Boggs?

[MFS62]

Todd Helton, IIRC in Y2K.

Later

[dinosaur jesus]

Galarraga, 1993, beating out Olerud's .363 for the best average in baseball. Baseballreference.com has a fun feature where you can see what someone's stats might have been in an average year, or playing for the Dodgers in 1968, or playing for the Rockies in 2000. Olerud's 1993 and 1998 averages come out to .423 and .411 in Colorado.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's a fun tool. It objectively makes Jose Cruz look like a possible Hall-of-Famer.

[nymr83]

ten guesses: Suzuki, Olerud, Brett, Gwynn (three times), Walker, Helton, Garciaparra, Martinez (Edgar)

[metirish]

1980 - George Brett - .390
1987 - Tony Gwynn - .370
1994 - Tony Gwynn - .394
1997 - Tony Gwynn - .372
1987 - Edger Martinez - .372
1989 - John Olerud - .375
2004 - Ichrio Suzuki - .372
1993 - Andres Galarraga - .370
1999 - Larry Walker - .379
2000 - Todd Helton - .372
2002 - Barry Bonds - 370
2002 - Nomar Garciaparra - .372

[nymr83]

i just checked on Olerud, he never did it unless you count his ".375" (3 hits in 8 ABs) in 1989.

[G-Fafif]

John Olerud had 8 ABs in 1989. John Gibbons hit a cool .474 in 1986 in 19 ABs, but I'm guessing we're looking for a plate appearance minimum that's a bit higher?

[metirish]

Nymr83 wrote: i just checked on Olerud, he never did it unless you count his ".375" (3 hits in 8 ABs) in 1989.

Good call 83....that got me double checking and Edgar Martinez 1987 .372 should not count either...he only had 43 AB's

[nymr83]

i'd assume whoever originally asked the question was going by players who had enough ABs to qualify fo the batting title, your best bet would be to go through the league leaders year by year

[metirish]

As best as I can tell only eight players have hit .370 or better since 1980...all won batting titles.

American League

1980 - Brett - .390
2000 - Garciaparra - .372
2004 - Ichiro - .372

National League

1987 - Gwynn - .370
1993 - Galarraga - .370
1994 - Gwynn - .394
1997 - Gwynn - .372
1999 - Walker - .379
2000 - Helton - .372
2002 - Bonds - .370

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0113194.html

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0113186.html

[dinosaur jesus]

That is correct. It looks like he meant that it's been done ten times, not by ten players.

[Centerfield]

It's really only five players if you don't count the Colorado crew (and I don't).

[metirish]

Jesus you must be right...

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: Jesus you must be right...

Jesus! You must be right!

[dinosaur jesus]

Centerfield wrote: It's really only five players if you don't count the Colorado crew (and I don't).

In 1993, Galarraga hit .402 at home, .328 on the road. In 1997, Walker hit .461 at home, .286 on the road. In 2000, Helton hit .391 at home, .353 on the road--a damn good year no matter where he played, but .372 is still a bit inflated.

In 1993, Olerud hit .346 at home, .379 on the road. In 1998, he hit .335 at home, .373 on the road. There's no question he would have hit .400, probably several times, if he had spent his career in Colorado. But there are probably hundreds of players who would have too. Cleon Jones could have hit .400 there, for Christ's sake. Larry Walker and Todd Helton are excellent hitters, but if the Rockies ever get someone like Boggs or Gwynn or Edgar Martinez--someone who could win a batting championship anywhere--he's going to put up some amazing numbers.

By the way, that baseballreference tool has Bonds hitting .454 in 2002 if he'd played in Colorado. Only .396 in 2001--but with 98 home runs. Take it with a grain of salt.

[Frayed Knot]

]dinosaur jesus

Carl Everett only believes in half your name.

[dinosaur jesus]

That's all right. I only believe in the other half.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Me too.

Hey, are you related to Dinosaur Victrola?

[seawolf17]

Or Quicksand Jesus?

[nymr83]

seriously, shrink that down and make it your avatar.

[metirish]

I love that Skid Row song,really powerfull song and reminds me what a great band they were,IIRC that was wrote around the time Desert Storm...IIRC again that song came about after a conversation between Bach and his dad regarding that war.

it's without doubt my fave Skids song.

[RealityChuck]