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I think the only way we might see another .400 hitter is to have Ted thawed out and cloned.
He wouldnt hit .400 today. Doubt hed even hit .300. When a guy like Chapman zipped one by him at 102 miles per hour, hed probably just stand there frozen.
The only guy hitting the mid to high 90's in 1941 was Bob Feller, and pretty much Feller, Thornton Lee or Bobo Newsom dominated every AL pitching stat there was.
By the way, Feller struck out just 6.82 batter per 9/IP in 1941 to lead the AL. That wouldnt even put him in the top 500 for a season of all time. He also gave up 7.52 hits per 9/IP which also led the AL.
The .400 season is by no means the only thing to have fallen by the wayside. Not all that long ago, a starting pitcher might finish a season with 15, even 20 complete games. Other than Johan Santana, who aims to pitch nine innings every time he starts, who else has a complete game in mind? For that matter, how many starting pitchers even imagine going past seven innings?
Baseball 2012 isn't baseball 1970. Or 1940. Or 1920...
Parity above all, and as others have mentioned better equipment, smaller parks and the glamorization of the long ball.
The fielder has now grown up watching Sportscenter and seen Ozzie turning backflips and countless others robbing hitters of all sorts of potential hits (including homers) - and they don't want to be like "Mike", they want to out do him.
Each generation is better than the last, as a general rule. When the batter is outnumbered 9-1 on the field, the odds are stacked against his gaining ground.
Another thing about your mean batting averages, is that they are mean.
Sure, Ted Williams existed in the 1940's, but we also had a slew of players batting sub .200, that we dont have today. There were guys in the major leagues, in the 30's and 40's, that wouldnt crack a single A roster today.
3 starters at .250 or under, and 7 players with at least 100 plate appearences and an average under .250, (5 of them under .230)
This was common even until the mid 1980s
2011 Seattle Mariners -- Games played -- BA.
C Miguel Olivo 130 .224
1B Justin Smoak# 123 .234
SS Brendan Ryan 123 .248
3B Chone Figgins# 81 .188
LF Carlos Peguero* 46 .196
CF Franklin Gutierrez 92 .224
DH Jack Cust* 67 .213
By the way, in 1945, the players with two hands and two feet were in military service. That year, Pete Gray, left behind with one arm, batted .218 (better than the Mariners DH!) with 8 extra base hits, and three outfield assists.
Looking at today's daily paper, under ..."This date in baseball"-------------------------1957 ..Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit three home runs and drove in five runs in a 9-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Ted Williams became the first American League player to have two three homerun games in a season---
He wouldnt hit .400 today. Doubt hed even hit .300. When a guy like Chapman zipped one by him at 102 miles per hour, hed probably just stand there frozen.
Williams hit .388 at the age of 38 and would have no trouble hitting .300 today. He would also hit more home runs today by having faster pitches to hit. Anyway, the movement on a fastball is just as important as the speed, if not more so.
Looking at today's daily paper, under ..."This date in baseball"-------------------------1957 ..Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox hit three home runs and drove in five runs in a 9-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Ted Williams became the first American League player to have two three homerun games in a season---
Williams may have been the greatest hitter ever. If not for losing almost 5 seasons to military service, imagine what some of his career totals might be.
C Miguel Olivo 130 .224
1B Justin Smoak# 123 .234
SS Brendan Ryan 123 .248
3B Chone Figgins# 81 .188
LF Carlos Peguero* 46 .196
CF Franklin Gutierrez 92 .224
DH Jack Cust* 67 .213
By the way, in 1945, the players with two hands and two feet were in military service. That year, Pete Gray, left behind with one arm, batted .218 (better than the Mariners DH!) with 8 extra base hits, and three outfield assists.
1. The 2011 Mariners were a historically bad anamoly, which also explains only 5 players on the entire roster making it more than 100 games. However, Ill just pick a random year, say, 1972, the best hitting team in the AL was the Kansas City Royals.
Not a single batter who played in over half the games hit below .230, and only the catcher, Jarrod Saltamachia, hit under .250
Hell, Ill even use a middle of the pack team, the Orioles
Only one full time starter under .230, strikeout god Mark Reynolds, and 3 starters under .250. The two other players other than Reynolds, under .250, were part timers.
2. This isnt just about WW2 era, this is about all the way in to the early 90's. It was completely common to see even the best hitting teams fielding 2 or 3 full time starters barely hitting above .200. It was completely acceptable for middle infielders, and sometimes even corner infielders, and catchers to generate no power, and hit around .200. Now unless you are a marginal hacker like Reynolds, have extreme defensive skill as a catcher, or play for an historically pitiful team, hitting .230 is going to get you part time work at best. A guy like Rafael Belliard will never be trotting out to short for another world series team, ever, and speaking of the early 90's Braves, I doubt you ever see another first baseman like Sid Bream ever march out at first on world series team again. Their limited production at the plate is simply no longer acceptable. If you offered a 2012 MLB manager a first baseman, who managed 90 career homers in over 3000 at bats to go with a career .264 average, they might first ask you if he is actually a utility infielder, then theyd laugh at you. The reality of it is, dozens of first basemen had these types of numbers in 1991/1992.
A couple of reasons both of which have been at least alluded to in this thread.
First, no hitters are as much better than the pitching as Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Nap LaJoie, Rogers Hornsby, Willie Keeler, George Sisler, et al were.
Second, the defense factor. Defenders today are better than other defenders for a variety of reasons. This actually factors in twice. The defenders are better so less balls go for hits-that's easy. Back when .400 hitters were, comparitively, frequent there was a premium on simply making contact with the ball. If you did so, you had a decent chance of winding up safe. Now, since defense has improved, simply making contact is less likely to get you on base. You have to hit the ball harder. To hit the ball harder, you have to swing harder. Swinging harder makes you more likely to miss. Swinging and missing makes you more likely to strike out. Striking out makes it impossible to get a hit.
People in this thread have mentioned an increase in strikeouts. With batting averages on balls in play (BABIP) hovering around .300 we'd expect a player who never struck out and never homered to hit around .300. Any strikeout will decrease the chances of hitting .300 (and .400).
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