MLB: Strikeouts at record pace for 9th straight year
By Phil Watson
1966-75: Down Comes The Mound
In an attempt to curb the dominance of pitchers, MLB decided to lower the mound after the 1968 season, after some embarrassing offensive numbers were recorded.
The MLB-wide batting average in 1968 was just .237, with a .299 on-base percentage, and teams were scoring an average of only 3.42 runs per game.
It was a significant change. The mound was dropped from a height of 15 inches to just 10—losing a third of its size—in one fell swoop.
The change, along with another round of expansion (four new teams joined MLB in 1969, two in each league), increased scoring throughout the game … for a couple of years.
But then the scoring rate plummeted again in 1971 and 1972, leading to the biggest change in baseball in the 20th century.
YEAR | R/G | HR | SO | AB/SO |
1966 | 3.99 | 137 | 940 | 5.82 |
1967 | 3.77 | 115 | 971 | 5.63 |
1968 | 3.42 | 100 | 957 | 5.67 |
1969 | 4.07 | 130 | 936 | 5.84 |
1970 | 4.34 | 143 | 932 | 5.91 |
1971 | 3.89 | 119 | 873 | 6.23 |
1972* | 3.69 | 106 | 863 | 6.03 |
1973 | 4.21 | 129 | 848 | 6.50 |
1974 | 4.12 | 110 | 812 | 6.78 |
1975 | 4.21 | 112 | 803 | 6.82 |
*–1972 season was shortened by players’ strike in April.
In 1973, the American League implemented the designated hitter rule, eliminating the pitcher’s spot in the batting order in favor of a ninth hitter who would not play the field and would instead simply bat when his turn in the order came up.
Scoring increased by more than a half-run per game in the first year of the DH and at the same time, strikeout rates went down—likely a by-product of not having half of the pitchers in baseball flailing away at the plate two or three times a game.
But there were some sluggers emerging who were very free at the plate. From 1966-75, there were six players who struck out more than once every four at-bats, led by Nate Colbert’s 3.82 ratio.
Among the 10 most hitters who made the walk back to the pine with the most frequency, however, there were two Hall of Famers and only two players in the top 10 (Deron Johnson and Donn Clendenon) never appeared in an All-Star Game.
Rk | Player | AB/SO | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nate Colbert | 3.8245 | 988 | 3377 | 476 | 825 | 139 | 25 | 171 | 514 | 373 | 883 | .244 | .321 | .452 |
2 | Larry Hisle | 3.8322 | 680 | 2284 | 328 | 604 | 103 | 24 | 75 | 298 | 247 | 596 | .264 | .339 | .429 |
3 | Reggie Jackson | 3.8530 | 1231 | 4350 | 714 | 1154 | 220 | 26 | 254 | 733 | 600 | 1129 | .265 | .359 | .503 |
4 | Donn Clendenon | 3.8750 | 824 | 2759 | 341 | 727 | 100 | 22 | 111 | 435 | 235 | 712 | .264 | .320 | .436 |
5 | Dick Allen | 3.9416 | 1277 | 4588 | 804 | 1332 | 229 | 50 | 282 | 861 | 692 | 1164 | .290 | .382 | .546 |
6 | Bobby Bonds | 3.9688 | 1159 | 4576 | 858 | 1249 | 214 | 45 | 218 | 637 | 589 | 1153 | .273 | .358 | .482 |
7 | Willie Stargell | 4.1209 | 1374 | 4875 | 799 | 1407 | 278 | 27 | 309 | 961 | 640 | 1183 | .289 | .373 | .547 |
8 | Rick Monday | 4.1891 | 1204 | 4076 | 619 | 1087 | 178 | 49 | 136 | 472 | 622 | 973 | .267 | .365 | .434 |
9 | Dave Duncan | 4.2396 | 811 | 2548 | 252 | 550 | 72 | 3 | 104 | 319 | 225 | 601 | .216 | .281 | .369 |
10 | Deron Johnson | 4.2512 | 1332 | 4485 | 515 | 1068 | 179 | 18 | 184 | 670 | 472 | 1055 | .238 | .310 | .409 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/23/2014.
Hank Aaron led this period with 347 home runs, striking out once every 8.23 at-bats. But of the top 10 home run hitters of this era, only Billy Williams, with a strikeout rate of 9.73 at-bats per whiff, stood out for their ability to make contact.