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Feast or famine
Breaking down McGwire's bizarre season at the plate
Posted: Thursday August 09, 2001 3:27 AM
Updated: Monday November 12, 2001 6:02 PM
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Twenty-five of Rob Deer's 80 base hits in 1991 were home runs. Stephen DunnAllsport |
By Jacob Luft, CNNSI.com
Mark McGwire had a season Rob Deer would be proud of.
With a .187 batting average to go with 29 home runs, McGwire nearly surpassed a dubious record held by the former Tigers/Brewers slugger -- lowest batting average during a 20-home run season.
In 1991, Deer hit .179 with 25 home runs with the Tigers, becoming the poster boy for the all-or-nothing bopper. That was the same season McGwire posted a then-career-low .201 average with 22 homers.
| Making 'em count |
|---|
Lowest batting averages
during a 20-homer season
|
| Year |
Player |
HR |
Avg. |
| 1991 |
Rob Deer |
25 |
.179 |
| 2001 |
Mark McGwire |
29 |
.187 |
| 1999 |
Ruben Rivera |
23 |
.195 |
| 1962 |
Willie Kirkland |
21 |
.200 |
| 1991 |
Mark McGwire |
22 |
.201 |
| 1999 |
Todd Hundley |
24 |
.207 |
| 1987 |
Steve Balboni |
24 |
.207 |
| 1988 |
Darrell Evans |
22 |
.208 |
| 1953 |
Daryl Spencer |
20 |
.208 |
| |
| |
But Big Mac rebounded to become the complete hitter that shattered the single-season home run mark while posting a .299 average in 1998. Even in limited action last season, McGwire hit .305 with 32 bombs, eight doubles and 32 singles.
More than half of McGwire's 56 hits left the yard this season. He had a string of 11 consecutive hits for home runs that was believed to be the longest such streak in major league history. Albert Belle had eight consecutive hits for homers in 1995.
It comes as no surprise McGwire ranks first all time in highest percentage of hits as home runs, but he not alone in his feast-or-famine ways.
Babe Ruth managed only 13 hits with the Boston Braves in 1935, his final season, but six of them were home runs. For Barry Bonds, who is hitting well over the Mendoza Line, home runs account for a 45.7 percent (48 of 105) of his base hits this season. Following are the all-time leaders in this peculiar category:
| Swinging for the Fences |
|---|
|
The highest percentage of career hits as home runs in history:
|
| Player |
HR |
Hits |
Pct. |
| Mark McGwire |
583 |
1,626 |
35.9 |
| Dave Kingman |
442 |
1,575 |
28.1 |
| Harmon Killebrew |
573 |
2,086 |
27.5 |
| Rob Deer |
230 |
853 |
27.0 |
| Gorman Thomas |
268 |
1,051 |
25.5 |
| Ralph Kiner |
369 |
1,451 |
25.4 |
| Steve Balboni |
181 |
714 |
25.4 |
| Sammy Sosa |
450 |
1,795 |
25.1 |
| Babe Ruth |
714 |
2,873 |
24.9 |
| Jose Canseco |
462 |
1,877 |
24.6 |
| Mike Schmidt |
548 |
2,234 |
24.5 |
| Barry Bonds |
567 |
2,313 |
24.5 |
| Jay Buhner |
310 |
1,273 |
24.4 |
| Cecil Fielder |
319 |
1,313 |
24.3 |
| Greg Vaughn |
344 |
1,427 |
24.1 |
| |
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