In addition to meeting in the very first World Series, The Pirates and Red Sox have something else in common?
Most Batting Titles by Team, AL: Boston, 24
Most Batting Titles by Team, NL: Pittsburgh, 25
I knew about Williams and Yaz, but I was thinking, "Who won it all those times in Pirate territory? Clemente and Stargell all those times? At the same time, who won all those other ones for the Red Sox?
By comparison, the Mets, Astros, Diamondbacks, Brewers, A's (There Oakland chapter) and Devil Rays have combined for zero batting titles in their history.
The Pirate that I seemed to have forgotten about was Honus Wagner. How many batting titles? Try 8. This was in the early days of baseball. His first came right at the turn of the century, 1900.
Paul Waner, whose brother Lloyd was pretty good hitter in his own right, won 2 in the 30s. But here is something interesting: another Pirate won that season whose names escaped me!
Arky Vaughan won the batting crown in 1935. Waner's two were in the surrounding years.
It would be a while before the Pirates had another winner.
I'm surprised to find it wasn't Roberto Clemente! It was actually Dick Groat, who won it in 1960. The Pirates won it all that year.
Clemente won it the next year and 3 more times in the decade.
Dave Parker, who in '91 was on my Jays (and on the Brew Crew above), won back-to-back in 1977 and '78. Another Pirate, Bill Madlock, won 2 in the early 1980s. Then came a dry spell.
Freddie Sanchez won it in 2006. He is the last Pirate to date to do that!
Boston was a little easier. Look in left field. Duffy, Williams and Yaz, Rice. No problem, right?
I was wrong about Duffy. He played for an earlier Boston team in the National League, which is now the Braves!
In an event, the first Red Sox to win the batting crown (solely in Boston) was Jimmy Foxx. Double X himself! It was 1938.
Now, Dale Alexander won it in 1930, but he only played 101 games for the Red Sox that year. He played 23 with the Tigers. Should we count that? Hard to say. A first of sorts!
Williams' 1941 (.406, but actually .411 if you count the 5 sacrifice flies he hit that year) was his first. Then he won it again the next year. In all The Splendid Splinter took home 5 batting titles. How many more would he have won had he not missed 1943-1945 in WW2 about half of 1950 and 1955. Plus 1952 and 1953 were lost to Korea. Even 1954 was not enough, as he broke his collarbone and missed 37 games. Under today's rule, he would have had enough plate appearances to win. But under those rules, he didn't have enough at bats. Williams finished with 386 ABs. He needed 400.
Pete Runnels edged out Williams for the crown in 1960, then won it again 2 years later. 1963 brought us Carl Yastzremski's first of three. But his 1968 one always makes me smile: .301 (batting averages were just that far down that season)
Fred Lynn, despite injuries that plagued him in his career, took home the crown in 1979. Then came a surprise 2 seasons later, as Carney Lansford won it.
Most recently for Boston, Wade Boggs won it five times from 1983 to 1988.
Norman Garciaparra got the Red Sox on the board in the 1990s for batting titles. But it took him until 1999 to do so. But he made sure to win one the next year, making the Red Sox the first team to win batting titles in the 20th and 21st century!
Manny Ramirez and Billy Mueller combined to give Boston another instance of back-to-back batting titles in 2002 and 2003.
Boston has been shutout of the batting titles since, as of this writing. But one World Series 110 years ago, brought together two teams that produced the most batting titles won for each league!
Most Batting Titles by Team, AL: Boston, 24
Most Batting Titles by Team, NL: Pittsburgh, 25
I knew about Williams and Yaz, but I was thinking, "Who won it all those times in Pirate territory? Clemente and Stargell all those times? At the same time, who won all those other ones for the Red Sox?
By comparison, the Mets, Astros, Diamondbacks, Brewers, A's (There Oakland chapter) and Devil Rays have combined for zero batting titles in their history.
The Pirate that I seemed to have forgotten about was Honus Wagner. How many batting titles? Try 8. This was in the early days of baseball. His first came right at the turn of the century, 1900.
Paul Waner, whose brother Lloyd was pretty good hitter in his own right, won 2 in the 30s. But here is something interesting: another Pirate won that season whose names escaped me!
Arky Vaughan won the batting crown in 1935. Waner's two were in the surrounding years.
It would be a while before the Pirates had another winner.
I'm surprised to find it wasn't Roberto Clemente! It was actually Dick Groat, who won it in 1960. The Pirates won it all that year.
Clemente won it the next year and 3 more times in the decade.
Dave Parker, who in '91 was on my Jays (and on the Brew Crew above), won back-to-back in 1977 and '78. Another Pirate, Bill Madlock, won 2 in the early 1980s. Then came a dry spell.
Freddie Sanchez won it in 2006. He is the last Pirate to date to do that!
Boston was a little easier. Look in left field. Duffy, Williams and Yaz, Rice. No problem, right?
I was wrong about Duffy. He played for an earlier Boston team in the National League, which is now the Braves!
In an event, the first Red Sox to win the batting crown (solely in Boston) was Jimmy Foxx. Double X himself! It was 1938.
Now, Dale Alexander won it in 1930, but he only played 101 games for the Red Sox that year. He played 23 with the Tigers. Should we count that? Hard to say. A first of sorts!
Williams' 1941 (.406, but actually .411 if you count the 5 sacrifice flies he hit that year) was his first. Then he won it again the next year. In all The Splendid Splinter took home 5 batting titles. How many more would he have won had he not missed 1943-1945 in WW2 about half of 1950 and 1955. Plus 1952 and 1953 were lost to Korea. Even 1954 was not enough, as he broke his collarbone and missed 37 games. Under today's rule, he would have had enough plate appearances to win. But under those rules, he didn't have enough at bats. Williams finished with 386 ABs. He needed 400.
Pete Runnels edged out Williams for the crown in 1960, then won it again 2 years later. 1963 brought us Carl Yastzremski's first of three. But his 1968 one always makes me smile: .301 (batting averages were just that far down that season)
Fred Lynn, despite injuries that plagued him in his career, took home the crown in 1979. Then came a surprise 2 seasons later, as Carney Lansford won it.
Most recently for Boston, Wade Boggs won it five times from 1983 to 1988.
Norman Garciaparra got the Red Sox on the board in the 1990s for batting titles. But it took him until 1999 to do so. But he made sure to win one the next year, making the Red Sox the first team to win batting titles in the 20th and 21st century!
Manny Ramirez and Billy Mueller combined to give Boston another instance of back-to-back batting titles in 2002 and 2003.
Boston has been shutout of the batting titles since, as of this writing. But one World Series 110 years ago, brought together two teams that produced the most batting titles won for each league!
