From the Roger Connor files:

Did you ever wonder who SFL's past lifetime batting average leaders were? Here's a rundown.

1983-84: Bill Weinberg
1985-87: John Decker
1988-89: Bill Weinberg
1990: Jose Balento
1991: Bobby Naranjo
1992: Jose Balento (now #16)
1993: Bobby Naranjo (now #17)
1994: Larry Savell (now #6)
1995: Phil Kotik
1996-97: Dan Schneider
1998-2000: Phil Kotik (now #4)
2001-05: Dan Schneider (now #3)
2006-09: Chris Hall (now #2)
2010: Ian Lebowitz

I set the current requirement at 1,000 plate appearances, however up until 1993 qualifying limit rises incrementally each season, which is why John Decker and Bill Weinberg drop off the list. I might re-think that later, we'll see.

The Records Dep't: How We Got Here

Provided the weather and the pitchers cooperate, I fully expect several more single-season hitting records to join Phil Kotik's 25-HR mark by the wayside in 2010. First-- the possible record breakers: Ian, Alex, Zach, Freddy, Derek, and perhaps Bill McLaughlin, off to a 19-for-33 start in 2010. Second-- the records being threatened: Hits, runs, RBI, doubles. Lastly, how we got here.

Single season hits. Joe Gerber had 139 in 1995. Larry Savell held the record for only one year, when he had 132 hits in 1994. He superseded Phil Kotik, who had 116 hits in 1992. Phil was SFLOI's first 100-hit man, and he took the hit record from Jorge Loarte, who had 84 in 1990. Before that, the record belonged to Gary Alvarez (1989), Bobby Naranjo (1988), John Decker (1986), and the commish, Havelock Hewes (1985). Ian Parfrey (now referring to himself in the 3rd person) came closest to breaking Gerber's mark with 134 hits last season.

Runs scored. Joe Gerber scored 103 runs in 1995. Phil Kotik scored 95 times in 1992, Bobby Naranjo 74 times in 1991, breaking his own records set in 1990 and 1988. Earlier record holders were John Decker (1986) and Havelock (1985). Bill Vernick's 99-run campaign in 1998 was the best attempt since Gerber's record.

RBI. Larry Savell drove in 92 in 1994. This broke Kurt Hettler's 1992 record of 84 RBI, which broke Jeff Miller's 1991 record (59 RBI), which broke Jose Balento's 1990 record (56 RBI). Earlier record holders were Gary Alvarez (1989), Jose Balento (1988), Bill Weinberg (1987 and 1986), and Joe Picciano (1985). Jose Balento almost took back the record when he drove in 88 runs in 1999.

Doubles. Phil Kotik had 34 in 1992. The only other 30-double season was Joe Gerber in 1995. The doubles record had belonged to John Decker (25 in 1986), breaking his own record from 1984. Doubles totals were very high in the early years of SFLOI. Was this due to a ground rule and a short fence?

And-- as a bonus feature, I present the SFLOI record that fell, and the one that's almost unbreakable. Derek Martinez hit 26 home runs in 2009, breaking Kotik's record of 25 (1995), which broke Kurt Hettler's record of 23 (1992), Jeff Miller's 11 (1991), and Jose Balento's 9 (1988). Prior to that, the record belonged to Joe Signore, who crushed 7 home runs in 22 at bats in 1987. Dave Metzger had 6 in 1986, and Joe Picciano hit 3 in 1985. Derek, by the way, broke Kotik's record on the last day of the season, with a line drive down the RF line at Hastings #2, and then he ran the bases backwards.

Lastly, in 2000, Larry Savell had 66 hits in 106 at-bats, for an average of .623. SFLOI played a significantly shorter season, so he was eligible for the batting title. In 1998, Joe Gerber had been 90-for-146 (.616), which broke Bill Weinberg's .605 mark, set in 1983. In 2006, Phil Ciccone was 64-for-106 (.604), and this has been the strongest challenge to Savell's record. Notice that all of these seasons are small samples. None of the .600 hitters batted 150 times. The highest batting average ever in 200+ at-bats is .565, by Carl Weinberg. I don't expect anyone will ever break Larry's record. Even Alex Rivera.

MOTIVE AND OPPORTUNITY

The comments on yesterday's column led me to try out the season score stat, described here. Basically, run elements over outs made times plate appearances. Since 1992, there have been 27 seasons scoring higher than 100. Carl Weinberg's 2006, in which he batted .565 with 45 extra base hits, is the highest season score, at 139.04. Pitching and defense are not included in the season score. Here's the roll call of elite batters:

Phil Kotik, 6 seasons: 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997-99.
Kurt Hettler, 2 seasons: 1992, 1993.
Bobby Naranjo, 2 seasons: 1992, 1994.
Joe Gerber, 2 seasons: 1995, 1998.
Dan Schneider, 2 seasons: 1995, 1997.
Jose Balento, 2 seasons: 1996, 1999.
Carl Weinberg, 2 seasons: 2006, 2008.
Ian Parfrey, 2 seasons: 2008, 2009.
Larry Savell, 1994.
John Grieco, 1995.
Tony Connor, 1998.
Bill Vernick, 1998.
Phil Ciccone, 2007.
Derek Martinez, 2009.
Alex Rivera, 2009.


The top 10 seasons:

1. Carl Weinberg, 2006-- 139.04
2. Carl Weinberg, 2008-- 136.62
3. Joe Gerber, 1995-- 135.98
4. Ian Parfrey, 2009-- 135.96
5. Phil Kotik, 1999-- 134.17
6. Derek Martinez, 2009-- 131.70
7. Phil Kotik, 1995-- 131.55
8. Phil Kotik, 1998-- 128.77
9. Jose Balento, 1999-- 128.73
10. Alex Rivera, 2009-- 128.47

THE GOLDEN SOMBRERO

One of the interesting awards we have here is the pennant. How do you win one? You have to be a good, but underrated player, who gets traded inbetween games a lot. Gil almost stole one this year by playing one half of every doubleheader. Bob, who did win, was frequently traded when the losing team requested a good infielder. I came within 1 game of the pennant by going 18-7 as a pitcher, and many of the previous pennant winners-- Gil, Jorge Loarte, Pete Bochan, Havelock-- have been pitchers. The pitcher can control his destiny a little better than the fielders can.

The dark side of this award is the negative pennant. I can't take credit for coining the phrase; it's Seung's. Only one player has won three positive pennants (Bobby Naranjo), but three different players have "won" four negative pennants. Pete Bochan, Bobby Naranjo, Havelock, Gil, and Bob have all won both awards. Havelock, in his "winning" season, was 24 games under .500. That was also the year he walked 63 times. Karma? You tell me. The negative pennant has been won by some good players. Alltime OPS leader Phil Kotik won one, while never winning the actual pennant. Alltime RBI leader Jose Balento is one of the unlucky four-time winners. I guess his bat was asked to cover some outmatched teams over the years. Rich "Wrong Way" Rowlands set a record of sorts in 1999 by winning the negative pennant and only playing 13 games; he went 2-11. We all know Rich can play the game-- that couldn't have been his fault.

Taken together, the positive and negative pennants can measure how well balanced the team-choosing is. 2009 was a well balanced year, with the two pennant winners a total of 19 games off of .500. This makes it the most balanced year since 1993. The most unbalanced year was 2007, when Carl won the pennant at +17, and Marvin won the negative pennant at -20. I think it took all of Havelock's skill to hold Carl to +17 that year, as Carl also led the league in doubles, triples, homers, and RBI.