Batting Titles

With the 2012 batting race currently featuring 4 players within 16 points of each other, I thought I'd go back and find other close batting titles in SFL history. Surprisingly, there weren't many, but this is what I found:

1985-- John Decker and Tony Connor tie at .500.
1987-- Bill Weinberg beats Rich Rowlands by 4 points, .452 to .448
1992-- Dan Schneider beats Kurt Hettler by 4 points, .486 to .482
1996-- Joe Gerber beats Phil Kotik by 8 points, .484 to .476
2003-- Ian Lebowitz beats Chris Hall by 7 points, .500 to .493

Here are the widest margins of victory:

1983-- Bill Weinberg (.605) by 114 points over Jose Balento
2007-- Phil Ciccone (.558) by 85 points over Dave Sommers
2005-- Chris Hall (.580) by 80 points over Carl Weinberg
2000-- Larry Savell (.623) by 78 points over Ian Lebowitz
2008-- Carl Weinberg (.541) by 75 points over Ian Parfrey

Players who won multiple titles:

Phil Kotik, 3-- 1994, 1995, 1999
Bill Weinberg, 2-- 1983, 1987
John Decker, 2-- 1985 (tie), 1986
Dan Schneider, 2-- 1992, 1997
Joe Gerber, 2-- 1996, 1998
Ian Lebowitz, 2-- 2001, 2003
Carl Weinberg, 2-- 2002, 2008
Chris Hall, 2-- 2004, 2005
Phil Ciccone, 2-- 2006, 2007
Ian Parfrey, 2-- 2010, 2011

Players who were runners-up multiple times:

Larry Savell, 4-- 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999 (won in 2000)
Phil Kotik, 4-- 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002 (won in 1994, 1995, 1999)
Dan Schneider, 2-- 1993, 1994 (won in 1992, 1997)
Carl Weinberg, 2-- 2005, 2006 (won in 2002, 2008)

One time runners-up:

Jose Balento, 1983
John Decker, 1984
Austen Ruse, 1985
Bill Weinberg, 1986
Rich Rowlands, 1987
Mark Allen, 1988
Kurt Hettler, 1992
John Grieco, 1995
Ian Lebowitz, 2000
Bob Holzwasser, 2001
Chris Hall, 2003
Gil Schmerler, 2004
Dave Sommers, 2007
Ian Parfrey, 2008
Derek Martinez, 2009
Freddie Melendez, 2010
Eric Schulman, 2011

In Preparation for the Yearbook

This is a re-do of the top 25 batting seasons ever, which I posted in the early days of the blog.

25. Mark Allen, 1989 (28)
24. Ian Lebowitz, 2001 (23)
23. Tony Connor, 1985 (22)
22. Manny Santiago, 1990 (24)
21. Chris Hall, 2005 (20)
20. Larry Savell, 1989 (19)
19. Kurt Hettler, 1992 (21)
18. Ian Lebowitz, 2000
17. Kurt Hettler, 1993
16. Derek Martinez, 2009
15. Alex Rivera, 2009
14. Carl Weinberg, 2007
13. Phil Kotik, 1995
12. Phil Kotik, 1998
11. Carl Weinberg, 2006
10. Phil Kotik, 1994
9. Phil Kotik, 1999
8. Phil Kotik, 1996
7. Larry Savell, 2000
6. Carl Weinberg, 2002
5. Phil Kotik, 1997
4. Phil Ciccone, 2007
3. Carl Weinberg, 2008
2. Phil Ciccone, 2006
1. Dan Schneider, 1997

Seasons #26-100 will appear in the comments.

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