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

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.

FROM THE STATS LAB

I've come up with a crudely effective season normalizer for SFLOI stats, and ran 357 batter seasons from 1985-2009 through it. The cutoff was 2.5% of each season's total plate appearances, and each batter's OPS was measured against the league-average OPS over the same number of at bats. Now, this season's MVP debate will probably hinge on an unresolvable statistical question: would you rather have 300 at bats of high quality, or 250 at bats of really high quality? The following list gives no credit for people who play more often--it simply measures who you'd want hitting 3rd or 4th for your team on any given day. So, here they are, SFLOI's top 25 seasons:

25. David Sommers, 2006: .550 BA, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 117 PA.
24. Manny Santiago, 1990: .525 BA, 7 HR, 40 RBI, 122 PA. Batting and home run titles.
23. Ian Lebowitz, 2001: .535 BA, 16 HR, 52 RBI, 141 PA. Batting title.
22. Tony Connor, 1985: .500 BA, 0 HR, 14 RBI, 57 PA. Batting title. One of the finest seasons of the pre-modern era.
21. Kurt Hettler, 1992: .482 BA, 23 HR, 84 RBI, 210 PA. Home run and RBI titles. The 1992 stats contain some errors, for example one player is listed as going 23-for-23. This simply couldn't be, and therefore you could make a case for moving Kurt up a few places.
20. Chris Hall, 2005: .580 BA, 5 HR, 53 RBI, 174 PA. Batting title, also led league in hits and runs scored. Chris had the misfortune of having his best seasons in SFLOI's second dead-ball era.
19. Larry Savell, 1989: .520 BA, 6 HR, 36 RBI, 106 PA. Rookie season.
18. Ian Lebowitz, 2000: .545 BA, 12 HR, 38 RBI, 102 PA. Rookie season.
17. Kurt Hettler, 1993: .548 BA, 9 HR, 55 RBI, 181 PA. Batting and RBI titles, led league in doubles and triples.
16. Derek Martinez, 2009: .493 BA, 26 HR, 87 RBI, 249 PA. Home run and RBI titles, also led league in runs scored. Alltime HR record.
15. Alex Rivera, 2009: .532 BA, 16 HR, 57 RBI, 232 PA. Batting title.
14. Carl Weinberg, 2007: .464 BA, 14 HR, 72 RBI, 197 PA. Home run and RBI titles, also led league in doubles and triples. This was the off year of mighty Carl's 2005-2008 prime.
13. Phil Kotik, 1995: .488 BA, 25 HR, 53 RBI, 240 PA. Batting and home run titles.
12. Phil Kotik, 1998: .564 BA, 21 HR, 78 RBI, 186 PA. Home run and RBI titles.
11. Carl Weinberg, 2006: .565 BA, 11 HR, 78 RBI, 217 PA. Home run and RBI titles, also led league in hits, runs, doubles, and triples.
10. Phil Kotik, 1994: .479 BA, 22 HR, 67 RBI, 236 PA. Batting and home run titles.
9. Phil Kotik, 1999: .600 BA, 21 HR, 73 RBI, 167 PA. Batting title. Also led league in runs scored and doubles. 1999 was the highest level of offense ever in SFLOI, that's how there are 8 seasons better than .600 with power.
8. Phil Kotik, 1996: .476 BA, 16 HR, 65 RBI, 193 PA. Home run title, also led league in runs scored.
7. Larry Savell, 2000: .623 BA, 12 HR, 42 RBI, 114 PA. Batting title. Highest single season average ever, but it came in the 2nd best season for offense ever, so read on.
6. Carl Weinberg, 2002: .507 BA, 15 HR, 65 RBI, 158 PA. Triple Crown. Also led league in hits, doubles, and triples, so it's more like the "Sextuple Crown."
5. Phil Kotik, 1997: .548 BA, 21 HR, 83 RBI, 182 PA. RBI title. Sixth and "last" appearance on this list.
4. Phil Ciccone, 2007: .558 BA, 10 HR, 61 RBI, 180 PA. Batting title. Led league in runs scored.
3. Carl Weinberg, 2008: .541 BA, 18 HR, 82 RBI, 209 PA. Batting and home run titles. Led league in doubles and triples. Had a 10-RBI game. I kept Carl from winning the triple crown in the 3rd best SFLOI season ever. I want that on my next baseball card.
2. Phil Ciccone, 2006: .604 BA, 9 HR, 53 RBI, 120 PA. Batting title. SFLOI's version of Ted Williams's .406 season. As a digression, do you have any idea how hard it is to hit .600? I've heard talk around the batting cages that all you need to do is be a mechanical line drive singles hitter, of the Boggs / Carew / Gwynn type-- which of course is a rather infrequent type to show up in our game-- but consider this. 5-for-9 is a bad day.

1. Dan Schneider, 1997: .598 BA, 22 HR, 68 RBI, 126 PA. Batting and home run titles. Why this season? First of all, Dan jacked a home run every 6 times up. Even more impressive, he came within one hit of .600. And '97 was a good season for offense, but not as good as 1998-2001 would be, and the league average becomes a powerful determinant when sorting through endless seasons of .550 and 20 home runs. Dan's SFLOI career contains some mighty strange seasons. He won batting titles in 1992 and '97, had power outbursts of 16 HR's in 114 PA (1998) and 13 HR's in 64 PA (2000), and from 1997 to 2001 hit 65 in 411 PA's, which is kind of like Babe Ruth playing in Coors Field, or Mexico City. However, he also batted 304 times in 1995, and hit only 2 home runs, but had 15 triples and 10 sac flies. Looks like 1995 was played in a spacious outfield without fences, where the outfielders could play what we now call the "Brian Hernandez" defense. Anyway, if I had to face this guy in 1997-2001, he's getting walked. I know that people come to swing the bats, but pitchers shouldn't be used like one of Mike Tyson's sparring partners either, should they?