Will doubles record for single season ever be broken?

Question

Earl Webb hit 67 doubles way back in 1931. No active player has come closer than 8 away (Todd Helton, w/ 59). Triples have faded into trivia, but have doubles also. It appear easier to hit home runs than to leg out a 2 base hit. Any ideas on this strange record?

Answer 1

wow that is an incredible record there are a few guys in MLB who are true hitters on is chase utley at this point in the season he has 41 and there is still almost 70 games to go. that is one of the records that I think going to be safe forever because of the way the game has changed and the ball parks are built. there are alot of old records that will never be touched because of these 2 factors

Answer 2

Magglio is on pace for 63 doubles, a few off of the record. And he has a history of having weak second-halfs, too. Odds are he'll fall further off the pace and end in the 50s.

Otherwise, Granderson is 9 triples off the mark (he's on pace for 27, the record is 36). He doesn't have a shot at the record.

The doubles record will likely be broken at some point, but the triples record won't. With the new-found obsession with the home run, parks are being made smaller so that more homers can be hit (see: Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Park -- Heck, even Jimmy Rollins hits 20+ homers there, he'd finish the year with 15 in mostly any other park. The parks are too small for a lot of triples. Even the biggest parks (RFK, Shea, Comerica) are too big for 36 triples.

Answer 3

We almost saw it happen in 1996. Edgar Martinez was on a torrid doubles pace -- 44 in his first 95 games (without missing a game) when he went on the DL for three weeks. When he came back, he didn't fully recover his swing and hit only eight more the rest of the season, finishing with 52 (second in the league behind teammate Alex Rodriguez' 54) in 139 games played.

Quick math, projecting his doubles from his pre-injury rate:
44 doubles / 95 games == .4632 2B/G

Edgar in 139 games (what he played) == 64 doubles
Edgar in 161 games (what the M's played) == 75!

Injured? Yep. For the first time all season, M's manager Piniella started Martinez at third (he had started four games at 1B and played 3B late in one game). On a popup in the second, C Marzano collided with Martinez, shaking him up enough to leave the game an inning later, and miss 22 Mariners games. (Marzano was also banged up and left the game immediately.)

I think Webb's mark would have surely fallen -- sigh -- thanks a lot, Lou. If nothing else, if Edgar had the doubles record, his resume would look that little bit better when the Hall voters put him under the microscope in 2010, and yes, Martinez is very Hall-worthy.

Webb's 67 has stood since 1931, over 3/4 of a century, so clearly it's got durability. I think it could be broken, but it will take just the right confluence of circumstances -- a great line-drive hitter with Martinez-like (and not Jim Rice-like) power to put the ball deep in the gaps but not often over the fence; a doubles-friendly home park; and obviously health, so someone playing DH is probably the safest bet. I'd like to see it happen, if only to watch the media get confused when they realize there are non-home run hits in baseball.

Who might do it? I dunno. One of the Devil Rays kids, maybe, if they (individually) get out of the Trop and into Kansas City or Texas.

Answer 4

My guess is that it will be broken, but who knows when, and by whom?

Webb's totals for doubles were:

1925 - 0
1927 - 18
1928 - 7
1930 - 30
1931 - 67
1932 - 28
1933 - 5


Owen Wilson set a record with 36 triples in 1912... his year-by-year triples totals were:

1908 - 7
1909 - 12
1910 - 13
1911 - 12
1912 - 36
1913 - 14
1914 - 12
1915 - 6
1916 - 2

Both records were set in totally fluke seasons by both players... no one's ever come close to 36 triples (highest post-1900 total is 26), but a few guys have hit 60 doubles, though not since the 1930s.. as you mentioned, Helton did hit 59 in 2000.

The doubles record is not unbreakable... the triples record probably is.

Answer 5

I agree with you more hitters today seem like they will crank 2 over the wall before they have a 2 double game. No I dont think that the double has faded as much as the triple has, but some doubles hitters are playing in big ballparks which may lead to more triples. It is kind of a shame that most of the players that you would call a hitter for average are non existant and the swing for the fence hitters have replaced them.

That record may stand for quite some time and may not get broken for awile.

Answer 6

i think the record will be broken. i can see ichiro doing it but really with the advent of "small ball" hitters are more worried about getting on base so the base hit has become the rule. homers are incedental really a lucky stroke for a hitter just trying to get on base. the problem with hitting doubles and triples in this day and age is that most parks are a little shallower than the old ball parks and they are more even in the outfield... ie. no more little jogs or hidden spaces in the parks where a ball can get lost or take a funny bounce off the wall. that minimizes the opportunity for doubles and triples. the funny thing is that this year more inside the park home runs have been hit than any year for the last 20 in fact mr mauer for the twins just hit one on saturday 7/21 and in the last 2 seasons juni beatencourt, ichiro,one other mariner have all hit one. thats just one team.

Answer 7

Yes I believe it will but you make a valid point its not that it is ez'er to hit a home run and its just more glory that goes with it. Though with the parks being smaller a that plays another part but some parks have out fielders who play very deep so that why its a hard record to break but some will will look who thought that someone would hit over 70 hr's in a season weather or not they were clean. Look for some guy who plays in the AL to do it, the parks there have lots of quirky dimensions.

Answer 8

Magglio Ordoniez will break Earl Webb's record of 67 doubles. And yes, he has the record. Magglio had 35 at the all star break.

Answer 9

Curtis Granderson has a shot. Playing at Comerica, there are huge gaps to get doubles in. His problem is he is too fast and turns a lot of doubles into triples (he has about 16 triples this year alone.)

Answer 10

Hopefully Mags will do it this year.

He has a good chance with 37 doubles thus far.
Granderson has like 16 triples, and could break that record too.