In 1957, why did Ted Williams only have 87 RBIs?

Question

Seems to me he should havehad many more. 38 home runs, a .388 batting average, yet only 87 RBIs. look at his 1939 season. a .327 batting average, just 31 home runs, yet still 145 RBIs, his second highest total.

Answer 1

He missed 22 games. Also, he batted third in the lineup. The leadoff batter (Jimmy Piersall) only hit .261, and the men that batted second the most often(Billy Kraus - only hit .252, and Frank Malzone drove in 103 runs.) He just didn't get the opportunity to drive in the runs he did other years.
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Answer 2

First of all, he was 38 years during that season and only played in 132 games. He only had 420 official at-bats, and walked 119 times (!). Hard to get RBIs when you're walking almost one time for each game you play. Still, he had more than 0.20 RBI per official at-bat; if you have 600 official at-bats during a season that would give you over 120 runs batted in. So, I don't think 87 RBIs in 132 games is bad at all, considering what went with it: .388 batting average, .526 on-base percentage, AND a whopping .731 slugging percentage. Would YOU pitch to a guy like this with runners on base? Of course you wouldn't. Williams had to knock in runners from FIRST base most of the season! Just another reason to list Ted Williams in the top 5 hitters EVER to play major league baseball.

Answer 3

It didn't help Williams that he walked 119 times in the 132 games that he played, which really cut down on his RBI opportunities. If Williams had more pitches to hit, he would have had a lot more.

I remember reading years ago, that the plate appearances rule was created for Williams after the 1954 season. Williams hit .345, but did not win the batting title, it went to Bobby Avila of Cleveland who hit .341. The reason? Williams did not have enough at-bats to qualify. He had only 386 at bats because he walked 132 times in 117 games. After that year, major league baseball changed the rule from total at-bats to total plate appearances. Williams should have had at least one more batting title, and many more RBIs if not for all the walks.

Answer 4

Sounds to me like about a third of those HR's were solo shots, relatively unusual but not impossible for it to happen. One important note in 1957 was that Williams reached base in 16 consecutive plate appearances, a major-league record.

Also remember that 1939 was his rookie season; he was 18 years older in 1957 and may have given way to more contact and base hits rather than power and driving in runs, although 38 HR's was nothing to sniff at. But his .388 average is indicative of making more contact. And to back Shiloh up, maybe he didn't have people on base as often that year to drive in when he was batting.

Answer 5

Team OBP was .340 -- and if we take out Ted's own .526 (far and away the team leader; no other regular posted higher than .367, most were below .340) it would look that much worse (I'll do the math in a bit). So, yes, there were never many baserunners for him to bring around. Malzone and Jensen tied for the team lead in RBI with 103 -- Ted's 87 ranked third -- so they were soaking up most of the runner opps, probably often scoring Ted.

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Edit: subtracting Williams' stats, the 1957 Red Sox had a team OBP of .322. Basically, yecch.

Answer 6

Goes to show the value of walking someone if there's a good chance they will get RBI's, just as walking Bonds with men on base deprived him of RBI opportunities. You'll note Bonds very seldom hit home runs where there was a game on the line, same deal with Williams.

Answer 7

Maybe his teammates weren't on base. A .388 average and 38 home runs show he was hitting the ball. You can't drive anybody in if they aren't on base to begin with.