Top 50 Sox Seasons

.356/.499/.648, 1.147 OPS, 671 PA, 186 H, 145 BB, 36 HR, 137 RBI, 338 TB, 75 XBH, 335 TOB, 217 OPS+
All-Star starter, ML Player of the Year, MVP – 2

What else can be said about Ted Williams beyond that this phenomenal season — imagine anybody today (and nobody has) putting up these numbers without charges of steroids hanging over his head — was only his fourth-best. Williams won the Triple Crown, led in all three major rate statistics, and reached base once in every two plate appearances – proving that the old saw about the best failing seven times out of 10 was simply rubbish where the Splendid Splinter was concerned.

Since nowadays everyone loves to cherry-pick a string of seemingly impressive counting stats and find out when players last reached arbitrary minimums in those stats, let’s take a look at this: Williams in 1942 was the last player in baseball history to hit at least .350, smack at least 35 homers and drive in at least 135 runs — while walking at least 145 times.  Babe Ruth in 1920 and 1921 was the only other player to do it.  Todd Helton (2000) is the only player to even fulfill the BA/HR/RBI portion of that requirement since 1942, and he only walked 103 times.

Yet Williams somehow finished second in MVP voting to the Yankees’ Joe Gordon, who had a fine season – but not this fine.  The Red Sox also were a good team in 1942, finishing second in the American League by nine games but winning 93 – equivalent to 99 wins in a 162-game season. So unlike in later years, when the Red Sox were putrid, voters did not have the “valuable” part of the MVP award to fall back on. The New York Times labeled it a “surprise selection,” and predicted that Williams and Red Sox fans would be “startled.” The award looked particularly silly after Gordon had batted 2-for-21 in the Yankees’ World Series loss, but — according to "Red Sox Century" — Williams had done himself no favors with the writers by appealing his draft classification twice so he could win a deferment before spring training.

Key game: June 24. With a classic pitchers’ duel between Boston’s Charley Wagner and Detroit’s Virgil Trucks, Williams hits a solo home run in the seventh to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. It’s the only run either team will score, and Williams – with a double and single also – is the only batter in the game to record multiple hits. “Thumping Ted” as the Sporting News calls him, moves up to fifth place in the race for league batting title, at .330.

by Paul SF at 9:45 pm in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 1 comment

19-5, 0.96/0.886/.180, 224.2 IP, 176 K, 60 BB, 7.1 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 2.9 K/BB, 5.6 H/9, 7 SHO, 279 ERA+

Since the birth of the American League 107 years ago, only one starting pitcher has ever finished a season allowing less than one run per nine innings. And it was 22-year-old Hubert Benjamin Leonard – a dead-ball southpaw who would never again do anything remotely as extraordinary in his superb career as he did in 1914.

Leonard would later be known as the player who blew the whistle on Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb for betting on a fixed game in 1919, when the hurler was a member of the Tigers. Before then, however, he had won three World Series in Boston as part of some of the best rotations in baseball history, and in 1914 came up with an ERA so low that even when adjusted for the league average and park effects, it ranks as the second-lowest since 1901.

It’s easy to dismiss Leonard’s 1914, for two reasons – his .229 BABIP, 53 points below his career average, a sure sign that Leonard was amazingly lucky that season, and the era in which he played, when ERAs that seem impossible today were the norm.

But if Leonard was lucky, what of it? Whether through natural talent or blind luck, Leonard still allowed what he allowed; his results cannot be changed, and results are the heart and soul of this list, regardless of how they came about. The deadball argument is more cogent, but let’s say Dutch Leonard was throwing in 1930 – when the most runs per game were scored of any season in history. Let’s say he was in the NL, where scoring was higher. And let’s say he pitched for the Phillies, whose home park increased offense by nearly 10 percent, the most of any NL park – in other words, the most premier offensive environment in the history of the game.

In such an environment, all of Leonard’s numbers skyrocket, with no ERA lower than 4.32 – except 1914, when it’s a miniscule 1.86. How about something more modern, such as Coors Field in 2000: Leonard posts an ERA of 1.83. Fenway Park in 2007: 1.47 (with a 21-2 record, incidentally). Dutch Leonard in 1914 was as stingy or stingier than nearly any pitcher in the history of baseball, regardless of era, league or home park. Not surprisingly, his ERA+ that season was better than any pitcher’s except one – which we’ll discuss later.

Key game: July 27. For the second time in a month, Leonard shuts out the Cleveland Naps, this time an eight-hit, seven-strikeout gem backed by Tris Speaker’s three hits. The Red Sox win 3-0.

by Paul SF at 9:23 pm in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

15-6, 1.97/1.096/.201, 132.1 IP, 66 G, 25 SV, 83.3 SV%, 162 K, 51 BB, 11.0 K/9, 3.2 K/BB, 191 ERA+
All-Star, MVP – 5

Radatz is often considered Boston’s first true closer – he was certainly the club’s best over more than a single-season period until Jonathan Papelbon’s emergence the past two seasons. The Monster followed up a terrific rookie season with this one, which was even better. Averaging better than two innings and two strikeouts per appearance, Radatz won an astounding 15 games while never appearing as a starter, one of just 13 relievers ever to win so many (something no one’s done since 1976).

Exemplifying the dominance Radatz exhibited in his first three seasons, he did not give up a run in 14 appearances from May 13 to June 14, throwing 33 scoreless innings, striking out 43 and allowing just 18 baserunners. Of 13 runners inherited, only three scored. Amazingly, he recorded only four saves (though he did win four games) because eight times he was brought in with the Red Sox trailing or tied, and three times used with the Sox up by at least four runs.

Perhaps the biggest testament to the stamina a pitcher like Radatz needed in the early days of the relief specialist are the 28 games in which he pitched two or more innings, including 13 of at least three innings. Twelve times, Radatz was brought in to pitch extra innings. All 12 times, Radatz pitched through the end of the game, going 9-3.

Key game: June 11. The Red Sox lead 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh when Boston starter Wilbur Wood runs into trouble. Manager Johnny Pesky calls on Radatz – his 6-foot-5, 235-pound beast of a closer – to close the door for the final two-plus innings.

Radtaz instead gives up a run-scoring single to pinch-hitter Bill Bruton, blowing the save and tying the game. Radatz’s job is now to preserve the tie for the Red Sox bats. So he does. Radatz retires the side in order in the eighth, works around a single in the ninth, sets down six straight in the 10th and 11th, and after a 12th-inning leadoff single, retires another nine in a row.

In the top of the 14th, the Red Sox break through on back-to-back home runs from Frank Malzone and Dick Stuart. Radatz returns to the mound in the bottom of the 14th and again retires the side in order, striking out Bruton for the final out of the marathon game. Radatz picks up the win, having pitched 8.2 innings while allowing three hits and one walk, and striking out 11. He set down the final 12 batters he faced, seven via strikeout.

by Paul SF at 8:05 pm in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 1 comment

14-4, 2.22/1.039/.218, 186.2 IP, 206 K, 47 BB, 9.9 K/9, 4.4 K/BB, 7.1 H/9, 210 ERA+
Postseason: 4 G, 1-1, 4.76/1.27/.264, 28.1 IP, 23 K, 7 BB
CYA – 3

If only one could divorce the seventh and final season of Pedro Martinez’s historic run as baseball’s most dominant pitcher from the way the season ended in the seventh and final game of that season’s ALCS. At the time Grady Little – too late, oh so late – trudged to the mound that second time to remove the ball from Martinez’s hand, we had no way of knowing that just one year later it would all be better. Not forgotten, but better.

Unfortunately, Little’s disastrous decision to leave Martinez in for 123 pitches (a total neared or surpassed just four times in his 29 regular-season starts) overshadowed what in fact was another dominant season for the aging ace. It was, indeed, the last time Pedro would be Pedro.

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by Paul SF at 7:59 pm in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 14 comments

.343-.369/.490-.499/.615-.634, 1.112-1.141 OPS, 189-205 OPS+, 25-43 HR, 114-159 RBI

Ted Williams exhibited amazing consistency in these, his three second-tier years. 1947 (205 OPS+, Triple
Crown) was the best of the bunch, but not by much. In each, Williams racked up gaudy statistics that by this
time were routine for him – and were actually a letdown from what he had accomplished his previous two seasons.

Williams led the league in OBP, slugging, OPS, walks and OPS+ all three years, and in batting the first two. He led in runs, total bases, home runs, RBI in 1947 and 1949, and doubles in 1948 and 1949. He was an All-Star all three years, and won the MVP in 1949. He famously lost the 1947 MVP by one point to Joe DiMaggio when one writer left him off the ballot (though DiMaggio was left off three ballots that year in a set of results that was so screwy, some have suggested writers may have been placing bets on the final vote, then rigging the vote itself). Williams won The Sporting News’ Player of the Year
award instead.

by Paul SF at 2:22 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

10-6, 1.85/1.140/.218, 107 IP, 69 G, 51 GF, 27 SV, 39K, 38 BB, 227 ERA+, MVP – 11

The 38-year-old Kinder had one last salvo in his gun. The former 23-game winner had always split time between starting and winning, but by 1951 was relieving almost exclusively. In 1953, Kinder did not start a game for the first time in his late-blooming, war-shortened career (he started with the Browns at age 31 in 1946). Perhaps that’s because he made himself indispensable as the first true closer in Red Sox history.

Kinder is an unrecognized trailblazer. Although other pitchers had been used as relief aces throughout the Sox’ history (Carl Mays stands out), they were generally starters called upon to rescue games or pitch extra innings. But Kinder from 1951-55 worked as a full-time closer a full 10 years before Dick Radatz, and in 1953, he posted one of the best years ever by a Red Sox reliever.

Kinder’s 1.85 ERA remains the fourth-lowest season by a Boston reliever (minimum 50 innings), topped first by Calvin Schiraldi in 1986, then by Jonathan Papelbon in 2006 and 2007. It was no product of his era either, as his ERA+ trails those same seasons and none others in Red Sox history. Of those four seasons, however, Kinder’s was the only to top 70 innings, and he threw a workmanlike 107. When he retired after the 1957 season, Kinder was just the second pitcher ever to win 100 and save 100 games in his career. He’s still part of a select group of 15, and ranks fourth in ERA+ among them, behind Hoyt Wilhelm, John Smoltz and Rich Gossage.

Key game: May 15. With the Red Sox leading, 3-2, against the Browns, starter Sid Hudson runs into trouble in the seventh, loading the bases with one out. Kinder comes in – the second straight day in which he’s asked to extract the Red Sox from a bases-loaded jam – and quickly dispatches the next five batters for the save, preserving the win and a double-header sweep.

by Paul SF at 9:51 pm in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

.360/.464/.694, 1.158 OPS, 563 PA, 168 H, 89 BB, 35 HR, 105 RBI, 324 TB, 13.3 AB/HR, 188 OPS+
All-Star, MVP – 2

This was Foxx’s other great season in Boston – the one with the 12th-best single-season OPS+ in Red Sox history. The one tied for most runs created by any Boston hitter in a season. The one that ranks fourth in Sox history in slugging, 12th in OBP, 12th in batting and fifth in OPS. Coming off Foxx’s record-setting 1938, however, the season was destined to be overshadowed. And it was, even though he did finish second in MVP voting.

Foxx missed significant time with a stomach ailment diagnosed in September as appendicitis, for which Foxx underwent surgery and missed the final month of the season – likely costing him a 40-homer season, as well as the league leadership in runs, total bases and extra-base hits. The illness also likely cost him his fourth MVP, as news reports had pegged him the favorite in early August. Nevertheless, Foxx was still so dominant that he led the league in home runs with one to spare despite not hitting one after Sept. 1.

Key game: April 26. With one out in the bottom of the 11th, Foxx crushes Joe Krakauska’s first pitch over the left-field wall (not yet known as the Green Monster) for a 6-5 walkoff win over the Senators. The ball lands on a roof across Landsdowne Street, more than 450 feet away from home plate.

by Paul SF at 8:06 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

21-11, 1.26/0.893/.214, 299 IP, 150 K, 37 BB, 4.5 K/9, 1.1 BB/9, 4.1 K/BB, 0.03 HR/9, 30 CG, 194 ERA+

Dead-ball era or not, a 1.26 ERA is still a 1.26 ERA, and it’s the 13th lowest in the history of the sport – yet wasn’t even the lowest in the league that year. The 41-year-old Young, in his last season with Boston, managed career lows in ERA, WHIP and opponents’ average, yet did so in a year when Addie Joss was blowing away opposing hitters at an even better pace.

Along with being his last season as a member of the Red Sox, 1908 was also Young’s last as a dominant pitcher. He would never again win 20 games, post an ERA under 2.00, post an ERA+ over 115, strike out as many as 150 batters or allow a WHIP under 1.00. He also allowed just one home run in nearly 300 innings of work that year, a club record for most innings while allowing one or fewer home runs that will certainly stand forever.

Key game: June 30. “Did you hear about what old Young did up at the American League Park yesterday?” The New York Times asks incredulously. Well, all “old Young” does is become the oldest player ever to throw a no-hitter, blanking the Yankees, 8-0. It’s Young’s third no-hitter, and his reign as the oldest to toss such a gem stands for 82 years before Nolan Ryan breaks it. Young also raps three hits and drives in four, a lone walk the only mark against his day.

by Paul SF at 8:00 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 2 comments

.329/.452/.592, 1.044 OPS, 697 PA, 186 H, 128 BB, 40 HR, 102 RBI, 125 R, 335 TB, 315 TOB, 177 OPS+
All-Star starter, All-Star MVP, MVP – 4

Far less famous than his 1967 season, Yastrzesmki capped an incredible four-year peak with this tremendous campaign. It was Captain Carl’s last great season in Boston, but it ended a stellar run. From 1967-70, no one in the American League came within 20 OPS points of Yaz. He was also first in total bases, first in erxtra-base hits, first in times on base and first in runs produced in that span. By the end of 1970, Yastrzemski’s 168 OPS+ for ages 27 through 30 was the 10th-best in baseball history. Since then, only Manny Ramirez and Barry Bonds have done better during their prime years.

A testament to Yaz’s remarkably underrated plate discipline was his line during an early season slump. On June 18, Yastrzemski’s batting average slid below .270, but he still reached base at a .420 clip, and his slugging was a healthy .510. Then he got hot, hitting .398/.500/.751 over 57 games through an Aug. 15 double-header. Between May 25 and Aug. 16, Yastrzemski reached base an amazing 76 games out of 78, including two streaks of 36 straight.

Key game:  Sept. 29. On the second-to-last day of the season, Yaz is locked in a close battle for the AL batting title, entering the day batting .326 to Alex Johnson’s .327. He helps his own cause by going 3-for-4 against the Yankees. He ties the score at two with a fifth-inning sac fly, then with the Red Sox having rallied from two down to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth, Yaz singles home Mike Andrews with one out to win the game, 5-4. He ends the day with a .329 average to Johnson’s .327, but  Johnson closes the season 3-for-6 in two games while Yaz goes 1-for-4 in his final game. Johnson wins the batting title, .3289 to .3286.

by Paul SF at 10:30 pm in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 4 comments

17-12, 2.81/1.192/.249, 253.1 IP, 237 H, 130 K, 65 BB, 4.6 K/9, 2.0 K/BB, 6 SHO, 188 ERA+
All-Star

Grove followed his 1935 bounce-back year with one even better, featuring the second-best ERA+ ever in his career. Along with his league-leading ERA, WHIP, K/BB and shutouts, Grove finished second in fewest hits-per-nine and fewest walks-per-nine and added Top 10 finishes in wins, strikeouts, K/9, innings and complete games.

A notorious sore loser described in press reports of the day as “lean and dour,” Grove was the only AL pitcher to post an ERA under 3.00, an accomplishment labeled “a successful climax to his come-back climb” by the New York Times.

Key game: April 17. “The game Bob Grove pitched against the Yankees in the opener at Yankee Stadium reminded the critics of the same old Robert Mose before he injured his arm two years ago,” writes the Sporting News on its front page April 23. Grove throws a two-hit shutout, with Lou Gehrig collecting both hits. No Yankee reaches third base. The start is Grove’s first of the season, and “his showing was most reassuring,” as he strikes out four and walks one. The 8-0 win is Grove’s third shutout in four starts against the Yankees – all wins.

by Paul SF at 1:25 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

[We've decided to break this down into individual files, but I've also kept the running list of the Top 50 Red Sox seasons available here for quick reference].

.349/.450/.647, 1.097 OPS, 518 PA, 152 H, 73 BB, 33 HR, 107 RBI, 64 XBH, 184 OPS+
All-Star starter, Silver Slugger, MVP – 9

Although Ramirez’s counting statistics in 2002 finished in the bottom half of the Top 10 or out of it altogether, consider this: He managed them in just 120 games played, the result of a broken finger suffered May 11 that likely cost him another 40 home run season.

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by Paul SF at 1:23 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

.331/.401/.566, .967 OPS, 605 PA, 175 H, 62 BB, 21 HR, 105 RBI, 47 2B, 103 R, 161 OPS+
Postseason: .306/.350/.444, .794 OPS, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K
MVP, Rookie of the Year, All-Star, Gold Glove

Not much can be said about this amazing season from Fred Lynn, who was the first and only (until Ichiro Suzuki) player to win the MVP and Rookie of the Year simultaneously. Although Lynn’s 1979 was statistically better than his 1975, to put up such numbers as a rookie is truly an accomplishment few have ever replicated.

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by Paul SF at 1:12 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

.363/.461/.588, 1.049 OPS, 551 PA, 200 H, 105 BB, 24 HR, 89 RBI, 70 XBH, 307 TOB, 108 R, 173 OPS+
All-Star starter, Silver Slugger, MVP – 9

For the first and only time in his spectacular career, Boggs found some power, tripling his previous career high in home runs and topping a .500 slugging percentage for what would be the only time in his 18 seasons. Added to his by-now ho hum .360/.450 batting line, the slugging created the best season of his career and easily the best ever by a Red Sox third baseman.

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by Paul SF at 1:09 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

21-8, 2.58/0.974/.211, 219.2 IP, 127 K, 48 BB, 5.2 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 2.7 K/BB, 6.8 H/9, 177 ERA+
All-Star, CYA – 3

A lights-out closer in 2000, Lowe struggled in 2001, giving up runs in eight of his first 11 appearances en route to a 10-loss season and losing his closing job to Ugueth Urbina. He started his last three games of that season and began 2002 in the rotation. Not a bad move. He’s never gone back, and this Cy Young-worthy line is why. If not for teammate (and shoulda-been Cy Young winner) Pedro Martinez, Lowe would have led the league in ERA, WHIP and ERA+. He finished behind Martinez and Tim Wakefield in hits-per-nine, and finished behind only Barry Zito in wins.

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by Paul SF at 1:06 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments

.287/.413/.636, 1.049 OPS, 686 PA, 160 H, 119 BB, 54 HR, 137 RBI, 355 TB, 161 OPS+
All-Star, Silver Slugger, MVP – 3

The top 30 seasons are truly amazing – as evidenced by the fact that the season in which the all-rime Red Sox home run record is set can’t crack the 20s. That’s not a reflection on Ortiz’s season, which is his top-ranked campaign. It’s a reflection on the truly amazing seasons we’re about to look at.

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by Paul SF at 1:04 am in General Red Sox,History,Top 50 Sox Seasons · 0 comments