Mailbox: Ted Kluszewski and other sluggers who rarely fanned.

Mailbox: Ted Kluszewski and other sluggers who rarely fanned.

Mail to me:

Have you ever heard of a dude named Ted Kluszewski? I can tell you that if I ever HAD heard of him before this evening, I do not recall it.

First baseman for the Reds who had a fairly unremarkable career outside of a four year period in the mid-50s where he hit 40 homers three times and 35 once. So what, you ask? Well, for reasons even I don't fully understand, there are times I get on a kick where I want to know the answer to some stupidly esoteric baseball question. The one that occurred to me tonight was "Who had the biggest spread between homers and strikeouts in a single season where the batter hit at least 40 home runs and had MORE homers than strikeouts?"

Well, here's the list, along with the spread (Holy shit, Lou Gehrig!). But, anyway, that Ted dude is the only guy besides Gehrig to appear on the list twice (Pujols JUST missed it in 2006 with 49 HR and 50 K and Bonds just missed getting on it a second time in 2002 with 46 HR and 47 K).

Name Difference HR SO
Lou Gehrig 18 49 31
Ted Kluszewski 14 49 35
Johnny Mize 9 51 42
Joe DiMaggio 9 46 37
Ted Kluszewski 7 47 40
Ted Kluszewski 6 40 34
Barry Bonds 4 45 41
Mel Ott 4 42 38
Lou Gehrig 3 49 46
Johnny Mize 3 40 37

My response:

Two items:

1. Big Klu was one of the best baseball cards of the 1950s because he always cut the sleeves off his baseball uniform jerseys, and/or eschewed the undershirt. The card I remember best was Klu's 1957 card (damn, I'm old), possibly because 1957 was the year I discovered baseball, baseball cards, rooting against the Yankees, and rooting for the Milwaukee Braves and their rowdy-ass 3rd baseman, Eddie Mathews.

2. Bill James did an article about 30 years ago on the power development of Polish sluggers. He compared Klu and two gentlemen named Yastrzemski and Musial, both of whom, I am reliably informed, could play a bit.

In his first five full seasons, Musial's homer totals were 10-13-12-16-19. He then broke through to 39-36. (That first year was 1948. Look through his stats that year for fun. It was probably the best year in NL history until Bonds discovered PEDs. He led the league in every hitting category except homers, and he missed there by one - and I read somewhere that the tying one got rained out!)

In his first five seasons, Klu's homer totals were 12-8-25-13-16. He then broke through with 40-49. His 49 is the season near the top of your list (the top spot occupied by an NL player): 49 homers; 141 RBIs; .326. He finished second in the MVP balloting that year to a certain young fellow named Mays. I wonder whatever became of that guy.

In his first six seasons, Carl Yastrzemski's totals were 11-19-14-15-20-16. He then powered 40 or more in three of the next four years.

I have no idea what any of that means, but I remember being impressed by the parallels in their careers. Maybe it means Poles are late developers. Judging by the age in which I lost my virginity, that theory may have some merit.

The one thing I did NOT remember about Big Klu is that he was so proficient at avoiding the dreaded K. I never would have guessed that he'd appear on your list, let alone that he'd be the only man on the list three times!

By the way, you missed the fact that Big Jawn Mize also appears on your list twice, and he is the only man in history to exceed 50 homers in a season with fewer strikeouts than homers. (Klu and Gehrig would make it a 3-man list if we could just lower the bar by one homer.)