Baseball's Best Decade (5 page)

2000s –
Albert Pujols won only a single batting title during the 2000s (in 2003) but led all major league hitters over the course of the decade. In fact, there were no repeat batting champions in the National League. Larry Walker won his third career batting title in 2001, but batted only .315 for the decade. Among American Leaguers, Joe Mauer won 3 batting crowns in the decade, though his decade batting average was second to Ichiro Suzuki, who led the American League in hitting in 2001 and 2004.

Who almost made the list?
Barry Bonds at .322, Derek Jeter at .317, Magglio Ordoñez at .316.

The Top
Team Batting Averages for Each Decade: 1920s-1940s

The Detroit Tigers were baseball’s best-hitting team during the 1920s, led by Harry Heilmann, who won 4 batting titles and hit .364 for the decade.

The last National League hitter to win the Triple Crown was Joe Medwick in 1937, batting .374 with 31 homers and 154 RBIs.

The New York Yankees paced all of major league baseball in batting average during the 1930s, led by their 2 hitting stars, Lou Gehrig (.343 for the decade) and Joe DiMaggio (.341).

During the 1940s, Stan Musial led the St. Louis Cardinals with a .346 batting average, including 3 batting titles and 3 Most Valuable Player awards.

1920s
– The remarkable thing about team batting averages in the 1920s (besides the fact that they were so robust) was that the New York Yankees, who scored the most runs in the decade (8,486 – over 200 more than any other team), did not lead the majors in batting. The team’s .291 batting average for the decade tied it with the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants, however the Bronx Bombers had fewer at-bats than the Cardinals and Giants (probably fewer bottom-of-the-ninth innings that they needed to play). The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians topped the majors with .295 averages, with the Tigers hitting .300 or better as a team 4 times during the decade, and leading the league with a .316
team
batting average in 1921. Hitters ruled in the 1920s.

Who almost made the list?
New York Yankees at .291, St. Louis Browns at .290, Washington Senators at .285.

1930s
– The New York Yankees led the American League in batting average only twice during the 1930s, but they were the most productive hitting team in major league baseball throughout the decade. The Washington Senators had the most hits (15,707), but the Yankees again scored the most runs with 9,695, almost 1300 more than any other team. The highest single-season team batting average during the 1930s was posted by the New York Giants with a .319 average in 1930.

Who almost made the list?
Detroit Tigers at .282, Chicago Cubs at .282, New York Giants at .281.

1940s
– Team batting averages for the 1940s dropped dramatically from the previous 2 decades. Certainly, the war’s draining of talent from the major leagues had some impact on batting efficiency. Led by hitters such as Stan Musial and Joe Medwick, the Cardinals paced the majors in both batting average and total hits (14,767) for the 1940s. Yet the Cardinals’ leading average wouldn’t have put them in the top 5 in either of the previous 2 decades. For the first time since the introduction of the “lively ball,” no major league team hit .300 or better for a season during the decade.

Who almost made the list?
Chicago Cubs at .261, New York Giants at .260, Boston Braves and Washington Senators at .257.

The Top
Team Batting Averages for Each Decade: 1950s-1970s