1968 Willie McCovey v. Carl Yastrzemski

[Skipper Steve]

Who had the better season and why?

[timconnelly]

McCovey's power figures give him a big edge over Yaz in 68: 36 homers to 23 and a slugging average of 50 points higher. The complicator is that Yastrzemski had an on base average of roughly 50 points higher. Based on it being such a lousy year for hitting in both leagues, my guess (without more careful research) would be that getting on base has less value when you aren't being driven in. I go with Willie Mac

[Skipper Steve]

I went with Willie too.

[TGwynn19]

Originally posted by timconnelly
McCovey's power figures give him a big edge over Yaz in 68: 36 homers to 23 and a slugging average of 50 points higher. The complicator is that Yastrzemski had an on base average of roughly 50 points higher. Based on it being such a lousy year for hitting in both leagues, my guess (without more careful research) would be that getting on base has less value when you aren't being driven in. I go with Willie Mac


Interesting concept i had never thought about. During low scoring times ( or teams for that matter ) is it better to have a low obp team with a high HR%. My gut would tell me no. The more people you have on base the better your chances are of scoring, but it would be interesting to run a few numbers on it.