Okay, so I’ve been digging into baseball stats lately, and today’s little project was all about Mickey Mantle’s 1957 season. Let me tell you, it was a doozy.
Started off by just poking around online, trying to get a feel for what he accomplished that year. I mean, everyone knows Mantle was a legend, but the details are always interesting, right? First thing I found was that he actually won his second MVP award in a row that year. Pretty impressive! Kept digging, and found out he led the leagues in runs scored and walks. Dude was getting on base like crazy.
Then I hit the motherlode – a site that had all his game-by-game stats. That’s where the real fun began. I started crunching numbers, adding up his hits, home runs, RBIs, all that good stuff. Turns out he had a .365 batting average that year. .365! That’s insane! He also smacked 34 home runs and drove in 94 runs. In only 144 games! And guess what, he actually scored more runs (121) than games he played in.
- Games Played: 144
- Batting Average: .365
- Hits: 173
- Home Runs: 34
- RBIs: 94
- Runs Scored: 121
But here’s the kicker that really blew my mind: He reached base more times (319) than he made outs (312). That’s just ridiculous. I mean, who does that? Apparently, he only did that one other time in his entire career.
I also stumbled across some other random stuff, like he was selected for the All-Star Game which is a no brainer, but he did it 20 times in his career. Found a comparison where someone figured out that if he played in 1930, he would have batted .422! Just for kicks, I guess.
Anyway, after spending a few hours on this, I’ve got a whole new appreciation for Mantle’s 1957 season. It was seriously one for the ages. Makes you wonder what he could have done if he wasn’t playing through injuries all the time.
So yeah, that was my little deep dive into baseball history today. Might do another one of these soon, maybe on another player or season. We’ll see. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings about old baseball stats! It’s way more fun than it sounds, trust me.
