George Was Great

Last season Ichiro Suzuki hit safely 262 times, surpassing George Sisler's 257 record hit total of 1920. Ichrio's 258th hit came in the 160th game of the 162 game schedule. In 1920, Sisler's St. Louis Browns played a 154 games. Suzuki's great feat introduced George Sisler to modern baseball fans although less modern fans remember when only Lou Gehrig was rated a greater first baseman than Sisler.

George Sisler's first full season was 1916, a year in which the American League batting average was .248. The twenty four year old Sisler batted .305 or .057 points higher than the league average. From 1917-1919, Sisler's combined batting average was .349 compared to the league's .256, which is an incredible .093 points higher than the league average and the league's .256 average is really less because Sisler's averages were part of the calculation.

In 1920, baseball's powers introduced a new, lively ball after some White Sox players didn't try their hardest in the 1919 World Series. With the new baseball, the American League's batting average jumped from .268 in 1919 to .284 in 1920, a year in which George Sisler hit safely 257 times, batted .407, and had 86 extra base hits, including 19 home runs. Only Babe Ruth hit more home runs. Sisler stole 42 bases and struck out 19 times in 631 official at bats. His .407 batting average was an unimaginable .123 points above the league' batting average. In 2004, Ichiro batted .372 or .102 points better than the league average, which is equally unbelievable in the era of the three run home run.

Sisler followed his .407 with a .371 average in 1921 and then in 1922, as his Browns came within a single game of winning the pennant, Sisler batted .420, or .135 points higher than the league. His three year average was .400 (actually .399667, which is .400).

In an article at The Baseball Hall of Fame's official site, research associate Gabriel Schecter writes that Sisler might have been the best all-around first baseman in baseball history despite being overshadowed by Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx. Sisler was a better base runner than either, which is not to denigrate Gehrig, who was excellent on the bases, and as great as Gehrig was in the field, Sisler was better. While Sisler, unlike Ichiro, hit with reasonable power, Gehrig and Foxx were two of the greatest of all power hitters and as Ralph Kiner said, home run hitters drive Cadillacs (When owning a Cadillac was a symbol of conspicuous consumption).

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic