DOUBLE YOUR MONEY

The Great Season of Billy Butler

Michael Round

September 28, 2009

Royals First Baseman Billy Butler, over the weekend, achieved the rare 50 double / 20 home-run combination.

How rare, though?  Let's see.  The data, from the origins of baseball through last season:

Only 37 players in the history of baseball have had 50+ doubles and 20+ home-runs.  Remarkable. 

Who are these players?

But rather than look at this exclusive club of 50/20, what does the group of 40/20 look like, sorted by the total number of doubles and home-runs?  Let's look at the top 50:

Todd Helton?  Ranked #1 and #4 - in back-to-back years?  Spectacular!  Albert Bell:  The only 50/50 player in history! 

Noting the dominance of late 1990s / early 2000s hitters, a bar chart of these 327 players by year would be interesting:

Congratulations, Billy Butler!  A remarkable season - putting you in distinct company!

A further thought:

I focused on 2B / HR because of the uniqueness of the achievement.  Add in triples, and we've got extra-base hits.  Count the value of all hits by bases achieved and we've got Total Bases.

What do these numbers look like?

EXTRA-BASE HITS

TOTAL BASES

Interestingly enough, while the 50/20 club seems to be a recent phenomenon, Total Bases is more a 1920s / 1930s accomplishment!

I think.  Let's see ...

Not quite as dramatic a difference as I thought, but none-the-less interesting stuff!  The earlier era was host to a number of tremendous hitters, hitting for both power and average, but so too was this the case in the last decade.