High Homers, Low Strike Outs

Sluggers tend to have high strikeout totals. Casey at the Bat explains why--the harder you swing, the better chance the ball will be knocked out if you hit it flush, but also the greater the chance you'll miss contact altogether! So rare is the player whose HR total is anywhere near as high as his K's. More typical is Adam Dunn (37 HR, 148 K so far in '06) or Wily Mo Pena(10 HR,62 K).

The all-time career leader in Homers to Strikeouts is Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, with 361 HR and just 369 K, for a .978 ratio. Second best (I would have NEVER guessed) is Yogi Berra, with 358 HR and 414 K (.865). There was much more to Yogi than just memorably stupid sayings! Third: Teddy Ballgame (Williams): 521 HR, 709 K (.735).

The only player I know of in recent times to have more dingers than whiffs in any given year is Barry Bonds, who, after barely missing in '02 (46 HR, 47 K) two years later, in 2004 hit 45 out while striking out only 41 times. Albert Pujols came close that same year with 46 HR and 52 K (.885). Pujols just might pull it off this year. He had 36 HR with 34 K before 3 strikeouts in the last two, homerless games put him just behind the pace. It would be quite an incredible feat--most sluggers are happy if they only strike out 2 1/2 or 3 times for every homer!