Low Leading Slugging Pct.'s

Nowadays we expect slugging percentage leaders to have lots of homers. It may surprise some that pre-Ruth guys like Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Nap Lajoie often slugged well over .500 based on high batting average combined with lots of doubles and triples (and maybe a dozen or so homers). But there were some years in the so-called "dead ball" era where the league-leading slugger failed to reach .500

Years since 1900 in which the league-leading slugger slugged under .500:
1902 (NL), 1905 (AL), 1906 (NL), 1907-08 (AL), 1909 (NL), 1915 (AL), 1916-19 (NL), and in the war-depleted year of 1945 in the AL. Interesting that ALWAYS at least one league leader (either AL or NL) surpassed .500 slugging throughout the "deadball" era.

By the way, the AL almost added 1976 to that list, when Reggie Jackson was the leading slugger with a measly .502 slugging percentage. Other years since 1945 when the leader was fairly low (though not near as low as '76): 1959, AL, .530; 1973, AL, .531; 1991, NL, .539.

Since 1993, with the advent of the new juiced ball/juiced ballplayer era, the league leader in both leagues has always been .600 or higher. That streak might br threatened this year, however, as the relatively HR-weak AL is currently led by Milton Bradley with a modest .611 slugging percentage.