.300 batters on the Mets

[roger_that]

In their 63 seasons, how many different men have batted. 300
or more for the Mets while having enough at bats to qualify for the batting title?

This is slightly different from "How many seasons has a Met batted over .300 while qualifying for the title?", which is part 2 of this quiz. For this part, I'm not looking for the number of seasons but rather the number in part 1 plus the number of men who have batted .300 on multiple occasions.

Part 3 will be to name the multi- season .300 or more batters

Parts 4, 5, and 6 to come . Possibly 7 and 8, depending.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Very few over the first 20 or so years. Shea Stadium, before the Doubleday owners began renovating the stadium, was absolutely brutal on batting averages. Personally, I believe that batting say .280 while playing half your games at Shea during its first 20 or so years, was the equivalent of batting. 300 in a neutral stadium.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Very few over the first 20 or so years. Shea Stadium, before the Doubleday owners began renovating the stadium, was absolutely brutal on batting averages. Personally, I believe that batting say .280 while playing half your games at Shea, was the equivalent of batting. 300 in a neutral stadium.

...continued


In that same time span, and going back to 1960 to include Pete Runnels, the Red Sox, by comparison, had more AL batting title champs than the Mets had .300 hitters. The earlier version of Shea Stadium was reputed to have the worst lighting in the majors, thus explaining why Mets pitchers struck out more batters than most other teams during this period, especially during night games. Also, the infield grass was extremely thick, thus slowing down grounders and lowering the chances that those grounders would get by infielders and land in the outfield for hits. By the mid-80s, the stadium's characteristics had changed and this milestone become more attainable.

Lenny Randle did it in 1977. Lee Mazzilli, two years later. Cleon Jones did it twice during this period. Richie Ashburn did it in his lone Mets season, but that, obviously, was at the Polo Grounds and not at the earlier version of Shea Stadium.

[Edgy MD]

Um ... 34 guys.

If I understand the question correctly.

[roger_that]

Sorry I wasn't clear. Part one is simply to give the number of individual men who have hit .300 or better for the Mets while qualifying for the batting title. Part two is to add that number by adding the number of seasons of those Mets who have done it multiple times, counting each iteration as a separate entry. In other words, if only two Mets had ever batted .300, the answer would be "2" for part one, and if one had done it twelve times, the answer would be "13" for part two.

Parts three and four are more interesting, but let's establish a baseline first. Your answer to part one, Edgy, is "34"?

[roger_that]

Richie Ashburn did it in his lone Mets season, but that, obviously, was at the Polo Grounds and not at the earlier version of Shea Stadium.

Actually, Ashburn fell just short of qualifying for the batting title, so he doesn't count for our purposes.

[roger_that]

No guesses beyond Edgy's guess of 34 Mets who've batted .300 while qualifying for the batting title? Come on, let's fucking GO here, okay? You've got a few days between the end of ST and Opening Day, what are yuz doing with your lives?

Part 1--how many Mets have done it in 63 seasons? Part 2--many times have they done it?

Have they averaged one .300 batter per season? Are they anywhere even close to that?

Part 3 is --how many Mets have done it more than once?

[Edgy MD]

Part I:

34 players hit .300 for the Mets

Part II:

They did it a total of 63 times among them.

Part III:

Twelve Mets have done it more than once.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Maybe this should be presented as the higher/lower game.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Maybe he'll ask us to guess how many jellybeans he has in his secret jellybean jar.

[roger_that]

Maybe this should be presented as the higher/lower game.

Good idea. But I was just establishing the baseline before getting to the good stuff. Edgy was high in his guesses of 34 Mets/63 times/12 two-timers: the numbers are 24 Mets/38 times/6 two-timers.

I know, I was surprised by how few and how rare. Now for part 4, which is kinda fun:

Name the two-timers. (Or, actually, two-or-more-timers).

[batmagadanleadoff]

Jeff McNeil did it four times. Keith - three times.

[roger_that]

Jeff McNeil did it four times. Keith - three times.

That's two. And Keith did do it three times. McNeil, not so much.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Cleon Jones?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Jeff McNeil did it four times. Keith - three times.

That's two. And Keith did do it three times. McNeil, not so much.

Yes, McNeil did. I'm certain.

[roger_that]

Jeff McNeil did it four times. Keith - three times.

That's two. And Keith did do it three times. McNeil, not so much.

Yes, McNeil did. I'm certain.

You're certain but you're incorrect. McNeil did it thrice.

Cleon makes three Mets who batted .300 two or more times while qualifying for the batting title.

Three Mets two-timers to go, including the leading two-or-more-timer.

[Edgy MD]

David Wright.

[batmagadanleadoff]

That's two. And Keith did do it three times. McNeil, not so much.

Yes, McNeil did. I'm certain.

You're certain but you're incorrect. McNeil did it thrice.

John Olerud and Edgardo Alfonzo from the hideous black uniform era. And McNeil did it four times. I'd imagine that you would've looked it up by now, given this disagreement.

[Edgy MD]

Mike Piazza.

[roger_that]

Fonzy, Piazza, and Wright are correct. Wright is the champ, a six-time .300 batter.

Olerud only did it once, in 1998--though I did unaccountably omit him and his .354 average from my list, so now my count is 25 Mets, and 39 times. I suppose I should count Piazza's 1998 as well, since he did bat .328 for the season and qualify for the title, though I missed him since he had only about half his at-bats as a Met that year. (Unlike Keith's split 1983, when he hit .297 overall.) And I missed Piazza's 2000, too, and Alfonzo's 1997, so 25 Mets and 42 times. And tallying them up, I find I've got a total of 43 times in all. Counting these things one-by-one, year by year, is trickier than I thought.

No matter how far down you keep digging your hole, McNeil still did it only three times. Why don't you look it up? If you tell me which are the four seasons you have in mind, I can tell you which one doesn't count.

Now that we've tallied the list of two-time Mets full-season .300 batters, on to part five: of the (now) forty-three times a Met has batted .300 or better while qualifying for the batting title, how many of those seasons was the higher average attained at home, how many on the road? 22/21? 31/12? 16/27? Guess away.

Part six, in case you'd like to get ahead of the game, is to name the greatest individual home/away bulge in favor of "home." And part seven is to name the greatest "away" bulge.

[roger_that]

Now that we've tallied the list of two-time Mets full-season .300 batters, on to part five: of the (now) forty-three times a Met has batted .300 or better while qualifying for the batting title, how many of those seasons was the higher average attained at home, how many on the road? 22/21? 31/12? 16/27? Guess away.

Part six, in case you'd like to get ahead of the game, is to name the greatest individual home/away bulge in favor of "home." And part seven is to name the greatest "away" bulge.

No guesses? OK, answers to part 5: the split is a rather surprising one to me, with 23 Mets hitting better on the road to 19 hitting better at home. Much closer than I would have thought. (The reason those numbers add up to 42, not 43, is that Paul Lo Duca batted .318 at home and .318 on the road in 2006. There’s probably a tiny difference if I actually calibrated the numbers, but I’m calling that one a tie.)

[batmagadanleadoff]

Counting these things one-by-one, year by year, is trickier than I thought.

Not really.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/team ... ason.shtml

Also, perusing the list, Jose Reyes did it twice, winning the batting title in 2011 and batting .300 in 2006. Reyes' .300 BA from 2006 was "rounded up". That is, he batted .29984 in 2006. But baseball batting averages are expressed as rounded to the third decimal only. That's the rule, the hell with the math. In the record books and and on the backs of baseball cards, Reyes was a .300 hitter in 2006.

[roger_that]

You are correct (about Jose). He's included on my list of 43, though I left him off my list of two-timers. So he makes seven two-timers, and the only one to have done it exactly two times.

[ashie62]

Edgardo Alfonzo?

[roger_that]

Edgardo Alfonzo?

Yes, Fonzy has been named.