The plaque for Hugh Duffy in the Baseball Hall of Fame all certifies his status as the premier hitter in major league history. “He put together a handball average in 1894 that was unquestionable in his lifetime,” it states – and Duffy lived six decades after his performances.
Duffy, an outfield player for the Boston Beaneaters, ancestors of the Atlanta Braves, struck in that 1894 season .440. Indeed, no one came close to his record, not even Ted Williams, who fought with .406 in 1941. No one has come from Williams’ points since.
Which brings us to Charlie Blackmon and the interesting case of 2020. Blackmon, the right-hander of the Colorado Rockies, is so hot that he could not only hit .400 this season, he would just challenge Duffy’s old record.
After going 3 for 4 on Tuesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Blackmon beat .500 (34 for 68), making him just the fifth player in the last 50 years to a .500 average through his team’s first 17 games. . The others include three Hall of Famers – Tony Perez in 1970, Rod Carew in 1983, Larry Walker in 1997 – and Barry Bonds, in 2004.
Their seasons all lasted 162 games, of course. This season – with opening day delayed until last month due to the coronavirus pandemic – will cover only 60. Baseball has stated that all records would count, however, but Blackmon, a career .304 hitter for this season, doubts he will set one.
“No, I do not really think .400 is a realistic mark for today’s game,” he said before Tuesday’s game. “The pitching is too good. The game is too good, there is more specialization. I do not think it will happen anything. There may be some fears, but I think .400 is just too far from average. I do not think anything will be done. I’m not like, expecting to hit .400 for a season. I do not really think this is a realistic goal. ”
For Wednesday’s games, big leagues played just .235, worse than their lowest collective mark for a season: .237 in 1968. For an individual, however, .400 seems plausible – Donovan Solano of the San Francisco Giants was also on pace. to beat Duffy’s mark, with a .458 average through Tuesday. In 2017, when Blackmon won the National League Batting title with an average career of .331, he hit .374 over 60 games from July 1st to September 9th.
He could conceivably hit .400, right?
“Yes, but then it is not a full season again; it will be an asterisk, ”said Blackmon. ‘Even I do not think I will hit .400 for 60 games. Statistically speaking, it is not very likely. ‘
Last season’s leading hitter, Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox, hit .424 after the team’s first 17 games. By game no. 60 was his average drop to .323, much closer to the season-ending .335. That seems to be a more likely path for Blackmon.
Then again, records are breaking nea probably. Blackmon, who hit the most leadoffs in the past, has been in the no. 3 flourished and helped lead Colorado (12-5) to the top of the NL West. An extended pursuit of .400 would be a talking point this season and certainly increase his stature. Blackmon, 34, is an All-Star with four appearances, but has never finished higher than fifth in the vote for most valuable player.
“Charlie deserves recognition as an elite hitter, and when he comes over .400, it’s a huge milestone for his career and for a season that needs great stories,” said Ryan Spilborghs, a Rockies TV analyst who played for their 2007 World Series team. “But I don’t think it would be recognized the same way we look at Ted Williams.”
Spilborghs said Blackmon separates himself from peers by never giving an at-bat, a natural product, the persistence and drive he needed to forge a career on the plate. Blackmon started college as a pitcher, but turned around to compete in the summer league with encouragement from his coach, former great leaguer Rusty Greer. The Rockies drew him in the second round of Georgia Tech in 2008.
“Physically and mentally, he’s as strong and tough as anyone I’ve ever been,” said Rockies manager Bud Black, who has spent more than 40 years in baseball. “And what he’s doing this year is a result of not only his overall talent, but what he’s doing to get ready for a game and what he’s doing after the game.
Blackmon has done all this despite contracting Covid-19 for the season. Blackmon had worked for the summer training camp in Denver and then caught the virus on a trip to Georgia. Although his symptoms were mild, Blackmon’s training slowed down for a while and he had to adjust.
“It has been difficult to go up to the capacity I need to play Major League Baseball,” he said. ‘It would not be so difficult if I just had to play three hours a day, but there is much more in what it takes to be three hours on the field. You have to keep all your baseball skills sharp, you have to work out, you have to recover, and then you have to do that day after day after day – at altitude, at sea level, back to altitude. Those are the only suffering effects I see from the virus. “
While the spacious outdoor field and thin air heaters in Denver help, the constant adjustments for road games are taxing on bodies and batting averages. Blackmon has a .352 career average at home and .264 on the road, figures that underscore the importance of context, which is more essential in 2020 than ever.
The short schedule makes this season a historic outlier, but so much else has changed since the days of the .400 hitter. The majors are integrated. Heads have a variety of options perfected beyond the fastball and the curve. Hitters are less familiar with the arms they see – Williams faced only 73 pitchers throughout the 1941 season; Blackmon has 41 already versus 41.
“The season is the season, and I think there’s enough integrity for 60 games – 200-plus at-bats, more than likely,” Black said. ‘I think there is some legitimacy to that, I really do. There is competition from Game 1 to Game 60. ”
After Blackmon, however, the conversation is moot. He said he had been “pretty lucky” so far, with ground balls slipping through the infield and drivers falling safely into the outfield. He is more concerned with the success of the Rockies than his own.
In any case, Blackmon will not spend as much time remembering his season as it could in history – especially not on Thursday, the only open date of the Rockies month. What will he do all day?
“I do not really know,” said Blackmon, “but there will have to be a lot of rest.”
