My First Cards

If I told you that someone batted .400 for the season in 1982, you’d probably look at me like I’m crazy. It’s true though, and it was Mike Davis. The reason most people haven’t heard about this, is because he didn’t have the amount of PA’s (plate appearances) to qualify for the batting title.

Mike Davis didn’t hit well in short stints in 1980 or 1981 with Oakland, so the A’s left him in AAA Tacoma for most of the 1982 season, bringing him up in September. He did well in Tacoma, posting a .389 OBP. So once he got another chance in the AL, he went on a tear….hitting exactly .400, putting up a .909 OPS, and a 156 OPS+ in 77 PA’s between September 6 – October 3, 1982.

Sure, anybody can get hot for 77 PA’s so it wasn’t that hard, right? Well, I have a couple lists for you about this. First, here’s the entire list of batters 1942-2009 who’s hit .400+ with at least 70 PA’s for the season..

1. .411 – Todd Haney (81 PA’s in 1995)
2. .400 – Mike Davis (77 PA’s in 1982)
3. .403 – Bob Hazle (155 PA’s in 1957)
4. .407 – Ted Williams (110 PA’s in 1953)

Short list eh? Of course, this is short because anybody hitting .400 will continue to get more playing time until they cool off. Haney & Davis were September callups, Hazle filled in for an injury during the end of a season, and Williams I have no data for. So likely, if the end of the season didn’t stop these guys, we can be sure that more games would’ve pulled them beneath .400 eventually. That doesn’t remove its impressiveness though, ’cause hundreds of guys have been called up in September or come back from an injury to play the end of a season and none of them pulled this off.

Which leads to another question about batting .400. What’s the longest anyone’s hit .400 for, during a season? (by PA’s) I did a little research and compiled what I think is a complete list (1969-2009) since the mound & strike zone changes began favoring the batter more—

1. 455 PA’s, George Brett (1980)
2. 440 PA’s, John Olerud (1993)
3. 394 PA’s, Larry Walker (1997)
4. 385 PA’s, Tony Gwynn (1997)
5. 359 PA’s, Rod Carew (1977)
6. 316 PA’s, Nomar Garciaparra (2000)
7. 292 PA’s, Tony Fernandez (1999)
8. 290 PA’s, Chipper Jones (2008)
9. 290 PA’s, Rod Carew (1974)
10. 279 PA’s, Rod Carew (1983)
11. 268 PA’s, Andres Galarraga (1993)
12. 268 PA’s, Roberto Alomar (1996)
13. 249 PA’s, Rico Carty (1970)
14. 245 PA’s, Wade Boggs (1986)
15. 245 PA’s, Todd Helton (2000)
16. 244 PA’s, Carney Lansford (1988)
17. 238 PA’s, Paul O’Neill (1994)
18. 231 PA’s, Lenny Dykstra (1990)

That’s the most I’ve found.

These lists really punctuate how hard it is to hit .400, for anybody — great players, backups, fill-ins, call-ups, and recalls.

After 1982, Davis played several years in the majors as a regular, but never even hit .300. His last two seasons were for the Dodgers and this is how most people remember him — the man who drew a walk just before Kirk Gibson’s home run in the ’88 World Series. Maybe Mike Davis remembered the Rick Cerone trivia bit on the back of Mike’s card in ’82.