Magic Numbers: Baseball’s Best Single-Season Hitters, Decade-By-Decade

Baseball’s magic numbers-30 homers, a .330 average or 100 RBIs. Since 1901 only 42 men have achieved three of these hitting feats in the same season. Of these, 14 did it only once. Babe Ruth was the first to enjoy a “super season” when he had 54 homers, 137 RBIs and a .376 batting average in 1920. The 42 players combine for a total of 90 such seasons, or fewer than one per year for both leagues combined. Ruth himself tops the list in number of super seasons achieved with 10, followed by such greats as Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, and so on. Decade-by-decade, this work traces the history of those super seasons, focusing on the men who accomplished them and examining those who came close. Those who achieve two of the feats are considered as having had near-miss seasons. This, too, is a difficult accomplishment. Appendices list super season and near-miss achievers in order of number achieved, their career statistics, rankings of leagues by number of super seasons, and a listing of super seasons per decade.