The Scintillating ’70s

Tom Seaver had the best season in the major leagues in the 1970s, three of the top 10, and led National League pitchers five times according to a points system that rates players according to how they ranked in 12 categories.

Jim Rice had the best season among major league hitters in the 1970s, ranked in the top 10 twice and led American League hitters twice. 

By Phil Ellenbecker

  My latest look the top seasons and players of the decade in Major League Baseball delves into the 1970s.

  Here’s the drill: The “study” consisted of pulling out a Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia and looking over the listing of league leaders in several categories for each year.  The top five were listed in some instances, the top four in others – don’t ask me how that line was drawn. The major categories almost all included the top five. In a couple instances just the top three were listed. Sometimes less than two. I think a large number of players tied had something to do with less than four, and space limitations came into play. I gave five points for the top ranking, four for second and so on down. Where just four were listed, it went 5-4-3-2. If there was a tie, I divided the total number of points between the rankings by the number of players who were tied. Example: Three players tied for second – 4+3+2=9 divided by 3=3 points for each player.

  The categories: hitting -- batting average, total bases, hits, runs, slugging average, RBIs, walks, doubles, homers, steals, homer-percentage, triples; pitching  – winning percentage, saves, hits/nine innings/, strikeouts/nine innings, ERA, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, wins, complete games, walks/nine innings, games pitched.

  What I came up with I think gives a fairly representative presentation of the top players and seasons. There are enough categories included to give a balance between the counting stats that reward durability and reliability and the rate stats that address pure performance. Offense takes in power, speed, batting eye and contact; pitching -- power, control, durability and dominance (i.e., shutouts). Mind you, the numbers, other than the rankings I assigned, don’t matter here, just how the players ranked in comparison with their peers. Which I think is the best way to rate players, how they rate relative to others. The 48 homers Willie Stargell hit in 1971 and Dave Kingman hit in 1979 to lead the National League don’t matter anymore than the 32 that four different players hit to lead their leagues; they were simply the best over their peers in that particular year in that particular category.

Top 10 pitching seasons

1. Steve Carlton, 1972, 39

2 (tie). Tom Seaver, 1973, and Ron Guidry, 1978, 33

4 Tom Seaver, 1975, 32 1/2

5 (tie). Ferguson Jenkins, 1975, and Jim Palmer, 1975, 31

7 (tie). Tom Seaver, 1971, Andy Messersmith, 1975, and J.R. Richard, 1979, 30

10. Vida Blue, 1971, 29 1/2

Top 10 batting seasons

1. Jim Rice, 1978, 41

2. George Foster, 1977, 35

3. Dick Allen, 1972, 33 1/2

4. Dave Parker, 1978, 32 ½

5. Reggie Jackson, 1973, 31 1/2

6 Rod Carew, 1977, 30 1/2

7. Carl Yastrzemski, 1970, 30

8 (tie). Willie Stargell,  1973, and Mike Schmidt, 1974, 29

10 (tie). Jim Rice, 1979, 28 1/2

     Among my admittedly nonauthoritative observations and conclusions:

n  Tom was indeed Terrific during the 1970s. Tom Seaver posted three of the top 10 pitching seasons – tied for second in 1973, fourth in 1975 and tied for seventh in 1971.

n  Steve Carlton’s stupendous 1972 season, when at the age of 27 with 27 wins he had 46 percent of Philadelphia’s 59 wins, rates as the top season of the decade with 41 points, three points off Sandy Koufax’s 1965 that is the top mark in the three decades I’ve surveyed. Carlton easily outdistanced Seaver’s ’72 and Ron Guidry’s ’78 with 33, and Seaver’s 32 ½ in 1974.

n  While some have doubted Jim Rice’s Hall of Fame bona fides (he was not elected by the writers until his 15^th and final year of eligibility), these lists show he was clearly a premier hitter in the 1970s. He had the best season in the major leagues of the decade with 41 points and also had the 10^th best. George Foster’s 1977 came in second at 35 followed by Dick Allen’s 1972 at 33½. Foster was helped by a 52-homer season in 1977. That was the first 50-homer season in the major leagues since Willie Mays’ 52 in 1965.

n  Rice and Rod Carew had two league-leading seasons apiece to top the American League. Carew, who never hit more than 14 homers in a season,  shows you don’t have to be a power hitter to rate high. He had the seventh-best season in the majors in the ‘70s, in 1977, when he tied his career high in homers while hitting .388, highest in the majors since Ted Williams’ .388 in 1957.

n  Billy Williams and Mike Schmidt had two league-leading seasons each to lead the NL. Williams’ came in 1970 and 1972, years in which Johnny Bench won the NL MVP Award and strong arguments were made for Williams. In fact Williams was named the Sporting News’ Major Player of the Year and NL Player of the Year in ’72. Schmidt’s league-leading ’74 established him as a player to watch for years to come after  a rookie season in which he’d batted .196.

George Foster's 1977 season ranked second in the major leagues in the 1970s, helped by a 52-homer season, the first 50-homer season since Willie Mays' 52 in 1965.

J.R. Richard led National League pitchers in 1978 and 1979, tying for the seventh-best mark in the decade with his '79. His career tragically ended midway through the next season when he suffered a stroke.

n  Seaver led the NL in points five times in the decade, including three straight at one stretch. J.R. Richard was the other multi-NL leader with two seasons back-to-back closing out the decade. His 1979 tied for seventh on the majors' top 10 list. Sadly, Richard suffered a stroke midway through the 1980 season, prematurely ending what looked to be an all-time great career.

n  Nolan Ryan was the AL’s league leader three times. No other AL pitcher led more than once.