There is nothing worse than a strikeout. A strikeout is not just another out. It is an out that is a completely wasted at bat for the offensive team. Almost nothing positive can occur when a batter strikes out, and the few good things that can happen are so rare in today’s game that they can virtually be discounted.
A strikeout can help the offensive team if the batter reaches base safely after striking out. With fewer than two outs and first base unoccupied, or with two outs and first base occupied, a strikeout victim can reach first safely if the catcher misses the third strike and beats a throw to first base. Baserunners can advance at their own risk if a third strike gets by the catcher. That just about summarizes the good things that can happen when a batter strikes out, with one exception.
There is an instance in which a strikeout can be as good as a base on balls. When the batter has two strikes and the next pitch is clearly wild and going to get by the catcher, an alert batter can intentionally swing at the pitch, knowing he will strike out, but also realizing that he will stand an excellent chance of reaching first base.
Almost none of today’s players ever attempts such a play. The reason players give is that it will break their rhythm for future plate appearances, and that is a valid point. But there are times when there is a dire need to get something going offensively, and paradoxically, it can be a strikeout.
When a batter strikes out, runners do not advance and runs do not score. A strike out eats up an out. That’s it. Even a double play can be better than a strikeout, and depending on the situation, can actually be productive.
In 1962, the Yankees and Giants split the first six games of the World Series. The seventh game at Candlestick Park was a scoreless pitching duel between the Yankees’ Ralph Terry and the Giants’ Jack Sanford until the Yankees came to bat in the top of the fifth inning. Bill Skowron singled, Clete Boyer singled, and pitcher Ralph Terry drew a base a ball.
It was a great opportunity for the Yankees to break the game open, but leadoff man Tony Kubek grounded into a double play, scoring Skowron. That was it. There was no more scoring. The only run of the game, and the run that was the margin of victory for the Yankees to win the World Championship, scored as the result of a double play.
Double plays kill rallies, but at least the ball is in play. Kubek made contact and hit the ball well, but it was hit to the fielder. A batter can’t direct the flight of the ball. But striking out is failure, because contact is not made.
In the early days of game, striking out was a disgrace. Cobb, Speaker, Lajoie, Wagner and Collins rarely were strike out victims and they took great pains to avoid such a humiliation. Cobb struck out only 357 times in more than 11,000 official plate appearances, and the four other greats had similar statistics.
Things changed when Babe Ruth popularized the home run as well as the strike out, but even the free swingers in those years had some discipline. Ruth never struck out 100 times in a season. His highest total was 93 in 1923, but he batted .393, hit 41 home runs, and had an incredible on base average of .545. Still, striking out was shameful and Ruth was criticized for it.
Jimmie Foxx struck out more than 100 times in a season only twice in his career, Hank Greenberg only once, Ralph Kiner only once, which was his rookie year, and Joe DiMaggio struck out only 369 times in his entire career, which was remarkable for a power hitter. Great home run hitters do not have to strike out more than one hundred times a season. But they do---again and again.
1952 was Mickey Mantle’s first full season. The powerful switch hitter batted .311 and hit 23 home runs. In the World Series against the Dodgers, Mantle hit .345 with two home runs, including a grand slam. It was an excellent season that was to foreshadow a great career, yet that winter, baseball periodicals and yearbooks did not emphasize Mantle’s batting average or home runs. They criticized Mantle’s 111 strikeouts, which was an enormously high number at that time, even for a free swinger, and lamented that he would never become a truly great player unless he drastically reduced his strikeouts.
Today, it is a different game. Some sportscasters and former baseball players have stated that “an out is an out” and a strikeout is simply another way of a batter being retired. Many players also subscribe to the false belief that a strikeout is no worse than any other type of out. Do they really believe that a strikeout is just as good as a fly ball to the outfield when there is one out and a runner on third? Would the arbitrator at a salary hearing agree with the concept that “an out is an out?”
For the modern hitter, there is little disgrace or humiliation associated with striking out, especially among those who lead the league in strikeouts. The obligatory “I have to cut down on my strikeouts” is ever present in sound bites, but little is done to remedy the problem.
Last season Preston Wilson struck out 187 times and was benched so he wouldn’t break Bobby Bonds’ mark of 189. Mo Vaughn struck out 181 times, and Jim Thome struck out 171 times. All had at least 650 plate appearances. But the most futile was Pat Burrell. In 471 plate appearances, Burrell struck out 139 times, which is one strikeout every 3.4 times at bat. After the games of August 12 of this year, Burrell has struck out 123 times in 409 official plate appearances and has hit 17 homeruns.
Probably the most bizarre statistic is that of Mark McGwire. Since July 18, the injury plagued first baseman has eleven hits, and all have been homeruns. He is batting under .180 and has struck out 32 times during that streak. The Cardinals are peripheral contenders for the Central Division title and the Wild Card. Has McGwire been an asset or a liability?
New York Mets broadcasters Tom Seaver and Gary Thorne discussed whether or not McGwire, with all the strikeouts, was helping St. Louis. Thorne felt that McGwire was a detriment because if he didn’t hit a home run, he would do nothing to start a rally, continue a rally, or move a runner along. His strikeouts had killed many rallies.
Seaver agreed, but put in the disclaimer that McGwire’s home runs helped the team, and he concluded that McGwire was more of a positive than a negative. Home runs are good. Implicit in the discussion was the fact that no out is worse than a strikeout.
Scoring runs is important and wins games, but preventing the other team from scoring runs is even more important. Pitching and defense, not home runs, win championships. Players who strike out simply strengthen their opponents pitching and defense and ruin their team’s offense. A strikeout is the worst play in baseball.
» Harold Friend is an intense Yankees fan who has followed baseball longer than he cares to remember.
Also by Harold Friend
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Posted August 15, 2001.
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