When does an .804 OPS rank amongst the league leaders? When you’re playing in the dead ball era. On the face of things, Joe Jackson had an off year in 1917. He only hit .301 but he was the best hitter on the best offense in baseball in 1917. The White Sox led the American League in runs (656) and OBP (.323) and they were second in slugging (.326). So it’s hard to argue Jackson had an off year when he was the best hitter on the best offensive team in the league.
Jackson finished in the top five in several offensive categories. His .804 OPS was fifth in the league and he was fourth in runs with 91. His 75 RBIs were good for fifth in the American League and his five homeruns was seventh in the league. He also finished behind only Ty Cobb with 17 triples. As far as on the team, he was first in OPS, slugging, runs, doubles and triples and he was second in RBIs and homeruns.
Jackson also had a solid postseason. He didn’t light it up, but he had a solid .304 batting average with four runs scored and two RBIs. He also didn’t strikeout at all.
Here are Jackson’s numbers in 1917:
Games 146
AB 538
Runs 91
Hits 162
Doubles 20
Triples 17
Homeruns 5
RBIs 75
Walks 57
Strikeouts 25
Stolen Bases 13
Caught Stealing 0
BA .301
OBA .375
SLG% .429
OPS .804
RC 93
RCAA 35
RCAP 23
RC/G 6.12
ISO .128
February 20th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
When you consider Jackson’s .356 lifetime BA, we are only talking about “hundreths” of percentage points concerning Hornsby at .358, and, Cobb at .367. In looking at Joe Jackson’s playing years, I doubt he ever had an “off” year. It would be interesting to calculate his totals if he had played until say, 1930.