Wed 31 May 2006
Chris Kenney ‘06 ‘07 played some fine baseball this spring.
By baseball standards, a good hitter is considered to be any player with a .300 batting average or above. Ted Williams is remembered for having the best hitting season in Major League history, batting .406 in 1941. No other major leaguer has reached the .400 mark since — 65 straight years of finishing second-best to the Splendid Splinter.
For these reasons and more, the season put forth by Williams College catcher Chris Kenney this year should amaze the most novice baseball fans. Through 38 games, the Ephs junior is hitting an astounding .507. He leads Williams, a squad which is tops in the NESCAC with .363 average, with 74 hits, 22 doubles, 53 RBI and 113 total bases.
Kenney won NESCAC player of the year. Perhaps the Eph baseball mafia will be able to get him a spot on a minor league team as it did for Jabe Bergeron ‘04.
UPDATE: Dick Quinn points out that Kenney is actually a junior and plays center on the football team.
2006-05-31 14:10:19
I got curious about Ephs in the major leagues, and found data at http://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/williamsma.shtml
Nine Ephs played in the majors between 1890 and 1934. Most successful was probably pitcher Ted Lewis, who went 94-64 with a 3.53 ERA between 1896 and 1901.
This is not to overlook Fay Vincent or George Steinbrenner, of course
2006-06-01 10:58:21
Very impresive, to be sure. The Major League comparisons are a bit silly and inapt though — yes, major leaguers hitting .300 is good, yes, Ted Williams was the last to hit .400. But these are not logical points of comparison. Lots of college guys hit .400 in a season (note that Williams team average). It would seem best to compare him with his peer group. Still, .500 anywhere is quite a feat, even if the Bill James types will tell you that batting average is not the best matric to use.
dcat