Can Old Men Win Batting Titles?

An interesting Bill James observation

Can Old Men Win Batting Titles?

While slowly and somewhat haphazardly reading through the works of Bill James, I came across this gem:

From Esquire Fortnightly, April 24, 1979, page 67

The occasion, of course, was Rod Carew being traded to the Angels.

Though we don’t remember it well today, there actually was a bit of a race for Carew:

From Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Massachusetts), February 3, 1979, page 20

That was typical Steinbrenner, of course. The truth is that some Yankees fans were not convinced that the Yankees should have gone for him:

From New York Daily News, February 3, 1979, page C13

And people were livid, of course:

From The Los Angeles Times, February 3, 1979, part III page 3

In the end, though, the Angels won the sweepstakes:

From The Fresno Bee, February 4, 1979, page H1

Want to have fun with a 1979 replay? Stick Carew on the Yankees instead of the Angels and see what happens.

Anyway — the fascinating thing about what Bill James said is that most batting titles are won by players 30 or younger. I don’t have a great way of testing this, but my spot checks indicate that it’s correct. In fact, you can use this Baseball Reference page to check for yourself.

For example:

• Luis Arraez, who won it in the National League in 2024, was 27.

• Bobby Witt Jr was only 24 when he won the title in the American League last year.

• Wade Boggs was 30 when he won his final batting title in 1988. He played another 11 seasons, but couldn’t ever win the crown again.

• Bill Buckner was 30 in 1980 when he won his one and only batting title.

• George Brett was 27 in 1980 when he flirted with .400.

And so on. James seems to be correct, though I haven’t added it up.

Actually, the exceptions to the age 30 rule are pretty notable. Most of them are extremely famous players:

• Rod Carew hit .333 at age 32 in 1978 to win his final batting title with the Twins. He hit well for the Angels afterwards, but never could quite finish in first place again.

• Taking advantage of Coors Field, Larry Walker with the Rockies won batting titles in 1998 (age 31), 1999 (age 32), and 2001 (age 34). The highlight was clearly 1999, when he hit .379 and had an OPS of 1.168 in an absolutely incredible offensive season.

• Tony Gwynn hit .394 in 1994 at age 34; I’m betting that most of you forgot about that feat. He then won the batting title in 1995, 1996, and 1997, including a whopping .372 in 1997 - pretty good for a 37 year old!

• Miguel Cabrera’s final batting title came in 2015, when he was 32 years old. Of course, his age 29 season in 2012 is the famous one where he won the triple crown.

• Barry Bonds won the batting title at age 37 in 2002 and again at age 39 in 2004. Then again, Bonds was a human cheat code in those days, kind of like playing your Nintendo with the Game Genie plugged in.

• Ted Williams hit .388 in 1957 - and it was a legitimate .388 as well. He played in 132 games and had 547 plate appearances. He was also 38 years old. The next season, at age 39, he racked up a .328 average for another batting title, his final one.

• And, as James mentioned, Ty Cobb won his final batting title in 1919 at age 32. The Georgia Peach hit .384 that year. He had a chance in 1922 when he hit .401, but had to deal with a guy over in St. Louis who hit .420.

Anyway, James was right. And, after you’re done messing around with 1979, you might as well put the 1922 American League on your replay schedule as well.