John Pastier was wondering (among other things) about the record for the most days leading the league in batting average without winning the title. Here’s the list:<\/p>\n
Player Year LED DNL DNQ First Last\r\nPete Reiser<\/a> 1942 131 36 0 5-11 9-24\r\nLenny Dykstra<\/a> 1990 125 37 10 5-11 9-14\r\nLarry Walker<\/a> 1997 124 57 0 4-10 9-19\r\nJohn Kruk<\/a> 1992 117 64 0 4- 7 8-27\r\nTony Cuccinello<\/a> 1945 115 18 34 5- 1 8-27\r\nJimmie Foxx<\/a> 1929 110 63 0 4-17 9-12\r\nTommy Holmes<\/a> 1945 106 61 0 4-22 8-31\r\nMike Piazza<\/a> 1996 105 77 0 5-26 9-25\r\nStan Musial<\/a> 1958 104 63 0 4-23 9-11\r\nJeff Burroughs<\/a> 1978 100 78 0 4-27 9- 6<\/pre>\nWhere LED is the number of days leading the league, DNL the number of days not leading the league, DNQ the number of days not qualifying (again, by modern standards), and First and Last contain the first and last dates they led the league.<\/p>\n
And the flip side, the leaders who were in front of the pack for the fewest days.<\/p>\n
Player Year LED DNL DNQ First Last\r\nHarry Heilmann<\/a> 1925 2 165 7 6- 5 10- 4\r\nEllis Burks<\/a> 1996 4 177 0 9-26 9-29\r\nTed Williams<\/a> 1958 4 152 9 9-13 9-28\r\nLou Boudreau<\/a> 1944 5 153 8 9-27 10- 1\r\nBuddy Myer<\/a> 1935 5 158 3 8-13 9-29\r\nEnos Slaughter<\/a> 1942 5 162 0 4-23 9-27\r\nWillie Mays<\/a> 1954 6 161 0 9-20 9-26\r\nLew Fonseca<\/a> 1929 8 166 0 9-29 10- 6\r\nChick Hafey<\/a> 1931 8 17 110 9-19 9-27\r\nPaul Waner<\/a> 1926 9 92 66 9-21 9-29<\/pre>\nWe discussed some of these in the original article and of course, some of the entries on each list are paired. So when Foxx faded down the stretch in 1929, Fonseca eventually grabbed the title, Reiser lost his lead at the end of 1942 to Slaughter, and Piazza was passed by Ellis Burks in 1996,<\/p>\n
John also wondered about the closest three-way batting races. Between 1918 and 2010 (and once again, using the modern standard of 3.1 plate appearances per game), the closest races:<\/p>\n
Year Lg Gap Players\r\n1991 NL .00213 Tony Pendleton<\/a> (.31911) Hal Morris<\/a> (.31799) Tony Gwynn<\/a> (.31698)\r\n2003 AL .00268 Bill Mueller<\/a> (.32634) Manny Ramirez<\/a> (.32513) Derek Jeter<\/a> (.32365)\r\n1976 AL .00275 George Brett<\/a> (.33333) Hal McRae<\/a> (.33207) Rod Carew<\/a> (.33058)\r\n1935 AL .00323 Buddy Myer<\/a> (.34903) Joe Vosmik<\/a> (.34839) Jimmie Foxx<\/a> (.34579)\r\n1944 AL .00325 Lou Boudreau<\/a> (.32705) Bobby Doerr<\/a> (.32479) Bob Johnson<\/a> (.32381)\r\n1940 NL .00335 Stan Hack<\/a> (.31675) Johnny Mize<\/a> (.31434) Jim Gleeson<\/a> (.31340)<\/pre>\nNote: this does not include the 1931 NL race, which officially included three batters within a single percentage point. One of these, however, was Jim Bottomley, who appeared in only 108 games and would not have qualified under modern standards.<\/p>\n