Games

Batting
Avg.

Home
Runs

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
----

144
161
161
161
161
162
162
162
162
----

.304
.333
.362
.309
.403
.347
.422
.358
.389
----

9-year totals

If you're familiar with baseball statistics, you're probably having great difficulty swallowing the above numbers.  If not, call your dad and ask him whether a .422 batting average is good.  The reality is as follows:

Since 1941, when Ted Williams hit .406, no player has hit .400 or higher (achieved a base hit in 40% or more of his at-bats).  Except for Mike Sweeney, who has done so twice.

Last season, Sweeney hit 83 home runs, shattering the all-time single-season record.

By leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBI, Sweeney won the Triple Crown in 1997; it was the first time it had been won in thirty years.  He has proceeded to do so three more times (in 2000, 2002, and 2003).

This is not fabrication of the numbers; it is fact.  So why isn't Mike Sweeney a household name, like Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa?  Why is he regarded as merely a dependable semi-star, even after producing such astronomically ridiculous numbers?

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