best months of all time?

[Blackout]

here are 5 recent ones that stand out to me:


Jason Giambi July 2005: .355/.524/.974 27 hits/76 ABs 14 homers and 24 RBI in 26 games


Alex Rodriguez April 2007: .355/.415/.882 33/93 14 HR 34 RBI in 23 games


Albert Pujols April 2006: .346/.509/.914 28/81 14 HR 32 RBI in 25 games


barry balco april 2004: .472/.696/1.132, 25/53 10 HR 22 RBI in 22 games
*the next month bonds only slugged .542, he decreased by over 50%


ryan howard september/oct 2006: .385/.562/.750 37/96 9 HR 21 RBI in 29 games (i just remember watching baseball tonight and seeing him on fire every day)

[brett]

I was looking back through old issues of baseball digest and caught that Cobb had the single month hit record, and batted, I think, .535 in THAT month which is pretty amazing. I think it was maybe 67 hits? And I also seem to remember that over 2 months he hit .482.

In April +a game or two in March '04 Bonds had probably the best percentage month of all time with a .472 BA, .696 OB% and 1.132 Slugging percentage and that is despite slipping the last 2-3 games. He was on the verge of .500/.700/1.200.

Dimaggio and Hack Wilson each had 53 RBI months which is pretty mind-boggling. Moreso for Dimaggio because Wilson did it in a league that hit .300, and Dimaggio had to face YS. I think that the most RBI in one month in the last 30 years is 37.

My vote for the best 2 months is Bob Gibson. In BOTH June AND July he went 6-0 with 6 complete games and 0.50 ERA. In those 2 months he pitched 8 complete game shutouts, and I believe 4 complete games where he surrendered just 1 run (of any kind).

Sosa's 20 home run month was pretty amazing. 20 of his 34 hits were home runs. Oh, he had 40 RBI. I think the top in the AL in many years is still 37 though.

Hershizer went 5-0 with 55 innings in 6 starts (more than 9 per) and a 0.00 era in August '88.

Pedro allowed just a .136 BA and struck out 71 in 42 innings in August+Sept '99

In 1980 Brett hit I think .476 in a month, and slugged about .771 and over 2 months hit .469 and his team went something like 42-16. They were only 55-59 the rest of the season.

[Otis Nixon's Bodyguard]

Albert Belle got off to a slow start in '95, then had an unbelievable second half, winning the AL Player of the Month award in both August and September. After the All-Star break, he hit 36 HR and drove in 75 runs in just 76 games. His best month overall was probably August, when he hit .381 with 14 HR, although he hit 17 HR in September. It's unlikely that either one was the best month ever, but the memory of watching him homer what seemed like every night that summer is so vivid. These are his monthly splits:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=belleal01&year=1995

[csh19792001]

I was looking back through old issues of baseball digest and caught that Cobb had the single month hit record, and batted, I think, .535 in THAT month which is pretty amazing. I think it was maybe 67 hits? And I also seem to remember that over 2 months he hit .482.

Both Cobb's hits and average may both be modern records. I'm positive he has the hits record.

Ty Cobb:

------------------Games---at-bats----Hits---Runs---BA
July, 1912----------30------127-------68-----33---.535
July, 1922----------32------137-------67-----26---.489

In July, 1912, had only 1 hitless game. Had a 34 game hitting streak.

Ok, back on topic.

Looking back through the boxes/wrapups in the Boston Globe via Proquest, I found that as of June 17th, Cobb was only hitting .358 through 47 games. Then things really picked up. And consider that he was hitting .406 through 70 games that year (through July 16th).

I also know that he set the alltime record for hits in only month that year (68, July 1912), and that he hit at or very close to .500 for a protracted period of time during the year. In July alone he hit .489 in 32 games. By August 5th he got his average up to .429 for the season (though 97 games).

So, between June 17th and August 12th of a 1912 (fifty five games), Ty Cobb had 106 hits in 221 at bats for an average of .480 with a .738 slugging percentage.

[Edgartohof]

Here's a good one:

Frank Thomas, May 1994

Games - 25
Hits - 38
Runs - 39
Doubles - 9
HR - 12
RBI - 28
BB - 31
SO - 11

.452/.593/.988/1.581!!!

I mean the guy hit more HR's than SO's!!!

He got on base an AVERAGE of 2.8 times/game during that 25 game stretch!!!!!

[GiambiJuice]

A few recent ones that come to mind and haven't been mentioned...

Johan Santana Sept '04: 40 innings, 5-0, 52 SO, 0.45 ERA
Ichiro Suzuki Aug '04: 56 hits, .463/.492/.636
Todd Helton May '00: .512./588/1.000, 26 rbi and 32 runs in 23 games
Larry Walker April '97: .456/.538/.911, 11 HR, 29 RBI in 23 games

[Edgartohof]

Bob Gibson - 1968

June:
6 Starts - 6 Wins
54 IP
28 Hits
8 BB
3 ER
43 SO

0.50 ERA

July:
6 Starts - 6 Wins
54IP
35 Hits
8 BB
3 ER
48 SO

0.50 ERA


This man was in the ZONE at that time! Look at that consistency and dominance over that time!!!

Averaged HALF a run per game during those 2 consecutive months!!! And again, look at that consistency! Started 6 games/month, finishing all of them!!! The only difference was a few more runs and a few more SO from June to July!

EDIT: I didn't notice this one was already posted. But it was so amazing that it deserved mentioning again!

[parlo]

I always think of Carl Yazstremski, September 1967.
It was really more of an incredible 2 weeks, but the numbers for the month hold up pretty well.

9HR 26 RBI .417BA .504OBP 760SLG

Not too shabby for 1967.

[soberdennis]

When I first read the title, ARod in April last year came to mind. Could you imagine what might have been if his teammates were hitting better and, more importantly, pitching better?

[brett]

Here's a good one:

Frank Thomas, May 1994

Games - 25
Hits - 38
Runs - 39
Doubles - 9
HR - 12
RBI - 28
BB - 31
SO - 11

.452/.593/.988/1.581!!!

I mean the guy hit more HR's than SO's!!!

He got on base an AVERAGE of 2.8 times/game during that 25 game stretch!!!!!

Bonds* had a 1.818 OPS and 10 homers and only 6 Ks

[sandy1]

Bob Gibson's months in 1968 are pretty hard to beat, but Don Drysdale had a pretty good May of 1968 himself - he pitched 68 innings and gave up 4 ER for an ERA of 0.53. He was in the midst of pitching a record 58 scoreless innings that would later be broken by Dodger Orel Hershiser. He had six starts between May 14th and June 4th and did not give up a run.
Willie Mays had a big August of 1965 when the Giants were battling the Dodgers for the pennant. He hit 17 HR for the month which was a National League record at the time. His line was 363/446/841/1.287 for the month. He hit one each off Koufax and Drysdale that August.

[DiMag4Life]

DiMaggio hit .420/14/53 in August of '39, then hit over .400 in the first eight games of September with three home runs before the eye infection that plagued him.

Williams in July of '57 is out there offensively, and Mantle in June of '57 should get consideration all-around, as should May of '56.

[Myankee4life]

Is Dimaggio's 53 rbi's the record for any month?

[csh19792001]

Is Dimaggio's 53 rbi's the record for any month?

Yes, with the exception of Big Sam Thompson in 1894 and 1895, who drove in 61 and 54 runs in a single month, respectively.

Of course, there were a few fundamental rule differences (most importantly the absence of the foul strike rule) which, in my mind, gives Dimaggio the official record for RBI in a month.

[brett]

Yes, with the exception of Big Sam Thompson in 1894 and 1895, who drove in 61 and 54 runs in a single month, respectively.

Of course, there were a few fundamental rule differences (most importantly the absence of the foul strike rule) which, in my mind, gives Dimaggio the official record for RBI in a month.

Unless it was changed, Hack Wilson set the record of 53 in one month first.