Drysdale in 1965

[willshad]

Is this the biggest fluke hitting season in history? His line for that year at the plate was .300 .331 .508. He had 7 homers and 19 RBI in 130 at bats, in the biggest pitchers era ever, in the worst hitter's park ever. He was also by far the best hitter on the team that year, unlike Mike Hampton when he had some monster hitting years in Colarado.

[Dodgerfan1]

Drysdale certainly had a big year at the plate, especially given the disadvantages he seemingly faced in a pitcher's year as well as playing his home games in a pitcher's ballpark. Another obvious choice would be Walter Johnson's year at the plate in 1925. Dude hit an incredible .433 in 97 ABs and had 20 RBIs. He was also 36 years old. He had by far his highest OBP and slugging average that year. He never hit anywhere near that high before or afterward, finishing with a lifetime .235 average.

[dgarza]

Although Drysdale was the biggest fluke, especially given his park disadvantages and his batting history.
On a side note, Drysdale also hit 7 HRs in just 66 ABs in 1958.

Walter Johnson was great in 1925, but he was also a much better batter than Drysdale.

The same can be said for Don Newcomb in 1955, who was a good batting pitcher anyway and nearly as good as Duke Snider in 1955.

The same can be said for Jack Bentley in 1923, who was a good batting pitcher anyway, was the best batter for the 1923 Giants who went to the WS, and batted .600 in the WS.

Wes Ferrell was the best batter for the 1935 Red Sox, but then again, it's Wes Ferrell, one of the best batting pitchers in history.

Johnny Lindell was a great batting pitcher in 1953, but was an outfielder most of his career, so that could have been expected.

Others :
Bob Lemon 1949
Robin Roberts 1955

Warren Spahn in 1958 may rival Drysdale.

[willshad]

Im wondering if some of these guys were ever used as pinch hitters. Also, if the Dh was around then, is it possible they may have been used as the DH on days they dont pitch. After all, they WERE the best hitters on the team.

[willshad]

How much credit would people give Drysdale for his hitting in 1955 with regards to the MVP award? One can argue that he was as good at the plate as any hitter in the league, plus went 20-5 as a pitcher. How can you beat that?

[shlevine42]

Drysdale certainly had a big year at the plate, especially given the disadvantages he seemingly faced in a pitcher's year as well as playing his home games in a pitcher's ballpark.

Dodger Stadium didn't seem to bother Don in '65. His line at home was
.368/.390/.526; away, it was .247/.286/.493.

He never came close to those numbers in any other season.

Im wondering if some of these guys were ever used as pinch hitters. Also, if the Dh was around then, is it possible they may have been used as the DH on days they dont pitch. After all, they WERE the best hitters on the team.

Drysdale also got 12 AB as a pinch hitter that year, and went .250/.357/.250.

Newcombe was also used often as a pinch hitter.

[Dodgerfan1]

Check out Sloppy Thurston's batting stats. He was a very good hitter:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thurssl01.shtml