Next up in my on-going 1978 "30 Home Run Club" sub-set is New York Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles, who put in his top Big League power season in 1977 with 37 homers, good for second place in the American League after leading the league the previous year:
Nettles,
coming off a 32 homer campaign in 1976 which was good for the league
crown, followed that up with 37 homers for the Yanks in 1977, two behind
leader Jim Rice and tied with Bobby Bonds of the California Angels.
Nettles
also drove in a career-best 107 runs and scored 99 himself, giving him
his second All-Star berth as well as a fifth place finish in the MVP
race at season's end.
It wasn't until recently I also realized that for a guy who was considered a "slugger", he never struck out much!
I
really never realized in all these years that he never struck out 100+
times in a season over his 22 year career, but incredibly, for someone
who hit 390 homers, he only AVERAGED 55 strikeouts a year over his
career!
Think about that. That is absolutely wild.
When it was all said and done, Nettles played for those 22 seasons, finishing
up with 390 homers, 2225 hits, and 1314 runs batted in, with 1193 runs
scored and a reputation that still has him considered one of the finest
defensive third basemen in history.
