Today on the blog we move on to 1978 League Leader cards,
"expanding" them to show the top three finishers in each statistic for
each league, as opposed to the top leader from both the N.L. and A.L. on
one card, beginning with the top three batters in the N.L.:
We
begin with Pittsburgh Pirate slugger Dave Parker, who won the first of
his two straight batting titles in 1977, hitting .338 with a
league-leading 215 hits and 44 doubles.
Along with his 21
homers, 88 RBIs and .531 slugging percentage, those numbers got him a
third-place finish in the MVP race by season's end, while also hauling
in the first of his three Gold Gloves.
Right behind Parker,
with a ,336 batting average, teammate Rennie Stennett, who had himself a
fine season, stealing a career-best 28 bases while scoring 53 runs in
only 116 games.
It was one of those unusual seasons that a
player did not "technically" qualify for the batting title, with
Stennett's 490 plate appearances.
However, because of his big
lead on the third place finisher, once added the necessary plate
appearances as hitless at-bats to reach 501, he was still the second
best hitter.
In third place with a .322 average, St. Louis
Cardinals shortstop Garry Templeton, who broke out as a 21-year-old and
collected 200 hits, scored 94 runs and led the league with his 18
triples, earning him his first All-Star nod and some MVP attention as
well.
Two seasons later he'd lead the league with 211 hits,
collecting at least 100 hits from both sides of the plate as a
switch-hitter, while once again leading the league in triples, this time
with 19.
Of course, as we all know, he'd eventually wear out
his welcome in St. Louis and would be traded to the San Diego Padres for
Ozzie Smith, certainly affecting the outcome of both franchises for the
1980's.