On the blog today,
we move on to the American League and their top three home run hitters
celebrated on a 1978 “expanded league leader” card, featuring three
top-notch batsmen of the era:
We begin with Boston
Red Sox legend Jim Rice, who took home his first home run title that
year, pacing the league with 39 homers, which he would follow up the
following year with a league-leading 46 on his
way to an MVP Award.
Rice would have an
insane three-year run between 1977 and 1979, where he would hit 39 or
more homers, drive in 100+ RBIs, hit .315 or better, while topping 200
hits each and every year, while also collecting
36 triples while slugging over a combined .600.
The man was a
monster at the plate and I was one of many who was happy he finally got
his Hall of Fame due when he was elected in 2009.
Tied for second with
37 homers apiece were California Angels Bobby Bonds and New York
Yankees Graig Nettles, who were actually just teammates two seasons
earlier in 1975.
For Bonds, he fell
two homers short of a career-best, which he accomplished while still
with the San Francisco Giants in 1973, though he did establish a new
career-high with 115 runs batted in while reaching
100+ runs scored for the sixth time.
It was also the
fourth of what would be five times he would reach the 30/30 club, as he
stole 41 bases to go along with his 37 “jacks”, something he’d do one
more time the following season in 1978.
Also in second place
with 37 homers, Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles, who established a
new career-high after leading the American League with 32 the year
before.
For Nettles, he also
reached 100+ RBIs for what would be the only time in his long career,
with 107, just missing 100 runs scored with 99 for the eventual World
Champs, also a career best.
Not a bad threesome slugging their way to the top of the homer chain!
