On the blog today, we move on to the American League with my “expanded league leaders” thread, and celebrate the top three hitters for the 1978 season:
Of course, we begin with Hall of Famer Rod Carew, who took home his seventh and final batting title that year, hitting .333 in his final season with the Minnesota Twins before heading for sunnier pastures in California.
Carew was a machine, plain and simple, winning six of seven titles in his incredible run between 1972 and 1978, with a high of .388 during his MVP season of 1977, including his only 100 RBI season of his storied career.
By the time he retired after the 1985 season, he topped 3000 hits and finished with a .328 average for his 19-year Big League tenure, putting him in rare company, especially for the Post-War era.
In second place with a .324 batting average, the quiet man who just kept on hitting, “Scoop” Al Oliver, who had a very nice first season with the Texas Rangers after coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Oliver would collect 170 hits and drive in 89 runs for Texas in 1978, with 35 doubles and 14 homers, numbers he’d pretty much duplicate the next season before topping them in 1980 when he’d collect 209 hits and 117 RBIs along with a .319 average.
The man was such an under-the-radar All-Star player throughout his great 18-year career, a Hall of Fame career in my personal opinion, finishing with over 2700 hits, 200 homers and 1300 RBIs, while hitting .303 before hanging them up in 1985.
In third place, hitting at a .315 clip, the A.L. MVP for 1978, the great Jim Rice, who was an absolute beast that year, leading the league in hits, triples, homers, RBIs, slugging and total bases, demolishing Major League pitching while putting together an unbelievable three year run of 200 hits, 100 runs scored, 39+ homers, 100+RBIs and .315+ batting.
Just insane!
Of course his career path would eventually lead him to the Hall of Fame like Carew, finishing up with a .298 average with 382 homers and 1451 RBIs over 16 seasons, easily forgetting that the man also had four 200-hits seasons in addition to his power numbers.
There you go, the A.L.’s top hitters of the 1978 season, on display here on an “expanded league leader” card.