Nobody enjoyed a better streak at the plate in the early 1960s than Willie Mays.
Unless it was Mickey Mantle.
Mays posted the best ratio of bases per out (BPO) in the National League between 1961 and 1965, reaching 1.056 bases for every out he made. Only two other NL batters — a pair of superstars named Frank Robinson (1.031) and Henry Aaron (1.014) — were sufficiently skilled to maintain BPOs above 1.000 during the half-decade.
Mantle was the sole American Leaguer to join that rarified club. His BPO for the 1961-1965 span was the best of all, 1.194.
A simple comparison proves how exceptional those figures are. The typical regular player during the same period had a BPO of .718 in the AL and .712 in the NL. That means Mantle was 66% better than average in his league, and Mays was 48% above the norm in his. (A regular player, by the way, is defined as one who averaged at least two plate appearances per game during the half-decade.)
This quick look at BPO helps to explain why Mantle and Mays deserve to be remembered as the best batters in their respective leagues from 1961 through 1965.
The records for 65 batters in the American League and 60 in the National League were subjected to my Five-Year Test, which ranks hitters according to their performances in these six statistical categories:
Batting average
Slugging average
Bases per out
Runs scored per 500 plate appearances
Runs batted in per 500 plate appearances
Wins above replacement (WAR) per 500 plate appearances
My rankings encompassed every batter who crossed the minimum threshold of two appearances per game, which would equal 1,620 appearances in five seasons of the current length. (Seasons occasionally deviate from that norm, of course, as in the NL’s 154-game schedule for 1961. I adjusted the standard for such occasions.)
If you’d like to know more about how the Five-Year Test’s rankings were determined, click here. Or you can immediately scroll down to my lists of the top 20 batters in each league for 1961 through 1965. Mantle is followed by two Detroit Tigers — Al Kaline and Norm Cash — in the American League rankings. The runners-up to Mays on the National League side, as you would expect, are Aaron and Robinson.
Each batter below is followed by a summary of his 1961-1965 statistics: games, hits, home runs, batting average, and bases per out. The first three stats were not crunched by the Five-Year Test’s formula, though they do provide valuable context.
My plan, as I revealed on Tuesday, is to release a new set of AL and NL rankings for a subsequent half decade each Friday, which means I’ll be back on June 24 with the standings for 1966-1970.
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American League top 20 batters (1961-1965)
1. Mickey Mantle, G 606, H 571, HR 153, BA .302, BPO 1.194
2. Al Kaline, G 669, H 749, HR 110, BA .305, BPO .908
3. Norm Cash, G 740, H 696, HR 159, BA .281, BPO .982
4. Harmon Killebrew, G 718, H 687, HR 213, BA .266, BPO .968
5. Roger Maris, G 595, H 575, HR 151, BA .266, BPO .902
6. Rocky Colavito, G 806, H 826, HR 164, BA .279, BPO .891
7. Bob Allison, G 740, H 660, HR 148, BA .261, BPO .913
8. Jimmie Hall, G 453, H 422, HR 78, BA .276, BPO .816
9. Jim Gentile, G 619, H 546, HR 141, BA .262, BPO .900
10. Elston Howard, G 660, H 696, HR 94, BA .294, BPO .752
11. Carl Yastrzemski, G 743, H 847, HR 79, BA .296, BPO .808
12. Leon Wagner, G 749, H 765, HR 150, BA .276, BPO .807
13. Norm Siebern, G 723, H 695, HR 79, BA .279, BPO .835
14. Floyd Robinson, G 731, H 781, HR 60, BA .293, BPO .790
15. Brooks Robinson, G 793, H 892, HR 87, BA .291, BPO .723
16. Tom Tresh, G 620, H 619, HR 87, BA .271, BPO .800
17. Jim Fregosi, G 531, H 534, HR 45, BA .281, BPO .730
18. Boog Powell, G 546, H 468, HR 96, BA .260, BPO .791
19. Pete Ward, G 447, H 457, HR 55, BA .274, BPO .749
20. John Romano, G 594, H 498, HR 93, BA .258, BPO .796
National League top 20 batters (1961-1965)
1. Willie Mays, G 787, H 900, HR 226, BA .308, BPO 1.056
2. Henry Aaron, G 767, H 957, HR 179, BA .323, BPO 1.014
3. Frank Robinson, G 767, H 855, HR 159, BA .307, BPO 1.031
4. Orlando Cepeda, G 645, H 723, HR 147, BA .307, BPO .894
5. Roberto Clemente, G 749, H 966, HR 72, BA .331, BPO .815
6. Vada Pinson, G 786, H 963, HR 106, BA .304, BPO .813
7. Billy Williams, G 792, H 910, HR 139, BA .298, BPO .860
8. Willie McCovey, G 639, H 543, HR 139, BA .268, BPO .885
9. Bill White, G 782, H 916, HR 112, BA .302, BPO .823
10. Ken Boyer, G 778, H 872, HR 109, BA .293, BPO .797
11. Eddie Mathews, G 759, H 715, HR 139, BA .265, BPO .873
12. Johnny Callison, G 774, H 821, HR 121, BA .278, BPO .812
13. Felipe Alou, G 707, H 726, HR 95, BA .289, BPO .761
14. Tommy Davis, G 610, H 717, HR 72, BA .307, BPO .733
15. Frank Howard, G 490, H 437, HR 98, BA .271, BPO .794
16. Ron Santo, G 803, H 846, HR 128, BA .281, BPO .810
17. Joe Torre, G 637, H 667, HR 76, BA .296, BPO .748
18. Don Demeter, G 428, H 405, HR 72, BA .274, BPO .746
19. Tony Gonzalez, G 638, H 646, HR 53, BA .292, BPO .775
20. Curt Flood, G 759, H 898, HR 35, BA .307, BPO .707