The first two months of the 2021 season are in the books, and 44 batters are on pace to strike out 150 times by year’s end.
That’s a large number, to be sure. Critics cite it as compelling evidence of the weakness of present-day hitters.
But it isn’t quite as dramatic as it might appear. There’s a common belief that batters of prior generations were uncommonly skilled at putting the ball in play — rarely, if ever, striking out. Old-timers insist that anybody who took the field prior to, say, 1970 would have been too embarrassed to strike out even 100 times in a season.
Don’t believe them.
The triple-digit threshold for strikeouts fell rather early in the game’s history — way back in 1884 — and it has been exceeded with great frequency ever since. (My thanks to Baseball-Reference.com for tracking the evolution of this dubious record.)
Below is a rundown of the game’s whiff kings, the batters who broke the existing single-season standards for strikeouts. New records have been set 15 times in the past 137 years — sometimes by power hitters, sometimes by guys who simply didn’t swing the bat very well.
They all had one thing in common, as you’ll see: They missed the ball an awful lot.
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1884: Sam Wise (104 SO)
The shortstop for the Boston Beaneaters made history in 1884, becoming the first big-league batter to reach triple digits in strikeouts with 104. Wise batted a miserable .214, piling up 13 more strikeouts than hits. He always swung from his heels, an unusual approach for his era. “When Sam Wise offers at a ball and misses it, he takes a turn like a prize fighter landing the pivot blow,” marveled the Boston Globe.
1904: Harry Lumley (106 SO)
Wise’s record stood for 20 years before being broken by Lumley, a rookie right fielder with the Brooklyn Superbas. Lumley’s free swinging yielded 106 strikeouts, yet it was accentuated with bursts of power. He led the National League in triples (18) and home runs (nine) in 1904.
1906: Billy Maloney (116 SO)
Maloney joined Lumley in the Brooklyn outfield in 1906 and promptly supplanted his new teammate in the record books. The center fielder struck out 116 times, though without any compensating power. Maloney, who batted just .221, failed to hit a single home run. Contemporaries primarily remembered him as an outstanding fielder.
1910: Jake Stahl (128 SO)
Stahl starred as the preeminent slugger for the Boston Red Sox in 1910. The first baseman paced the American League in home runs (10) and the club itself in runs batted in (77). He also pushed the big-league strikeout record up to 128, exceeding his closest competitor that year by 32 whiffs. His mark would last for 28 years.
1938: Vince DiMaggio (134 SO)
Joe DiMaggio was renowed for his exceptional bat control, never striking out more than 39 times in a season. Brother Vince was not similarly blessed. The latter reached triple digits in strikeouts four times in his 10-year career, peaking at 134 in 1938, when he played center field for the Boston Bees. “I can’t understand how someone can swing at a ball so many times without even ticking it once,” moaned Boston manager Bill McKechnie.
1956: Jim Lemon (138 SO)
The Washington Senators desperately needed a slugger, and they thought their new right fielder might be the man. Lemon responded with 27 homers and 96 RBIs in 1956, the first year in which he played regularly. He also stretched the single-season strikeout mark to 138. “I’m not swinging for singles,” he said unapologetically. “When you take that big swing, you’re bound to strike out.”
1961: Jake Wood (141 SO)
Wood burst onto the scene in 1961 as a fleet-footed second baseman for the Detroit Tigers. He stole 30 bases, led the American League with 14 triples, and finished sixth in the voting for Rookie of the Year. But his accomplishments were counterbalanced by 141 strikeouts. “I just did not adjust a lot to what they were pitching to me in 1961,” Wood later admitted. “I adjusted better later, to a point, but not enough to keep playing.” His career would be over by 1967.
1962: Harmon Killebrew (142 SO)
Wood’s record lasted only a year before Killebrew eclipsed it. The future Hall of Famer, then a left fielder for the Minnesota Twins, whiffed 142 times while smashing 48 homers and driving home 126 runs. Killebrew would reach triple digits in strikeouts seven times, though 1962 was the only time he led the American League in that category.
1963: Dave Nicholson (175 SO)
Killebrew’s mark was trampled the following season by the 23-year-old left fielder for the Chicago White Sox. Nicholson produced 22 homers, though they came at a high price. He expanded the strikeout ceiling by 23%, whiffing 175 times in just 449 at-bats. He always rued the distinction. “They beat it to death,” he said of newspaper stories about his unhappy record. “Every damn article that was written about me mentioned that.”
1969: Bobby Bonds (187 SO)
Barry Bonds was distinguished by his knowledge of the strike zone — he walked 1,019 times more than he struck out in his 22-year career — but his father was the opposite. Bobby Bonds piled up 1,757 strikeouts in 14 seasons, dwarfing his 914 walks. The elder Bonds grabbed the record from Nicholson in 1969, striking out 187 times as a right fielder for the San Francisco Giants.
1970: Bobby Bonds (189 SO)
Bonds extended his mark the following season, going down on strikes 189 times. Nobody would eclipse him for 34 years, the longest that that a given strikeout record would remain on the books.
2004: Adam Dunn (195 SO)
Dunn was remarkably consistent when it came to swinging and missing. He whiffed 74 times in 66 games as a rookie outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds in 2001, then ballooned to 170 the following season. He would surpass 125 strikeouts every year for the rest of his career, which lasted until 2014. The record became his with 195 in 2004, though he called it an unhappy distinction. “You would think I would have gotten used to striking out and sucking,” he once said. “It devastated me every single time.”
2007: Ryan Howard (199 SO)
Howard put up strong numbers in 2007. Not as outstanding as those of the previous year, when the first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player, but still awfully good: 47 homers, 107 walks, 136 runs batted in. There was just one problem: Howard’s massive swing also yielded 199 strikeouts, leaving him only one short of being the first player to crack the 200 barrier.
2008: Mark Reynolds (204 SO)
Reynolds was well-traveled, playing 13 seasons for eight big-league clubs. He often delivered the long ball, smashing at least 30 home runs four times. But he struck out much more frequently, exceeding 150 in seven different seasons. He first crossed the 200 threshold in 2008 as a third baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks, amassing 204 whiffs in all.
2009: Mark Reynolds (223 SO)
The current big-league standard has lasted for a dozen seasons, ever since Reynolds extended his previous mark to 223 in 2009. He claimed to be totally uninterested after setting the present record in September 2009. “So what?” he said repeatedly to reporters who asked about it. A.J. Hinch pointed out that Reynolds was on his way to career-best numbers in other categories — 44 homers, 102 RBIs — though the Arizona manager acknowledged that nobody wanted to be known as the strikeout king. “Deep down inside,” said Hinch, “I'm sure it bothers him more than he likes to portray."