Best Individual Seasons In Dodger History

I thought I would go back and see who had the best individual seasons in the history of the team. Won’t do all of the categories. That would be an incredibly long post. So I will try to stick to the main stats.

WAR

This is a relatively new way to gauge a player’s worth. WAR, or wins above replacement. Gives you an idea of how many wins a player is better than his replacement would be. That’s about as well as I can describe the stat. And the all-time best was Jackie Robinson in 1951 with a 9.7. Three Dodgers have had seasons where they were above 9, Robinson twice, Adrian Beltre, and Duke Snider.

BATTING AVERAGE

The team record for batting average is .393 achieved by Babe Herman in 1930. The highest BA in LA history is Mike Piazza’s .362 mark in 1997. Piazza is the only LA Dodger in the top 10. Herman and Zack Wheat appear twice. The only LA Dodger to win a batting title is Tommy Davis who did it back to back in 1962 and 1963. Trea Turner who was the champ this year did most of his damage as a National.

HOME RUNS

The most HR’s in a season record is 49 by Shawn Green in 2001. Adrian Beltre came close with 48 in 2004. Gary Sheffield had tied Duke Snider with 43 in 2000. Cody Bellinger hit 47 in his MVP season, 2017. Green hit 40 or more twice as a Dodger. Snider had 5 consecutive 40 HR seasons, 53-57.

RUNS BATTED IN

Tommy Davis knocked in 153 runs in 1962. That eclipsed the 142 mark set by Roy Campanella in 1953. They are the only two Dodgers to drive in more than 140 runs in the team’s history. Snider drove in 136 in 55 during the World Championship year. Jack Fournier had broken Oyster Burns 128 mark with a 130 effort in 1925. Babe Herman, Gil Hodges, and Duke Snider are the only other Dodgers to hit the 130 mark.

HITS

That guy again. Babe amassed 241 hits in his amazing 1930 season. Prior to his great season, the record was 221 by Zack Wheat. #2 on the list, Tommy Davis with 230. Tommy achieved that mark in 1962. The last time a Dodger amassed 200 hits was 2004 when Beltre had exactly 200.

STOLEN BASES

Maury brought the stolen base back to baseball and made it a real weapon. In 1962 he broke Ty Cobb’s mark of 96 by stealing 104 bases. He is still the only player in Dodger history to amass 100 or more steals. His second-highest mark was 92 which he reached in 1965. Darby O’Brien stole 91 in 1889 to be the only other Dodger with 90 steals. Davey Lopes’s high mark was 77 in 1975. Third highest in LA history.

OBP and OPS

The best OBP, on-base percentage, was posted by Mike Griffin in 1894 when he got on at a .466 clip. Best in LA is .438 by Gary Sheffield in 2000. Babe Herman has the all-time highest OPS, on-base plus slugging with a 1.132 in 1930. Sheffield has the highest mark in LA at 1.081. Just for a comparison, Cody’s in 2019 was 1.035. All the players in the Dodgers’ top 10 are over 1.000.

SLUGGING

Herman leads with a .678 in 1930, Sheffield has the high LA mark at .643 in 2000. Snider’s .647 in 1954 is in second place. Belli slugged .629 in his MVP year.

TOTAL BASES, WALKS, HIT BY PITCH

Herman again with 416 total bases in 1930. LA mark is 376 in 2004 by Beltre. Eddie Stanky drew 148 walks in 1945. The most in LA is held by Jimmy Wynn who walked 110 times in 1975. In 1900 Hughie Jennings was hit 20 times, the all-time record. Justin Turner holds the LA mark with 19 in 2017.

HONORABLE MENTION

There are a few batting feats that did not cover an entire season, but were so good they need to be mentioned here. Frank Howard drove in 41 runs in the month of August in 1962. To put that in perspective, Seager drove in 57 in 95 games. Willie Davis’s 31 game hitting streak in 1969. And one we all witnessed, the magical 53 games played by Manny Ramirez in 2008 where he hit .396 with 17 HRs and 53RBI’s. Leftfield became Mannywood, and so many fans were wearing dreadlocks and #99 jerseys. Also Gil Hodges 4 homer game against the Braves in 1950 and Shawn Green did the same thing to the Brewers in 2002.

PITCHING

Many Dodger pitchers have had very good years since they came to LA. Brooklyn got some sparkling pitching during it’s time in the league too. Hershiser and Drysdale with the two longest scoreless streaks in baseball history. Orel at 59, and Don at 58.3. The difference was Big D had 6 consecutive shutouts during his streak.

WAR

The highest WAR for a pitcher is the 10.7 mark set by Sandy Koufax in 1963. Dazzy Vance had a 10.5 mark in 1924. Sandy and Dazzy are the only two Dodger pitchers to post a WAR over 10 and both did it twice.

ERA

Rube Marquard posted the lowest ERA in Dodger history with a 1.58 mark in 1916. Zack Greinke posted a 1.66 in 20115 for the lowest in LA. Koufax had a sub 2.00 ERA three times in LA as has Kershaw.

WINS

The all-time season win mark is 30 by Tom Lovett in 1890. Joe McGinnity and George Haddock are tied for second with 29. Dazzy Vance and Jim Hughes won 28. The all-time LA leader is Sandy Koufax with 27 in 1966. Sandy also holds down the 2nd slot with 26 in 1965.

WINNING PCT.

Phil Regan went 14-1 in 1966 for a .933 winning pct. He was nicknamed The Vulture by his teammates because he would swoop in and get the win. Phil also saved 21 games that year. Freddie Fitzsimmons had a .889 mark in 1940. 16-2

COMPLETE GAMES

Brickyard Kennedy had 40 complete games for Brooklyn in 1893. Second, on the list is Tom Lovett who had 39 twice. The LA Dodger leader is Sandy Koufax who twice had 27, 65-66. Drysdale is second with 21.

STRIKEOUTS

Sandy Koufax holds the record with 382 strikeouts in 1965. As a matter of fact, Sandy has 4 of the top 5 years in Dodger history. He and Clayton Kershaw are the only Dodger pitchers to ever fan 300 or more batters. Kersh struck out 301 in 2014

SHUTOUTS

LA Dodger pitchers dominate this stat. Koufax is first with 11 in 1963. No other Dodger has more than 9. Don Sutton has that distinction. Koufax, Drysdale, Belcher, Hershiser, and Valenzuela threw 8. Four players threw 7, Koufax, Drysdale, Osteen, and Messersmith.

SAVES

Back when they played in Brooklyn, saves were not really kept track of. Baseball reference has gone back and added them to the older players’ stats. But keeping records of saves started in the ’60s. Eric Gagne’s 55 in 2003 is the record. He also won the Cy Young that year. He also had 52 in 2002. Gagne at one point collected 84 consecutive saves from August 28, 2002, until July 3, 2004. He also saved 45 in 2004. The only other Dodgers to have over 40 saves, Kenley Jansen 47, 44, 41, Todd Worrell 44, and Jeff Shaw 43.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this look at some of the best seasons in Dodger history. It is always fun to look back and compare some of those old players against the team that they have now.

I found this old photo of a Brooklyn fan, Frank Germano, fighting Umpire George Magerkurth in 1940. Fans in Brooklyn sure got into the game!