Did John Olerud hit 400?
While John Olerud didn’t finish the season above .400, his performance was truly remarkable. It’s one of the things that makes him one of the most interesting players in baseball history. To put John Olerud’s .363 batting average into perspective, it’s worth noting that it was the highest batting average in the American League that year. It was the highest batting average in the league since Rod Carew’s .388 in 1977. There’s a reason why John Olerud has earned the nickname “The Hitting Machine”.
The last player to bat over .400 for the entire season was Ted Williams, who hit .406 for the Boston Red Sox in 1941. That season is considered one of the greatest in baseball history. The year before, in 1940, Williams hit .344 and came within a few points of hitting .400. The challenge of hitting .400 is immense, and the feat is almost unheard of in the modern game. The last player to even come close to that mark was George Brett in 1980, when he hit .390 for the Kansas City Royals.
John Olerud wasn’t the only player to come close to hitting .400 in the 1990s. Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres came close several times. In 1994, the season that was cut short by the players strike, Gwynn was batting .394 before the strike happened. It was thought that if the season had continued, he had a good chance to hit .400. There is no way of knowing if that would have happened, but it’s fun to think about.
While hitting .400 is an incredibly difficult feat, John Olerud’s incredible hitting performance that year was more than a mere coincidence. He was a special hitter who took the game very seriously. To put his talent in perspective, it’s worth noting that John Olerud also won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1993. He hit .363 that year and was selected as a starter in the All-Star Game.
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