| Player | Year | PA | BB | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference. | ||||
| Mickey Rivers | 1976 | 613 | 13 | 122 |
| Mickey Rivers | 1980 | 661 | 20 | 119 |
| Jorge Cantu | 2005 | 630 | 19 | 112 |
| Garry Templeton | 1979 | 696 | 18 | 112 |
| Garry Templeton | 1977 | 644 | 15 | 110 |
| Marquis Grissom | 2003 | 618 | 20 | 104 |
| Willie Davis | 1966 | 653 | 15 | 102 |
| Steve Garvey | 1982 | 660 | 20 | 101 |
Rivers was amazing. He misses a third season (1977) by 6 plate appearances. He drew 18 walks that year and had an OPS+ of 115. In his case, this evidently was a repeatable skill. Rivers finished third in the AL MVP voting in '76, behind George Brett and winner Thurman Munson.
Cantu, of course, is enjoying a resurgence in Miami this year. He's also drawn 23 walks already and we haven't even reached the All-Star break. Easy there, buddy.
Templeton broke the 30-walk barrier four times in his 16-year career, topping out at 42 in 1987. Sadly, he never again reached the 100 OPS+ mark after age 24, although he came close in 1981 (98) and again in 1985 (99).
Grissom was 36 when he accomplished the feat. His main weapon when he was younger had been speed, and much of that had disappeared by now. Never a terribly patient hitter, in '03 he completely abandoned any pretense of selectivity and got good results. Actually, he'd first tried the strategy in 2001 and it didn't work. Sure, he hit 21 homers that year, but with a .250 OBP. Way to stick with the plan.
Davis played before my time, so I can't offer much in the way of commentary there. As for Garvey, this is just one of many reasons I never understood arguments in favor of sticking him in the Hall of Fame. I grew up bleeding Dodger blue, but let's get real. Garvey was a pretty good player, but so were Al Oliver, Dave Parker, and Rusty Staub. You don't induct a guy because he was a pretty good player, you induct him because he was great. Garvey wasn't great.
Anyway, Guillen is on pace to join this list. I guess if that happens I'll have to come up with a snappy new moniker to slap on these guys, probably something really clever... like the Hacktastic Seven...
