Quote Originally Posted by LuckyUte View Post
If I may quibble before I post one that I like, DiMaggio is only 64th all time in OBP, meaning there were 63 better guys at not making outs, tough or otherwise. Just saying.
Good point. I was just speculating about Joe being a tough out. I had no idea where he ranked. (Still, 64th ain't shabby.)

Quote Originally Posted by Diehard Ute View Post
DiMaggio's strikeouts were low....and so were his walks. For example Ted Williams only struck out 340 times more than DiMaggio....but he walked 1,231 times more than DiMaggio.

Williams had 2,100 more plate appearances. He walked 20% of his appearances. DiMaggio walked 10% of his. The strike out percentages were much closer. 4.8% for DiMaggio to 7.2% for Williams.
I'm one of those who thinks Teddy Ballgame was the greatest hitter ever. (His autobiography is a great read.) I speculate that one reason Dimaggio was walked more was that he was surrounded by great hitters most of the time he played, so the advantage to walking him was reduced. There was more upside to walking the Splendid Splinter. I have no idea if I am right.