The Most George Kell Ever Struck Out In A Season Was 37 Times, Yogi Berra 38

Calling While He’s Out

Chicago: Umpire Ed Hurley (left) calls White Sox George Kell (second from right) out at home on Kell’s try at scoring from first base on Walt Dropo’s first inning double against the Yankees July 20th in Chicago. Yogi Berra (right) makes the putout. In foreground is Sox player Jim Rivera.  Chicago won 8-6. Credit: United Press Telephoto 7/20/55

Yogi Berra and George Kell were both described by sportswriters as “short and chunky.” Proving that appearance doesn’t reflect talent, both players were inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Berra in 1972 and Kell in 1983.

The Hall of Fame is not the only thing the two players had in common.

While today’s players don’t seem to give a second thought to striking out five times in a game, Berra and Kell rarely heard the words “strike three,” from an umpire.

When polled by reporters about the best players, major leaguers recognized their peers strengths. They agreed that Berra, Kell, Nellie Fox, Peanuts Lowrey, Billy Goodman and Dale Mitchell were the toughest to strike out.

While you’d think there is no comparison between Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra as to who was the better hitter, many felt that Berra was tougher to face than Mantle because of Berra’s propensity to make contact.

During the 1956 World Series Brooklyn Dodger great Jackie Robinson had a close-up view as to who was a tougher foe, Mantle or Berra. “In my opinion, Berra can hurt you more,” Robinson insisted. “Mantle can be fooled and you can throw the ball by him. Berra is hard to strike out and can do more damage.”

In 1957, Washington Senators manager Chuck Dressen acknowledged Berra’s keen eye, “I have a lot of respect for Mantle, but I’ve got more respect for Berra. Yogi gets the hits that wins games. You can strike out Mantle, but you can’t strike out Berra. He’s the best .280 hitter baseball ever saw.”

In Their Careers, Kell Whiffed 287 Times & Berra 414 Times

The most Yogi Berra ever struck out in a full season was in 1959 when he fanned 38 times in 521 plate appearances while batting .284. In his 19 year career, Berra struck out a total of 414 times.

George Kell was even tougher to fan.  In his 15 years in the big leagues Kell struck out just 287 times in 7,529 plate appearances. Kell whiffed 20 or fewer times in nine of his fifteen seasons. With the Detroit Tigers in 1949, Kell struck out just 13 times while capturing the batting title with a .343 batting average.

In 1952 when Kell was with the Red Sox, Associated Press  reporter Frank Eck asked American League batters about hitting. Several had the same response, “Find out how George Kell does it.”

Kell had a hitting philosophy that worked well for him and was team oriented. Kell explained, “Don’t be a guess hitter. However I look for a certain pitch. If it isn’t what I like, I take it. When you face a good curve ball pitcher you naturally look for the curve.”

When Kell was with the Red Sox and the nearby left field wall (“the green monster”) was beckoning, Kell divulged to writer Ed Rumill a simple hitting plan. “I can pull the ball to left field when the pitch is inside. A fellow can’t be a good hitter and aim at this left field wall with every swing.”

Kell continued with his pragmatic philosophy, “You’ve got to make up your mind one way or the other. But I say if you hit with the pitch, that is – pull the inside pitch, hit the one down the middle straight-away, and push the outside ball to right field – you’ll hit enough balls over the wall here.”

On an outside pitch Kell knew what worked, “I’ve got to go to right field with the pitch that breaks away from me, otherwise I’d just hit fly balls to center field.”

Kell was also considered an expert on the hit and run play and very adept at hitting behind the runner.

How does Kell’s hitting style play in 2019? Analytics? Go for the fences on every swing? The shift?

Are any players today taking note of Kell’s advice to go with the pitch?

On the other hand, lefty, Yogi Berra was noted for being a bad pitch hitter. He could drive a ball to either gap whether the ball was literally at his ankles; up by his shoulders; close to his wrists or way off the plate.  Yet Berra had a good eye and consistently walked many more times than he struck out in almost every season he played.

In 1950 Berra came to the plate 621 times and fanned a minuscule 12 times. Berra’s other numbers were just as impressive with a .322 batting average, 28 home runs, 128 RBIs and 55 walks. In the 1950 MVP balloting, teammate Phil Rizzuto won the award, and Red Sox second baseman Billy Goodman finished second, Berra was third and Kell fourth.

Though Berra never led the league in any category during his entire career, he won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1951, 1954 and 1955.

Below are Berra’s and Kell’s career statistics.

Will we ever see low strikeout ratios like this from any hitter again?

Yogi Berra
born: May 12, 1925
died: September 22, 2015

	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA
1946	21	NYY	AL	7	23	22	3	8	1	0	2	4	0	0	1	1	.364
1947	22	NYY	AL	83	306	293	41	82	15	3	11	54	0	1	13	12	.280
1948	23	NYY	AL	125	497	469	70	143	24	10	14	98	3	3	25	24	.305
1949	24	NYY	AL	116	443	415	59	115	20	2	20	91	2	1	22	25	.277
1950	25	NYY	AL	151	656	597	116	192	30	6	28	124	4	2	55	12	.322
1951	26	NYY	AL	141	594	547	92	161	19	4	27	88	5	4	44	20	.294
1952	27	NYY	AL	142	603	534	97	146	17	1	30	98	2	3	66	24	.273
1953	28	NYY	AL	137	557	503	80	149	23	5	27	108	0	3	50	32	.296
1954	29	NYY	AL	151	651	584	88	179	28	6	22	125	0	1	56	29	.307
1955	30	NYY	AL	147	615	541	84	147	20	3	27	108	1	0	60	20	.272
1956	31	NYY	AL	140	596	521	93	155	29	2	30	105	3	2	65	29	.298
1957	32	NYY	AL	134	545	482	74	121	14	2	24	82	1	2	57	24	.251
1958	33	NYY	AL	122	476	433	60	115	17	3	22	90	3	0	35	35	.266
1959	34	NYY	AL	131	521	472	64	134	25	1	19	69	1	2	43	38	.284
1960	35	NYY	AL	120	404	359	46	99	14	1	15	62	2	1	38	23	.276
1961	36	NYY	AL	119	436	395	62	107	11	0	22	61	2	0	35	28	.271
1962	37	NYY	AL	86	263	232	25	52	8	0	10	35	0	1	24	18	.224
1963	38	NYY	AL	64	164	147	20	43	6	0	8	28	1	0	15	17	.293
1964		DID		NOT	PLAY
1965	40	NYM	NL	4	9	9	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.222
19 Y	19 Y	19 Y	19 Y	2120	8359	7555	1175	2150	321	49	358	1430	30	26	704	414	.285

George Kell
born: August 23, 1922
died: March 24, 2009

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA
1943	20	PHA	AL	1	5	5	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.200
1944	21	PHA	AL	139	556	514	51	138	15	3	0	44	5	2	22	23	.268
1945	22	PHA	AL	147	602	567	50	154	30	3	4	56	2	0	27	15	.272
1946	23	TOT	AL	131	577	521	69	168	25	10	4	52	3	2	40	20	.322
1946	23	PHA	AL	26	100	87	3	26	6	1	0	11	0	0	10	6	.299
1946	23	DET	AL	105	477	434	66	142	19	9	4	41	3	2	30	14	.327
1947	24	DET	AL	152	662	588	75	188	29	5	5	93	9	11	61	16	.320
1948	25	DET	AL	92	414	368	47	112	24	3	2	44	2	2	33	15	.304
1949	26	DET	AL	134	613	522	97	179	38	9	3	59	7	5	71	13	.343
1950	27	DET	AL	157	724	641	114	218	56	6	8	101	3	3	66	18	.340
1951	28	DET	AL	147	674	598	92	191	36	3	2	59	10	3	61	18	.319
1952	29	TOT	AL	114	483	428	52	133	23	2	7	57	0	2	46	23	.311
1952	29	DET	AL	39	171	152	11	45	8	0	1	17	0	1	15	13	.296
1952	29	BOS	AL	75	312	276	41	88	15	2	6	40	0	1	31	10	.319
1953	30	BOS	AL	134	520	460	68	141	41	2	12	73	5	2	52	22	.307
1954	31	TOT	AL	97	370	326	40	90	13	0	5	58	1	1	33	15	.276
1954	31	BOS	AL	26	109	93	15	24	3	0	0	10	0	0	15	3	.258
1954	31	CHW	AL	71	261	233	25	66	10	0	5	48	1	1	18	12	.283
1955	32	CHW	AL	128	504	429	44	134	24	1	8	81	2	2	51	36	.312
1956	33	TOT	AL	123	480	425	52	115	22	2	9	48	0	1	33	37	.271
1956	33	CHW	AL	21	91	80	7	25	5	0	1	11	0	0	8	6	.313
1956	33	BAL	AL	102	389	345	45	90	17	2	8	37	0	1	25	31	.261
1957	34	BAL	AL	99	345	310	28	92	9	0	9	44	2	0	25	16	.297
15 Y	15 Y	15 Y	15 Y	1795	7529	6702	880	2054	385	50	78	870	51	36	621	287	.306