Murakami was tied for the AL HR lead when he got hurt. Bill Melton led the AL in HRs in 1971 for the White Sox yet played only 57 games the next year because he got hurt. Then Dick Allen led the AL in HRs in 1972. He got hurt and only played 72 games the next year.
The table below shows what % of a team's games HR leaders played the year after they led. I sorted them from lowest to highest. The table shows the lowest 20 (I only looked at the years 1946-2025). All data generated by bases.chat, an AI baseball program created by Ted Ingram. I did not, of course, check last year's leaders since this year is not over yet. Cal Raleigh could make the list.
Notice that both Bill Melton and Dick Allen are in the lowest 8 (I will make some comments about the guys ahead of them after the table). They are the only teammates in consecutive years (or any years close to each other) in the lowest 20. No other team has been snake bitten like they were.
The White Sox lost a close divisional race to the A's in 1972. They were in first place as late as Aug. 28 and even with 17 games left they were only 2 games out. Melton played his last game on June 23 and his performance was plagued all year by an ailing back (he only managed 7 HRs). He played only 37% of the White Sox games that year.
In 1973, Allen go hurt on June 28. The White Sox were only 1 game out. He played 3 games later in the season but only had a total of 5 PAs. He had also been the AL MVP in 1972 while having a 199 OPS+. He had a 176 OPS+ in 1973. That was higher than the league leader Reggie Jackson who had 161. Allen did not have enough PAs to qualify. He played only 44% of the White Sox games that year. CFer Ken Henderson also got hurt in May (he was hitting .311 at the time) and ended up playing only 73 games.
|
Player |
Lead Yr |
% of Games |
|
Fernando Tatis |
2021 |
0.00% |
|
Marcell Ozuna |
2020 |
29.81% |
|
Bill Melton |
1971 |
37.01% |
|
Ryan Braun |
2012 |
37.65% |
|
Chris Carter |
2016 |
38.27% |
|
Jose Canseco |
1988 |
40.12% |
|
Luke Voit |
2020 |
41.98% |
|
Dick Allen |
1972 |
44.44% |
|
Giancarlo Stanton |
2014 |
45.68% |
|
Joe DiMaggio |
1948 |
49.03% |
|
Ken Griffey |
1994 |
49.66% |
|
Dave Kingman |
1979 |
50.00% |
|
Matt Williams |
1994 |
52.78% |
|
Mark McGwire |
1999 |
54.94% |
|
Jose Bautista |
2011 |
56.79% |
|
Ted Williams |
1949 |
57.79% |
|
Harmon Killebrew |
1967 |
61.73% |
|
Dave Kingman |
1982 |
61.73% |
|
Howard Johnson |
1991 |
61.73% |
|
Tony Armas |
1984 |
63.19% |
Tatis was hurt in 2022. But he got supsended on Aug. 12 for 80 games for PED use. Even without the suspension, his % would be very low.
Ozuna and Voit were leaders in the Covid year and their leadership is not on a par with other hitters. The season was only 60 games.
Ryan Braun got suspended for PED use on July 22, 2013.
Carter became a free agent and signed with the Yankees, leaving the Brewers. He had a poor season and that was his last year in MLB
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