A few posts I posted a trivia question of sorts. Who came in third in the 1961 MVP voting after Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. My only hint was that this player had superior BA/OBP/SLG than Maris, the winner of the award.
The answer, easily looked up of course, is Jim Gentile.
Kudos to DonS who texted me the answer the next morning. It took him two tries (his first was Norm Cash, a good guess).
In some ways, Gentile was a one-year wonder. His 1961 season was phenomenal. He had more runs, doubles, homers, rbis, walks than any other season in his career. The same goes for his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Jim Gentile’s career stats
| Year | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | BRO | 4 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .167 | .286 | .667 |
| 1958 | LAD | 12 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 6 | .133 | .235 | .167 |
| 1960 | BAL | 138 | 384 | 67 | 112 | 17 | 0 | 21 | 98 | 0 | 68 | 72 | .292 | .403 | .500 |
| 1961 | BAL | 148 | 486 | 96 | 147 | 25 | 2 | 46 | 141 | 1 | 96 | 106 | .302 | .423 | .646 |
| 1962 | BAL | 152 | 545 | 80 | 137 | 21 | 1 | 33 | 87 | 1 | 77 | 100 | .251 | .346 | .475 |
| 1963 | BAL | 145 | 496 | 65 | 123 | 16 | 1 | 24 | 72 | 1 | 76 | 101 | .248 | .353 | .429 |
| 1964 | KCA | 136 | 439 | 71 | 110 | 10 | 0 | 28 | 71 | 0 | 84 | 122 | .251 | .372 | .465 |
| 1965 | TOT | 119 | 345 | 36 | 84 | 16 | 1 | 17 | 53 | 0 | 43 | 98 | .243 | .337 | .443 |
| 1965 | KCA | 38 | 118 | 14 | 29 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 22 | 0 | 9 | 26 | .246 | .305 | .542 |
| 1965 | HOU | 81 | 227 | 22 | 55 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 31 | 0 | 34 | 72 | .242 | .352 | .392 |
| 1966 | TOT | 82 | 191 | 18 | 41 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 22 | 0 | 26 | 57 | .215 | .321 | .403 |
| 1966 | HOU | 49 | 144 | 16 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 21 | 39 | .243 | .355 | .444 |
| 1966 | CLE | 33 | 47 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 18 | .128 | .212 | .277 |
| 9 Seasons | 936 | 2922 | 434 | 759 | 113 | 6 | 179 | 549 | 3 | 475 | 663 | .260 | .368 | .486 | |
He certainly was no slouch in the couple seasons surrounding his 1961 campaign. But anyone expecting the production they got out of him in that year was surely disappointed.