Late, Great Power Hitting Years

Ted Williams, Roy Campanella and Mickey Mantle had three seasons after age 28 with at least 30 home runs and a 150 OPS+...

Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista also has three such late, great power hitting years under his belt.

The all-time record is far out of reach at eleven seasons (Barry Bonds).

Ted Williams, Barry Bonds and…Raul Ibanez?

Seattle Mariners leftfielder Raul Ibanez has become one of 11 payers ever to hit 20 home-runs in a season after age 40.  Being just over halfway though 2013, Ibanez is on pace to match his age in dingers this year (41).

What is really shocking is that he is slugging greater than Barry Bonds did in any of his two awesome 40+ seasons.  Of all the 20+ HR seasons at age 40+ Ibanez ranks 2nd all-time in SLG% to Ted Williams crazy good final season.

Here is the full list sorted of old guy power seasons:

Rk	Player	SLG	HR	Year	Age	Tm	G
1	Ted Williams	.645	29	1960	41	BOS	113
2	Raul Ibanez	.576	24	2013	41	SEA	71
3	Barry Bonds	.565	28	2007	42	SFG	126
4	Barry Bonds	.545	26	2006	41	SFG	130
5	Harold Baines	.533	25	1999	40	TOT	135
6	Hank Sauer	.508	26	1957	40	NYG	127
7	Darrell Evans	.501	34	1987	40	DET	150
8	Dave Winfield	.491	26	1992	40	TOR	156
9	Hank Aaron	.491	20	1974	40	ATL	112
10	Edgar Martinez	.489	24	2003	40	SEA	145
11	Dave Winfield	.442	21	1993	41	MIN	143
12	Craig Biggio	.422	21	2006	40	HOU	145
13	Eddie Murray	.417	22	1996	40	TOT	152
14	Darrell Evans	.380	22	1988	41	DET	144

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/13/2013.

Chris Davis or Mickey Mantle?

Mickey Mantle’s highest single season slugging pct was .705 back in 1956.  Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis is slugging .720 through 72 games this season.  

We are isolating just 303 plate appearances so expect Davis to regress quite a bit in the second half of the year, but if he kept this pace up it would be historic.  Besides one-off seasons by Mark McGwire and Frank Thomas, Davis’ .720 slugging would be the highest in the American League since Ted Williams in 1957 (.731 SLG).