re: Baseball records/feats that may never be topped

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Over nearly 145 years of professional baseball, no player was tougher to strike out than Hall of Fame shortstop Joe Sewell. In 7,132 career at-bats, Sewell heard the umpire say “Strike three” just 114 times. That’s one strikeout for every 63 at-bats, or once every 17 games, or in just .014 percent of his total times at the plate. Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth, whose power at the plate became synonymous with baseball during the time he and Sewell played, racked up nearly 12 times more punchouts in the big leagues.

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So it was more than a noteworthy occurrence when on May 13, 1923, Joe Sewell struck out twice in one game for the first time in his career. In truth, it was more like an historical aberration.

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Lest anyone thought Sewell was falling into a slump, the patient shortstop did not strike out again for another 32 games (more than a month’s time), and fanned just nine more times the entire season. After 12 total punchouts in the 1923 campaign, Sewell would only become more disciplined as time went on. Between 1924 and his final season in 1933, Sewell recorded two seasons with just three strikeouts and three more with only four strikeouts. In fact, he was hit by a pitch more times than he struck out in five different seasons during that span.

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