John Beckwith: The Hidden Negro League Hammer
The Power Hitter Pantheon: Baseball’s Greatest Home Run Heroes
This project aims to determine the greatest home run hitter of all time by comparing each slugger’s statistics to the average of their era using three formulas. The final adjusted stats will then be used to compare them head-to-head with other all-time greats.
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John Beckwith will be the next legendary Negro League slugger examined in this study. For a detailed biography of Beckwith, please click here.
According to Baseball Reference, Beckwith’s official statistics reveal a total of 76 home runs over 1,824 at-bats resulting in an average of at-bats per home run 24 (AB/HR).
John Beckwith played in the Negro National League (NNL) from 1920 to 1923, the Eastern Colored League (ECL) from 1924 to 1927, the American Negro League (ANL) in 1929, the East-West League (EWL) in 1932, and the Negro National League II (NN2) from 1934 to 1935.
When aggregating the statistics from each of the seasons Beckwith competed in, the league totals include 180,315 at-bats and 2,189 home runs, resulting in an average of 82.37 at-bats per home run (AB/HR).
With this data, we can evaluate how Beckwith’s performance compared to the average Negro League hitter of his era.
Raw Difference: 58.37
Formula: League Average – Player Career AverageImprovement Factor: 3.43x
Formula: League Average / Player Career AveragePercentage Difference: 70.86%
Formula: (League Average – Player Career Average) / League Average × 100%
AB/HR:
Beckwith’s AB/HR of 24 means he hit a home run once every 24 at-bats, a stark contrast to the Negro League average of 82.37 during the seasons he played.
Raw Difference:
Beckwith needed 58.37 fewer at-bats per home run than the average hitter in his leagues. This translates to hitting home runs more than three times as often per at-bat as his peers.
Improvement Factor:
His AB/HR rate was 3.43 times better than the league average, meaning he was over three times more efficient at slugging home runs.
Percentage Difference:
Beckwith’s AB/HR was nearly 71% better than the average, a massive margin that underscores his exceptional power-hitting ability.
Beckwith’s 24 AB/HR is phenomenal, placing him among the best sluggers of any league or era. His raw difference of 58.37 at-bats per home run shows he was in a class of his own compared to the average Negro League hitter’s 82.37.
In our initial analysis, we examined the careers of Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez, and Joe DiMaggio using our formulas. Following that, we also evaluated the careers of Josh Gibson, Sadaharu Oh, Buck Leonard, Tetsuharu Kawakami, Mule Suttles, Noboru Aota, Oscar Charleston, Katsuya Nomura, Turkey Stearnes, Makoto Kozuru, Willie Wells, Hiromitsu Ochiai, Wilson Redus, Kazuhiro Yamauchi, Dewey Creacy, Hiromitsu Kadota, Edgar Wesley, Koji Yamamoto, Jud Wilson, and Fumio Fujimura.
Now, let's compare Beckwith’s career statistics against these baseball legends to gain a clearer perspective on how he stacks up.
Beckwith’s orbit includes giants like Buck Leonard, Oscar Charleston, Sadaharu Oh.
Buck Leonard (3.44x, 70.97%): Beckwith and Leonard are neck-and-neck—Leonard’s 3.44x is a hair better, but Beckwith’s 58.37 raw difference outshines Leonard’s 54.52.
Oscar Charleston (3.41x, 70.71%): Beckwith’s 3.43x nudges past Charleston’s, and his 58.37 raw difference tops Charleston’s 55.53—a razor-thin victory for Beckwith.
Sadaharu Oh (3.41x, 70.65%): Beckwith’s 3.43x slightly outshines Oh’s improvement factor, the same applies to his 70.86% improvement factor.
John Beckwith emerges from this stellar lineup as a slugging sovereign, his 24 AB/HR carving a legacy of awe-inspiring might.
With a raw difference of 58.37, an improvement factor of 3.43x, and a percentage difference of 70.86%, he doesn’t just compete with Negro League legends like Leonard, Charleston, and Suttles—he often eclipses them; even global titans like Sadaharu Oh meet their match in Beckwith’s unrelenting power.
Beckwith had two obstacles; his temper and time. His play was overshadowed by his inability to get along with Management in certain places. The timing of his birth hurt him as well. Yet the fact that he makes the radar of Bill James speaks volumes. The man was an Ox. If the NNL had a DH, he would've been best suited to play it. In the same statistical neighborhood as OH? Beautiful analysis.