Doubles aren’t dingers. They only get you halfway home. So the fanfare of approaching a two-bagger milestone will never outweigh that of hitting home runs.
Yet in this era of blazing velocity and soaring spin rates, doubles — along with most other measures of offense — are declining. According to Patrick Reusse on Monday’s “Daily Delivery podcast,” MLB players are on track to hit fewer doubles per game (currently 1.60) than in any full season in more than three decades.
So when a high-level hitter continues to round the first base hit and stop safely at second base, that’s worth noting.
And that brings us to the current MLB doubles king, the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman. After crushing an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning in a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, Freeman is two runs shy of 500. Only 64 other players have reached the doubles milestone.
He has 72 more doubles than the next highest active player, Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Read more: Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman chases all-time doubles records from obscure names
Doubles have long been a specialty of Freeman’s. Last season he flirted with the all-time single-season record before a late slump left him at 59, tying him with Todd Helton for the record held by any player since 1936.
The record of 67 was set in 1931 by Earl Webb, an unknown outfielder for the Boston Red Sox. He didn’t have his first big hit until he was 29, because he preferred working in the coal mines of Tennessee to playing baseball.
At age 33, Webb inexplicably hit 67 doubles—nearly half of his career total of 155—earning him the nickname “the Earl of Doublin’.” A left-handed hitter who, like Freeman, was adept at hitting to the opposite field, Webb had a glorious season of carom with the Green Monster.
Freeman’s doubles come in many distances and destinations. Yes, he’s hitting shots over the shortstop’s head, just as he spent countless hours training with his father when he was growing up in Orange County.
Read more: How Freddie Freeman and His Father Developed One of Baseball’s Greatest Hits
Just as often, he turns pitches around, depositing them in the right-center gap. He pulls sharp ground balls into the right-field corner and drives grounders down the left-field line past diving third basemen.
And in a sort of double-or-nothing play, he rushes to second base on outfield blunders or ground balls through the infield that are not handled with force by an outfielder.
The conclusions are the same: Freeman stands on the pocket in the middle of the field, showing off the latest crazy shimmy and shake he and his teammates perform to celebrate a tap.
Freeman, 34, has led the National League in doubles in four of the last six seasons. He has 25 doubles this season, three behind leader Alec Bohm of the Phillies. He would have to break 40 doubles for the sixth time. And if he were to do that in four more seasons, he would approach 700, the domain of only four legendary hitters: all-time leader Tris Speaker (792), Pete Rose (746), Stan Musial (725) and Ty Cobb (724).
Read more: Hernández: Freddie Freeman can still be great. He just needs to do more to tap into it
Most doubles by active players
Name, age, team, doubles
Freddie Freeman, 34, Dodgers, 498
Paul Goldschmidt, 36, Cardinals, 425
Andrew McCutchen, 37, Pirates, 418
José Altuve, 34, Astros, 417
Carlos Santana, 38, Gemini, 382
JD Martinez, 36, Mets, 379
Nolan Arenado, 33, Cardinals, 377
Mookie Betts, 31, Dodgers, 363
Nick Castellanos, 32, Phillies, 355
Bryce Harper, 31, Phillies, 347
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
