Bregman is just the latest of the Red Sox’ doubles kings.
Here’s a list of the MLB team leaders in doubles over the past 10 years. Let me know if you notice anything interesting:
BOS — hey, that’s us!
Yes, the Boston Red Sox absolutely own the doubles leaderboard. Or, more precisely, the city of Boston’s meandering street pattern that makes it difficult to build a conventionally-shaped ballpark owns the doubles leaderboard. Thanks to playing in Fenway Park, the Red Sox easily have the most doubles in Major League history. The Sox have hit 31,171 doubles since Fenway opened in 1912, and there is a Green Monster-sized gap between them and the number two team:
Moreover, a Red Sox player has led the American League in doubles 24 times. The first one was Tris Speaker, who led the league with 41 back in 1912 (not coincidentally, the year Fenway opened). And the most recent was Jarren Duran, who took the top spot with 45 just last year.
Doubles are cool and fun and we’re lucky we get to see so many of them as fans of the Red Sox. Sadly, though, the record for most doubles in a single season isn’t one of the more well-known baseball records. I’m guessing you probably don’t even know who holds it even though, yes, it is a Red Sox player.
Earl Webb was born in the mountains of Tennessee where, as a child, he often skipped school to make extra cash working the coal mines. He was once given a ride to the Polo Grounds by Babe Ruth, after he signed a minor league deal as a pitcher with John McGraw’s New York Giants. He transitioned to the outfield before making it to the majors and finished with a .306 career average over parts of 11 seasons, though he was considered one of the absolute worst fielders in the game. And way back in 1931, he hit 67 doubles in what was then just a 152-game season. Nearly a century later, that number still stands as the most ever.
Despite the fact that offense in general and power in particular have steadily increased throughout the history of Major League Baseball, Webb’s doubles record hasn’t really been threatened. No one else has reached the 60-mark since Charlie Gehringer (horrifyingly, not a Red Sox player) in 1936, though Freddie Freeman and Todd Helton both reached 59 in 2023 and 2000, respectively. In fact, the six-best doubles seasons of all time all occurred between 1926 and 1936.
Why am I bringing this up now? Because there’s a chance — a chance! — that Webb’s record is approached this year. And it could be a Red Sox player that does it.
Entering play today, Alex Bregman sits on 11 doubles after 30 games. That’s not even enough to lead the league — Bobby Witt Jr. has 12. But if you extrapolate those 11 doubles over the course of the season, Bregman would end up with 59. That’s not the record, obviously, but its as close as a Red Sox player has come in a long time.
Is Alex Bregman going to threaten old Earl? Probably not. 67 is a big number and Bregman’s not even currently on pace to get there. He’ll get hurt, he’ll slump, and, like every other MLB player since 1931, will probably fall short of Webb’s record.
But it’s worth monitoring Bregman’s progress nonetheless. It’s significant that he’s already tallied 11 doubles even though April is historically the most offensively depressed month of the baseball calendar. (In fact, Earl Webb only had 13 doubles through his first 30 games in 1931, most of which were played in May). He’s also already led the league in doubles once before, when he hit 51 with the Astros in 2018. And, as Fitzy pointed out before the season started, Bregman perhaps more than any other hitter in baseball today is an absolutely perfect fit for Fenway, The conditions are there for him to make a run at the record.
But most importantly, following a record-chase throughout the season is one of the most fun ways to follow baseball there is. It gives you a little something extra to root for every game. It adds tension to otherwise banal third inning at-bats. It leads you look up historical facts about ballplayers you’ve barely heard of and then makes you thankful for child labor laws. It’s fun, damn it, and that’s what we’re here for.
I’m not making any kind of prediction; Earl Webb’s record will most likely stand come October. But someone is going to hit 67 doubles again one of these years. And history tells us that it will probably be a Red Sox player. So why not this year, and why not Breggy?