Penny Presented Second Old Slugger Award

Brad Penny was presented his second "Old Slugger Award" in a brief ceremony at Dodgertown in March. Penny improving nearly .100 points to a very creditable .279 over his award winning 2006 average. He also scored seven runs and knocked in seven, smacking six doubles in the process.

The big righthander had 12 hits in 65 at bats in 2006 for a team-leading .185 mark. He is the 11th Los Angeles pitcher to earn multiple titles. His .279 is the highest batting average for a Dodger pitcher since Orel Hershiser set the record of .356 in 1993.

Penny's average is fifth on the Los Angeles list, trailing Hershiser, Rick Rhoden (.308, 1975), Drysdale (.300, 1965) and Jerry Reuss (.292, 1983). The rest of the top 10 include Doyle Alexander (.273, 1971), Claude Osteen (.273 1971), Ramon Martinez (.273, 1994), Tim Leary (.269, 1988) and Hershiser (/258, 1991).
The Old Slugger Award, presented by Dodger Dugout and LADugout.com, to the Dodger pitcher with the highest batting average, is named after the 1960s Game of the Week announcing crew of Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese, during which Dean would announce "And here comes the "O-o-o-o-l-d slugger" each time a pitcher came to the plate.

2007 Old Sluggers
	            ab r  h ave bi
Brad Penny	    65 7 16 .279 7
Randy Wolf	    30 1  5 .167 2
Derek Lowe	    59 2  7 .185 1
Chad Billingsley    36 1  4 .135 2

  Non-qualifiers     ab r h ave bi
Eric Stults	     12 1 4 .333 2
David Wells	     15 2 4 .267 0
Hong-chih Kuo	      6 1 1 .125 1
Jason Schmidt	      7 1 1 .143 1
Esteban Loaiza	      7 0 1 .143 2
M. Hendrickson       27 1 1 .103 1
Brett Tomko	     23 0 0 .000 1
Proctor	              3 0 0 .000 0
Joe Beimel	      1 0 0 .000 0
Rudy Seanez	      1 0 0 .000 0

  HR- Kuo. 2B hits- Penny 6, Stults and 
Wolf 2, Billingsley, Hendrickson and Wells 1 
each. BB- Sacrifices- Penny 7; Lowe 6; 
Tomko 5; Billingsley, Wells and Wolf 4;
 Kuo and Loaiza 2; Hendrickson and 
Schmidt 1 each.

Old Slugger Leader
Claude Osteen, a clutch pitcher who has been overlooked in the glow of the Koufax-Drysdale mystique, holds the record with five Old Slugger awards, four of them in succession (1967-70).

Other sluggers who won multiple crowns before Weaver include: Hershiser and Osteen (5, four in succession), Fernando Valenzuela (4), Don Drysdale and Ramon Martinez (3) and double winners Johnny Podres, Rick Rhoden, Jerry Reuss and Darren Dreifort, Jeff Weaver and Penny.

Bill "Brickyard" Kennedy leads the Dodgers career hit list with 294 hits and Burleigh Grimes is second with 227. Don Drysdale is the Los Angeles leader with 204 - plus 14 more while with Brooklyn.

Drysdale had a remarkable season in 1965, setting Los Angeles records with 39 hits, as well as times at bat (130), runs (18), homers (7 — a total he also reached in 1958 to tie him for the franchise record with Don Newcombe) and runs batted in (19). With all that hitting he still had time to record a 23-12 won-lost mark with a 2.72 earned run average and seven shutouts.

Los Angeles "Old Sluggers"
    (Minimum 30 at bats)
Year               	 ab- h  ave
2007 - Brad Penny	 66-16 .279
2006 - Brad Penny 	 65-12 .185
2005 - Jeff Weaver	 70-16 .229
2004 - Jeff Weaver	 70-15 .214
2003 - Wilson Alvarez	 29- 5 .172
2002 - Odalis Perez	 64-10 .156
2001 - Luke Prokopec	 36- 7 .194
2000 - Chan Ho Park	 70-15 .214
1999 - Darren Dreifort	 62-13 .213
1998 - Darren Dreifort	 49-11 .224
1997 - Ramon Martinez	 42- 8 .190
1996 - Ismael Valdes	 70-10 .143
1995 - Ramon Martinez	 64-11 .172
1994 - Ramon Martinez	 66-18 .273
1993 - Orel Hershiser	 73-26 .356
1992 - Orel Hershiser	 68-15 .221
1991 - Orel Hershiser	 31- 8 .258
1990 - Fdo Valenzuela	 69-21 .304
1989 - Fdo Valenzuela	 66-12 .182
1988 - Tim Leary	 67-18 .269
1987 - Rick Honeycutt	 30- 7 .233
1986 - Orel Hershiser	 71-17 .239
1985 - Fdo  Valenzuela	 97-21 .216
1984 - Orel Hershiser	 50-10 .200
1983 - Jerry Reuss	 71-20 .282
1982 - Jerry Reuss 	 77-17 .221
1981 - Fdo Valenzuela	 64-16 .250
1980 - Bob Welch	 70-17 .243
1979 - Rick Sutcliffe	 85-21 .247
1978 - Burt Hooton	 67-10 .149
1977 - Rick Rhoden	 78-18 .231
1976 - Rick Rhoden	 65-20 .308
1975 - Doug Rau	         87-17 .195
1974 - Andy Messersmith	 96-23 .240
1973 - Tommy John	 74-15 .203
1972 - Claude Osteen	 88-24 .273
1971 - Doyle Alexander	 33- 9 .273
1970 - Claude Osteen	 93-19 .204
1969 - Claude Osteen	111-24 .216
1968 - Claude Osteen	 84-15 .179
1967 - Claude Osteen	101-18 .178
1965 - Don Drysdale	130-39 .300
1964 - Don Drysdale	110-19 .173
1963 - Don Drysdale	 96-16 .167
1962 - Joe Moeller	 33- 7 .212
1961 - Johnny Podres	 69-16 .232
1960 - Larry Sherry	 37- 6 .162
1959 - Johnny Podres	 65-16 .246
1958 - Fred Kipp   	 36- 9 .250

  Los Angeles records:
Average - Hershiser, 1993      .356
At bats - Drysdale, 1965	130
Runs - Drysdale, 1965	         18
Hits - Drysdale, 1965	         39
2b hits - Messersmith, 1974 	  8
3b hits - Drysdale, 1960	  2
          Osteen, 1966	          2
HR - Drysdale, 1958, 1965	  7
RBI - Drysdale, 1965 	         19

 Brooklyn records:
Average - Earl Yingling, 1913	.383
At bats - Bill Kennedy, 1894	 161
Runs - Ed Stein, 1894	          30
Hits - Bill Kennedy, 18944	   9
Doubles - Don Newcombe, 1955       9
Triples - Ed Stein, 1894	   4
Home runs- -Don Newcombe, 1955 	   7
Runs batted in - Ed Stein, 1894	  30