Baseball stats for beginners: the problem with using raw numbers

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It’s been years since people learned to look at OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) to judge a player’s season. Let’s say a player qualified for the batting title with a .750 OPS. Was that a good season?

Well, since 1901, there have been 35 times that a player qualified for the batting title with exactly a .750 OPS (well, an OPS between .7495 and .7505):

Rk	Player	Year ▾	OPS	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	Pos
1	Jason Kubel	2010	.750	68	23	3	21	92	56	116	.249	.323	.427	*9D7
2	Ryan Garko	2008	.750	61	21	1	14	90	45	86	.273	.346	.404	*3D
3	Chad Tracy	2004	.750	45	29	3	8	53	45	60	.285	.343	.407	*53/7
4	Johnny Damon	2003	.750	103	32	6	12	67	68	74	.273	.345	.405	*8/D
5	Luis Castillo	1999	.750	76	23	4	0	28	67	85	.302	.384	.366	*4
6	Ernie Young	1996	.750	72	19	4	19	64	52	118	.242	.326	.424	*89/7
7	Lance Johnson	1993	.750	75	18	14	0	47	36	33	.311	.354	.396	*8
8	Gene Larkin	1988	.750	56	30	2	8	70	68	55	.267	.368	.382	*D3
9	Charlie Spikes	1974	.750	63	23	1	22	80	34	100	.271	.319	.431	*9
10	Carlton Fisk	1973	.750	65	21	0	26	71	37	99	.246	.309	.441	*2/D
11	Curt Blefary	1967	.750	69	19	5	22	81	73	94	.242	.337	.413	*739
12	Rod Carew	1967	.750	66	22	7	8	51	37	91	.292	.341	.409	*4
13	Rico Petrocelli	1967	.750	53	24	2	17	66	49	93	.259	.330	.420	*6
14	Leon Wagner	1964	.750	94	19	2	31	100	56	121	.253	.316	.434	*7
15	Bill Skowron	1964	.750	47	21	3	17	79	30	92	.282	.322	.428	*3
16	Bob Johnson	1962	.750	58	20	2	12	43	32	50	.288	.334	.416	*56/47
17	Daryl Spencer	1958	.750	71	20	5	17	74	73	60	.256	.343	.406	*64
18	Ferris Fain	1953	.750	73	18	2	6	52	108	28	.256	.405	.345	*3
19	Pee Wee Reese	1950	.750	97	21	5	11	52	91	62	.260	.369	.380	*6/5
20	Milt Byrnes	1945	.750	53	29	4	8	59	78	84	.249	.363	.387	897/3
21	Stan Hack	1943	.750	78	24	4	3	35	82	27	.289	.384	.366	*5
22	Marv Owen	1936	.750	72	20	4	9	105	53	41	.295	.361	.389	*5/3
23	Rip Radcliff	1935	.750	95	28	8	10	68	53	21	.286	.346	.404	*7
24	Billy Herman	1934	.750	79	21	6	3	42	34	31	.303	.355	.395	*4
25	Buddy Myer	1930	.750	97	18	8	2	61	58	31	.303	.373	.377	*4/79
26	Shanty Hogan	1929	.750	19	13	0	5	45	25	22	.300	.362	.388	*2
27	Bill Barrett	1927	.750	62	35	9	4	83	52	46	.286	.347	.403	*98
28	Buddy Myer	1926	.750	66	18	6	1	62	45	19	.304	.370	.380	*6/5
29	Topper Rigney	1922	.750	68	17	7	2	63	68	44	.300	.380	.369	*6
30	Ray Schalk	1922	.750	57	22	3	4	60	67	36	.281	.379	.371	*2
31	Pete Kilduff	1921	.750	45	15	10	3	45	31	36	.288	.344	.406	*4/5
32	Jack Smith	1917	.750	64	16	11	3	34	38	65	.297	.351	.398	897
33	Heinie Zimmerman	1914	.750	75	36	12	4	87	20	46	.296	.326	.424	*564
34	Josh Devore	1910	.750	92	11	10	2	27	46	67	.304	.371	.380	*79/8
35	Cy Seymour	1907	.750	46	25	8	3	75	36	35	.294	.350	.400	*8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/28/2012.

So, what do you think? Good seasons or not?

Well, in 2008, league average OPS was .749, meaning that Ryan Garko’s season on the list above was pretty average. In 1967, the league average OPS was .664 and Curt Blefary played in a fairly tough hitter’s park–so his .750 OPS was quite good.

Factors like the overall level of offense and the tendencies in individual ballparks really affect the meaning of the raw numbers.

Enter OPS+, which normalizes each player’s OPS based on league averages and ballpark effects. Here are the same 35 seasons ranked by OPS+:

Rk	Player	Year	OPS	OPS+ ▾
1	Jack Smith	1917	.750	132
2	Cy Seymour	1907	.750	132
3	Heinie Zimmerman	1914	.750	122
4	Curt Blefary	1967	.750	121
5	Stan Hack	1943	.750	119
6	Josh Devore	1910	.750	119
7	Charlie Spikes	1974	.750	116
8	Rod Carew	1967	.750	114
9	Rico Petrocelli	1967	.750	113
10	Milt Byrnes	1945	.750	112
11	Gene Larkin	1988	.750	109
12	Leon Wagner	1964	.750	108
13	Bill Skowron	1964	.750	108
14	Jason Kubel	2010	.750	105
15	Carlton Fisk	1973	.750	105
16	Lance Johnson	1993	.750	104
17	Ferris Fain	1953	.750	102
18	Ryan Garko	2008	.750	101
19	Bob Johnson	1962	.750	101
20	Billy Herman	1934	.750	101
21	Daryl Spencer	1958	.750	100
22	Luis Castillo	1999	.750	98
23	Topper Rigney	1922	.750	98
24	Buddy Myer	1926	.750	97
25	Ray Schalk	1922	.750	97
26	Bill Barrett	1927	.750	96
27	Pee Wee Reese	1950	.750	95
28	Johnny Damon	2003	.750	94
29	Pete Kilduff	1921	.750	94
30	Rip Radcliff	1935	.750	92
31	Chad Tracy	2004	.750	90
32	Buddy Myer	1930	.750	90
33	Ernie Young	1996	.750	88
34	Shanty Hogan	1929	.750	86
35	Marv Owen	1936	.750	85

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/28/2012.

Quite a difference, huh?

Cy Semour was a fantastic player, but you probably wouldn’t guess it from the raw numbers unless you know how much lower scoring was in his era.

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Dr. Doom

12 years ago

Cy Seymour is also apropos to an ongoing conversation on this blog as to people who have gotten better in their 30s. Seymour was a high-strikeout, high-walk pitcher in his 20s who played in the field when he wasn’t pitching. Then he started hitting full-time, and really took off in 1905, leading the league in everything (basically). He was never that good again (though few are), but he was a solid batter through his mid-30s. Interesting career arc.

12 years ago

Reply to Dr. Doom

BTW, don’t be naive! Everyone knows that Cy was juicing in 1905. How else do you explain his stats that year???

Big Daddy V

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

I agree. It’s foolish to ignore the fact that many ballplayers of the time were eating monkey testicles as a performance enhancer.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Big Daddy V

Pud Galvin for sure:
“In 1889, over 100 years before the current steroid controversy in Major League Baseball, Galvin openly used the Brown-Séquard elixir, which contained monkey testosterone.”

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Wait, that’s actually true??? I was just making a joke with my comment.

kds

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Rocky mountain oysters are cheaper, and probably just as effective.

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

It was the inspiration for the blockbuster hit
“Ed” starring Joey Tribbiani

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Big Daddy V

I, too, thought this was a joke when I read it.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

Sometimes the funniest things are absolutely serious.
I’ve sampled some of what the Chinese have to offer. A lot of it is the real deal. I haven’t gone this far, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZIXEhQjKpM

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

GOOGLE – “Banned substances in baseball in the United States – wiki”: EXCERPTS: “Players have attempted to gain chemical advantages in baseball since the earliest days of the sport. In 1889, for example, pitcher Pud Galvin became the first baseball player to be widely known for his use of performance-enhancing substances. Galvin was a user and vocal proponent of the Brown-Séquard Elixir, a testosterone supplement derived from the testicles of live animals such as dogs and guinea pigs.” Also… “The book The Baseball Hall of Shame’s Warped Record Book, written by Bruce Nash, Bob Smith, and Allan Zullo, includes an… Read more »

12 years ago

Good to see that Dr. Doom and I are restoring the equilibrium…

Two things:

1) How the hell was someone named Jack Smith allowed to play in 1917. I thought players were required to have cool names back then???

2) As I’m sure you’re aware, while OPS and OPS+ are definite improvements, they still don’t account for the fact that on base percentage is more important than slugging percentage.

Jeff Allen

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

Jack Smith is a fascinating story, actually. Born Blackie McJewboy, he was forced to change his name when Cap Anson, despite being out of baseball for years and on the vaudeville circuit, successfully lobbied to force him to change his name.
…
No, not really, but it sounds feasible to me.

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff Allen

Okay, that made me laugh!!!

topper009

12 years ago

About time Topper Rigney gets some love around here. He did finish with an OBP 100 points above his BA. He also had more walks than RBI and more walks than runs scored, which after looking around isn’t that uncommon.

kzuke

12 years ago

One thing at a time Ed. I think we’re still a few entries away from wOBA.

topper009

12 years ago

Here’s a doosey if you are a baseball stats rookie, which player is more valuable?
Player A: .275/.400/.500 (batting average/on-base %/slugging %)
Player B: .300/.400/.500
.
.
.
.
.
.

The answer is player A. They both have the same on-base but since player A has a lower batting average but same slugging percentage he has a higher isolated power. Iso is a fancy way of saying player B hits more singles and player A hits more HRs

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I disagree, Topper. The biggest difference between those two stat lines is that Player B’s .400 OBP has more hits in it than Player A’s .400 OBP, and hits are more valuable than walks. Here are two possible sets of raw numbers that will produce the specified averages for Players A and B: – A: 700 PAs, 580 ABs, 160 hits, 120 BB, 90 singles, 40 doubles, 0 triples, 30 HRs.* – B: 700 PAs, 600 ABs, 180 hits, 100 BB, 120 singles, 30 doubles, 0 triples, 30 HRs. Same number of PAs, times on base, HRs and triples. The… Read more »

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

30 singles * .47 runs/single = 14.1

20 walks * .33 runs/walk + 10 2B * .78 runs/2B = 14.4 runs

I guess they are about equal

http://baseballevolution.com/keith/linearw.html

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Thanks for the followup, Topper.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Interesting that both Cy Seymour and Heinie Zimmerman were both just one season removed from just missing the Triple Crown.

And why do I have absolutely no memory of Charlie Spikes?

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

If you were a Yankee fan you would remember Charlie Spikes. He was the key Yankee player in the Graig Nettles trade.

MikeD

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Has to rank as one of the better trades in Yankee history.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to MikeD

Nettles was traded to the Yankees by Cleveland GM Gabe Paul after the end of the 1972 season. Paul knew at the time that he was soon to become GM of the Yankees, so in effect he was trading Nettles back to himself.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Didn’t look like such a bad trade at the time for Cleveland, though. Charlie Spikes and John Ellis were good prospects, and both gave Cleveland a couple of decent seasons before fizzling.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

I have baseball card related memory of Charlie Spikes (Indians). I recall a 1970’s facial hair.

Here it is – nice sideburns.
http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Cards/Baseball/1975/Topps_Mini/135/Charlie_Spikes/1850368

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Shades of George Foster!

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Ah, you guys laugh now but just a couple of years after that picture of Charlie was taken I was sporting a pair of sideburns almost that magnificent plus my ‘stash was WAAAY bushier than his…

topper009

12 years ago

Also looking through at Billy Herman he hit 57 doubles back to back seasons in ’35-36. Herman is 1 of only 10 to hit 50+ doubles in consecutive years. The others are Tris Speaker 1920-21 (50, 52) George Burns 1926-27 (64, 51) Ducky Medwick 1936-37 (64, 56) Stan Musial 1944, 46 (51, 50) missed 1945 due to WWII Edgar Martinez 1995-95 (52, 52) Craig Biggio 1998-99 (51, 56) Todd Helton 2000-01 (59, 54) Albert Pujols 2003-04 (51, 51) Brain Roberts 2008-09 (51, 56) Single season leader Earl Webb (67) never hit more than 30 2Bs any other year, he was… Read more »

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

And Chief Wilson’s triple enhancing drug in 1912.

BryanM

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

and Adam Dunn’s swng-and-missing drug of 2011

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Bill James called this the single greatest fluke record in MLB history, and I’m inclined to agree. While Wilson was a pretty good power hitter for the dead-ball era ((four times in the Top-10 in Extra Base Hits, TB, and RBI; five times in 3B and HR), and hitters frequently reached the 20s in triples, 36 triples in 1912 is massively out of scale with the rest of his career.

You’d think a big strong fast deadball-era power hitter like Cobb or Speaker or Crawford or Jackson would hold this record, not Owen Wilson.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

It’s also probably one of the biggest park effects in history. Forbes Field was a triples delight for most of its history.

While splits aren’t available for 1912, the Pirates led the NL in triples by a margin of 129-91 — 42% more than the #2 team. They would have led the league even if Wilson hadn’t hit any triples.

From 1919, the first year of splits, here are Pittsburgh’s home/road splits in triples:
– 1919, 58/24
– 1920, 57/33
– 1921, 67/37
– 1922, 79/31
– 1923, 78/33
That’s a 5-year average of 68/32.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

On the B-Ref blog some time last year, someone dug up a reference to a ground rule in Pittsburgh in 1912 providing for a ground-rule triple.

The Pittsburgh team triples for 1909-1915 are 92, 83, 106, 129, 86, 79, 91. Perhaps that ground rule was also in effect for at least part of 1911. The difference between 1911 and 1912 is entirely attributable to Wilson, going from 12 to 36 triples.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Good memory, Doug. It was our friend Richard Chester, comment #16 on this thread.

My own comment #9 there provides Wilson’s home/road triples splits for the record season (24-12).

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

John: You and I are probably the only guye who remember that thread. Afterwards I scrolled through the Charlton Chronology for 1912. There was mention of some of Wilson’s triples but nothing about ground rule triples.

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Well it was the greatest fluke season in terms of triples but I wouldn’t say overall. He just had 4.0 WAR that year and 3.2 the year before. Infact, this would be a much more interesting “dream team” instead of the boring old best all-time lineup, the dream team of fluke seasons. I will nominate C Chris Hoiles 1993 (7.2 WAR, 3.5 WAR next best season) 1B Norm “Cork” Cash 1961 (10.0, 5.3) 2B Marcus Giles 2003 (8.2, 3.8) 3B Harry Steinfeldt 1906 (7.8, 4.2) SS Terry Turner 1906 (8.4, 3.0) OF George Stone 1906 (9.8, 5.2) OF Bernard Gilkey… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

topper009, Some other “fluke” candidates, using your format: SS Rico Petrocelli 1969 (9.3,5.3) 40 HR, new AL record for SS 3B Ken Caminiti 1996 (7.9,5.1)NL MVP, led Padres to NL West title OF CY Seymour 1905 (8.4,4.4) missed the Triple Crown by one HR Pitcher: Dwight Gooden 1985 (11.7, 5.4) I’m not sure Gooden quite fits into the “fluke” description; he had a great 1984 and people were expecting even better things in 1985 It’s not as drastic because WAR does not like his defense, but as a super-utility player: 1B/CF/RF Jim Hickman 1970 (5.0, 2.3) I really remember this… Read more »

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Lawrence – Do you mean “greatest fluke season,” or “flukiest great season”?

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Some others.

LF Bob Cerv 1958 (6.7, 1.7)
IF Billy Grabarkewitz 1970 (6.5, 0.7)
C Rick Wilkins 1993 (6.5, 1.8)

Only guys with one season of 6 WAR, and no other seasons of 2 WAR.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Billy Grabarkewitz was 24, in his first full season, and posted an ops+ of 134.

Check out these Super-Utility stats:

3B 97
SS 50
2B 20

The trade for Dick Allen in ’71 put him out of a job.

Five more years with five different teams.
Never had another full season.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Amendment to that:

Allen was only part of the story, as he only started 67 games at the hot corner.

The other factor was the rookie season of 21 year-old phenom Bobby Valentine.

Bobby V got 65 starts at those 3 infield positions.

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

I’d like to put in a word for Dick Allen’s HOF argument. He had a nine-year peak in which he averaged 7 WAR. Not many players have done that. He did it while playing for four teams in the last four years. And he maintained that offense while switching positions pretty frequently. And about his defense, how did he get to play just bad third base? What were the Phillies doing with him? He started in the minors as a second baseman. His last year down there he got moved to the outfield. But when he cracked the starting lineup… Read more »

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

I had a Billy Grabarkewitz baseball card when I was a kid! That definitely brings back some memories.

I wonder if Billy is the answer to a trivia question…only player with a 6.0+ WAR season and negative WAR for the rest of his career. In the aforementioned 1970 season he had 6.5 WAR yet his career WAR is only 5.6. I’m guessing he’s the only who managed that feat.

Howard

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Dick Allen and Bobby V together was still only part of the story. Billy G, in part because of injuries, never played at a high level after the first half of his rookie season. If he continued to produce the Dodgers would have found a spot for him.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Responding to Ed @61.

Comment about Grabarkewitz (negative career WAR except for best WAR season) is true for players with one season over 6 WAR. A couple of other guys were close.

Mitchell Page – 6.0 WAR in rookie season, 1.5 WAR rest of career.

Garrett Atkins – 6.4 WAR in best season, 3.2 WAR rest of career

Atkins is remarkable comparing WAR to salary.
Age 25-27: WAR of 10.8, Salary $1.05M
Age 28-30: WAR of -0.5, Salary $15.44M

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Further response to Ed @61.

Few more notable guys with Career WAR < Best single-season WAR (Min. 4000 PAs).

Kevin Young, 5.4 best, 5.1 career
Jose Guillen, 3.9 best, 3.7 career
Dante Bichette, 2.7 best, 2.0 career

Tangent. All-time worst career WAR, by PA level.
3000, Bill Bergen, -17.6
4000, Doug Flynn, -12.1
5000, Bob Kennedy, -5.2
6000 & 7000, Alfredo Griffin, -2.4
8000, Don Kessinger, 5.0
9000, Doc Cramer, 5.4
10000, Bill Buckner, 12.1
11000, Harold Baines, 37.0
12000, Dave Winfield, 59.7

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Thanks Doug! Appreciate the research.

Hub Kid

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

I hope this ends up as a reply to Doug@70. What a nifty list for a tangent! It is a bit of a challenge to the argument that says large numbers of plate appearances is a good indicator of a great career.

I think I first saw this argument made by Joe Posnanski, and I still find it pretty convincing. I am sure that it can still somehow fit Bill Buckner and others who didn’t make it any further than “very goodness”.

How many Kessingers, Cramers and Buckners are there, with nominal WAR to show for lots of PAS?

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

@70
Wow to Alfredo Griffin.
Negative WAR with over 7000 PA

And led the league in errors as a SS five times.
Career ops+ of 67

He also won a ROY.
And he has three World Series rings.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

I feel the need to stick up for Alfredo here- sort of. If you ever saw him play you might understand. I didn’t see him an incredible amount during his prime but even later on it seems like he always did something unusual: pull off the hidden ball trick or trick a baserunner into sliding or drive the pitcher to distraction on the bases, all kinds of stuff. A little like Ozzie Guillen if you’re more familiar with him but even more so. I’m sure he didn’t do this often enough that it added a whole lot of value to… Read more »

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Couple of pitchers.

RHP Bill James 1914 (7.4, 0.2)
RHP Wayne Twitchell 1973 (6.2, 1.1)

Same criteria: one season over 6 WAR, no others over 2 WAR.

James also shows up on Raphy’s post today, as having the fewest career wins (37) for any pitcher who won 26 in a season.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Couple more pitchers.

RHP Jack Coombs 1910 (9.2, 2.8)
RHP Dave Davenport 1915 (9.0, 2.8)

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Nice finds, Topper.

FWIW, I’d suggest replacing George Stone. He played 5 full seasons, and in the first 4 of them his WAR was 4.2 or better. So even though 1906 (9.8 WAR) is way above his next-best year (5.2), his superb year doesn’t seem quite as flukey as others.

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Flukiest MVP is probably Zolio Versalles. 7.6 WAR during his MVP year, next highest is 2.6. Career total is 11.0.

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

Also Bobby Shantz. 8.2 during his MVP year, next highest was 3.2.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

Ed,

I’ll counter with Kevin Mitchell in 1989; not as extreme by WAR (1989 – 7.7; next highest – 4.1; career – 29.7).

He was a pretty good player the two years before that, but _no one_ saw his MVP year coming. I’d also give him extra points for the barehanded catch of a foul ball in the left field corner, which made all the year-end highlight clips.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

Of all players with a 7-WAR season, Zoilo Versalles is the only one with no other 3-WAR seasons. He has the largest raw difference between his best & 2nd-best — 7.6 to 2.6, as Ed noted.

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Ed

I was going to use Zoilo before I found Terry Turner and his 5.4 WAR difference, although Versalles winning the MVP but having only 1 other all-star season really is the definition of a fluke year. John Valentine 1995 (8.5, 4.6) was also in the running for SS.

I was going to use Darrell Porter but I had to find a replacement due to his 1982 World Series MVP, plus he made 4 all-star teams.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I looked at the 32 players with exactly 1 season of 9+ WAR. The biggest raw difference between their best WAR season and 2nd-best was 4.9 WAR, by:
– Sammy Sosa, 11.4 WAR in 2001, 6.5 WAR in ’98 (his MVP year).

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

There are a couple of pitchers with 9 WAR and a bigger spread (6.2 and 6.4) with 2nd best season.

Scroll up to comment 30 to see.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Doug @57 — Let’s put an asterisk on guys like Dave Davenport who had their one big year in the Federal League.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Harry Steinfeldt would also be on the “most overlooked by poetry” team as he shared the infield with “Tinker to Evers to Chance” for 5 years including the 4 WS seasons (1906-08 & 1910).

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Excellent!

But it’s no wonder Steinfeldt was overlooked by poetry. He left the game the year before this guy made the scene.

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

I wonder where he got his material from considering these these two guys didn’t even debut until after Nicholson was dead.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

More nominees for Topper’s team:

C – Darrell Porter 1979 (#1 8.4, #2 4.5)
OF – Willie McGee 1985 (8.5, 4.1)
OF – Jim Gentile 1961 (#1 7.2, #2 3.4, career 17.7)
OF – Mike Greenwell 1988 (7.2, 3.7, 23.5)
OF – Kevin Mitchell 1988 (7.7, 4.1, 29.7)
OF – Cleon Jones 1969 (7.6, 4.1, 17.3)

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I don’t know if this would count as a fluke season because his career was so short (5 seasons) but Jake Jones, the 1947 first-baseman for the White Sox and Red Sox that year, had 96 RBIs (fourth in the AL) and his second best was 13.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Ray Pepper had a similar kind of career to Jones.

In 1934, Pepper drove in 101 runs for the Browns, while compiling an 83 OPS+. This for a team that scored only 684 runs, last in the AL and 106 runs below AL average.

Pepper’s next highest RBI total was only 37, and his career OPS+ was only 78. For his career, he is the only player under 95 OPS+ who had RBI > 15% of PAs (min. 1000 PAs).

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

@75 Voomo.

“Alfredo Griffin … led the league in errors as a SS five times.”

And, he placed second in errors at SS 4 other times. Alfredo also had six 1st or 2nd placements in errors committed by anyone, regardless of position.

But it’s not all bad. To his credit, Griffin placed 1st or 2nd 6 times in games played at SS, and had 5 top 5 placements in both range factor and assists at SS, and 9 top 5 placements in putouts at SS.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

#33/ John Autin – To answer your question of: “Lawrence – Do you mean “greatest fluke season,” or “flukiest great season”?” I’ll define it as “the season that is the furthest above the players’ established level of performance.” Norm Cash had a number of good seasons, most of which were obscured by games missed and/or the lower offensive levels of those years. He never had a year approaching 1961, by either mainstream or advanced statistical analysis. Norm Cash in 1961 would be my answer to both of your questions above. I know that we usually don’t pay much attention to… Read more »

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

I don’t think it was an allegation, he admitted to it himself. I think he also claimed to use corked bats throughout his career, not just ’61.

If this team was based on mainstream stats then Brady Anderson 1996 would have a slot along with Davey Johnson 1973

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I also thought of those two, didn’t bother checking:

Brady: 6.6 in 1996; next best 5.4; career 30.7
Davey: 1973 wasn’t even his best year (mostly because of defense). Atlanta in the early 70s was a pronounced HR park, so his 43 HR didn’t have quite the value you’d think it would.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Lawrence — What I was getting at (though I worded it poorly) was the difference between a “head-and-shoulders best year” by someone who still had a good, long career — like Cash — and the same caliber of year by someone who was otherwise ordinary or worse by MLB standards. About that .361 BA, Cash himself said, “It was a freak. Even at the time, I realized that. Everything I hit seemed to drop in, even when I didn’t make good contact. I never thought I’d do it again.” I couldn’t find an answer to whether or not he corked… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

The big difference between Cash and most of the guys you listed above is that Cash was _never_ known as a high-average hitter (besides 1961), while most of the above (certainly Brett, Bagwell, Ordonez, and Crawford) were usually high-BA guys.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Well … Cash did bat .334 in 1956 — 2nd best in the Three-I League. 🙂

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

To put a .750 OPS in context:

– in the 1968 AL, 15 of 44 players qualifying for the batting title surpassed it
– in the 1930 NL, 33 of 44 players qualifying for the batting title surpassed it

In 1968 it was quite an accomplishment, in 1930 it didn’t mean much.

John A. – I want to mention that when I posted my Kevin Mitchell comment, I noticed that you had posted your list of flukes which also included Kevin Mitchell, exactly NINE SECONDS apart!

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

A lot can happen in nine seconds….

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Nice highlight of Ryan Braun’s neighbor, who was also at the game in Milwaukee where Braun’s body got a little ahead of his legs on his inside the park…triple.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

just checking in on this post for the first time today and I see there are 50 comments already…that’s a bit daunting. Usually I read comments as they come in real time.

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

So now you’re going to read them in fake time??? 🙂