Rogers Hornsby wins election to the Circle of Greats in the 95th round of COG balloting. In his first ballot appearance, Hornsby was the clear favorite among a host of creditable holdover candidates. Hornsby made an immediate impact in his 1916 rookie season with 4.9 WAR and 151 OPS+, totals for a rookie third baseman that have since been matched only by Dick Allen. Hornsby then moved to shortstop, posting 4.0 oWAR and 2.0 dWAR in consecutive seasons. Quiz: who is the only player since with those oWAR and dWAR totals in his first two seasons at shortstop?
More on Hornsby after the jump.
Hornsby returned to third base for the 1919 season before settling in as the Cardinals’ everyday second baseman as the live ball era started taking flight in 1920. That season was the start of a 10-year peak (yes, you read that correctly) with the phenomenal totals of 93 WAR and 73 WAA, marks surpassed in any ten year period only by Babe Ruth (though Willie Mays very nearly matched those marks for 5 consecutive 10 year spans, age 23-32 thru age 27-36). Superlatives for those seasons include 7 times leading the NL in BA, OBP and SLG, 6 of them consecutively (1920-25), and two triple crown campaigns. Hornsby’s .424 BA in 1924 has not been matched since and ranks as the fourth highest qualifying BA since the 60’6″ pitching distance was established in 1893. Hornsby’s docket of league-leading totals includes:
- 12 times – OPS+, Offensive WAR
- 11 times – OPS, WAR (Position Players)
- 9 times – OBP, SLG
- 7 times – BA, TB, WAR (All Players)
- 5 times – Runs
- 4 times – Hits, Doubles, RBI
- 3 times – Walks
- 2 times – Home Runs, Triples
Though only 29, Hornsby was elevated to player/manager when Branch Rickey was let go part way through the 1925 season. In that role, Hornsby led St. Louis to its first world championship in 1926, resulting in a demand for a 50% raise that the Cardinals were unwilling to meet. Hornsby thus moved on to the Giants in 1927, the Braves in 1928 and the Cubs in 1929, surpassing 8 WAR in each of those seasons. While Hornsby’s irksome personality was a constant clubhouse irritant, it was primarily other factors that resulted in his frequent travels, with Giant ownership not enamored of Hornsby’s racetrack gambling and the financially strapped Braves unable to resist Chicago’s offer of $200,000 and 5 players.
The 1929 season with the Cubs would be Hornsby’s last as an everyday player. A broken ankle in 1930 shelved Hornsby for most of that season. He returned to play regularly in 1931 but, supposedly unhappy with his performance, the now player/manager Hornsby stopped putting himself in the lineup the last two months of the season (Hornsby evidently set high standards for himself as his 5.2 WAR in only 419 PA has been matched since only in the strike-shortened 1981 season). The Cubs were contending for the pennant in 1932 when Hornsby was fired as manager in August for sending out a player to argue an umpire’s decision. Chicago would take that pennant but, in a show of their lack of regard for their former skipper, Cub players voted to deny Hornsby any part of their share of World Series receipts.
Hornsby returned to the Cardinals as a player in 1933 but was used mainly as a pinch-hitter before being released in July. He was picked up by the Browns where he would serve as player/manager (but mostly as manager) for four seasons until being fired partway through the 1937 season.
Hornsby’s 119.6 WAR through age 33 is the top figure for position players, just ahead of Ruth, Cobb and Mays (though, adding in his pitching WAR, Ruth easily tops that list). His major career milestones include 1500 runs, 1500 RBI, 1000 walks and 500 doubles while his 175 OPS+ is the 5th highest career mark. Hornsby’s career total of 127.0 WAR puts him just ahead of Eddie Collins, with Nap Lajoie and Joe Morgan rounding out the 100 WAR second base club. Hornsby was the third player to reach the 300 HR plateau, just after Lou Gehrig (with whom he finished the 1933 season tied with identical career totals of 299 home runs). That mark would be the standard for second baseman for 70 years, until Jeff Kent moved past Hornsby late in the 2004 season.
Does Ripken count as a full-time shortstop in 1982? He played 92 games at SS and 71 games at 3B, and had 4.1 oWAR and “only” 1.4 dWAR. In 1983 and 1984 he meets both criteria.
I’m guessing Ripken is being counted as a shortstop in 1982 as I see that Pesky had 4.4 and 5.5 oWAR in 1942 and 1946, to go with 2.2 dWAR each year.
I hemmed and hawed on Ripken but, since he played a full season his first year and more than half his games were at shortstop, I think we have to count that first year.
Good find on Pesky. I missed that his two seasons were separated by military service. So, yes, he’s one.
But, there’s another. Probably one that very few would guess.
Well Bobby Grich only played one season at shortstop and didn’t meet the 2.0 dWAR requirement so it’s not him.
And Nomar missed the 2.0 dWAR in 1998 – he had 1.8.
If I understand correctly, in Dickie Thon’s first two seasons as a SS he matched those oWAR and dWAR requirements.
Thon is the surprising one (for me, at any rate).
Vote update! * indicates actively on the ballot; # indicates un-elected player
Craig Biggio – 763
Eddie Murray – 731
Roberto Alomar – 725
John Smoltz – 658
Kenny Lofton – 608
Ryne Sandberg – 607
*Harmon Killebrew – 549
Edgar Martinez – 507
Lou Whitaker – 493
*Kevin Brown – 415
Whitey Ford – 382
Bobby Grich – 376
Sandy Koufax – 375
Tony Gwynn – 346
*Roy Campanella – 343
Willie McCovey – 336
*Dennis Eckersley – 310
#Minnie Minoso – 309
*Dave Winfield – 303
Juan Marichal – 268
Tom Glavine – 262
Alan Trammell – 239
Mike Mussina – 233
*Rick Reuschel – 232
*Luis Tiant – 231
Curt Schilling – 224
Nolan Ryan – 220
Ron Santo – 217
Lou Boudreau – 216
Tim Raines – 213
Larry Walker – 197
Barry Larkin – 188
Frank Thomas – 181
Paul Molitor – 152
Bob Gibson – 147
Gaylord Perry – 142
Paul Waner – 140
*Richie Ashburn – 134
Jim Palmer – 133
Al Kaline – 132
*Graig Nettles – 130
Duke Snider – 130
Carl Hubbell – 126
Joe Gordon – 126
Ernie Banks – 119
#Wes Ferrell – 116
Eddie Mathews – 115
1. The other holdovers: Dwight Evans (81), Hoyt Wilhelm (70), Gabby Hartnett (41), Goose Goslin (38), Ted Lyons (25).
2. Not joining the holdover list will be electee Rogers Hornsby (43).
3. Welcome to the 300-vote club, Dave Winfield!
4. Roy Campanella is now #15 all-time in votes received, passing Willie McCovey. He will likely pass Tony Gwynn this round for the #14 spot. Also, I can’t remember if I ever noted it before, so I’ll say it now: Harmon Killebrew is now #7, while Kevin Brown is #10.
We discussed low voter turnout; here’s a reminder, including the most recent round.
48 – Round 17 (1954)
49 – Round 93 (1898)
52 – Round 94 (1897), Round 94 (1896)
55 – Round 32 (1943.2), Round 92 (1899)
56 – Round 19 (1952.1)
57 – Round 33 (1942), Round 90 (1901.2)
58 – Round 26 (1947), Round 34 (1941), Round 91 (1900)
59 – Round 16 (1959), Round 20 (1952.2), Round 29 (1945), Round 35 (1940.1), Round 36 (1940.2), Round 81 (1907.2)
So, my favorite piece of Hornsby minutiae is this.
Let’s assume for a moment that 19th century records don’t “count.” If that were true, then in 1922, Rogers Hornsby would have set the NL record for HR (42, topping Gavvy Cravath’s 24 in 1915). That’s pretty darn impressive to do in a Triple Crown season – to also set the HR record. But that’s not all. His 152 RBI was ALSO the NL record, surpassing Gavvy Cravath’s 128 in 1913. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL – his .401 average was ALSO the best by a member of the senior circuit in the 20th century! The previous high was his own .397 the year before, and before he took the record it belonged to Heinie Zimmerman in (what is, as of 2015, recognized as) HIS Triple Crown year of 1912.
In other words, not only did Hornsby win the Triple Crown – he posted the highest marks in ALL THREE CATEGORIES that the NL has seen in the 20th century! Of the three, the shortest lived record would be batting average – Hornsby himself broke that in his OTHER Triple Crown year of 1925, with a .424 average – the record that still stands and has never come particularly close to being broken (Hornsby’s own .403 the subsequent year is closest). The HR and RBI records fell in the same year, but to different players – Hack Wilson knocked in 159 that year, while Chuck Klein clouted 43 in the tiny Baker Bowl. Even if we except Klein’s extreme park, Wilson had 56 in 1930, and would thus take the lead.
Nonetheless, I think it’s impressive that if you look at the period of 1900-1924 (and you can go back to 1898, if you want), not only did one man have the best single-season BA, HR, AND RBI totals in the NL during that quarter-century – he did it all in ONE SEASON. So cool.
I know that batting average gets a bad rap, and that the NL batting averages from 1921-1925 hovered around the .280-.290 range, but Hornsby went 1078 for 2679 over those 5 years.
That’s a .402 batting average – over 5 seasons. 110 points or so above the league average. That’s just impressive. I looked at Gwynn from 1993-1997 and he was about 100-105 points above the NL average during those seasons (Gwynn at .368, NL average in the .260 range). Of course, Hornsby hit 42 HRs one season, whereas Gwynn hit 48 over the 5 seasons combined.
There’s a quote from Bill James’s NHBA, I believe talking about Arky Vaughan’s great year, wherein he mentions the weakness of batting average, but then says, “but .385 is .385.” The truth is, if you’re looking at a batting average that would make a good ON-BASE PERCENTAGE, the fact that it’s a batting average doesn’t mean squat anymore. Hornsby’s OBP over those 5 years, by the way? .474!
Rajah gets a bad rap because everybody hit a ton in the early 20’s. Well, if everybody hit a ton in the early 20’s then him leading in the triple crown categories means he hit a ton more than anybody else. And he did it twice. Only Ted Williams has won two Triple Crowns, too. And nobody give him a bad rap. What’s up with that?
Hornsby gets a bad rap, but I don’t think it’s about his hitting – at least I haven’t heard that one. It’s about Hornsby.
Doom – I was actually looking Hornsby’s 1921 season earlier today. What blew me away is that he basically led the NL in all the hitting categories that people would have cared about at the time – Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, RBIs, BA, SLG, and Total Bases.
The one category that he failed to lead the league in was HR, falling two short of George Kelly. He had a shot though. Kelly faltered down the stretch, hitting only one home run in his final 134 PAs. But Hornsby also faded, with one home run in his final 120 PAs.
Here’s an easy quiz:
What live ball era player in what year duplicated Hornsby’s 1921 feat and actually bested him by losing out on the HR title by only one dinger? (He also bested Hornsby in most of the categories mentioned.)
Looks like it was Stan the Man in 1948.
I think Williams bad rap came in the form of MVP voting, with things like the story of writers rooting for George Kell to win the batting title last day of the season.Jim Rice took a long time for HOF partly because he was surly.
@15,
No, I think that Jim Rice took a long time to get in the HOF (14 years) because he was a marginally qualified candidate who benefitted from a strong, sustained campaign by the Red Sox publicity department.
Great point Lawrence about Rice being marginal. I think he is borderline now (and I’m an easy lay for HOF) but when he was first eligible I thought he was a shoe-in. I think the other reason he got in was it the was the year after no one made it in because of PED’s, so Rice’s stats looked better being untainted. I did see him scald some balls in the old Tiger Stadium, though.
@19;
It’s not that Rice is a _terrible_ HOF candidate, more that he doesn’t distinguish himself from a number of other corner OF candidates. If you look at ‘Similar Batters’ or LFers surrounding his JAWS score (he’s #27 – I took #23-31), there are a few HOFers, but mostly guys who got only cursory HOF consideration (like Andres Galarraga, Joe Carter, George Foster, Roy White, Bobby Veach) before being dismissed.
I’ve actually read comments by some Boston-area baseball writers (in particular, the “CHB” – Dan Shaughnessy) that covered the Red Sox, that they went out of their way _not_ to let Rice’s less-than-stellar relationship with the local press affect their evaluate of his HOF candidacy.
robbs:
Re Ted Williams:
Writing around the year 2001 Bill James had this to say: “This may be hard for a younger fan to understand, but Ted Williams was every bit as unpopular in his time as Albert Belle is now . . .. He took constant actions to reinforce {that opinion of himself}. He spattered water coolers, including glass ones. He made obscene gestures at fans, carried on decades-long vendettas against selected reporters, sometimes didn’t treat his family well, sometimes didn’t hustle or even make a show of hustling in the field or on the bases, was obsessed with his own success, was contemptuous of coaches and some managers, and alternated, in his dealings with fans, between rugged charm and uncharted rudeness. ‘When Ted’s name is announced,’ wrote Austin Lake, ‘the sound is like the autumn wind moaning through an apple orchard.'”
Now, times have changed, and I’m not sure some of these behavioral manifestations can be understood as being particularly obnoxious or condemnable. Flipping the bird to fans? Treating you family less than well? Being obsessed with one’s own success? These things are pretty commonplace in sports, if not always condoned, and they have been for a long time. But in Williams’ era the bar was set higher, especially for a superstar talent.
The biggest knock on him, the one he couldn’t shake, was that his own stats were more important to him than the team’s success. The comments about his lack of “hustle”—I don’t think any other player of his caliber has even been suspected of dogging it. Most of them to a man have been fiery competitors, out to win, or quiet competitors, driving themselves to do their best at all times. Without a bat in his hands, or so the suspicion went, Williams was too much detached from the game.
Was this suspicion fair? I don’t know. But I remember the spitting incident, and this was not done by a young man, but by a 37-year old decorated war hero. At the time it was uglier than we can now imagine, and the $5000 fine was regarded as just by almost everyone—except T. Williams.
What always amazes me about Hornsby is 1921 through 1925–where his BA averaged over .400 for those five years–AND each and every one of those years he led the league in OBP, SLG, OPS, and OPS+, in addition to leading in a bunch of other categories in many of the years.
In a day where we doubt that we will ever see another .400 hitter–it blows me away that Hornsby did it over five full time years. (I know that Cobb came close to doing the same, but he didn’t quite make it, did he?
What Hornsby did is remarkable but it does require a little context as well.
In 1921, 7 of the 8 Cardinal regulars and their top 2 subs all hit over .300, including 3 of them (in addition to Hornsby) that hit .343 or higher. The team batting average was .308.
In 1920, playing in the same ballpark but on not as good a ballclub, George Sisler began his run of 3 seasons where he averaged .395 before running into vision problems. He was joined that year by 2 other full time regulars who hit .341 or higher on a team that also managed to average .308.
In 1921 Sisler’s average fell to .371 but now 3 other full time players helped pick up the slack by hitting .347 or higher on a team that averaged .303.
In 1922 when Sisler hit .420, no other regulars managed to hit above .332 but the team batting average as a whole rose to .310. That same year on the Cardinals the highest that any regular outside of Hornsby hit was .324 yet the team as a whole managed to hit .301.
Not trying in any way to say that Rajah wasn’t a remarkable ballplayer. He has a boatload of black ink over a decade long stretch plus in a couple of seasons prior to and after that stretch as well.
But it was also done in a big hitting era in mostly good or great hitters ballparks in an 8 team league.
I really do understand what you mean about the numbers being mind-blowing. They do that to me as well.
But in context they’re not all that different from what some other great players have accomplished as well.
While I agree that context needs to be taken into account, I think sometimes we overcorrect for context.
Hornsby’s OPS+ over those 5 seasons was 204. Keep in mind that he had another 200+ OPS+ (202) in 1928.
Mays – topped out at 185 in 1965.
Cabrera – topped out at 190 in 2013 (his triple crown year).
Frank Robinson – topped out at 198 in 1966 (his triple crown year).
Hank Aaron – topped out at 194 in 1971.
Jimmie Foxx – had back to back 207 and 201 in his near triple crown and triple crown seasons; next highest was 188.
Mel Ott – topped out at 178 in 1938.
Pujols – topped out at 192 in 2008.
A-Rod – topped out at 176 in 2007.
Reggie – topped out at 189 in 1969.
Piazza – topped out at 185 in 1997.
Musial – topped out at 200 in 1948.
Griffey Jr. – topped out at 171 in 1993 and 1994.
Bonds – had back-to-back years of 204 and 206 (in 1992 and 1993); had off the charts numbers from 2000-2004 (241 OPS+).
DiMaggio – topped out at 184 in 1939 and 1941.
I know it was a different era and numbers were different, but there really are only a handful of players who could do what Hornsby could do with a bat (tossing in defense is a different story, but none of those guys played second base either). Basically Hornsby is in a league with Ruth, Williams, Gehrig, and perhaps Mantle and Cobb (though Mantle doesn’t really have the uninterrupted stretch – 201 OPS+ from 1961-1963 and 215 OPS+ in 1956-1957; he had “down” years from 1958-1960 with only a 167 OPS+).
Hornsby has a decade long stretch (1920-1929) with a 188 OPS+ (that’s the same as Mantle’s best decade long stretch). That decade long stretch is better than many of the top seasons for the players listed above.
Some others of that magnitude.
Ted Williams – 201 OPS+ 1941-55, which is actually only 10 full seasons, with three missed entirely and two almost so. Only down stretch was 168 and 164 in 1950-51, likely to do with injury suffered in 1950 ASG.
Ty Cobb – 195 OPS+ for 1909-18. Only “dip” was 190, 185, 179 for 1914-16.
Doug, that stretch from Williams can be made two years longer, if you’d like: 1941-1957, Williams STILL has a 201 OPS+.
Lou Gehrig had a 191 OPS+ for 1927-1936.
Barry Bonds had a 206 OPS+ from 1995-2004. For Bonds, you can lengthen that out to 1992-2007. and the OPS+ stays at 200 or better.
Babe Ruth, from 1919-1932, managed a 214 OPS+; Ruth was at 182 or higher every year, 1918-1932 (except for his shortened 1925), and at or above a 200 OPS+ 11 times in a 14 year stretch.
Also keeping in mind the context: In those categories, Hornsby was better than any other batter in the league for five years straight.
I don’t think there is anything else in the modern era of MLB that compares. I haven’t looked at the pre-1900 stats on that.
Also in the context of the game during that era, Hornsby’s margin of his lead in BA (for the NL) was pretty significant in most of the years:
1921: .045
1922: .046
1923: .013
1924: .049
1925: .036
I think if you check, it’s pretty rare that the first place BA exceeds the second place by over .040. Brett almost did it in 1980 and Williams in 1940. I am sure there are others, but not many.
Also, in comparison, Ty Cobb’s string of BA titles were typically won by margins in the range of .010-.020, with maybe four around a .025-.035 margin.
At any rate, even given the context, for me, that might be the most statistically impressive consecutive five years a batter has ever had. Perhaps you could make an argument that Ruth, Williams, or Bonds had better five year runs–but they didn’t lead the league in those categories over five year runs.
Other BA champs with a .040+ margin:
Nap Lajoie, Rod Carew (3 times), Ted Williams, Harry Walker, Stan Musial, Larry Walker and Rico Carty.