Most plate appearances in a season with 200 OPS+
Posted by Andy on September 4, 2009
It's very rare that a player achieves a 200 OPS+ in a season, at least among full-time players.
Here are the most plate appearances in a season when a player achieved at least a 200 OPS+:
Cnt Player **PA** OPS+ Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+----+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Lou Gehrig 717 221 1927 24 NYY AL 155 584 149 218 52 18 47 175 109 0 84 3 21 0 0 10 8 .373 .474 .765 1.239 *3 2 Sammy Sosa 711 203 2001 32 CHC NL 160 577 146 189 34 5 64 160 116 37 153 6 0 12 6 0 2 .328 .437 .737 1.174 *9 3 Rogers Hornsby 704 207 1922 26 STL NL 154 623 141 250 46 14 42 152 65 0 50 1 15 0 0 17 12 .401 .459 .722 1.181 *4 4 Lou Gehrig 703 203 1930 27 NYY AL 154 581 143 220 42 17 41 174 101 0 63 3 18 0 0 12 14 .379 .473 .721 1.194 *3/7 5 Jimmie Foxx 701 205 1932 24 PHA AL 154 585 151 213 33 9 58 169 116 0 96 0 0 0 0 3 7 .364 .469 .749 1.218 *35 6 Babe Ruth 699 239 1923 28 NYY AL 152 522 151 205 45 13 41 131 170 0 93 4 3 0 0 17 21 .393 .545 .764 1.309 97/83 7 Stan Musial 694 200 1948 27 STL NL 155 611 135 230 46 18 39 131 79 0 34 3 1 0 18 7 0 .376 .450 .702 1.152 987/3 8 Ted Williams 693 205 1947 28 BOS AL 156 528 125 181 40 9 32 114 162 0 47 2 1 0 10 0 1 .343 .499 .634 1.133 *7 9 Babe Ruth 693 239 1921 26 NYY AL 152 540 177 204 44 16 59 171 145 0 81 4 4 0 0 17 13 .378 .512 .846 1.358 *78/13 10 Babe Ruth 691 226 1927 32 NYY AL 151 540 158 192 29 8 60 164 137 0 89 0 14 0 0 7 6 .356 .486 .772 1.258 *97 11 Lou Gehrig 690 208 1934 31 NYY AL 154 579 128 210 40 6 49 165 109 0 31 2 0 0 0 9 5 .363 .465 .706 1.171 *3/6 12 Babe Ruth 684 208 1928 33 NYY AL 154 536 163 173 29 8 54 142 137 0 87 3 8 0 0 4 5 .323 .463 .709 1.172 *97 13 Mark McGwire 681 216 1998 34 STL NL 155 509 130 152 21 0 70 147 162 28 155 6 0 4 8 1 0 .299 .470 .752 1.222 *3 14 Babe Ruth 681 220 1924 29 NYY AL 153 529 143 200 39 7 46 121 142 0 81 4 6 0 0 9 13 .378 .513 .739 1.252 *97/8 15 Babe Ruth 676 211 1930 35 NYY AL 145 518 150 186 28 9 49 153 136 0 61 1 21 0 0 10 10 .359 .493 .732 1.225 *97/1 16 Barry Bonds 674 204 1993 28 SFG NL 159 539 129 181 38 4 46 123 126 43 79 2 0 7 11 29 12 .336 .458 .677 1.135 *7 17 Norm Cash 672 201 1961 26 DET AL 159 535 119 193 22 8 41 132 124 19 85 9 2 2 16 11 5 .361 .487 .662 1.149 *3 18 Ted Williams 672 215 1946 27 BOS AL 150 514 142 176 37 8 38 123 156 0 44 2 0 0 12 0 0 .342 .497 .667 1.164 *7 19 Ted Williams 671 217 1942 23 BOS AL 150 522 141 186 34 5 36 137 145 0 51 4 0 0 12 3 2 .356 .499 .648 1.147 *7 20 Jimmie Foxx 670 200 1933 25 PHA AL 149 573 125 204 37 9 48 163 96 0 93 1 0 0 0 2 2 .356 .449 .703 1.152 *3/6
Well this certainly separates the men from the boys, doesn't it? The only recent seasons here are Sosa in 2001, McGwire in 1998, and Bonds in (surprise!) 1993. The reason for this is straightforward--there is so much more offense these days that it's very difficult for a guy--even a guy with 50 homers--to achieve a 200 OPS+. Babe Ruth was an exceptional power hitter, even looking at his HR totals in a vacuum. However, especially when comparing his HR numbers to those of his contemporaries, it becomes clear why he dominates this list.
The full list is here and you can see that there have been 48 seasons where a guy with a 200 OPS+ had at least 500 plate appearances.
Keep in mind that this is somewhat arbitrary. There are guys to have achieved OPS+ numbers of 195 to 199 that are pretty much just as impressive. (See Jason Giambi in 2001 and Frank Robinson in 1966, as well as Jim Thome in 2002.)
In Babe Ruth's 15 seasons with at least 100 games played, he had an OPS+ of at least 200 in 11 times. And his career figure is, ahem, 207. Say what you want about Hank Aaron or Albert Pujols: Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player of all time.
September 4th, 2009 at 8:18 am
And the year he hit 60 HR, he sacrificed 14 times!
September 4th, 2009 at 8:42 am
True, but Babe Ruth did not bat against Black or Hispanic pitchers, did not contend with night games, and never traveled past the Mississippi for a regular-season game. Say what you will, but these are factors that cannot be glossed over.
September 4th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Ruth didn't travel west of Saint Louis because they had to ride the train. How long was the train ride from New York to Saint Louis in the 1920s? And how dark did it get at the end of some of those day games? Probably more than a few at bats where he couldn't see very well.
Plus he didn't have access to modern medicine. These days, nobody would miss the first 40 games of the season with a "bellyache". 🙂
Not to mention steroids. He might have been able to keep his career SLG over .700 if he had access to top quality steroids that today's players have enjoyed. 🙂 Maybe he'd have been able to best Bonds' single season OPS+ mark of 268 as well.
Seriously, OPS+ measures dominance over your league. I think the list just shows that nobody dominated his leagues like Ruth did. That's an easy objective statement. Subjectively, not all leagues are the same.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:03 am
SJBlonger, sacrifices back then includes both Sac Flies and Sac Bunts. It wouldn't surprise me if Ruth did lay down a couple bunts, but I think most of those are SF. Someone can probably give us the details on when the stats were counted like that. (Actually, it would be nice if B-R explained that in its woefully inadequate glossary.)
September 4th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Frank Robinson didn't play in 1996, though.
September 4th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Thanks, fixed Robinson's season to 1966.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Thanks, DavidRF, for at least having the sense to not challenge the most important of those three: Babe Ruth did not have to face the most talented Black and Hispanic pitchers. And by the way, rarely, if ever, did the trains go from the farthest points in the league. Hence, the term "circuit."
September 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am
There are so many, many factors that are different in the game today as compared to Ruth's era. Drawing on a smaller pool of talent (by not considering black or Latino players) is a big one. But so are the dimensions of ballparks, the culture and strategy of the game (which used to frown on home runs), and weightlifting and nutrition (not to mention illegal performance enhancement).
I love Albert Pujols as a player, but the bottom line is that he's not as far above his contemporaries as Ruth was above his, at least as a power hitter and maybe even as an all-around player.
Keep in mind that while today's game draws on a larger pool of players, it also has many more teams. Can you imagine if there were only 8 or 16 teams today? That means that instead of each team having a #1 starter, instead each team would have 2 or 3 of those guys, and the 4th and 5th starters would be in the bullpen, minor leagues, or out of baseball. Imagine if today's hitters only faced top 3 starters.
September 5th, 2009 at 11:27 am
not to mention that ruth would have been a hall of fame pitcher had he not changed positions. remember, by the time he was 23 years old he was already 80 and 41 with a 2.09 ERA and gone 3-0 in three World Series starts and a 0.87 ERA (still 4th on that list) - and amassing 29.2 consecutive scoreless World Series innings, broken only by Whitey Ford. Imagine if after the 1988 season, Dwight Gooden stopped pitching and became Barry Bonds. Was Ruth's early prowess as a pitcher a fluke? I don't think so; he won all four games he pitched in while with the Yankees, including complete his three starts.
also, did you know that ruth held the record for most put outs for a left fielder? i believe that's the case. it was in Mercurio's "Chronology of Major League Baseball Records."
September 5th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Of course, Dwight Gooden didn't become a HOF pitcher...