A-Rod 1, Bambino 0, Iron Horse 5
Posted by Steve Lombardi on October 15, 2007
How many players in baseball history have managed seasons where they had 700+ PA and an OPS+ of 180 or greater? Not many. In fact, thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder, we know that it's only happened 15 times in big league history:
Cnt Player Year PA OPS+ 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 Alex Rodriguez 2007 708 183 31 NYY AL 158 583 143 183 31 0 54 156 95 11 120 21 0 9 15 24 4 .314 .422 .645 1.067 *5/D 2 Sammy Sosa 2001 711 201 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 Carlos Delgado 2000 711 182 28 TOR AL 162 569 115 196 57 1 41 137 123 18 104 15 0 4 12 0 1 .344 .470 .664 1.134 *3 4 Frank Thomas 1991 700 180 23 CHW AL 158 559 104 178 31 2 32 109 138 13 112 1 0 2 20 1 2 .318 .453 .553 1.006 *D3 5 Ted Williams 1949 730 192 30 BOS AL 155 566 150 194 39 3 43 159 162 0 48 2 0 0 22 1 1 .343 .490 .650 1.140 *7 6 Stan Musial 1946 702 183 25 STL NL 156 624 124 228 50 20 16 103 73 0 31 3 2 0 7 7 0 .365 .434 .587 1.021 *37 7 Stan Musial 1943 701 180 22 STL NL 157 617 108 220 48 20 13 81 72 0 18 2 10 0 17 9 0 .357 .425 .562 .987 *978 8 Lou Gehrig 1936 719 190 33 NYY AL 155 579 167 205 37 7 49 152 130 0 46 7 3 0 0 3 4 .354 .478 .696 1.174 *3 9 Lou Gehrig 1932 708 181 29 NYY AL 156 596 138 208 42 9 34 151 108 0 38 3 1 0 0 4 11 .349 .451 .621 1.072 *3 10 Jimmie Foxx 1932 701 205 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 11 Lou Gehrig 1931 738 195 28 NYY AL 155 619 163 211 31 15 46 184 117 0 56 0 2 0 0 17 12 .341 .446 .662 1.108 *3/9 12 Lou Gehrig 1930 703 203 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 13 Lou Gehrig 1927 717 221 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 14 Rogers Hornsby 1922 704 207 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 15 Ty Cobb 1915 700 185 28 DET AL 156 563 144 208 31 13 3 99 118 0 43 10 9 0 0 96 38 .369 .486 .487 .973 *8
Note that Babe Ruth never did it. And, check out Carlos Delgado. How many would have assumed him to be up there on this list? The king here, of course, is a horse - the Iron Horse...Mr. Gehrig.
Lou Gehrig carried a big stick and brought it out to play, everyday.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Lou Gehrig is my all-time favorite player. By far. Always has been. Always will be. He's on your list at the age of 24, and he's on your list at the age of 33. He's on your list three seasons in a row (1930 to 1932). That's as impressive as Hornsby hitting .400 when you combine Rajah's 1921 to 1925 numbers. I love Hornsby too. How amazing is Musial? He accomplished this rare feat at age 22! *and* he only struck out 18 times that year!!
Baseball sure has changed. When the deadball era ended, deadball strategies still existed. Note Gehrigs 21 Sac Hits in 1927. Imagine Frank Thomas being asked to sac bunt on a weekly basis.
By the way, I looked up Ruth. Ruth never reached 700 PAs in a season, which I find very interesting.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:26 am
That Delgado season is classic, one of the top 25 or so ever, offensively.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Although Ruth never made the arbitrary 700 PA, he was over 675 many times and his OPS+ was far better than most of the people on this list. He is still the greatest player of all time.
It's too bad that Delgado's amazing season is totally forgotten. If not for all the steroid talk, we might hear more about these things.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Well, some accuse him of "juicing" when they look at that season.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Well, by the 2000 season, the entire league was composed of lying cheaters - so he was probably on a level playing field. (Only being partly sarcastic here.)
October 15th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Musial's '43 has to be downgraded slightly due to the WWII competition. His '48 was his best season (and one of my favorite statistical lines), but he was 6 PA short of qualifying for this list.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Is there such a thing as having to "downgrade slightly" for OPS+? Isn't the point of OPS+ that it takes a particular season's quirks into account?
October 15th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
OPS+ just compares a player's park-adjusted OPS to the league OPS. Any other "quirks" have to be noted by the historians. The quality of play wasn't as high when players were in the military; no stat can clearly account for that. If Musial played against little leaguers his OPS+ would be about 8,000.