Baseball is a unique sport when compared to the other major sports. No one would dare say Wilt Chamberlain or Johnny Unitas is the greatest player ever in their respective sport, but we’re pushing nearly an entire century since Babe Ruth last suited up, and he’s still the consensus best player of all-time.
Ruth was part of the original 1936 Hall of Fame class that saw five members elected. There are now 235 such major league players, and I attempted to rank all of them in reverse order. Making the Hall is an incredible accomplishment by itself, and it’s better to be the worst player in Cooperstown than not be in at all. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t undeserving players.
Pre-sabermetrics, voters often looked at simple numbers like home runs and wins. Now we’re blessed with in-depth websites that tell you everything from launch angle to batting average on balls in play (BABIP) to average spin rate on a curveball.
I looked at both traditional stats and sabermetrics, along with awards, impact on championship teams, and positional value, while also doing my best to factor in unquantifiable intangibles – how did peers around the league view said player?
While I have no doubt that Negro League players like Cool Papa Bell, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Oscar Charleston would have excelled in the major leagues, I did not include them in this ranking. I also did not factor in pioneers/executives, managers, or umpires.
A few statistics explained:
WAR: Wins Above Replacement; a measure of the amount of wins a player contributes to his team in a given season compared to that of a player that could be called up from Triple-A; this factors in batting, fielding, baserunning, and positional value; 60 WAR is traditionally the benchmark for a HOF player
WAA: Wins Above Average; a measure of the amount of wins a player contributes to his team in a given season compared to that of an average major league player; a player can have a positive WAR and a negative WAA
JAWS: an invention by Jay Jaffe that combines a player’s career WAR with his WAR from his seven peak years and averages them out
OPS+: a player’s on-base percentage + slugging percentage combined and then compared to the league at the time; an average mark is 100 while 110 is considered to be 10 percent above average and 90 is 10 percent below average
ERA+: a pitcher’s ERA when compared to the league at the time; an average mark is 100 while 110 is considered to be 10 percent above average and 90 is 10 percent below average
Click here to read Part I (#235-201), Part II (#200-151), and Part III (#150-101).
The Rankings
100. Ron Santo, 3B, 1960-1974
Stats: .277/.362/.464, 342 HR, 1,331 RBI, 125 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 70.5 WAR, 36.8 WAA, 62.2 JAWS, 5.09 WAR/162
There’s no logical reason it took Ron Santo 38 years to get into the Hall of Fame. The influx of WAR in today’s era has opened up the candidacy of players like Bobby Grich and Bill Dahlen, whose traditional counting stats fly under the radar. But that shouldn’t have been the case with Santo, who hit 342 home runs, won five Gold Gloves at the hot corner, and played his whole career in the same city.
Santo averaged 25 HR/96 RBI over a 13-year span, doing so in the pitching-heavy 1960s National League. He led the league in walks four times and finished his career with a 125 adjusted OPS. Santo was perennially rated among the best defensive third basemen in the league, leading the NL in putouts/assists/double plays/and range factor per game a combined 27 times.
And he was popular for more than just his raw numbers. He popularized the famous ‘heel click’ during the 1969 Cubs’ run. He was the first player to invoke his 10-and-5 rights to veto a trade. And he was the first known player to play through diabetes.
99. Pud Galvin, SP, 1875-1892
Stats: 365-310, 2.85 ERA, 6,003.1 IP, 1,807 K, 1.191 WHIP, 107 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 73.4 WAR, 26.4 WAA, 67.7 JAWS
It’s hard to look at the stats of Pud Galvin and realize it’s the same game we watch today. Galvin pitched in a time period when there were only two-man rotations, and as a result, he averaged 495 innings for a decade. Galvin completed 94 percent of his starts. He once threw 72 complete games in a 97-game season. Those numbers are just unreal.
Surprisingly enough, Galvin’s career ERA is only seven percent above league average, and he was actually exactly average over the last eight seasons. He lost a ton of games, losing the second-most ever at 310. And he’s actually the first known player to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
98. Joe Gordon, 2B, 1938-1950
Stats: .268/.357/.466, 253 HR, 975 RBI, 120 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 57.2 WAR, 37.2 WAA, 51.6 JAWS, 5.92 WAR/162
Joe Gordon missed two full years due to WWII and then retired at age 35, giving him one of the shorter careers of any Hall of Famer. But on an efficiency basis, he was a spectacular player who benefited from the new wave of sabermetrics, eventually earning enshrinement nearly 60 years after he played his last game.
Gordon was a power-hitting second baseman, which puts him in a rare group throughout baseball history. When he retired, there were seven seasons in which an AL second baseman had hit 25 or more home runs; Gordon had five of them. He won the 1942 AL MVP, led the Yankees to four World Series titles and the Indians to another, and ranks as one of the greatest glovesman of any era.
97. Lou Boudreau, SS, 1938-1952
Stats: .295/.380/.415, 68 HR, 789 RBI, 120 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 63.0 WAR, 42.2 WAA, 55.9 JAWS, 6.20 WAR/162
A teammate of Joe Gordon’s on the Cleveland Indians, Lou Boudreau’s 1948 season had everything you could ask for from a baseball player. He batted a ridiculous .355/.453/.534 with 18 HR/106 RBI, drew 98 walks to just nine strikeouts (!), and added a Gold Glove-quality 20 defensive runs saved. All that produced a 10.4 WAR, at the time the 20th best season ever by any player ever. Oh, and Boudreau also managed the team to a World Series title.
Boudreau’s prime was shorter than the average Hall of Famer, but he was every bit as dynamic. His ten-year peak WAR of 60.0 is greater than all but three HOF shortstops (Honus Wagner, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Arky Vaughan). And the only shortstop to average more WAA per 162 games than Boudreau’s 4.15 is Wagner.
96. Jim Thome, 1B, 1991-2012
Stats: .276/.402/.554, 612 HR, 1,699 RBI, 147 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 72.9 WAR, 37.6 WAA, 57.3 JAWS, 4.64 WAR/162
Jim Thome’s plate appearances were fairly easy to predict. He would hit a home run. He would walk. Or he would strike out. An incredible 47.58 percent of his plate appearances were one of the three true outcomes. The only other Hall of Famer to even be above 40 percent is Mickey Mantle.
Thome’s current ranks on the all-time lists are impressive: He’s eighth in home runs, seventh in walks, and second in strikeouts. And he’s one of only four players with 500 home runs and at least 1,500 runs/RBIs/walks. The fact that he was a PED-clean free player during the steroid era helped him get in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
95. Alan Trammell, SS, 1977-1996
Stats: .285/.352/.415, 185 HR, 1,003 RBI, 110 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 70.7 WAR, 40.4 WAA, 57.8 JAWS, 4.99 WAR/162
There’s absolutely no way Alan Trammell would be in the Hall of Fame without advanced sabermetrics that highlight his all-around greatness. And if a player needs the ‘stat nerds’ to state his case, does that mean his case is less than that of others?
It shouldn’t. Not every player can post a shiny .350 batting average or hit 500 home runs. Sometimes, it takes a little bit of digging to recognize a player’s case.
Trammell spent 20 years as the shortstop for Detroit, and while he was never even the best shortstop in the American League (thanks to Cal Ripken, Jr.), does that mean Trammell couldn’t still have been putting forth a Hall of Fame case one year at a time? There have only been 11 players in history to play at least 20 seasons all with the same team while putting up over 70 WAR, and Trammell is one of them.
He came close to reaching 200 HR/200 SB. He won four Gold Gloves in the field and probably deserved more. He won the 1984 World Series MVP, hitting .450/.500/.800 in the five-game series. He’s the 6rfect example where the sum of the parts was enough to earn him a pass to Cooperstown.
94. Barry Larkin, SS, 1986-2004
Stats: .295/.371/.444, 198 HR, 960 RBI, 116 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 70.4 WAR, 42.5 WAA, 56.8 JAWS, 5.23 WAR/162
The similarities between Alan Trammell and Barry Larkin are uncanny; both were 6’0” shortstops who played 20 or so years for exactly one team, won a World Series, and finished with right around 70 WAR. Larkin gets the slight nod over Trammell for a higher career OPS+, Wins Above Average, and the fact that he won a regular-season MVP award.
Like Trammell, Larkin really had no weaknesses as a player. He batted .295 for his career with a fine walk rate plus good power and speed. Baseball Reference credits him with being worth 80 runs above average on the basepaths, the seventh-best total of any player ever. Factor in three Gold Gloves and a .338 lifetime postseason batting average, and Larkin is an easy Hall of Fame pick.
93. Rube Waddell, SP, 1897-1910
Stats: 193-143, 2.16 ERA, 2961.1 IP, 2,316 K, 1.102 WHIP, 135 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 58.4 WAR, 32.3 WAA, 54.0 JAWS
They’ll never make a 30 for 30 about a pitcher that pitched over 100 years ago, but Rube Waddell’s antics are legendary. He would often leave games early to go fishing. He would run off the mound to chase fire trucks that drove by the stadium. He wrestled alligators in the circus during the offseason. His roommate on the road had a clause put in his contract that prevented Waddell from eating crackers in bed (you can’t make this stuff up). Oh, and Waddell was one of the finest pitchers of his era.
Batters didn’t really strike out a lot during the Dead Ball Era. But Waddell was a master at getting whiffs. He led the AL in strikeouts six straight times and he led all of the major leagues in the final five. His 349 strikeouts in 1904 stood as a modern record until Sandy Koufax broke it in 1965. And he led the league in strikeout rate in eight of his 10 seasons as a starter.
He led the league in WAR three straight years and would have won at least that many Cy Youngs had they existed. And curiously enough about Waddell, he never pitched in the postseason. The Philadelphia A’s made the World Series in 1905 but baseball lore has it that Waddell was bribed not to pitch – and he didn’t.
92. Frank Baker, 3B, 1908-1922
Stats: .307/.363/.442, 96 HR, 991 RBI, 135 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 62.8 WAR, 36.9 WAA, 54.8 JAWS, 6.46 WAR/162
Frank Baker was so good at hitting home runs that he earned the nickname Home Run Baker. That’s what happens when you lead the league in homers in four straight years and the great Walter Johnson calls you the most dangerous hitter he ever faced.
Baker’s 96 career home runs may not seem like a lot, but don’t forget that he played in the pre-Babe Ruth Dead Ball Era. Baker missed two full seasons when he was still a productive player – one after a contract dispute (1915) and one grieving the death of his wife (1920), so his 62.8 WAR would have likely approached the 70 WAR barrier otherwise.
As it stands, his standout offensive prowess and solid glove at third base gives him one of the 25 highest WAR/162 averages (6.46) ever among HOF position players.
91. Ivan Rodriguez, C, 1991-2011
Stats: .296/.334/.464, 311 HR, 1,332 RBI, 106 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 68.7 WAR, 33.4 WAA, 54.2 JAWS, 4.38 WAR/162
Ivan Rodriguez started his major league career in 1991 as the youngest catcher in the game and retired 20 years later as arguably the greatest dual threat catcher of all-time. He was a .296 career hitter who hit over 300 home runs and ranks first among all catchers in games, runs, hits, doubles, extra-base hits, and total bases.
Catchers don’t typically win MVP awards, but I-Rod’s ’99 season made him a deserving winner. He hit 35 home runs with 113 RBIs, became the first backstopper ever to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases, and played arguably his best overall defense. When he retired, Rodriguez was credited with 147 defensive runs saved and 13 Gold Gloves, validating the claim that he was the best defensive catcher in the game for two decades.
90. Tom Glavine, SP, 1987-2008
Stats: 305-203, 3.54 ERA, 4,413.1 IP, 2,607 K, 1.314 WHIP, 118 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 80.7 WAR, 45.6 WAA, 62.4 JAWS
Tom Glavine was one-third of the Atlanta Braves’ devastating pitching rotation in the 1990s. He wasn’t Greg Maddux, but he won a pair of Cy Youngs, led the NL in wins five times – more than Maddux or John Smoltz – and he was the winning pitcher (and series MVP) in Atlanta’s only World Series championship with the trio in 1995.
Glavine did all this by simply pitching to contact and inducing groundballs. His career strikeout rate is just 5.3 batters per nine innings and he never reached 200 in a season, giving him the highest career Fielding Independent Pitching (3.95) of any Hall of Fame pitcher in the last 75 years. But Glavine was also incredible durable, leading the league in games started six times and never once going on the DL until his age-42 campaign.
89. Roy Halladay, SP, 1998-2013
Stats: 203-105, 3.38 ERA, 2,749.1 IP, 2,117 K, 1.178 WHIP, 131 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 64.2 WAR, 39.3 WAA, 57.4 JAWS
The late great Roy Halladay was an enigma, flaming out a few years into his major league career with a 10.64 ERA that still stands as the highest single-season mark in baseball history for a pitcher with at least 50 innings pitched. But when he put it all together, he became an absolute workhorse with a computer memory who spent a decade as the best pitcher in baseball.
Halladay won the 2003 Cy Young with Toronto and then the 2010 Cy Young in his first year with Philadelphia. Over a nine-year stretch, he led his league in complete games seven times. He controlled the strike zone like a pro, leading the league in K:BB ratio five times, tying for the most times doing so of any pitcher since 1950. His 62.5 WAR from 2002 through 2011 was 12 more than the next-best pitcher (Johan Santana).
And it was what he did in the 2010 postseason with the Phillies that solidified him as a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. After throwing the 20th perfect game in MLB history in May, he threw a no-hitter in his first-ever postseason start in October. For his playoff career, he’s 3-2 with a 2.37 ERA in five starts.
88. Edgar Martinez, DH, 1987-2004
Stats: .312/.418/.515, 309 HR, 1,261 RBI, 147 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 68.4 WAR, 38.6 WAA, 56.0 JAWS, 5.39 WAR/162
Edgar Martinez’s admission to the Hall of Fame was a win for designated hitters everywhere, and the best part is that the statistics show Martinez deserved Cooperstown. He was overshadowed as a player because of the fact that he played with Ken Griffey, Jr., but would you believe that over a 10-year span from 1990-’99, Martinez beat Griffey head-to-head in batting average (.322 to .302), on-base percentage (.430 to .384), and OPS+ (154 to 152)?
Martinez finished his career with a .312/.418/.515 line to go with 309 home runs. The only players in baseball history to match Martinez in those categories are Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, and Lou Gehrig. Martinez also had the most famous hit in Seattle baseball history, a game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the 11th inning to win Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS playoff series – and possibly save baseball in Seattle.
Martinez’s defense or lack of even playing the field regularly has to be factored in. Baseball Reference’s WAR calculations factor in an obvious positional deduction for Martinez, but even with over a decade as primarily a DH, Martinez still comes up with 68.7 WAR. Interestingly enough, when Martinez actually did play third base, he registered at +17 career defensive runs saved.
87. Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, SP, 1903-1916
Stats: 239-130, 2.06 ERA, 3,172.1 IP, 1,375 K, 1.066 WHIP, 138 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 58.4 WAR, 35.3 WAA, 51.0 JAWS
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Or if you’re a young Mordecai Brown, when you accidentally lose two fingers in a childhood farming accident, you learn how to throw a devastating curveball and have a Hall of Fame career.
In terms of sheer run prevention, Three Finger Brown is the sixth-best of all-time. His 2.06 ERA is even lower than Christy Mathewson (2.13), Walter Johnson (2.17), or the great Mariano Rivera (2.21). When you adjust for the Dead Ball Era, Brown still ranks 18th-best all-time in ERA+. And his 1906 season in which he compiled a 1.04 ERA in 277.1 innings is the second-lowest in modern baseball history and the best ever for a National League pitcher.
Brown was an underrated big game pitcher as well. He helped lead Chicago to three consecutive World Series (and four of five), and threw a shutout in his lone start in both 1907 and 1908.
86. Billy Hamilton, CF, 1888-1901
Stats: .344/.455/.432, 40 HR, 742 RBI, 141 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 63.4 WAR, 39.5 WAA, 53.6 JAWS, 6.44 WAR/162
Sliding Billy Hamilton was a one-of-a-kind baseball player. Few players in history have combined his insane ability to hit for average (a lifetime .344 mark that ranks as the seventh-best total ever), reach base (a .455 on-base percentage that ranks fourth), or steal bases (914, the third-most ever).
Hamilton once scored an all-time single-season record 198 runs in just 132 games. For his career, he averaged over one run scored per game. Scoring was much more potent back in the 1890s, but still, Hamilton was the best of the best at reaching home plate. He stole 100 bases four times, more than even the great Rickey Henderson did it. Even with his extreme lack of power (just 40 lifetime home runs), he still put forth a Hall of Fame-worthy 141 OPS+.
85. Frankie Frisch, 2B, 1919-1937
Stats: .316/.369/.432, 105 HR, 1,244 RBI, 110 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 70.4 WAR, 39.1 WAA, 57.4 JAWS, 4.94 WAR/162
Frank Francis Frisch, nicknamed The Fordham Flash, was a do-everything second baseman who fits well in the Hall of Fame. He was a .316 career hitter, playing long and well enough to push for 3,000 hits. He had limited power, but solid plate discipline, an extremely low strikeout rate, and tremendous speed on the basepaths.
Frisch’s glove work was exceptional. His total of 140 fielding runs suggests he would have won close to a dozen Gold Gloves had they existed, and his 37 defensive runs saved in 1927 is the No. 1 defensive season by any second baseman ever. He led the New York Giants/St. Louis Cardinals to eight World Series appearances over a 14-year span and holds the record for most career hits in the World Series by a non-New York Yankees player (58).
After retiring, Frisch worked as a manager, color commentator, and then a member of the Veterans Committee where he spent years seemingly advocating for anyone who had played with him on either the Giants or Cardinals.
84. Tony Gwynn, RF, 1982-2001
Stats: .338/.388/.459, 135 HR, 1,138 RBI, 132 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 69.2 WAR, 36.8 WAA, 55.3 JAWS, 4.59 WAR/162
Tony Gwynn’s biggest strength is a tremendous .338 lifetime batting average, the highest mark by any player who debuted after World War II. Gwynn won eight batting titles, hit .300 for 17 straight years, topped .350 seven times, and put forth a real run at .400 in the strike-shortened 1994 season when he finished at .394. Most impressively about Gwynn, he had a significantly higher batting average after turning 33 (.356) than he did before 33 (.327).
Gwynn’s remarkable bat control (only 434 career strikeouts as well) was fairly offset by limited power and a low walk rate. He did run the bases surprisingly well for a player whose body didn’t age well, stealing 319 bases, including 56 in one year. Gwynn won (and probably deserved) five Gold Gloves in left/right field, although his defensive metrics faded quickly as he aged and put on weight.
Still, being a one-team superstar and a fan favorite put Gwynn in the Hall of Fame on the first try at a near-98 percent success rate.
83. Juan Marichal, SP, 1960-1975
Stats: 243-142, 2.89 ERA, 3,507 IP, 2,303 K, 1,101 WHIP, 123 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 62.9 WAR, 30.9 WAA, 57.4 JAWS
Juan Marichal’s career spanned the primes of Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson, and yet it was Marichal who led the entire sport in wins (191) for the decade of the 1960s. Marichal is well-known for two aspects: He’s one of the best pitchers to ever pitch in the Cy Young era and never win the award, and he had one of the highest leg kicks you’ll ever see during his windup.
Marichal never led the league in WAR, but he received MVP votes in seven different seasons. He had exceptional control, leading the NL in walk rate on four occasions. He once outdueled Hall of Famer Warren Spahn in a 16-inning double shutout in 1963 before Willie Mays homered off Spahn to win the game. And he unfortunately gave us one of the all-time ugliest moments when he hit catcher John Roseboro in the head twice with his bat (Marichal was batting), getting suspended for eight games.
Marichal was passed over for the Hall of Fame vote in his first two years of eligibility – likely due to the Roseboro incident – but eventually made it with 83.7 percent of the vote.
82. Ryne Sandberg, 2B, 1981-1997
Stats: .285/.344/.452, 282 HR, 1,061 RBI, 114 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 68.0 WAR, 38.5 WAA, 57.6 JAWS, 5.09 WAR/162
Ryne Sandberg was one of the more complete do-all baseball players in modern baseball history, winning an MVP award, earning nine Gold Gloves, and making every All-Star team for a decade in a row. That’s not bad production for a guy the Phillies gave away as a throw-in in a 1982 trade to Chicago.
Sandberg narrowly missed the 300 HR/300 SB club, finishing at 282/344. He’s one of only three players in history to hit at least 40 home runs in one season and steal 50 bases in another. And over a 10-year span from 1984-1993, Sandberg was second to only Barry Bonds among NL players in WAR. It’s a wonder he debuted on the BBWAA ballot with only 49.2 percent of the votes in 2003, although he earned the necessary 75 percent votes within just two years.
81. Luke Appling, SS, 1930-1950
Stats: .310/.399/.398, 45 HR, 1,116 RBI, 113 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 74.4 WAR, 41.4 WAA, 59.1 JAWS, 4.98 WAR/162
One of the most impressive things Luke Appling ever did was hitting a home run as a 75-year-old off Warren Spahn in the Old-Timers Game in 1982. He also allegedly fouled off 24 consecutive pitches in one at-bat, which demonstrates some pretty solid bat control if it’s true.
Based on his 21-year playing career, Appling has a case to be mentioned as one of the five greatest shortstops of all-time. He was a .310 career hitter who won two batting titles, drew a lot of walks primarily as a leadoff hitter, and finished with 2,749 hits. His .388 batting average in 1936 is the highest batting average ever by a shortstop in the modern era.
And Appling was sharp with the glove, finishing his career with +41 defensive runs saved. When he retired, Appling held the major league record for games played and double plays turned by a shortstop. They used to call him “Old Aches and Pains” when he played because he was said to be always complaining about some sort of an injury. But when you suit up in over 2,400 games and put up a 5.0 WAR season at age 42, you’re a pretty tough player.
80. Old Hoss Radbourn, SP, 1881-1891
Stats: 310-194. 2.68 ERA, 4,527.1 IP, 1,830 K, 1.149 WHIP, 119 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 75.4 WAR, 37.8 WAA, 71.3 JAWS
The more removed we get from 1884, the more impressive Charley Radbourn’s season seems. Known as Old Hoss, Radbourn pitched in 75 games, making 73 starts and completing all 73. He threw 678.2 innings, struck out 441 batters, and most remarkably, was credited with 60 wins.
Baseball lore has it that the other pitcher on Radbourn’s team unexpectedly quit the team and Radbourn started 40 of the team’s final 43 games in a pennant race, winning 36 of them. As a result, Radbourn’s arm was so sore most mornings that he couldn’t lift it up above his head when he woke up. It took him hours to warm up before pitching every day. Oh, and he did all that in ’84 for $3,000.
It’s a far cry from today’s five starting pitcher rotation in which the bullpen becomes a primary factor from the sixth inning on and the elite closers make $10 million per year. Among Radbourn’s other achievements are 310 wins, a pitching Triple Crown, a no-hitter, and 22 scoreless innings in the 1884 World Series.
79. Reggie Jackson, RF, 1967-1987
Stats: .262/.356/.490, 563 HR, 1,702 RBI, 139 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 74.0 WAR, 35.4 WAA, 60.4 JAWS, 4.25 WAR/162
When Reggie Jackson retired after 1987, he was sixth on the all-time home run list, trailing just Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, and Harmon Killebrew.
Jackson averaged 28 per year over a 20-year span, led the league on four occasions and with three different teams, and was arguably the greatest World Series performer of the last 50 years. He batted an absurd .357/.457/.755 with 10 home runs in 116 career plate appearances, including multiple World Series MVPs and the nickname “Mr. October”.
Mr. October was also a controversial figure who sometimes played halfhearted defense and finished with -16.4 defensive WAR in right field while leading his position in errors eight times. He was a free swinger who missed a lot, resulting in a still-standing major league record 2,597 strikeouts. His .262 batting average is low, but then again, he’s in the Hall for his home runs, not his contact rate.
78. Paul Molitor, 3B, 1978-1998
Stats: .306/.369/.448, 234 HR, 1,307 RBI, 122 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 75.7 WAR, 37.4 WAA, 57.7 JAWS, 4.57 WAR/162
It’s odd that a player like Paul Molitor came up as a second baseman/shortstop, played a little center field, then shifted to third base and first base before ultimately playing more games as a DH than anywhere else. His defensive versatility was impressive nonetheless, and he did so while rating per Baseball Reference as +8 defensive runs saved for his career.
Offensively though was where Molitor did his best work, batting .306 for his career while amassing over 3,300 hits. Only six other players ever have topped that hit total while maintaining an equal batting average. Molitor’s counting stats are pretty hard to believe: over 1,700 runs scored, 605 doubles, and 234 home runs with 504 steals.
77. John Clarkson, SP, 1882-1894
Stats: 328-178, 2.81 ERA, 4,536.1 IP, 1,978 K, 1.209 WHIP, 133 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 83.2 WAR, 45.2 WAA, 78.9 JAWS
Nineteenth century baseball doesn’t get more nineteenth century than John Clarkson, the 5’7”, 155-pound pitcher who somehow was able to throw 600 innings in a season twice and average 53 complete games over an eight-year period.
Clarkson’s 53 wins in 1885 are the second-highest single-season total in league history. He led the league in innings four times in five years. He once threw a lemon instead of a baseball to convince the umpire that it was too dark to play baseball. And he was declared legally insane and spent the final few years of his life in an insane asylum before dying of pneumonia at age 47.
76. Tim Keefe, SP, 1880-1893
Stats: 342-225, 2.63 ERA, 5,049.2 IP, 2,564 K, 1.123 WHIP, 126 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 86.9 WAR, 48.8 WAA, 76.7 JAWS
Interesting fact about Tim Keefe: If you look at every season in major league history in which a pitcher threw 100 or more innings, Keefe’s 0.86 ERA in 1880 is the best ever – and most incredibly, Keefe did this as a rookie. Keefe led the NL in ERA three times during the 1880s and impressively enough, led the league in fewest hits allowed per nine innings on six different occasions.
Keefe posted traditional workhorse statistics, topping 400 innings in seven seasons and throwing a complete game in over 90 percent of his stats. His total of 342 wins still stands as the tenth-best mark ever. And he did this in a career that spanned from the 45 foot pitching distance to 50 to 60 feet, six inches.
75. Robin Yount, SS, 1974-1993
Stats: .285/.342/.430, 251 HR, 1,406 RBI, 115 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 77.3 WAR, 37.4 WAA, 62.3 JAWS, 4.38 WAR/162
Not many players in history have had Robin Yount’s defensive versatility – he was a Gold Glove shortstop for the first decade of his career, then transitioned to center field for the back half. He won an MVP award as a shortstop in ’82, then as a center fielder in ’89, which makes him one of four players in history to win MVPs at different positions.
It’s surprising that Yount made just three All-Star teams in his 20-year career. But he put up some pretty solid counting stats by the time he was done – 3,142 hits and close to 1,000 of them for extra bases. He’s one of only three players ever with 125 triples/250 home runs/250 steals in his career. Yount never won a World Series with Milwaukee but he’s a .344 career postseason hitter in 74 plate appearances.
74. Yogi Berra, C, 1946-1965
Stats: .285/.348/.482, 358 HR, 1,430 RBI, 125 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 59.8 WAR, 34.4 WAA, 49.1 JAWS, 4.57 WAR/162
A pint-sized 5’7” man known more for his post-career Yogisms (“It ain’t over til’ it’s over”), Yogi Berra was the best catcher of the first 100 years of major league baseball. He won three MVP awards, finished in the top four in voting for seven consecutive seasons, and earned MVP votes an AL-record 15 straight years.
Berra never even whiffed 40 times in a year and had more home runs than strikeouts on five occasions. Berra also played 140 games regularly at the hardest defensive position on the field, which is a testament to his durability.
Berra holds major league records for World Series appearances (14), wins (10), games played (75), at-bats (259), hits (71), and putouts (457). He famously caught Don Larsen’s perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.
73. Derek Jeter, SS, 1995-2014
Stats: .310/.377/.440, 260 HR, 1,311 RBI, 115 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 71.3 WAR, 29.9 WAA, 56.9 JAWS, 4.20 WAR/162
For two decades, Derek Jeter was the perfect New York Yankee. He’s a career .310 hitter who batted 12 times, topped 200 hits eight times, and finished sixth all-time in hits (3,465). For 15 consecutive seasons, he posted double-digit home runs and steals. He never won an MVP but earned votes in three different decades and earned 14 All-Star selections.
In the postseason, few players were better suited for the big stage than Jeter. He led the Yankees to five World Series championships (including four in his first five full seasons). He batted .308 career in October games, .321 in seven World Series, and was the 2000 World Series MVP (.409 in five games).
His defense was always a controversial topic; while he won five Gold Gloves largely due to his persona, offensive success, and low error totals, he also cost his team more runs in the field (-253) than any player in baseball history per Baseball Reference. That’s not hyperbole either; most teams would move a shortstop with no range to an easier position, but the Yankees even shifted A-Rod to third base to keep Jeter at shortstop. Whether it be by UZR, FanGraphs, FieldingBible.com, or any of the other advanced metrics, Jeter rated as a vastly inferior defender, but it’s not enough to keep him out of the top 75 Hall of Famers who ever lived.
72. Sam Crawford, RF, 1899-1917
Stats: .309/.362/.452, 97 HR, 1,523 RBI, 144 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 75.2 WAR, 34.9 WAA, 57.4 JAWS, 4.84 WAR/162
Wahoo Sam Crawford’s biggest claim to fame is being the all-time major league record holder in career triples (309). It’s such an insane total that will never be approached again; it took 17 years of Crawford averaging 18 triples per year to reach that plateau. Six times he led the league. Few players have ever been as good at anything as Crawford was at hitting triples.
Crawford was also a .309 career hitter (ironically, the same number of triples he hit) who just barely missed 3,000 hits. When he retired, his 2,961 total hits ranked as the fourth-highest total of all-time. And his 144 OPS+ is still above notable Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Eddie Collins.
71. Harry Heilmann, RF, 1914-1932
Stats: .342/.410/.520, 183 HR, 1,543 RBI, 148 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 72.2 WAR, 38.7 WAA, 59.7 JAWS, 5.45 WAR/162
Some interesting facts about Harry Heilmann: He batted .390 four times in a seven-year span, winning the batting title each time, and twice preventing Babe Ruth from winning the Triple Crown. His .342 career batting average is the 12th-best mark in baseball history, and the only right-handed batters with a higher average are Rogers Hornsby and Ed Delahanty.
Playing in an era with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig kept Heilmann from winning an MVP award but he still finished in the fop five on four occasions and led the AL in WAR in 1925. When Heilmann retired after 1932, he ranked sixth in doubles and RBIs, and even seventh in home runs.
70. Carl Hubbell, SP, 1928-1943
Stats: 253-154, 2.98 ERA, 3,590.1 IP, 1,677 K, 1.166 WHIP, 130 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 68.2 WAR, 37.8 WAA, 57.9 JAWS
Carl Hubbell owns one of the most amazing accomplishments a pitcher can possibly do – he took home not one, but two Most Valuable Player awards in his career. This was before the Cy Young award existed, but still, it’s always been rare for a pitcher to win the MVP. Just 25 individual pitcher seasons in history have resulted in a league MVP, and Hubbell is one of only two pitchers to win multiple MVPs.
Hubbell pitched his whole career for one team, leading the NL in wins three times and WHIP six times. No pitcher in the history of the National League has led the league in WHIP as many times as Hubbell – not Christy Mathewson, not Greg Maddux, not Tom Seaver.
Hubbell once won 24 straight games. He led the league in complete games and shutouts in the same season. He famously struck out five straight batters in the 1934 All-Star Game. And one of the most unique aspects of all this is that he did it with his primary pitch as a screwball, a pitch that is rarely even thrown anymore.
69. Paul Waner, RF, 1926-1945
Stats: .333/.404/.473, 113 HR, 1,309 RBI, 134 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 72.8 WAR, 38.7 WAA, 57.5 JAWS, 4.63 WAR/162
For just a 5’8”, 153-pound man, Paul Waner sure packed a punch in his swing. He averaged 200 hits over his first 14 seasons. He won three batting titles and finished his career with a .333 batting average. Only six players have ever had as many plate appearances as Waner while maintaining as high of a batting average.
Waner won an MVP award, which gives him the slight edge over similar players such as Sam Crawford and Harry Heilmann. He retired fifth on the all-time list with 605 doubles. His year-to-year consistency was unparalleled, as he never topped 7.0 WAR in a single season but averaged 5.4 over a 12-year span. This Waner was commonly called Big Poison while his brother Lloyd was Little Poison; they’re one of only two pairs of brothers to both be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
68. Frank Thomas, 1B, 1990-2008
Stats: .301/.419/.555, 521 HR, 1,703 RBI, 156 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 73.9 WAR, 39.3 WAA, 59.7 JAWS, 5.16 WAR/162
Imagine being a pitcher and seeing a guy come to the plate who stood 6’5” and weighed 275 pounds, and probably could have played in the NFL as a tight end.
Frank Thomas had seven consecutive seasons collecting at least 100 runs, 20 HR, 100 RBIs, 100 walks, and a .300 batting average. He won multiple MVPs by age 25. He led the league in walks, on-base percentage, and OPS four times each – the only other players ever to do that are Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, and Ted Williams.. Thomas finished his career with a ridiculous .301/.419/.555 statline, 521 home runs, and a 156 adjusted OPS (a higher lifetime mark than Hank Aaron).
Thomas was limited as a non-hitter. He’s one of only two Hall of Famers ever to account for -20 runs or worse as a baserunner, via double plays, as a fielder, and for positional value. But when you provide the kind of offensive value that Thomas did, it’s enough to still rank this high.
67. Ed Delahanty, LF, 1888-1903
Stats: .346/.411/.505, 101 HR, 1,466 RBI, 152 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 69.7 WAR, 41.9 WAA, 59.2 JAWS, 6.15 WAR/162
Ed Delahanty is one of the best pure hitters to ever play baseball, but because he played most of his career in the 19th century, he’s often overlooked on all-time lists. There’s no denying his greatness though, even in the pre-modern era. Delahanty batted .400 three times in a six-year span and finished his career with a .346 lifetime batting average, the fifth-highest total of all-time.
This wasn’t a hollow batting average either; Delahanty had a .411 on-base percentage and .505 slugging percentage, which comes out to a ridiculous 152 OPS+. Players didn’t hit 40 home runs in a season back then but Delahanty still had enough power to lead the league in doubles fives times, triples once, homers twice, and extra-base hits three times. He’s also the only player ever to hit four doubles and four home runs in separate games.
Delahanty inexplicably died at age 35 while still an active player, tragically drowning in Niagara Falls. It’s reasonable to conclude he lost at least 15 WAR to his career totals.
66. Robin Roberts, SP, 1948-1966
Stats: 286-245, 3.41 ERA, 4,688.2 IP, 2,357 K, 1.170 WHIP, 113 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 86.1 WAR, 41.6 WAA, 70.5 JAWS
Because his elite years came right before the Cy Young award was established, it’s easy to forget that Robin Roberts was one of the best pitchers of all-time. And despite winning 20 games for six straight years, Roberts narrowly missed joining the 300 win club for his career
Still, Roberts was the most dominant pitcher in major league baseball for the entire 1950s. He led the decade in pitching WAR (60.4). Five times he was the No. 1 rated pitcher in the league in terms of wins above replacement. Few pitchers have matched his ability to handle a workload – he led the NL in games started six times and both innings pitched and complete games five times each.
Roberts was incredibly accurate on the mound, leading the NL in walk rate four times. Perhaps because he didn’t pitch around hitters, he surrendered a longtime record 505 home runs, which is one reason that his career ERA+ of 113 is near the bottom of pitchers with as many wins as he has.
65. Gary Carter, C, 1974-1992
Stats: .262/.335/.439, 324 HR, 1,225 RBI, 115 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 70.1 WAR, 40.1 WAA, 59.3 JAWS, 4.95 WAR/162
Among catchers, a case can be made that only Johnny Bench has ever topped Gary Carter’s combination of offensive and defensive prowess. Carter hit 324 home runs, drove in over 1,200 runs, and put up a 115 OPS+ behind the plate. Over an 11-year span from 1977-1986, he averaged 25 home runs and 89 RBIs, and put up a 61.1 WAR that ranked second only to Mike Schmidt among all major league players.
Carter’s defense was arguably even better than his offense. He ‘only’ won three Gold Gloves but put up defensive metrics that suggest he should have won eight or nine. His +112 career defensive runs saved is the fourth-best total of any catcher since 1900. And he played a major role in the 1986 New York Mets’ World Series championship, slugging .552 in the seven games and keeping the famous Game 6 rally alive with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
64. Phil Niekro, SP, 1964-1987
Stats: 318-274, 3.35 ERA, 5,404 IP, 3,342 K, 1.268 WHIP, 115 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 95.9 WAR, 49.3 WAA, 75.1 JAWS
The best attribute of being a knuckleball pitcher is the ability to throw forever. Phil Niekro didn’t start his career until age 25, didn’t move into the rotation full-time until 28, and then remarkably, pitched for 24 seasons. He holds the all-time record by winning 121 games after the age of 40. He threw a shutout at age 46. When he retired at age 48, he was the fifth-oldest pitcher to throw a pitch in the majors.
Niekro won over 300 games, threw the most innings of any post-Dead Ball Era pitcher, and led the league in complete games four times. He won five Gold Gloves in the field, threw a no-hitter, and finished in the top six in Cy Young award voting on five occasions.
Along the way, he also turned in some of the more dubious feats you’ll find. At one point, he led the league in losses four straight seasons. On multiple instances, he’s been last in the NL in hits allowed, walks, earned runs allowed, hit by pitches, and wild pitches. Only three pitchers have allowed more career home than Niekro’s 482. But in pitching for so long and putting up a league-adjusted ERA 15 percent better than average, he’s also 12th all-time in pitching WAR (95.9).
63. Rod Carew, 2B, 1967-1985
Stats: .328/.393/.429, 92 HR, 1,015 RBI, 131 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 81.3 WAR, 46.2 WAA, 65.6 JAWS, 5.33 WAR/162
Contact hitters like Rod Carew are a special lot. Carew batted .328 over 9,300 at-bats, won seven batting titles in a 10-year span, and topped out at a ridiculous .388 in 1977. He’s the only player since 1950 to have 600 at-bats in a season and bat .375 or higher.
FanGraphs has a rarely-used but terrific stat called AVG+, which is essentially era-adjusted batting average in the same way that OPS+ adjusts for era. Carew’s 128 AVG+ is the fifth-highest career total ever, trailing only Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, and Nap Lajoie.
Carew walked enough to lead the AL in OBP four times, although his lack of power capped his career slugging percentage and OPS+. He played a good second base, seeing about the same number of career games at second base as first base, and added over 300 steals on the basepaths.
62. Hank Greenberg, 1B, 1930-1947
Stats: .313/.412/.605, 331 HR, 1,274 RBI, 158 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 57.6 WAR, 37.0 WAA, 52.7 JAWS, 6.69 WAR/162
It seemed that every time Hank Greenberg played, he produced jaw-dropping offensive numbers. The problem was that his career was shorter than you’d hope for – he missed nearly a full season due to a wrist injury and then over 4 ½ seasons due to service time in WWII.
Greenberg finished with 331 home runs and 1,274 RBIs. If he hadn’t served in the military, he probably would have cleared 500 homers and 1,800 RBIs. As it stands, Greenberg had some extraordinary accomplishments – when he hit 58 home runs in a season, it was a total that only Babe Ruth had topped. When he drove in 184 runs, it was a total that only Hack Wilson had topped.
Greenberg averaged more RBIs per career plate appearance (.209) than Babe Ruth (.208). Nearly half of Greenberg’s hits (48.0 percent) were extra-base hits. His grand slam to clinch the pennant for Detroit in the final game of the 1945 season is probably his finest individual accomplishment, and he was a career .318/.420/.624 hitter in 101 postseason plate appearances.
61. Arky Vaughan, SS, 1932-1948
Stats: .318/.406/.453, 96 HR, 926 RBI, 136 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 72.9 WAR, 42.7 WAA, 61.7 JAWS, 6.50 WAR/162
Arky Vaughn is the second-best shortstop in modern National League history, but thanks to Honus Wagner, he’s also only the second-best to ever play for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Vaughan batted over .300 in each of his first 10 seasons and topped out at .385 in 1935. He had incredible plate discipline, leading the league in walks three straight years without ever reaching 40 strikeouts in a single campaign.
Due to WWII service time, Vaughan lost nearly three full seasons’ worth of play. Factoring in previous performance, that’s likely another 12-14 WAR he would have accumulated and that might put him in the top 40 players on this list.
60. Nolan Ryan, SP, 1966-1993
Stats: 324-292, 3.19 ERA, 5,386 IP, 5,714 K, 1.247 WHIP, 112 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 81.3 WAR, 32.6 WAA, 62.2 JAWS
By every statistical measure, we’ll never see another pitcher like Nolan Ryan again for the rest of time. He pitched for more years (27) than any other man ever. He holds all-time records in career walks (2,795), strikeouts (5,714), no-hitters (7). At various points, he led the league in strikeouts 11 times, fewest hits allowed per nine innings 12 times, shutouts three times, and ERA twice. For a long time, Ryan held the official major league record with a pitch that clocked at 100.9 MPH.
He’s also the only man ever to walk over 2,000 batters, and he cleared that mark with ease. He once had a game in which he threw 13 innings, walked 10 batters, and struck out 19. It took Ryan until he was in his forties before he finally learned how to control the strike zone; his walk rate of 3.7 in his last 10 years is significantly lower than his career mark of 4.7.
Ryan’s weaknesses were glaring; he allowed more stolen bases than anyone else. In the modern era, he lost more games and threw more wild pitches than any other pitcher. He’s one of the worst-fielding pitchers of all-time, finishing with a dreadful .895 career fielding percentage.
As a result of his high walk totals, he never won a Cy Young but he did finish in the top five six times. He got MVP votes as late as age 43. His amazing durability and high strikeouts total put him into the Hall of Fame with over 98 percent of the vote in 1999.
59. Bob Feller, SP, 1936-1956
Stats: 266-162, 3.25 ERA, 3.827 IP, 2,581 K, 1.316 WHIP, 122 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 63.4 WAR,, 31.8 WAA, 57.5 JAWS
To say Bob Feller’s career started with a bang is an understatement. He made his first major league appearance at age 17. A few weeks later, he struck out 15 in his first start. A few weeks after that, he tied the major league record with 17 strikeouts in a game – and he did this at age 17. He’s still one of just two pitchers in history (Kerry Wood is the other) to strike out as many batters in a game as his age.
Feller led the AL in strikeouts at age 19. He led the AL in wins, strikeouts, and pitching WAR at age 20, and then he did it again at age 21. When he went into the military service at age 22, he had already led the AL in wins three times, strikeouts four times, and registered an absurd 37.3 WAR. Feller lost three prime years of his career due to WWII – and part of a fourth – which means he probably would have cleared 350 wins and 3,500 strikeouts had he pitched.
In an era before radar guns, Feller was widely believed to be the fastest pitcher in the game – and maybe of all-time. The biggest problem for Feller was that sometimes he had no idea where his pitches were going. Feller led the AL in walks four times and still holds the single-season modern record with 208 in 1938.
Like Nolan Ryan, you had to take the bad with the good for Feller. Feller threw three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters. He also walked double-digit batters in a game on multiple occasions and retired with the career record for walks. Also like Ryan, Feller’s control vastly improved as he got older, and by the time he was 35, he was one of the more accurate pitchers in the league.
58. George Davis, SS, 1890-1909
Stats: .295/.362/.405, 73 HR, 1,440 RBI, 121 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 84.7 WAR, 48.4 WAA, 64.6 JAWS, 5.78 WAR/162
Perhaps no player in baseball history has benefited more from the onslaught of modern sabermetrics than George Davis. Whether it’s because he played over 100 years ago or because he didn’t even hit .300 in an era when it fairly common to do so, Davis was the most underrated player of all-time until Bill James came along.
Look no further than James’ influence on the game than the fact that in 1995, James called Davis the best player not in the Hall of Fame and than three years later, the Veterans Committee elected Davis in. Amazingly, Davis was so forgotten that the Hall of Fame couldn’t even track down any of Davis’ family members for the induction ceremony.
As a player, Davis was a do-everything shortstop. He played 20 years, collected over 2,600 hits, stole 619 bases, put up a 121 OPS+, and still rates as one of the finest defenders of all-time, racking up an incredible +146 defensive runs saved. Factoring in his positional value, offensive success, speed, and glove work, Davis picked up 84.7 WAR. While we didn’t have those stats when Davis retired, he would have ranked third among all positional players in WAR at the time. Even now, he still ranks 33rd among all positional players in the stat.
57. Charlie Gehringer, 2B, 1924-1942
Stats: .320/.404/.480, 184 HR, 1,427 RBI, 124 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 80.7 WAR, 45.4 WAA, 65.7 JAWS, 5.63 WAR/162
Charlie Gehringer was born in Michigan, attended the University of Michigan, played his entire career in Detroit, Michigan, and then died in Michigan. In between, he put up a two-decade career as one of the greatest middle infielders of all-time; so good, in fact, that he was called The Mechanical Man.
Gehringer batted .320 over his career and got better as he aged – he batted .314/.380/.474 (118 OPS+) in his twenties and .325/.421/.485 (129 OPS+) in his thirties. He won an MVP award at age 34 and accumulated nearly twice as much WAR after the age of 30 (52.6) as before 30 (28.1). Gehringer also won a World Series with the 1935 Detroit Tigers.
56. Gaylord Perry, SP, 1962-1983
Stats: 314-265, 3.11 ERA, 5,350 IP, 3,534 K, 1.181 WHIP, 117 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 90.0 WAR, 41.9 WAA, 71.2 JAWS
There are a ton of similarities between Gaylord Perry and Phil Niekro (ranked a few spots below Perry). Their careers spanned roughly the same year, and they have almost identical marks in wins, losses, innings pitched, ERA, and adjusted ERA. And they each earned their fame for throwing one unique pitch – Niekro threw the knuckleball and Perry famously threw the illegal spitter.
It’s easy to look at the career of a player who cheated (and then bragged about it by self-titling his own autobiography with the name of his illegal pitch), and write off his accomplishments. But it’s highly unlikely Perry is the only pitcher to have cheated. There have been steroids and sign-stealing and numerous examples that cross from the black and white of good vs. evil to the gray of the in-between.
Perry still won multiple Cy Youngs, becoming the first player to do so in both the National and American League. He was incredibly consistent, winning 15 or more games for 13 straight seasons and averaging a ridiculous 295 innings pitched during that span. And he’s eighth on the all-time strikeout list, just ahead of the legendary Walter Johnson, and put together eight 200 K seasons.
55. Jim Palmer, SP, 1965-1984
Stats: 268-152, 2.86 ERA, 3,948 IP, 2,212 K, 1.180 WHIP, 125 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 68.5 WAR, 33.1 WAA, 58.0 JAWS
Just 10 pitchers in history have won three or more Cy Young awards, and only Palmer and Sandy Koufax also have three world championship rings to go with it. That’s a resume that can stack up against the all-time great Hall of Fame pitchers.
Palmer wasn’t a strikeout pitcher, never even reaching 200 in a season. But he was a four-time Gold Glover. He never allowed a grand slam in his career. And his 2.86 ERA is the lowest of any right-handed starter since World War I (min. 1,500 innings). He won 20 games an amazing eight times.
Palmer was also a postseason hero, throwing a complete game shutout to win the 1966 World Series (at the age of 20!) – oudueling Sandy Koufax in the final start of Koufax’s career.
54. Fergie Jenkins, SP, 1965-1983
Stats: 284-226, 3.34 ERA, 4,500.2 IP, 3,192 K, 1.142 WHIP, 115 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 84.1 WAR, 41.9 WAA, 66.0 JAWS
For a 15-year period, Fergie Jenkins was one of major league baseball’s more durable workhorses, fashioning incredible control with a high strikeout rate. Five times he led all of baseball in K:BB rate, finishing his career as the first pitcher ever with 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks.
Jenkins was always susceptible to the long ball, surrendering close to 500 in his career and leading the league seven times. Still, he was a seven-time 20-game winner, won the 1971 NL Cy Young, and finished second on two other occasions. Even without reaching the 300-win club, Jenkins is a top-20 pitcher ever.
53. Roger Connor, 1B, 1880-1897
Stats: .316/.397/.486, 138 HR, 1,323 RBI, 153 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 84.3 WAR, 54.2 WAA, 65.7 JAWS, 6.84 WAR/162
Barry Bonds famously broke Hank Aaron’s career home run record in 2007. And Aaron famously broke Babe Ruth’s career home run record in 1974. But you know whose record Ruth broke? It was Roger Connor’s, and the most bizarre aspect was that Connor never even knew he held the record. Baseball historians dug it up decades after Connor had died.
In addition to Connor’s home run record (138), he also retired with the career record for triples (233), a total that still ranks in the top five all-time. Connor’s 153 career OPS+ ranks 27th best ever and ahead of notable contemporaries like Nap Lajoie and Honus Wagner. He was a great fielder at first base and batted .328 in his two lone playoff series.
52. Johnny Mize, 1B, 1936-1953
Stats: .312/.397/.562, 359 HR, 1,337 RBI, 158 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 70.9 WAR, 44.7 WAA, 59.8 JAWS, 6.10 WAR/162
In his first seven years as a professional baseball player, these were Johnny Mize’s National League ranks in slugging percentage: third twice, second once, and first four times. Mize spent three years in WWII, then came back and ranked second in his next three seasons. Without serving three prime years in the war, Mize would have pushed for 500 career home runs.
Even in an abbreviated career, Mize still led the league in home runs and slugging percentage four times, plus RBIs and OPS three times each. The only other players to ever do that are Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Aaron, and Mike Schmidt. Surprisingly, Mize never won an MVP award but he did win five World Series championships, posting a .909 OPS in 47 postseason plate appearances.
51. Jeff Bagwell, 1B, 1991-2005
Stats: .297/.408/.540, 449 HR, 1,529 RBI, 149 OPS+
Sabermetrics: 79.9 WAR, 52.1 WAA, 64.1 JAWS, 6.02 WAR/162
The glory days of the 1990s saw Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa compete in the great home run chase of 1998 while Ken Griffey, Jr. and Barry Bonds spent the decade battling for title as the best individual player. Meanwhile, all Bagwell did was just smack the cover off the ball, steal bases, draw walks, and even play good defense.
He retired a little earlier than he probably wanted to due to a shoulder injury, but here’s what Bagwell put on his resume in 15 years: an MVP, a Rookie of the Year, a Gold Glove, 449 home runs, 202 steals, and an absurd 149 OPS+.
Bagwell is one of only 10 players ever with 400 home runs, 200 steals, 1,500 runs, and 1,500 RBIs. Add in a .400 on-base percentage and Bagwell is one of two (the other is Barry Bonds!). When you factor in his hitting/baserunning/defensive prowess (+54 defensive runs saved), it’s evident that Bagwell had very few weaknesses. The only thing keeping him from ranking higher is a shorter career length than some of the others.
50. Bert Blyleven, SP, 1970-1992
Stats: 287-250, 3.31 ERA, 4.970 IP, 3,701 K, 1.198 WHIP, 118 ERA+
Sabermetrics: 94.5 WAR, 50.2 WAA, 72.4 JAWS
On the surface, Bert Blyleven is 287-250 (a .534 winning percentage) with a 3.31 ERA. It’s difficult to separate him from Jim Kaat or Tommy John, and pre-sabermetrics, he was looked upon as a good but not great pitcher. With sabermetrics, he’s a clear cut Hall of Famer and a top 20 pitcher ever in terms of WAR, WAA, and JAWS.
Blyleven typically pitched for below-average teams, which didn’t help his career W-L record. He struck out over 1,500 hitters by age 25. Three times he led the AL in K:BB ratio and he’s still fifth on the all-time strikeout list. He put together 11 seasons of five or more WAR, although somehow finished with just two All-Star selections.
Blyleven’s kryptonite was the home run – he surrendered 430 in his career and is the only pitcher ever to allow 50 in a season. But years of strong play plus a terrific postseason resume (5-1, 2.47 ERA) make him a worthy top 20 pitcher ever.
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