For some reason, I had purposely been leaving those seasons out because they were shortened, but if you look closely, Thomas actually did have 500 plate appearances that year.

2000 Helton 10, 9, 10, 10, 6.5, 0 = 45.5
1993 Bonds 7, 9, 10, 10, 9, 0 = 45
1994 Bagwell 9, 10, 10, 10, 6, 0 = 45
1994 Thomas 8, 10, 8, 7.5, 10, 0 = 43.5
1995 E Martinez 10, 9.5, 8, 7, 9, 0 = 43.5
2005 A Rodriguez 9, 10, 9, 7, 8, 0 = 43
2001 Sosa 3, 10, 10, 10, 9, 0 = 42
1992 F Thomas 8, 9, 7, 8, 9.5, 0 =41.5
1990 R Henderson 9, 10, 5, 0, 7, 10 = 41
2003 Helton 9, 9, 9, 5, 8.5, 0 = 40.5
2005 Pujols 9, 10, 9, 8.5, 5, 0 = 40.5

Griffey .323, .674 slg, 40 hrs, 90 rbi, 94 runs
Thomas .353, .729 slg, 38 hrs, 101 rbi, 106 runs

Pretty good on first glance, then you remember they both got shorted out of two months because of the strike. They played in 111 and 113 games respectively. Now look at their numbers projected out over the whole season:

Griffey .323, .674 slg, 58 hrs, 131 rbi, 137 runs
Thomas .353, .729 slg, 54 hrs, 145 rbi, 152 runs

that's like 2 guys having better seasons offensive seasons in the same year than a rod is this year.

the only comproble seasons in recent history in terms of all-around offensive output with those power numbers and average are;
Bonds '01, Sosa '98 and '01, and A-rod this year

just throwin' it out there

As part of the quest many of us share to try to determine who the best player in history is, I came up with a simple formula. Similar to the idea behind OPS+, the idea here is to judge a player's season performance along side players of the same year in the same league. My last name being BROWN, I call this the Brown Index.

My formula considers what place in a particular season a player finishes in BA, R, TB, RBI, BB and SB. Which players in which seasons dominated these categories the most? By finishing first in a category, the player receives 10 points; by finishing third, the player receives 8 points; by finishing tenth, the player receives 1 point; by finishing tied for first, the player receives 9.5 points.

I'll use Mantle's 1957 season as an example: 2nd in BA (9 points), 1st in R (10 points), 2nd in TB (9 points), 6th in RBIs (5 points), 1st in BB (10 points), 4th in SB (7 points), for a total of 50 points.

Over the past few years I've compiled all AL and NL seasons by hand, so I may have made some errors, but as far as I can tell, 50 or more points in the Brown Index has only happened about 16 times.

So, who had the best all-around season of all time?

1915 Cobb 10, 10, 10, 8, 8, 10 = 56
1910 Magee 10, 10, 10, 10, 8, 7 = 55
1963 Aaron 8, 10, 10, 10, 8, 9 = 55
1909 Cobb 10, 10, 10, 10, 3.5, 10 = 53.5
1910 Cobb 9, 10, 9, 9, 7, 9 = 53
1956 Mantle 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 4 = 53
1932 Klein 8, 10, 10, 9, 5.5, 10 = 52.5
1904 Wagner 10, 8.5, 10, 7, 6.5, 10 = 52
1908 Wagner = 50
1911 Cobb = 50
1921 Ruth = 50
1933 Klein = 50
1942 Williams = 50
1947 Williams = 50
1957 Mantle = 50
1958 Mays = 50

Ruth's 1921 season? Gehrig's 1927 season? Bonds 2001 season? Foxx's 1932 season? or Hornsby's 1922 season.

A quick comparison looking at BP's Batting Runs (BRAA)
BRAA
137 Bonds 2001
107 Ruth 1921
102 Gehrig 1927
89 Foxx 1932
86 Hornsby 1922
75 Morgan 1976
71 Morgan 1975

lets adjust that for position
RARP
145.4 Bonds
120.6 Ruth
118.1 Hornsby
115.6 Gehrig
100.7 Foxx
96.8 Morgan 1976
92.1 Morgan 1975

this is by no means a complete list I just picked the first instance of each player who generated over 200 RC in a season.