Comments on: A-Rod 1, Bambino 0, Iron Horse 5

By: Johnny Twisto

Johnny Twisto — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:37:25 +0000

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.

By: kingturtle

kingturtle — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:43:28 +0000

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?

By: Johnny Twisto

Johnny Twisto — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 02:17:19 +0000

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.

By: rick_tsdmdk

rick_tsdmdk — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:42:06 +0000

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.)

By: vonhayes

vonhayes — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:21:03 +0000

Well, some accuse him of "juicing" when they look at that season.

By: rick_tsdmdk

rick_tsdmdk — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:59:23 +0000

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.

By: vonhayes

vonhayes — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:26:43 +0000

That Delgado season is classic, one of the top 25 or so ever, offensively.

By: kingturtle

kingturtle — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:23:56 +0000

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.