Comments on: The most average batters of all time

By: 413 9470

413 9470 — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:07:19 +0000

[...] Player **PA** OPS+ From To Ages G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/485Human or Pet Cremains Incorporated Into Art from Ashes?? Exquisite ...May 21, 2008 ... Media [...]

By: 65 6476 7164

65 6476 7164 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:32:01 +0000

[...] 7164 101 1962 1976 21-35 ... PHI-TOT-LAD-CIN-DET-TOR 17 Hubie Brooks 6476 100 1980 1994 23-37 ...http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/485earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/products_data/Puerto-Rico-VI/&ltb&gt...&lt/b&gt... 2500 21.0000 [...]

By: kingturtle

kingturtle — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:06:39 +0000

Willie Keeler had a lifetime average of .385 at ages 25 and 26, .384 at age 27, .381 at age 28, .376 at age 29, .371 at age 30, and .366 at age 31.

Joe Jackson had a lifetime average of .393 at age 22, .387 at age 23, and .377 at age 24. At age 25 he batted .308 for the season, dragging him down to .365.

By the way, Cobb peaked at at .373 at age 35 (the same age Ruth peaked at his highest slugging average.) So Joe Jackson hold the record for the highest lifetime batting average at the end of a season.

By: kingturtle

kingturtle — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:59:15 +0000

Taking this in the other direction (least average batters of all-time), I was curious to know how many times anyone had a lifetime batting average at one point in their entire career higher than Cobb's final lifetime batting average of .366. So I went through year by year, starting at http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_18_bat.shtml , and I looked at batting average in the "Up to and including" column.

Only two players ever ended a season with a lifetime average higher than .366. Can you name them? I'll answer it in my next post.

By the way, I did the same thing for lifetime slugging average. Did you know that no one in the history of baseball (with at last 75 games played) had a lifetime slugging average at any point in their career higher than Ruth's lifetime mark of .690? In fact, no one comes close. Ted Williams peaked at .647 at age 27; Gehrig peaked four times at .643 at ages 28, 31, 33 and 34; Foxx peaked at .640 at age 26. Ruth peaked at .710 at AGE 35!!

By: David in Toledo

David in Toledo — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:58:06 +0000

He may have been a very nice man, and his brother was a bigtime hitter. But Lloyd Waner on the inside of the HoF, and Tim Raines on the outside?

By: vonhayes

vonhayes — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:56:01 +0000

I guess Buckner did have a fairly horrible end of career. Why did they keep him around so long in K.C.?

By: vonhayes

vonhayes — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:53:14 +0000

Maybe Buckner was subconsciously trying to be memorable in '86.

By: vonhayes

vonhayes — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:51:46 +0000

I agree that there are a lot of good players in that bunch, even Buckner, but there is something to be said for their averageness, year-to-year as well as overall. Sure, none of these guys were ALWAYS in the 95-105 OPS+ range, and a lot of them were above-average defenders or baserunners, but for the most part you look at their numbers and see a lot of slightly above average years, followed by a few below average decline years. That's the cool thing about a lot of these guys, especially Buckner. Offensively, he didn't really have many above average seasons, he didn't really have a huge peak. His best year was in the strike-shortened '81 season. There are definiely not many full seasons in there where you see huge numbers (Harper '70, McGee '85, Boone & Aurilia '01). Jason Kendall started out pretty strong but has probably the worst decline stretch of any of these "average" guys.

By: mikeyjax

mikeyjax — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:42:09 +0000

my vote for most average manager would be for Wilbert Robninson. Outside of interim guys, I think you should agree!

By: Johnny Twisto

Johnny Twisto — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:28:49 +0000

Of course most of these players were at least pretty good, not just average. Anyone who looks "average" over a long professional career must have had many seasons in their prime in which they were above-average.