The Greatest Post Season Player

October 30, 2009 08:23 PM | Subscribe to our RSS news feed
The Greatest Post Season Player

The votes are in and The Baseball Page has made its choice

The greatest post season player, that is a interesting question.

If you watch todays game, you would believe it is Derek Jeter no player gets more face time. In fact, if you look at baseball’s all time play off stat’s, you see three names: Manny Ramirez, Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams. Hits, Runs, RBI, Homeruns, Walks, they are 1,2 and 3 in everything but RBI’s, where Jeter is third but will be passing David Justice soon enough. All three are also 100+ plate appearances (PA) above everyone else.

Despite the piled up stat’s and 6 World Series titles, none of the three ranking in the top 10 in OPS, Slugging or On Base Percentage. So that brings them down a notch, Manny (285 BA, 394 OBP, 544 Slg, 937 OPS) , Jeter (311 BA, 383 OBP, 481 Slg, 864 OPS), Williams (275 BA, 371 OBP, 480 Slg, 850 OPS).

The percentages can be skewed by one good playoff run, see Carlos Beltran who hit 8 homeruns in 12 games in 2004 for the Astros. He did well for the Mets in 2006, hitting 3 more homeruns in the NLCS, but unlike 2004 his OPS was down around .850 instead of 1.500.

David Ortiz, 3 Walk off hits are a playoff record. He also has 47 RBI in 289 PA. He has 12 homeruns and has batted .283, although good, not historic.

Mickey Mantle, 12 World Series in 14 years and a 7-5 team record. Mantle hit 18 homeruns, a World Series record and has 40 RBI, another World Series record. Yogi Berra his teammate for all those games is right with him, 1 and 2 in all the stats except homeruns, where Berra ranks third. All these stats are straight World Series games, no wild cards. If there were 3 rounds like there are now, the numbers would probably be unreachable. Mantle, however hit only .257 with a .908 OPS and Berra.274 BA and .811 OPS.

Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, lived up to his name hitting 18 homeruns, which was the record until Williams, Jeter and Manny came along. He batted .278, had a .885 OPS and drove in 48 runs in 77 games. Jackson also won all 5 world series he played in.

Andy Pettitte now has 16 wins, passing John Smoltz. He is 16-9 with a 3.83 ERA and 1.327 WHIP. His 237 Post Season innings is a mark that may never be touched. Smoltz, is a superior post season pitcher, going 15-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 1.144 WHIP and 209 IP.

Chrisy Mathewson, 5-5 with a 0.97 ERA in 101 IP’s and a .836 WHIP. Although his teams went 1-3 in his 4 World Series trips, it is hard to blame Matty. He had 4 shutouts and 5 total wins, in 1912, he pitched 28 innings, gave up 3 earned runs and went 0-2. He also went 3-0 with 3 shutouts in his teams only World Series win.

Sandy Koufax, in 4 World Series 4-3 record, .095 ERA and amazing .825 WHIP.

Lou Gehrig, he played in 7 World Series, his teams went 6-1, he would be no worse then 4th in all power categories if it was just World Series stat’s, 10 Homeruns, 35 RBI and a 1.208 OPS toss in a .361 batting average. Gehrig was a monster!

Despite all this it comes down to two Players:

Babe Ruth or Marino Rivera

Ruth, was a great pitcher and better hitter. He played in 10 World series and his teams went 7-3, for Boston he went 3-0, he had 12 PA and did not hit a homerun. He went 3-0 in his 3 starts, with a .087 ERA, 1 shutout and a .935 WHIP. The next 7 series, Ruth in 155 PA hit 15 homeruns, slugged .744, had 30 RBI’s(33 overall) and had a 1.211 OPS.

Double duty Ruth was a force as a hitter and pitcher. No player effected both positions so greatly at anytime in the sport.

Rivera, is the biggest weapon to ever walk on a baseball diamond in October. As a relief pitcher, you may only get a few chances to effect a game. Unless you play in New York and play in October from 1995 to 2009, every year but one. Over this time the SANDMAN, has put virtually every team to sleep. Just by the numbers:

8-1 Record, .889 Winning percentage 2nd all time.
38 Saves, 1st all time (38 - 43 in save chances)
.76 ERA , yes that is POINT 76, 1st all time
130 IP, 1st all time
.777 WHIP first all time
85 G 1st all time

He has given up only 2, and was scored on in only 10 appearances.

In 43 save opportunities, he has converted 38 saves and of the 5 total blown saves, 3 came in 2004. Thirty of the 38 saves have been more than 1 inning, so these are not your get 3 outs and leave. SEVENTY - FIVE times in he has entered the game either tied or New York ahead and only 6 times, he has not protected that lead. No player has delivered more, no player has been asked so often to save his team then Rivera. If New York wins the World Series again, the camera will shine on Jeter’s fist pump, A Rod(tears predicted here) and Sabathia. On the mound there will be two men hugging, Jorge Posada and Rivera as they were alone after the ALCS victory last Monday. He already has 3 of his 4 saves that have gone over 1 inning, and in 12.2 IP he has given up 1 earned run. He also snuffed out the Angels in game 2 of the ALCS with 2.1 scoreless innings. Not to take anything away from Joe Torre, Joe Girardi or any other person or coach to play on those teams, but Rivera made it all possible.

Rivera is no doubt, the single greatest post season player to ever play and the numbers back it up.

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Author of "Backyard Ball" , a book about Baseball and Wiffle Ball in your Backyard. A great read for young and old it is a fun how to guide.

February 14, 2009 12:28 AM | Subscribe to our RSS news feed
The greatest right-handed hitter of all time

By Tom Hannon Share on Facebook

Hank Greenberg ranks fourth on our list.

As we sit here waiting for Manny Ramirez to sign a new contract, Bill Simmons of ESPN writes, “Manny is a handful of numbers away from being the greatest right handed hitter to ever play”. How do we evaluate that comment?

RBI’s? Hits? OPS? Batting Average? I am going to disagree with Bill. Manny is certainly great, but the best? I needed to find out for myself.

The problem with career statistics is that sometimes they only mean you hung around along time. A player can hang around 3-5 years, hit 15-20 home runs, drive in 60-75 runs, and add some big numbers onto a great 10-year run. We have all seen examples of this. We also have seen the opposite. Look at Joe DiMaggio losing more than four years to war. We can speculate as to what those years would of added up to. So we need a different stat.

OPS+ is clearly the best number that combines all things including measuring a player vs his place in time. OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging percentage.

If you don’t know what OPS+ is, here is the definition:

OPS+ is OPS adjusted for the park and the league in which the player played, but not for fielding position. An OPS+ of 100 is defined to be the league average. An OPS+ of 150 or more is excellent, and 125 very good, while an OPS+ of 75 or below is poor.

A common misconception is that OPS+ closely matches the ratio of a player’s OPS to that of the league. In fact, due to the additive nature of the two components in OPS+, a player with an OBP and SLG both 50% better than league average in those metrics will have an OPS+ of 200 (twice the league average OPS+) while still having an OPS that is only 50% better than the average OPS of the league.

Using OPS+ I’ve identified the top right-handed hitters of all-time. Let me add that there were three players tied for the ninth spot.

11) Joe Dimaggio OPS+ 155
Joe D’s career stats: .325 BA, 361 HR, 1,537 RBI, .977 OPS, .579 SLG, and three MVP awards. The thing that sticks out with him is the top five MVP finishes virtually every year. Give him those four missed years and maybe he gets 2,000 RBI’s. He was a amazing player in the mold of Albert Pujols.

10) Manny Rameriz OPS+ 155
Assuming Manny signs and plays three more seasons, he should reach 600 home runs and 2,000 RBI. I was a little surprised Manny’s OPS+ was only 155. Manny has been Aaron-like with consistency year after year. Manny has yet to win an MVP award. His career numbers to date are .314 BA, 527 HR, 1,725 RBI, 1.004 OPS, .593 SLG. Since this is just about hitting we won’t bring up Manny’s inability to play defense and his other baggage.

9) Hank Aaron OPS+ 155
.305 BA, 755 HR, 2,297 RBI, .929 OPS, .555 SLG, one MVP. Hammerin’ Hank has a model of consistency through his entire career. Never hitting 50 homers, hitting 40+ eight times, and 100 RBI 11 times. Aaron’s best OPS+ of 194 was at age 37 in Atlanta… He has the longest stretch between career-high OPS+ and second best OPS+ - a 13-year span.

8) Richie Allen, OPS+ 156
.292 BA, 351 HR, 1,119 RBI, .912 OPS, .534 SLG, one MVP award. Allen is probably the best hitter not in the Hall of Fame. Allen was a dominating force when pitching was king. His 199 OPS+ in 1972 was the third highest in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, only behind Mickey Mantle (1961), Norm Cash (1961), and George Brett (1980).

7) Frank Thomas, OPS+ 156
.301 BA, 521 HR, 1,704 RBI, .974 OPS, .555 SLG, two MVP awards. Thomas will go down as the greatest designated hitter in baseball history. An OPS machine until he started getting hurt, his seasons in the 1990s were amazing, including a 211 OPS+ in 1994 - the eighth highest OPS+ for a right handed batter in MLB history. “The Big Hurt” is the greatest hitter in White Sox history.

6) Willie Mays, OPS+ 156
.302 BA, 660 HR, 1,903 RBI, .941 OPS, .557 SLG, two MVP awards. Mays goes down as the second greatest all around player behind Babe Ruth in most polls. I would not argue that point. He has the second most homers and third highest RBI total among right-handed batters. Mays had five seasons of OPS+ over 170, and one season over 180. He also had two 30/30 seasons and was four homers away from a 40/40 year. When Jose Canseco accomplished his 40/40 year in 1988, Mays said if he knew it was going to be such a big deal he could of done it every year.

5) Hank Greenberg, OPS+ 158
.313 BA, 331 HR, 1,276 RBI, 1.017 OPS, .605 SLG, two MVP awards. Greenberg’s 183 RBI season fell just seven short of the MLB record, and his 58 home runs tied Jimmie Foxx as the most for an AL right-handed batter, a mark which still stands today. Greenberg lost four years to World War II, and was a hero to the Jewish community much as Jackie Robinson was later to African-Americans.

4) Mark McGwire, OPS+ 162
.263 BA, 583 HR, 1,414 RBI, .928 OPS, .588 SLG. McGwire had several amazing years including hitting 70 homers which is the most by a right-handed batter in MLB history. McGwire, never known as a great average hitter, had three seasons with OPS+ over 200 and one over 190. Big Mac has the fourth highest single-season OPS+ for a right handed batter in MLB history at 216 in 1998. He had seven seasons over 100 RBI. It should be noted that there is no proof at this date of McGwire doing anything illegal.

3) Jimmie Foxx, OPS+ 163
.325 BA, 534 HR, 1,922 RBI, 1.037 OPS, .609 SLG, three MVP awards. Foxx’s productive yearsr ended suddenly at age 33 due to back problems, but he had been one of basbeall’s best sluggers since his early 20s, so he still piled up an amazing ledger of achievement. “The Beast” had 13 straight years of over 100 RBI’s, and is the only right-handed batter to have a OPS+ of over 200 in consecutive years (1932-1933). Foxx, Dimaggio, Mike Schmidt, and A-Rod are the only RH batters to win three MVP awards.

2) Albert Pujols, OPS+ 170
.334 BA, 319 HR, 977 RBI, 1.049 OPS, .624 SLG, two MVP awards. Only eight years into his career, Pujols is on a DiMaggio-like pace. Where his career will go is unknown, but in his first eight seasons he has had over 100 RBI, scored 100 runs seven times, and ranks 17th all-time in batting average. Despite his tremendous power, he has yet to strike out 100 times. His worst OPS+ is 151. Albert could be standing with Mays, Ruth, and Honus Wagner as the best hitters ever on his current pace.

1) Rogers Hornsby, OPS+ 175
.358 BA, 301 HR, 1,584 RBI, 1.011 OPS, .577 SLG, two MVP awards. Hornsby topped 200+ OPS four Times, the only right-handed batter to do that. He’s the best second baseman of all-time, and has the highest career batting average for RH hitters. Over five seasons, from 1921 to 1926, he averaged .401, no other player has ever sustained such a high batting average for such a length of time. His .424 mark in 1924 is the highest on record for a RH batter since 1901. You could debate his 1922 season (.401 and 42 homers) was the greatest season ever by a RH batter. It ranks 16th all time in OPS+, and is the highest for a right handed batter since 1901

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About the author:
Author of "Backyard Ball" , a book about Baseball and Wiffle Ball in your Backyard. A great read for young and old it is a fun how to guide.