Do you remember those exams that you had to take when you were in school, where they give you a grade in terms of your percentile rank?   What I never understood about those was whether there was a zero^th  percentile or a 100^th percentile.   I knew a lot of people who said they were in the 99^th percentile in something or other, which I gather meant the top one percent, but. . .does that mean that there was a zero^th percentile?   I never knew anyone who was in the zero^th  percentile, so maybe there were only 99.   But that doesn’t seem reasonable, because that would mean that the population was being divided into 99 segments, which seems to deny the whole premise of the “percentile” concept.   So I don’t know.

            Anyway, I got to wondering who the 99^th percentile baseball players would be.    Let’s take all of the seasons by all of the regular second basemen in major league history.   Who would be the top 1%?   The top 1% of third basemen?

            Actually, my idea was a little grander than that.   My idea was, wouldn’t it be fun to represent each player in baseball history on a percentile rank basis season by season.   Let’s take.  . .Manny Trillo.    Manny Trillo in his first second as a regular, 1975, hit .248 with a .622 OPS in a hitter’s park.   I’m guessing that, even if you included his defense, he’d be somewhere in the bottom one-third of all regular second basemen across history. . .let’s say the 31^st percentile. 

 

	1975
Manny Trillo	31

 

            He was no better his second year—worse, actually, but then began to catch up to the competition, and by 1980, including his offense and his very good defense, may have been as high as the 80^th percentile.    Let’s fill in those years with make-believe numbers just to illustrate the concept:

 

	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985
Manny Trillo	31	24	55	51	48	80	77	54	45	40	11

 

           

            After hitting just .224 with a .576 OPS and declining defense in 1985 he lost his regular status, after which he disappears from our chart.   Well, not necessarily.   What you could do then is fill in his part-time seasons with numbers that represent not where he ranks among all regulars, but where he would rank among regulars, had he been a regular.   I will put these seasons in in italics, and move the “regular” seasons to bold face:

19…	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89
Manny Trillo	47	3	31	24	55	51	48	80	77	54	45	40	11	74	73	40	4

 

            And then suppose that we had these “percentile scans” for all the second basemen of that era.   Here’s the lines added for Willie Randolph and Bobby Grich, still working with best-guess numbers.  Grich was primarily a shortstop in some seasons, so we’ll have to distinguish those seasons from the second base competition:

 

19…	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90
B Grich	SS	SS	SS	74	98	95	97	SS	42	98	55	98	76	91	64	45	57
M Trillo				47	3	31	24	55	51	48	80	77	54	45	40	11	74	73	40	4
Randolph						0	55	70	71	73	92	59	73	74	75	74	92	50	60	51	55

 

            My line isn’t long enough to finish Randolph’s career, but you get my point.   By doing this one could rank players among their contemporaries in a very space-efficient way, and also provide a basis to compare careers of different types of players—a shortstop and a catcher—and players from different eras.   Ron Santo against Sam Crawford.  It would be a lot of fun.

            Unfortunately, we have not yet reached the point where we’re capable of creating such rankings.  That day will come, in your lifetime if you’re under 40 and probably even in mine, but we’re not there yet.   But as a first step, I thought I would try to identify the 99^th percentile seasons.

            This involves a certain amount of guess-work, so you need to keep the focus on what we are doing here—creating a list of the greatest seasons ever at each position and debating the candidates—rather than on what we’re not yet able to do, which is to prove that our list is correct.   Also, I’m going to skip the starting pitchers because I just did a big thing last week on starting pitchers, and the role of starting pitchers across history has changed so much that it raises some other analytical issues.

            First of all, how many players can we choose at each position?   It kind of depends on what you consider to be “major league”, but for present purposes we’ll consider the 19^th century to be major league beginning in 1876, and we’ll count the Union Association (1884) and the Federal League (1914-1915).   That gives us 2,576 team/seasons in major league history through 2008, 2,606 including 2009.  One percent of that would be 26 seasons, so we will consider 26 seasons at each position to make up the 99^th percentile.

            This level of exclusivity is roughly equivalent to:

            a) An MVP Award,

            b) One player per team per position, or

            c) One player per franchise per decade. 

            In an eight-team league with eight regulars on each team there would be 64 regular players and one MVP, or one in 64.   In a 16-team league with eight regulars on each team it would be one in 128, and in a 14-team league with a DH rule it would be one in 126.   Averaged across history, an MVP Award is roughly equivalent to one player in a hundred.

            We are choosing 26 players and there are 30 franchises, so looked at in that way, this level of achievement is roughly equal to the best season at the position in the history of a franchise. . the best Yankee second baseman ever, the best Padre second baseman ever, etc.

            A franchise in a ten-year period has 80 regulars or 90 if there is a DH rule, or 100 if you include the relief pitcher or 150 if you include a DH, a relief pitcher and five starting pitchers.   Somewhere between one in 80 and one in 150—so again, this level of selectivity is roughly equivalent to the top one percent.

            Starting with catchers.    There are five seasons in baseball history that seem like obvious top-26 selections:   Johnny Bench, 1970, Roy Campanella, 1953, Bill Dickey, 1937, Gabby Hartnett, 1930 and Mike Piazza, 1998.   These are the stats for those five seasons:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Johnny Bench	1970	158	35	4	45	148	54	5	.293	.345	.587	.932
Campanella	1953	144	26	3	41	142	67	4	.312	.395	.611	1.006
Bill Dickey	1937	140	35	2	29	133	73	3	.332	.417	.570	.987
Gabby Hartnett	1930	141	31	3	37	122	55	0	.339	.404	.630	1.034
Mike Piazza	1997	152	32	1	40	124	69	5	.362	.431	.638	1.070

 

            Hartnett, Dickey, Campanella and Bench were also extremely good defensive catchers.    Piazza couldn’t throw, but his batting numbers were so overwhelming that I think he deserves to be included.

            Yogi Berra’s best seasons are hard to identify from among a long run of MVP and MVP-type seasons, but I’ll choose 1950, when he drove in 125 runs, and 1954, when he drove in 124.   Mickey Cochrane is even harder.   Cochrane won the American League MVP Award in 1928 and 1934, but the interesting thing is that if you take Cochrane’s seasons from 1928 to 1934 and figure Season Scores, 1928 and 1934 are the weakest seasons in that run.   His best season is hard to identify, but I’m going with 1932.   In ’32 he hit for one of the lowest batting averages of his career (.293), but had his best power year.   Cochrane didn’t play as many games per year as Berra or the other top catchers, and his numbers were compiled in an era when it took a lot of runs to win a game.   Still, his on base percentages were stratospheric, and he was much respected as a team leader.   Campanella has two more seasons in which he

            a) cleared .300 home runs,

            b) cleared 100 RBI,

            c) cleared .300,

            d) played great defense, and

            e) won the MVP Award.

            It’s hard to find the weakness in that package, so I’ll go ahead and put those on the list:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Yogi Berra	1950	151	30	6	28	124	55	4	.322	.380	.533	.912
Yogi Berra	1954	151	28	6	22	125	56	0	.307	.367	.488	.855
Campanella	1951	143	33	1	33	108	53	1	.325	.393	.590	.983
Campanella	1955	123	20	1	32	107	56	2	.318	.395	.583	.978
M Cochrane	1932	139	35	4	23	112	100	0	.293	.412	.510	.921

 

            Not saying that these are the ten best seasons ever by a catcher, but these are ten seasons that we can put into the top one percent without too much ‘a frettin’ about it. 

Bench has two more seasons that are of almost the same quality as his 1970 show—1972, when he also won the MVP Award, and 1974, when he didn’t but probably had a better year than ’72.   Pudge 2—Ivan Rodriguez—had very impressive triple crown numbers in 1999, and of course with his defense he’s hard to ignore, so we’ll include him, and two more seasons by Piazza in which his numbers are almost as good as in ’97:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Johnny Bench	1972	147	22	2	40	125	100	6	.270	.379	.541	.920
Johnny Bench	1974	160	38	2	33	129	80	5	.280	.363	.507	.870
Ivan Rodriguez	1999	144	29	1	35	113	24	25	.332	.356	.558	.914
Mike Piazza	1996	148	16	0	36	105	81	0	.336	.422	.563	.985
Mike Piazza	1998	151	38	1	32	111	58	1	.328	.390	.570	.960

 

            If we include Mike Piazza, 1996 (36 homers, 105 RBI, .336), what would be the justification not to include Joe Torre in 1966 (36 homers, 101 RBI, .316)?   Defense?  Torre was not really a good defensive catcher, but then. . . it’s Piazza.   Twenty points in batting average?   The NL ERA in 1996 was 4.22; in 1966 it was 3.61.   That seems bigger than twenty points in batting average.

            OK, Torre’s on the list, but now we have to confess that we have a problem.   We don’t have a catchers on the list from before 1930.

            When professional baseball began in the 1870s, players did not wear gloves—even the catchers.   Catchers normally stood 15 or 20 feet behind home plate when there were no runners on base and just tried to knock the ball down or even let it go, but they would move up behind the batter and try to catch the pitch—bare-handed—when there was a runner on base.   It was a tough job, and catchers at that time also had no shin guards and no face masks.   They worked naked, so to speak.   Even when the first gloves were introduced, they were just gloves, not large padded-leather baseball-catching apparatus, as they are now.   Catchers were very prone to injury, so they rarely played more than about 60 games in a season.   Many of the best-hitting and best all-around catchers would catch once or twice a week, but play the outfield or some other position the rest of the time.    Thus, in the early history of the game, we don’t have catchers with cleanup-hitter stats, which is not to say that there were no good catchers.    I don’t think we can entirely ignore the early catchers.              

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Buck Ewing	1890	83	19	15	8	72	39	36	.338	.406	.545	.951
King Kelly	1888	107	22	11	9	71	31	56	.318	.368	.480	.848
Chief Meyers	1912	126	16	5	6	54	47	8	.358	.441	.477	.918
Joe Torre	1966	148	20	3	36	101	60	0	.315	.382	.560	.943

 

            We’re getting to the point where it’s hard.   Jack Clements in 1894 hit .394 with 13 homers, 75 RBI in 88 games—better numbers than Kelly or Ewing, and there is an appeal to the idea of including the last left-handed catcher on the list.   Still, the 1895 season had very high batting averages and batting numbers, and Clements’ defense was not in the same group with Ewing and Kelly, so. . .he’s not going to make my list.

            Rudy York in 1938 drove in 127 runs and had 92 walks, a .298 average for a .417 on base percentage, plus—and this was very surprising to me—his team, the Tigers, allowed the fewest stolen bases in the American League in 1938.  York had a poor defensive reputation as a catcher; he was a big guy, but he was quick enough to be a catcher, athletic enough, had a great arm, but he just didn’t have the strong desire to be a good defensive catcher.   Kind of like Earl Williams.

            I’m sure you know this in a general way, but there are a million things a young catcher has to learn.   I couldn’t begin to list them because I don’t know most of them, but for one thing, there are 50 ways to tip the batter about the pitch that’s coming in, and major league hitters are really good at picking those things up.  You put up a glove above the waist too early, the batter can see it even if he’s not peeking, and you know, you don’t throw an off-speed pitch above the waist, so that’s a fastball.  If a major league hitter knows a fastball is coming, he’s going to hit .400 no matter who he is, so you can’t really do that.

            When there is a bunt or a tap in front of the plate you have to run past the bunt so that when you pick it up your feet are in position to throw to first.  If you try to pick up the ball as quickly as you can then you have to shuffle your feet before you throw to first and it slows you down; it is not uncommon to see a young catcher mess that up, even in the major leagues.

            There are so many of those things that a young catcher is supposed to learn that young catchers very often have jobs taken away from them even if they’re ready to go with the bat.   That’s all true, but then so is this:  that we all tend to over-value the things we know, and to under-value the things we don’t know.   The “finished catching” skills are important, but also, a lot of people who run baseball teams—like Del Young, who took the catching job away from Rudy York in 1940—are old catchers, who may reasonably be suspected of putting more emphasis on these small catching skills than is entirely necessary.    Del Young famously pulled York out of the catching job and sent him to first base, sending Greenberg to the outfield, and the Tigers won the pennant in 1940.  That’s some evidence against York as a catcher, but on the other hand, the Tigers won the pennant at least 60% because the Yankees had a bad year, so. .  .

            York had a hell of a year as a catcher in ’38, and I had him on my list of the 99^th percentile group for a long time, but when I counted the totals by decade I had about eight times as many 1930s regulars on the lists as 1960s regulars, and we all know that’s an illusion created by the hitting norms of the era, so I just couldn’t go with that, and that spot went to Elston Howard in ’63.   Howard’s batting numbers aren’t nearly as good superficially, but it took a lot fewer runs to win a game in ’63 than it did in ’37, Howard threw just as well and did everything else better in the field, and won the MVP Award.

            Also in ’38 Ernie Lombardi hit .342 with some power and won the MVP Award, and he’s in the Hall of Fame, so certainly he’s a candidate, but. . . .there’s the same problem with the 1930s, and Lombardi wasn’t a very good defensive catcher either, and really shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame.   I gave that slot to Bill Dickey in ’36—better batting average than Lombardi (.362-.342), more homers (22-19), more RBI (107-95), better defense, and his team won the pennant.   Dickey didn’t play as much as Lombardi, quite—but he scored 65% more runs (99-60), in part because he could run at least as well as the average postal carrier, and I just think I have to go with Dickey. 

            Dickey could be on the list in ’38 and ’39, too, but. . .let’s not get greedy.   Berra could be on the list in ’51, ’52, ’53, ’55 or numerous other seasons; Piazza could be on the list in ’95, ’99, 2000 or 2001, but they’re already on the list multiple times, and we’ve got a lot of candidates here.    

            Todd Hundley in 1996 hit 41 homers and drove in 112 runs, but his average was .259, and why would I pick him instead of another Piazza season?   I gave that slot instead to Javier Lopez in 2003.    It’s steroid era numbers, Javy’s 1.065 OPS in 2003 misses by only five points of being the highest all-time for a catcher.   He’s behind one season of Piazza, but ahead of every other season of Piazza and every season by everybody else.

            Lopez didn’t have a great reputation as a defensive player, in part because Greg Maddux I guess never liked to work with him, but Lopez moved around good and allowed only 52 stolen bases in 2003.   The Braves won one hell of a lot of games with Lopez behind the plate and had the greatest pitching staffs of all time; how bad a catcher could he have been?   I think that season’s got to be on the list.

            At this point we have on the list—

            One season from the 1880s,

            One season from the 1890s,

            One season from the 1910s,

            Four seasons from the 1930s,

            Five seasons from the 1950s,

            Two seasons from the 1960s,

            Three seasons from the 1970s,

            Four seasons from the 1990s, and

            One season from our present decade.

 

            We’ve got four spots left, and we need to look first at the 1900s, the 1940s and the 1980s.    I think the best all-around year by a catcher in the 1980s was by Gary Carter in 1982.   Certainly it was Gary Carter in one year or another, anyway, and I’m going with 1982.

            But is Gary Carter, in his best season, really better than Carlton Fisk in ’77.   It’s close; they’re actually similar.   Fisk in ’77 hit .315 with 26 homers, 102 RBI; Carter had similar numbers.   Maybe I’m just splitting things up to make it easier, but I’m going with Fisk in ’77, rather than another season from the 1980s.

            At least superficially the best year by a catcher in the 1940s was by Walker Cooper in 1947--.305 with 35 homers, 122 RBI.   This is an interesting year.   Cooper’s team, the New York Giants, set a National League record for home runs, with 221, and led the NL in runs scored by 50, but was never in the pennant race, finishing fourth at 81-73 with a strong September.    Several players on the team had big numbers.  First baseman Johnny Mize hit 51 homers, and outfielder Willard Marshall, who never hit more than 17 in any other season, hit 36.

            Because of this, and because the park home run index is 154, all of these numbers tend to be set aside by historians; Mize was third in the MVP voting, but Cooper and Marshall were well down the list.   Cooper drew only 24 walks that year, which certainly reduces his appeal to the analytical crowd.

            But looking at it a little more carefully, it seems to me to be a worthy season.   Yes, the park home run index was 154, but the park run index was 103, a fairly neutral park for scoring runs, meaning that the balance of the numbers is fairly legitimate.   The Giants allowed only 29 stolen bases on the season, the lowest total of any major league team.   Cooper had been a highly respected defensive catcher in his years with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1940 to 1944, helping them to three consecutive National League pennants.   He was able to play in the majors until 1957, when he was 42 years old.   The Giants didn’t win the pennant in 1947, but 81-73 isn’t actually all that bad a record; I would guess that we have other catchers on our list whose teams did no better.  

            Cooper’s numbers are discounted because they are not seen as a “real” level of ability.   If he had done the same thing four times, we’d look at them as real numbers, but he didn’t.   But I think it was a real level of ability, albeit a level of ability that he was unable to sustain.   I think intuition argues against Cooper but the facts argue on his behalf, and I’m putting him on the list.

            That leaves one spot open.   The candidates include Mickey Cochrane (1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933 and 1934), Yogi Berra (1951, 1955 and 1956), Stan Lopata (1956), Elston Howard (1961 and 1964), Dick Dietz (1970), Joe Torre (1970), Johnny Bench (1975), Ted Simmons (1975), Darren Daulton (1992 and 1993), Jason Kendall (1998), and Joe Mauer (2006).  I think I am going to go, however, with Ivan Rodriguez in 1996, making our complete set:

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Johnny Bench	1970	158	35	4	45	148	54	5	.293	.345	.587	.932
Johnny Bench	1972	147	22	2	40	125	100	6	.270	.379	.541	.920
Johnny Bench	1974	160	38	2	33	129	80	5	.280	.363	.507	.870
Yogi Berra	1950	151	30	6	28	124	55	4	.322	.380	.533	.912
Yogi Berra	1954	151	28	6	22	125	56	0	.307	.367	.488	.855
Campanella	1951	143	33	1	33	108	53	1	.325	.393	.590	.983
Campanella	1953	144	26	3	41	142	67	4	.312	.395	.611	1.006
Campanella	1955	123	20	1	32	107	56	2	.318	.395	.583	.978
Gary Carter	1982	154	32	1	29	97	78	2	.293	.381	.510	.890
M Cochrane	1932	139	35	4	23	112	100	0	.293	.412	.510	.921
Walker Cooper	1947	140	24	8	35	122	24	2	.305	.339	.586	.926
Bill Dickey	1936	112	26	8	22	107	46	0	.362	.428	.617	1.045
Bill Dickey	1937	140	35	2	29	133	73	3	.332	.417	.570	.987
Buck Ewing	1890	83	19	15	8	72	39	36	.338	.406	.545	.951
Carlton Fisk	1977	152	26	3	26	102	75	7	.315	.402	.521	.922
Gabby Hartnett	1930	141	31	3	37	122	55	0	.339	.404	.630	1.034
Elston Howard	1963	135	21	6	28	85	35	0	.287	.342	.528	.869
King Kelly	1888	107	22	11	9	71	31	56	.318	.368	.480	.848
Javier Lopez	2003	129	29	3	43	109	33	0	.328	.378	.687	1.065
Chief Meyers	1912	126	16	5	6	54	47	8	.358	.441	.477	.918
Mike Piazza	1996	148	16	0	36	105	81	0	.336	.422	.563	.985
Mike Piazza	1997	152	32	1	40	124	69	5	.362	.431	.638	1.070
Mike Piazza	1998	151	38	1	32	111	58	1	.328	.390	.570	.960
Ivan Rodriguez	1998	145	40	4	21	91	32	9	.321	.358	.513	.871
Ivan Rodriguez	1999	144	29	1	35	113	24	25	.332	.356	.558	.914
Joe Torre	1966	148	20	3	36	101	60	0	.315	.382	.560	.943

 

            OK, that was fun, but it also chewed up 3,000 words, so I’m going to have to cut to the chase a little more quickly at the other positions.     At first base, these are the 26 seasons that I selected:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Dick Allen	1972	148	28	5	37	113	99	19	.308	.420	.603	1.023
Cap Anson	1886	125	35	11	10	147	55	29	.371	.433	.544	.977
Rod Carew	1977	155	38	16	14	100	69	23	.388	.449	.570	1.019
Norm Cash	1961	159	22	8	41	132	124	11	.361	.487	.662	1.148
Ed Delahanty	1895	116	49	10	11	106	86	46	.404	.500	.617	1.117
Jimmie Foxx	1932	154	33	9	58	169	116	3	.364	.469	.749	1.218
Jimmie Foxx	1933	149	37	9	48	163	96	2	.356	.449	.703	1.153
Jimmie Foxx	1938	149	33	9	50	175	119	5	.349	.462	.704	1.166
Lou Gehrig	1927	155	52	18	47	175	109	10	.373	.474	.765	1.240
Lou Gehrig	1930	154	42	17	41	174	101	12	.379	.473	.721	1.194
Lou Gehrig	1931	155	31	15	46	184	117	17	.341	.446	.662	1.108
Lou Gehrig	1934	154	40	6	49	165	109	9	.363	.465	.706	1.172
Lou Gehrig	1936	155	37	7	49	152	130	3	.354	.478	.696	1.174
Greenberg	1937	154	49	14	40	183	102	8	.337	.436	.668	1.105
Todd Helton	2000	160	59	2	42	147	103	5	.372	.463	.698	1.162
K Hernandez	1979	161	48	11	11	105	80	11	.344	.417	.513	.930
Ryan Howard	2006	159	25	1	58	149	108	0	.313	.425	.659	1.084
Kluszewski	1954	149	28	3	49	141	78	0	.326	.407	.642	1.049
Don Mattingly	1986	162	53	2	31	113	53	0	.352	.394	.573	.967
McCovey	1969	149	26	2	45	126	121	0	.320	.453	.656	1.108
M McGwire	1998	155	21	0	70	147	162	1	.299	.470	.752	1.222
Johnny Mize	1937	145	40	7	25	113	56	2	.364	.427	.595	1.021
Stan Musial	1946	156	50	20	16	103	73	7	.365	.434	.587	1.021
Albert Pujols	2003	157	51	1	43	124	79	5	.359	.439	.667	1.106
George Sisler	1920	154	49	18	19	122	46	42	.407	.449	.632	1.082
George Sisler	1922	142	42	18	8	105	49	51	.420	.467	.594	1.061

 

 

            The two things I can assure you are (1) that, when we reach the point at which we can do a more sophisticated analysis of this issue, these same 26 seasons will not be selected, and (2) that some of them will.    The biggest problem with the selection of first basemen for the 99^th percentile group is that the concentration of big numbers in the 1920s and 1930s, which troubles every position and makes it difficult to avoid picking more players from that era. . ..that problem is compounded by a legitimate concentration of the greatest first basemen ever in this era.    Foxx, Gehrig, Greenberg, Mize.  ..I don’t care what you do to normalize their numbers; those guys are good.    Top seasons not included in the list above include Jim Bottomley in 1928, Lou Gehrig in 1928, 1932 and 1937, Bill Terry in his .400 season in 1930, Jimmie Foxx in 1930, 1934 and 1936, Greenberg in ’35 and ’38, Johnny Mize in 1939, 1940 and 1947, Todd Helton in 2001 and 2003, and recent seasons by Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, Albert Pujols, Carlos Delgado and Derrek Lee.

            Dick Allen in ’72 doesn’t have the numbers of many of the hitters left off the list, but the American League ERA was very low that season, and Allen dominated the league.   There are numerous first basemen/MVPs who don’t make the list and really aren’t close to making the list, like Frank McCormick in 1940, George Burns in 1926 and Boog Powell in 1970.  

            Second Base.  These are the second basemen who represent the top 1%. . .. I think I’ll list these chronologically, just to screw with the anal-retentive instincts of people who like consistency:

 

Player	YEAR	G	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Hardy Richardson	1887	120	131	178	25	18	8	94	31	29	.328	.366	.484	.851
Bobby Lowe	1894	133	158	212	34	11	17	115	50	23	.346	.401	.520	.921
Nap Lajoie	1901	131	145	232	48	14	14	125	24	27	.426	.463	.643	1.106
Nap Lajoie	1904	140	92	208	49	15	5	102	27	29	.376	.413	.546	.959
Nap Lajoie	1910	159	94	227	51	7	4	76	60	26	.384	.445	.514	.960
Eddie Collins	1912	153	137	189	25	11	0	64	101	63	.348	.450	.435	.885
Eddie Collins	1913	148	125	184	23	13	3	73	85	55	.345	.441	.453	.894
Eddie Collins	1914	152	122	181	23	14	2	85	97	58	.344	.452	.452	.904
Eddie Collins	1920	153	117	224	38	13	3	76	69	19	.372	.438	.493	.932
Rogers Hornsby	1922	154	141	250	46	14	42	152	65	17	.401	.459	.722	1.181
Rogers Hornsby	1924	143	121	227	43	14	25	94	89	5	.424	.507	.696	1.203
Rogers Hornsby	1925	138	133	203	41	10	39	143	83	5	.403	.489	.756	1.245
Rogers Hornsby	1929	156	156	229	47	8	39	149	87	2	.380	.459	.679	1.139
Charlie Gehringer	1934	154	134	214	50	7	11	127	99	11	.356	.450	.517	.967
Charlie Gehringer	1936	154	144	227	60	12	15	116	83	4	.354	.431	.555	.987
Joe Gordon	1948	144	96	154	21	4	32	124	77	5	.280	.371	.507	.878
Jackie Robinson	1949	156	122	203	38	12	16	124	86	37	.342	.432	.528	.960
Schoendienst	1953	146	107	193	35	5	15	79	60	3	.342	.405	.502	.907
Pete Rose	1965	162	117	209	35	11	11	81	69	8	.312	.382	.446	.828
Joe Morgan	1972	149	122	161	23	4	16	73	115	58	.292	.417	.435	.851
Joe Morgan	1975	146	107	163	27	6	17	94	132	67	.327	.466	.508	.974
Joe Morgan	1976	141	113	151	30	5	27	111	114	60	.320	.444	.576	1.020
Ryne Sandberg	1984	156	114	200	36	19	19	84	52	32	.314	.367	.520	.887
Ryne Sandberg	1990	155	116	188	30	3	40	100	50	25	.306	.354	.559	.913
Craig Biggio	1997	162	146	191	37	8	22	81	84	47	.309	.415	.501	.916
Chase Utley	2006	160	131	203	40	4	32	102	63	15	.309	.379	.527	.906

 

            A lot of people would include on the list Ross Barnes in 1876, who hit .426 by bunting into foul territory, or Fred Dunlap in 1884, hitting .412 in what is really a minor league.   I don’t have much interest in those guys, but I would have liked to find a spot for Bid McPhee and/or Cupid Childs.   McPhee had 16 good seasons but no great ones.  Eddie Collins was really consistent, but Eddie Collins was consistent at .340.  McPhee was consistent at .285, and there were probably more runs scored in McPhee’s era than Collins’.

            Frankie Frisch was a great player and there should be a place for him on the list, but I just didn’t know who to kick off; Hardy Richardson, maybe, but if I’m going to ignore the 19^th century then I need to cut down the number of players who make up the top one percent, so that doesn’t really work, either.

            Tony Lazzeri has good numbers, but it took a lot of runs to win a game in his era.  Not saying Joe Gordon was better than Lazzeri, but Gordon in 1948 was better than Lazzeri in any one season, I think.   Buddy Myer in ’35 had 215 hits, drove in 100 runs, scored 115 runs and won the batting title in a park with a Park Run Index of 88.   Billy Herman twice hit 57 doubles and had about 300 hits.

            Bobby Grich in ’79 is comparable to Joe Gordon in ’48.  Jeff Kent was very comparable to Chase Utley with the bat, and he could be on the list, but Utley is a much better glove than Kent was.    I have observed before that Robby Alomar is very much like Frankie Frisch, and he is like him in this way, too, that there should be a place for Alomar on the list, if Hornsby and Eddie Collins didn’t have so many years as dominant players.

            Johnny Evers was NL MVP in 1914 and Nellie Fox the AL MVP in 1959; those guys were extremely good, but I think they’re about the 96^th percentile.    Bret Boone had big numbers in our recent big numbers era.   Obviously I’d like to have Pedroia on the list, and he was an MVP, too, but. . .was he really better than Schoendienst in ’53?    It could be that he was, but I went with the redhead.

            The general point is that there are an awful lot of really good seasons that won’t fit on the list.   Third base is a pleasant exception, because we don’t have a bunch of third basemen in the 1920-1939 era hitting .420 with 65 stolen bases and stuff.   This enables us to play a little bit of catch-up on behalf of the other eras:

 

Player	YEAR	G	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Lave Cross	1894	119	204	34	9	7	125	29	21	.386	.421	.524	.944
Bill Joyce	1894	99	126	25	14	17	89	87	21	.355	.496	.648	1.143
John McGraw	1899	117	156	13	3	1	33	124	73	.391	.547	.446	.994
Jimmy Williams	1899	152	219	28	27	9	116	60	26	.355	.417	.532	.949
Jimmy Collins	1901	138	187	42	16	6	94	34	19	.332	.375	.495	.870
HR Baker	1912	149	200	40	21	10	130	50	40	.347	.404	.541	.945
H Zimmerman	1912	145	207	41	14	14	99	38	23	.372	.418	.571	.989
Al Rosen	1953	155	201	27	5	43	145	85	8	.336	.422	.613	1.034
Eddie Mathews	1953	157	175	31	8	47	135	99	1	.302	.406	.627	1.033
Brooks Robinson	1964	163	194	35	3	28	118	51	1	.317	.368	.521	.889
Ron Santo	1964	161	185	33	13	30	114	86	3	.312	.398	.564	.962
H Killebrew	1969	162	153	20	2	49	140	145	8	.276	.427	.584	1.011
Tony Perez	1970	158	186	28	6	40	129	83	8	.317	.401	.589	.990
Joe Torre	1971	161	230	34	8	24	137	63	4	.363	.421	.555	.976
Mike Schmidt	1977	154	149	27	11	38	101	104	15	.274	.393	.574	.967
George Brett	1980	117	175	33	9	24	118	58	15	.390	.454	.664	1.118
Mike Schmidt	1980	150	157	25	8	48	121	89	12	.286	.380	.624	1.004
George Brett	1985	155	184	38	5	30	112	103	9	.335	.436	.585	1.022
Wade Boggs	1985	161	240	42	3	8	78	96	2	.368	.450	.478	.928
Jim Thome	1996	151	157	28	5	38	116	123	2	.311	.450	.612	1.062
Ken Caminiti	1996	146	178	37	2	40	130	78	11	.326	.408	.621	1.028
Chipper Jones	1999	157	181	41	1	45	110	126	25	.319	.441	.633	1.074
Albert Pujols	2001	161	194	47	4	37	130	69	1	.329	.403	.610	1.013
Adrian Beltre	2004	156	200	32	0	48	121	53	7	.334	.388	.629	1.017
Scott Rolen	2004	142	157	32	4	34	124	72	4	.314	.409	.598	1.007
Alex Rodriguez	2005	162	194	29	1	48	130	91	21	.321	.421	.610	1.031

 

            It is interesting the way you have exceptional seasons matching up cross-leagues here.   In 1912 Heinie Zimmerman led the National League in Home Runs and Batting Average, missing the triple crown by three RBI.   Home Run Baker tied for the American League lead in Home Runs, and led in RBI by 21.    Then there is nobody on our list until 1953, when we again have an American Leaguer—Al Rosen, who missed the Triple Crown by one point in batting average—and a National Leaguer, the 21-year old sensation Eddie Mathews, belting 47 homers and driving in 135.   Then we have another eleven-year gap until 1964, when the MVPs in both leagues were third basemen, Brooks Robinson and Ken Boyer.   Boyer didn’t make the list, but another NL third baseman did.   I don’t actually know whether Santo was better than Boyer in ’64, but his numbers were better and I decided to go with him.

            Then in 1980, of course, we have an MVP- and World Series matchup between the two greatest third basemen of all time, George Brett and some National League guy.   In 1996 we have the National League MVP, Ken Caminiti, against Jim Thome, posting the third-highest OPS at third base in baseball history (not counting Bill Joyce in 1894, who played only 99 games, or Schmidt in 1981, when nothing counts.)   Even when they are in the same league, the great seasons by third basemen align—Bill Joyce and Lave Cross in 1894, McGraw and Jimmy Williams in 1899, Brett and Boggs in 1985, Beltre and Rolen in 2004. 

            Now that I look at it, I’ve got some questionable selections here.   Bill Joyce was a fantastic hitter, but 1894 was a hitter’s year, his defense was not good and he played only 99 games.  Is he really a better pick than George Davis in 1893 or 1895, Jimmy Collins in 1897 or Bill Bradley in 1902?    We couldn’t find anybody to represent the 20s, 30s or 40s?   What about Pie Traynor, Stan Hack and Harlond Clift?    Killebrew in ’69, Doggie Perez in ’70, Joe Torre in ’71. ..what is this, the Bermuda Triangle of third basemen?    I know their hitting numbers were sensational, but none of them were true third basemen, and were those guys really better than Bob Elliot and Robin Ventura?

            I don’t know; they just popped to the top of my list.   At shortstop, again, we’re going to skip the 1920s:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Bill Dahlen	1894	121	32	14	15	107	76	42	.357	.444	.566	1.010
Hughie Jennings	1895	131	41	7	4	125	24	53	.386	.444	.512	.957
Hughie Jennings	1896	130	27	9	0	121	19	70	.401	.472	.488	.960
Honus Wagner	1901	140	37	11	6	126	53	49	.353	.416	.494	.910
Honus Wagner	1903	129	30	19	5	101	44	46	.355	.414	.518	.931
Honus Wagner	1905	147	32	14	6	101	54	57	.363	.427	.505	.932
Honus Wagner	1908	151	39	19	10	109	54	53	.354	.415	.542	.957
Honus Wagner	1909	137	39	10	5	100	66	35	.339	.420	.489	.909
Arky Vaughan	1935	137	34	10	19	99	97	4	.385	.491	.607	1.098
Luke Appling	1936	138	31	7	6	128	85	10	.388	.473	.508	.981
Joe Cronin	1938	143	51	5	17	94	91	7	.325	.428	.536	.964
Lou Boudreau	1948	152	34	6	18	106	98	3	.355	.453	.534	.987
Vern Stephens	1949	155	31	2	39	159	101	2	.290	.391	.539	.930
Phil Rizzuto	1950	155	36	7	7	66	91	12	.324	.417	.439	.856
Ernie Banks	1958	154	23	11	47	129	52	4	.313	.366	.614	.980
Zoilo Versalles	1965	160	45	12	19	77	41	27	.273	.319	.462	.781
Robin Yount	1982	156	46	12	29	114	54	14	.331	.379	.578	.957
Cal Ripken	1983	162	47	2	27	102	58	0	.318	.371	.517	.888
Ozzie Smith	1987	158	40	4	0	75	89	43	.303	.392	.383	.775
Alex Rodriguez	1996	146	54	1	36	123	59	15	.358	.414	.631	1.045
Derek Jeter	1999	158	37	9	24	102	91	19	.349	.437	.552	.989
Nomah	1999	135	42	4	27	104	51	14	.357	.418	.603	1.022
Alex Rodriguez	2000	148	34	2	41	132	100	15	.316	.420	.606	1.026
Alex Rodriguez	2001	162	34	1	52	135	75	18	.318	.399	.622	1.021
Alex Rodriguez	2002	162	27	2	57	142	87	9	.300	.392	.623	1.015
Alex Rodriguez	2003	161	30	6	47	118	87	17	.298	.396	.600	.995

 

            Phil Rizzuto in 1950. . .are we pandering to Yankee fans now?   (I have to argue with myself because I don’t pay any attention to anybody else.)   Boudreau and Gordon from the ’48 Indians?

            I don’t think I had noticed before how similar Joe Cronin’s numbers in 1938 were to Pedroia’s last year.   Cronin hit .325 with 51 doubles, 17 homers; Pedroia hit .326 with 54 and 17.    Same park.   4.79 League ERA in 1938, 4.35 last year.   This may be an argument that I should have picked Pedroia.

            Zoilo Versalles in ’65 has the lowest on-base percentage of anyone in the top one percent at any position (.319), but I’ll stand by it.  Somebody has to be on the bottom of every list.  The league on base percentage in 1965 was .311.   Zorro had 76 extra base hits, stole 27 bases and scored 126 runs for a team that won 102 games.   Dick Groat won the MVP Award for the Pirates in 1960, and Maury Wills for the Dodgers in 1962, when he stole a then-quasi-record 104 bases.   I think you have to take Versalles.   Wills scored 130 runs for a team that scored 842 runs and didn’t win the pennant.   Versalles scored 126 for a team that scored 774 and did win the pennant.  Versalles drove in 60% more runs and made eight fewer outs, and I think he was probably a better defensive shortstop.  

            A-Rod has made the list six times, five at shortstop and once at third base.   Wagner made it five times at shortstop and almost made it once at third base; his 1899 season, when he played 75 games at third base and no shortstop, was one of the last cuts at third base.   Ernie Banks in 1959 drove in 143 runs, won a Gold Glove at short and won the MVP Award—and doesn’t make the list.   I used to think that was the greatest year by a shortstop ever, but it isn’t.   Miguel Tejada drove in 150 runs one year; he doesn’t make it.   A-Rod one year hit 42 homers and stole 46 bases; that year doesn’t crack the top 1%.   Marty Marion, Barry Larkin and Jimmy Rollins had MVP seasons that are probably in the second 1%.

The shortstops who did make the list averaged .339 with 22 homers, 111 RBI, 119 runs scored, 37 doubles, 25 steals and a .956 OPS.  Those are good numbers, but they wouldn’t come close to making the left fielders’ top 1% list.    Ted Williams would sneeze at those numbers:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Tip O'Neill	1887	124	52	19	14	123	50	30	.435	.490	.691	1.180
Ed Delahanty	1896	123	44	17	13	126	62	37	.397	.472	.631	1.103
Sherry Magee	1910	154	39	17	6	123	94	49	.331	.445	.507	.952
Babe Ruth	1919	130	34	12	29	114	101	7	.322	.456	.657	1.114
Ken Williams	1922	153	34	11	39	155	74	37	.332	.413	.627	1.040
Lefty O'Doul	1929	154	35	6	32	122	76	2	.398	.465	.622	1.087
Al Simmons	1930	138	41	16	36	165	39	9	.381	.423	.708	1.130
Joe Medwick	1937	156	56	10	31	154	41	4	.374	.414	.641	1.056
Greenberg	1940	148	50	8	41	150	93	6	.340	.433	.670	1.103
Ted Williams	1941	143	33	3	37	120	147	2	.406	.553	.735	1.287
Ted Williams	1942	150	34	5	36	137	145	3	.356	.499	.648	1.147
Ted Williams	1946	150	37	8	38	123	156	0	.342	.497	.667	1.164
Ted Williams	1949	155	39	3	43	159	162	1	.343	.490	.650	1.141
Ralph Kiner	1949	152	19	5	54	127	117	6	.310	.432	.658	1.089
Ted Williams	1957	132	28	1	38	87	119	0	.388	.526	.731	1.257
Yastrzemski	1967	161	31	4	44	121	91	10	.326	.418	.622	1.040
Yastrzemski	1970	161	29	0	40	102	128	23	.329	.452	.592	1.044
Billy Williams	1970	161	34	4	42	129	72	7	.322	.391	.586	.977
Willie Stargell	1973	148	43	3	44	119	80	0	.299	.392	.646	1.038
George Foster	1977	158	31	2	52	149	61	6	.320	.382	.631	1.013
Jim Rice	1978	163	25	15	46	139	58	7	.315	.370	.600	.970
Barry Bonds	1993	159	38	4	46	123	126	29	.336	.458	.677	1.136
Albert Belle	1995	143	52	1	50	126	73	5	.317	.401	.690	1.091
Barry Bonds	2001	153	32	2	73	137	177	13	.328	.515	.863	1.379
Barry Bonds	2002	143	31	2	46	110	198	9	.370	.678	.799	1.477
Barry Bonds	2004	147	27	3	45	101	232	6	.362	.609	.812	1.422

 

            Musial’s absence from this list will be explained shortly.   Every player on this list hit .300 except Willie Stargell, who hit .299 with 43 doubles and 44 homers.   All of them drove in 100 runs except Ted Williams in 1957, when he hit .388.    All of them had a 1.000 OPS except Sherry Magee and two guys from the 1970s.

            Needless to say, the list of MVP Left Fielders who don’t make our list is long and impressive.   Hank Sauer won the MVP Award in 1952; he might clock in about the 90^th percentile, although I suppose he could be higher.   Left field probably has the best numbers of any position in this survey, averaging .349 with 39 homers, 129 RBI.   OPS:  1.132.    Ed Delahanty in 1899 hit .410 with 55 doubles, 137 RBI.   Didn’t have room for him in the top 1%.   Al Simmons in 1930 hit .365 with 157 RBI; in 1931 he hit .390.   Shut out.  

            The toughest season to cut among center fielders—I’ll start on the other end of the discussion—the last cut was Earl Averill in 1936.   Averill had 232 hits including 39 doubles, 15 triples, 28 homers and drove in 126 runs.  His average was .378.   What don’t you like about this?  

            The league ERA was 5.04 and the Park Run Index was 113.   Logically, I know that Jim Edmonds in 2004 was better, but it’s hard to leave a season like that out of the group:

           

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Pete Browning	1887	134	35	16	4	0	55	103	.402	.464	.547	1.011
Hugh Duffy	1894	125	51	16	18	145	66	48	.440	.502	.694	1.196
Billy Hamilton	1894	129	25	15	4	87	126	98	.404	.523	.528	1.050
Jake Stenzel	1894	131	39	20	13	121	75	61	.354	.441	.580	1.022
Cy Seymour	1905	149	40	21	8	121	51	21	.377	.429	.559	.988
Ty Cobb	1911	146	47	24	8	127	44	83	.420	.467	.621	1.088
Tris Speaker	1912	153	53	12	10	90	82	52	.383	.464	.567	1.031
Ty Cobb	1912	140	30	23	7	83	43	61	.409	.456	.584	1.040
Tris Speaker	1923	150	59	11	17	130	93	10	.380	.469	.610	1.079
Hack Wilson	1930	155	35	6	56	191	105	3	.356	.454	.723	1.177
Joe DiMaggio	1937	151	35	15	46	167	64	3	.346	.412	.673	1.085
Joe DiMaggio	1939	120	32	6	30	126	52	3	.381	.448	.671	1.119
Joe DiMaggio	1941	139	43	11	30	125	76	4	.357	.440	.643	1.083
Joe DiMaggio	1948	153	26	11	39	155	67	1	.320	.396	.598	.994
Duke Snider	1953	153	38	4	42	126	82	16	.336	.419	.627	1.046
Duke Snider	1954	149	39	10	40	130	84	6	.341	.423	.647	1.071
Willie Mays	1954	151	33	13	41	110	66	8	.345	.411	.667	1.078
Willie Mays	1955	152	18	13	51	127	79	24	.319	.400	.659	1.059
Mickey Mantle	1956	150	22	5	52	130	112	10	.353	.464	.705	1.169
Mickey Mantle	1957	144	28	6	34	94	146	16	.365	.512	.665	1.177
Mickey Mantle	1961	153	16	6	54	128	126	12	.317	.448	.687	1.135
Willie Mays	1962	162	36	5	49	141	78	18	.304	.384	.615	.999
Willie Mays	1965	157	21	3	52	112	76	9	.317	.398	.645	1.043
Rickey Henderson	1985	143	28	5	24	72	99	80	.314	.419	.516	.934
Ken Griffey Jr.	1997	157	34	3	56	147	76	15	.304	.382	.646	1.028
Jim Edmonds	2004	153	38	3	42	111	101	8	.301	.418	.643	1.061

 

            Kirby Puckett gets left out; I maybe should have included Kirby in 1988 (234 hits, .356 average, 42 doubles, 24 homers, 121 RBI) rather than Jake Stenzel.   Kirby drew 23 walks and was 6-for-13 as a base stealer.   Ty Cobb makes our list only twice, as opposed to 5-7 listings for the comparable superstars like Mays, Ted Williams, Gehrig and Barry Bonds.   Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know; could be I should have given more consideration to the dead ball era players.    Joe DiMaggio makes the list four times, Griffey only once; maybe I’m a closet Yankee fan.   I don’t think so; I think I’d have noticed before now.

            Babe Ruth makes the 1% list eight times—once in left field, seven times in right:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Sam Thompson	1887	127	29	23	11	166	32	22	.372	.416	.571	.987
Sam Thompson	1895	119	45	21	18	165	31	27	.392	.430	.654	1.085
Willie Keeler	1897	129	27	19	0	74	35	64	.424	.464	.539	1.003
Sam Crawford	1901	131	20	16	16	104	37	13	.330	.378	.524	.903
Joe Jackson	1911	147	45	19	7	83	56	41	.408	.468	.590	1.058
Babe Ruth	1920	142	36	9	54	137	150	14	.376	.532	.847	1.379
Babe Ruth	1921	152	44	16	59	171	145	17	.378	.512	.846	1.359
Harry Heilmann	1923	144	44	11	18	115	74	8	.403	.481	.632	1.113
Babe Ruth	1923	152	45	13	41	131	170	17	.393	.545	.764	1.309
Babe Ruth	1924	153	39	7	46	121	142	9	.378	.513	.739	1.252
Babe Ruth	1926	152	30	5	47	146	144	11	.372	.516	.737	1.253
Babe Ruth	1927	151	29	8	60	164	137	7	.356	.486	.772	1.258
Chuck Klein	1929	149	45	6	43	145	54	5	.356	.407	.657	1.065
Mel Ott	1929	150	37	2	42	151	113	6	.328	.449	.635	1.084
Babe Herman	1930	153	48	11	35	130	66	18	.393	.455	.678	1.132
Chuck Klein	1930	156	59	8	40	170	54	4	.386	.436	.687	1.123
Babe Ruth	1931	145	31	3	46	163	128	5	.373	.494	.700	1.194
Stan Musial	1948	155	46	18	39	131	79	7	.376	.450	.702	1.152
Stan Musial	1949	157	41	13	36	123	107	3	.338	.438	.624	1.062
Hank Aaron	1957	151	27	6	44	132	57	1	.322	.378	.600	.978
Hank Aaron	1959	154	46	7	39	123	51	8	.355	.401	.636	1.037
Roger Maris	1961	161	16	4	61	142	94	0	.269	.372	.620	.993
Frank Robinson	1962	162	51	2	39	136	76	18	.342	.421	.624	1.045
Frank Robinson	1966	155	34	2	49	122	87	8	.316	.410	.637	1.047
Clemente	1966	154	31	11	29	119	46	7	.317	.360	.536	.896
Sammy Sosa	2001	160	34	5	64	160	116	0	.328	.437	.737	1.174

 

            The toughest call on that list, actually, was Maris—Maris over players with higher OPS, more speed, more RBI, Maris over Tony Gwynn and Vladimir and Reggie Jackson and Paul Waner and Al Kaline and Ichiro, none of whom will make the top 1% even once in their Hall of Fame careers.   Maris over Cobb in the three years that Ty Cobb played right field and won the batting title.   Yep, that confirms it; James is a closet Yankee fan. 

            Maris had a good year, and it’s a special year in baseball history, and I decided to go with it.   Stan Musial doesn’t make the list in left field, but he makes it once at first base and twice in right field.   He had a lot of years playing 50 games at first, 45 in center, 45 in right.   It’s hard to say what his position is, in his best years.

            From 1957 to 1966 seven right fielders won MVP Awards (Aaron in ’57, Jackie Jensen in ’58, Maris in ’60 and ’61, Frank Robinson in ’61 and ’66, Clemente in ’66.)    Tony Oliva didn’t win one, but could have won two.    There are still a lot of tremendous right fielders around now—Ichiro, Vladimir, Markakis—but they don’t win many MVP Awards.   

            You want Designated Hitters?   The Dee Aitch has been around since 1973, mostly in a 14-team league, so that’s about 500 teams that have had the DH, just short of 500.   We’ll pick five Designated Hitters, who are:

 

Player	YEAR	G	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB	Avg	OBA	SPct	OPS
Edgar Martinez	1995	145	52	0	29	113	116	4	.356	.479	.628	1.107
Rafael Palmeiro	1999	158	30	1	47	148	97	2	.324	.420	.630	1.050
Frank Thomas	2000	159	44	0	43	143	112	1	.328	.436	.625	1.061
David Ortiz	2005	159	40	1	47	148	102	1	.300	.397	.604	1.001
David Ortiz	2006	151	29	2	54	137	119	1	.287	.413	.636	1.049

 

            Going to skip the starting pitchers, as I warned you earlier, but I will choose Relief Aces.   “Relief Aces” became “Closers” in the 1980s.    Early baseball teams, pre-1920, didn’t have bullpens at all, and many or most teams from 1920 to 1950 had bullpens whose chief duty was to run out the clock.   How many teams have had actual relief aces?

            It’s hard to say.  I started with 1800 teams, but couldn’t eliminate a reliever, so decided that 1900 teams would have been a better number.   Modern teams, of course, have many relievers pitching 60-75 games a season, so it is not clear to what group the “one percent” applies.  In any case, my list of the 99^th percentile relief aces is as follows:

 

First	Last	Year	G	W	L	IP	SO	BB	Saves	ERA
Luis	Arroyo	1961	65	15	5	119	87	49	29	2.19
Ron	Perranoski	1963	69	16	3	129	75	43	21	1.67
Dick	Radatz	1963	66	15	6	132	162	51	25	1.98
Dick	Radatz	1964	79	16	9	157	181	58	29	2.29
Phil	Regan	1966	65	14	1	117	88	24	21	1.62
John	Hiller	1973	65	10	5	125	124	39	38	1.44
Jim	Kern	1979	71	13	5	143	136	62	29	1.57
Dan	Quisenberry	1983	69	5	3	139	48	11	45	1.94
Willie	Hernandez	1984	80	9	3	140	112	36	32	1.92
Bruce	Sutter	1984	71	5	7	123	77	23	45	1.54
Dennis	Eckersley	1990	63	4	2	73	73	4	48	0.61
Bobby	Thigpen	1990	77	4	6	89	70	32	57	1.83
Dennis	Eckersley	1992	69	7	1	80	93	11	51	1.91
John	Wetteland	1993	70	9	3	85	113	28	43	1.37
Trevor	Hoffman	1998	66	4	2	73	86	21	53	1.48
Eric	Gagne	2002	77	4	1	82	114	16	52	1.97
Keith	Foulke	2003	72	9	1	87	88	20	43	2.08
Eric	Gagne	2003	77	2	3	82	137	20	55	1.20
Mariano	Rivera	2004	74	4	2	79	66	20	53	1.94

 

            There are tremendous relievers before 1961, of course—Wilhelm and Joe Black in ’52, Elroy Face in ’59.   Jim Konstanty in 1950 won the MVP Award.  He’s just like all the other MVPs who don’t make the top 1%; he was great, but he’s in the 98^th percentile.   Konstanty had a 2.66 ERA.   The worst ERA on this list was 2.29, and 84% of these guys are under 2.00.

            OK, that’s my list.    As I say, we’re really not to the point yet at which we can identify the top 1% with a high degree of reliability.  We’ll get there.  The right questions are always more important than the right answers.    If you get the answers wrong you can fix that.   If you don’t find the right question, you’ve got nothing.