Some years ago I introduced a way of making one-dimensional rankings of won-lost records based on combining Wins and Losses into one number.   The issue addressed here is this one.   Which of these five won-lost records is most impressive, and which is least impressive?

                        1-0

                        21-17

                        3-2

                      ​  19-4

                        7-1

            If you rank those seasons by wins, the 21-win season is first—but obviously, 21-17 is not more impressive than 19-4.   If you rank them by winning percentage, the number one season is the 1-0 record, and the worst record is 21-17—but obviously, 1-0 is not more impressive than 19-4, nor is 21-17 a less impressive won-lost record than 3-2.   There has to be a way to rank seasons which considers both wins and winning percentage.  

            That process is called Fibonacci Win Points, and let’s not worry about why it’s called that right now.    Fibonacci Win Points are calculated as:

            Wins

            Times Winning Percentage

            Plus (Wins Minus Losses)

            For the records above, that makes:

                        1-0       is 1 * 1.000  =  1, + 1 minus 0                                           2

                        21-17   is 21 * .553  = 11.6 + 21  minus 17                              15.6

                        3-2       is 2 * .600 = 1.8 + 2 minus 2                                          3.8

                        19-4     is  19 * .826 =  15.7  + 19 minus 4                               30.7

                        7-1       is 7 * .875 = 6.1 + 7 minus 1                                        12.1

            We thus rank these as:

                        19-4

                        21-17

                          7-1

                          3-2

                          1-0

            I designed this approach to rank won-lost records of pitchers.    But on April 6, a reader signing himself as “Paul” asked in the “Hey, Bill” section why, when I had Win Shares and Loss Shares and needed to rank them, I had not considered Fibonacci Win Points as a way to rank them.  Actually, that’s not exactly what he asked; what he asked was why, after I introduced Fibonacci Win Points, I had just dropped the whole concept like a bad date.

Why didn’t I apply it to the rankings of these players in the Short Career Studies?   I dunno. . .just didn’t think about it.   Let’s try it.    This is how these 71 Short-Career Players would rank, applying the Fibonacci method to the Win Shares and Loss Shares of the players and ignoring things like special consideration for catchers and players who miss seasons out of their prime due to military service:

            In essence, this ranking method (compared to the one I was using before) assumes a higher replacement level.    The system I was using before essentially assumed a replacement level of .250, and ranked players according to how far they were above a player with a .250 Winning Percentage.   This system assumes a higher replacement level (about .414), and thus favors a player who has a higher winning percentage in a shorter career.

            I actually like the Fibonacci rankings better than the rankings I was using before.   The replacement level is probably closer to .414 than it is to .250, and thus the players who are moved up in these rankings (compared to the others) probably should be moved up, and probably should have ranked higher.    The main changes in these rankings, compared to the others, are that Charlie Keller, Spud Chandler, Roy Campanella, Tiny Bonham, Bob Locker, Riggs Stephenson, Dizzy Dean, Ross Youngs, Jackie Robinson, Jim Maloney, Jim Ray Hart, Johnny Murphy, Chick Hafey, Jack McDowell, Sal Maglie and Addie Joss move up in the rankings, while George Case, Ken Williams, Ron Guidry, Scott Fletcher, Thornton Lee, Joe Gordon, Johnny Evers, Freddie Lindstrom, Don Mattingly, Hal Trosky, Dom DiMaggio, Joe Tinker, Pete Fox, Vince Coleman, Lu Blue, Kirby Puckett and Allie Reynolds will move down.

            What does this say about the Hall of Fame selections?    By the new rankings, the lowest-rankings players who have been selected to the Hall of Fame are Freddie Lindstrom (50^th), Rollie Fingers (44^th), Chick Hafey (41^st), Addie Joss (37^th), and Dizzy Dean (34^th).    We said before that all of those were marginal or poor selections, and this is still true.

            The other ranking suggested that Don Mattingly (300) was a better-qualified Hall of Fame Candidate than Darryl Strawberry (285).   This method has Strawberry ahead of Mattingly, 289-275.    You might not agree with these rankings.   I might not agree with them, either.   That’s OK; we are not slaves to the data.  You and I know many things which are not embedded in the data.    We don’t need or want to set those things aside from the debate.

            While I was doing that, I also wanted to do a few other rankings, just more or less for fun.   First is a ranking of the 50 best seasons by any player in this group, ranked by Fibonacci Win Points, based on their Win Shares and Loss Shares in the seasons in question.   These are the top 50:

1.  Joe DiMaggio, 1939 (29+6). 

            Joe DiMaggio played only 120 games in 1939, due to an injury.   It is, other than that, a quite remarkable season.   In about the same number of at bats that Ted Williams had in 1941, DMaggio hit .381.   True, it’s not .400, but. . .it’s pretty close to .400.   The difference between DiMaggio in ’39 and Williams in ’41 is just 11, 12 hits.   Each player hit 30 to 40 doubles and 30 to 40 homers.   DiMaggio drove in a few more runs (126-120) and struck out a little bit less (20-27). 

            I will grant you that Williams’ numbers in ’41 are better, at least without context, than DiMaggio in ’39, but DiMaggio’s number in 1939 are still staggering—and then, there is Joe D’s defense in center field, for a team that lost Gehrig early in the season and still managed to win 106 games.

2.  Shoeless Joe, 1911 (32+3)

            Jackson did hit .400.

3.  Joe DiMaggio, 1941 (32+4)

            DiMaggio plucked the MVP Award from the last .400 hitter in a selection that is still controversial, and, as Williams is not a party to this ranking, I can’t tell you how I’d see it.   But DiMaggio’s season is still tremendously impressive.

4.   Unshod Joe Jackson, 1913 (32+3)

5.  Frank Chance, 1911 (31+2)

            Numbers don’t look that good, but he had a .419 on-base percentage in a league with a 2.62 ERA.   It’s a lot of runs relative to context.

6.   Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1912 (32+1)

            Hit .395. 

7.  Jackie Robinson, 1951 (30+2)

            A season with a wide array of positive--.338 average, 19 homers, 79 walks, 27 stolen bases, defensive contribution scored at 7-0.

8.  Dick Allen, 1972 (30+2)

            Made a run at the Triple Crown. 

9.   Smokey Joe Wood, 1912  (36 – 5)

            34 wins, 5 losses, 1.91 ERA, famous duel with Walter Johnson.

10.  Babe Herman, 1930  (31 – 1)

            .393 average, 35 homers, 130 RBI. 

11.  Joe DiMaggio, 1937 (31 – 2)

            Career highs of 46 homers, 167 RBI.

12.  Charlie Keller, 1942 (30 - 1)

            108 RBI and 100+ walks in a low-run context.   Finished 16^th in the MVP voting, won by player ranking 32^nd on this list. 

13.  Charlie Keller, 1943 (29 - 1)

            Essentially the same season.   Moved up to 14^th in the voting.

14.  Ross Youngs, 1920 (31 -  3)

            .351 average.   Lively ball era hadn’t really hit the National League yet. 

15.   Ron Guidry, 1978 (30 – 2)

            25-3 actual won-lost record, 1.74 ERA.

16.  Dick Allen, 1964 (30 – 3)

            Not a bad rookie season, although it ended badly.

17.   Wally Berger, 1933 (29 – 1)

            Chuck Klein led the National League in homers (28), RBI (120), Total Bases (365), Runs Created (138) and Slugging Percentage (.602).   Berger was second in all of those categories, with 27 homers, 106 RBI, 299 Total Bases, 111 Runs Created, and a .566 Slugging Percentage.   But Klein was playing in a park with a Run Index of 153.   Berger was playing in a park with a Run Index of 86.

18.  Shoeless Joe, 1920 (30 – 2)

            .382 average, 121 RBI before being banned from baseball late in the season.

19.  Sandy Koufax, 1965 (36 – 10)

            Actual record of 26-8, 382 strikeouts.  

20.   Hank Greenberg, 1935 (30 – 3)

            170 RBI.  

21.  Dizzy Dean, 1934 (33 – 7)

            The last 30-game winner in the National League.

22.  Roger Maris, 1961 (30 – 4)

            Hit a few homers.

23.  Ross Youngs, 1924 (27 – 1)

            Had a .441 on base percentage.

24.   Charlie Keller, 1946 (29 – 3)

            Same stats as always, once more finished 16^th in the MVP voting. 

25.  Ralph Kiner, 1949 (28 – 2)

            .310 with 54 homers.

26.   Larry Doby, 1952 (27 – 2)

            Good defense, league-leading OPS in a pitcher’s park.

27.  Darryl Strawberry, 1988 (29 – 3)

            39 homers, .911 OPS. 

28.  Sandy Koufax, 1966 (34 – 9)

            Retired after posting 27-9 record, 1.73 ERA.

29.  Shoeless Fella, 1916  (30 – 5)

            Had several good years.

30.  Frank Chance, 1905 (25 + 1)

            .450 on base percentage probably helped the team a little. 

31.  Hank Greenberg, 1938 (28 – 3)

            58 homers with .315 average.

32.  Joe Gordon, 1942 (28 – 3)

A great season; I probably would have voted for Keller.

33.  Albert Belle, 1995 (27 – 2)

            50 homers, 50 doubles in a strike-shortened season.  40 and 40 would have been incredible.

34.   Roy Campanella, 1951 (26 – 1)

            Won his first MVP Award.   Our system prefers Jackie, but Campy wasn’t bad, either. 

35.   Don Mattingly, 1986 (29 – 5)

            Hit .352 with 238 hits, 53 doubles, 31 homers.)

36.  Charlie Keller, 1941 (26 – 2)

            Finished 6^th in the MVP voting, which I think was his career best.  

37.  Jackie Robinson, 1952 (26 – 2)

            Much like Jackie Robinson in 1951.

38.  Frank Chance, 1903 (25 – 1)

            Are we repeating ourselves?

39.   Dick Allen, 1966 (26 – 1)

            Career-high 40 homers.

40.  Joe DiMaggio, 1940 (25 – 1)

            Hit .352 and drove in 133 runs, but the Yankees failed to win. 

41.   Joe DiMaggio, 1942 (29 – 6)

42.   Jackie Robinson, 1949 (28 – 4)

            This was the one year he did win the MVP Award.  

43.  Joe DiMaggio, 1948 (28 – 5)

            Drove in 155 runs. 

44.  Dolph Camilli, 1941 (26 – 3)

            Camilli won the MVP Award which, in legend, has been transferred to his teammate Pete Reiser.   Reiser was pretty good, too; don’t know for sure how he would compare to Camilli.

45.  Roger Maris, 1960 (25 - 2)

46.   Larry Doby, 1951 (24 – 1)

            Perhaps the most impressive 69-RBI season ever for an outfielder.

47.  Sandy Koufax, 1963 (32 – 10)

            Sandy’s first great season and his only MVP season.   I have in the past propounded the theory that when a player performs at the same level year-in and year-out, the MVP voters take him for granted—for example, Koufax in 1963, 1965, 1966.   The Dodgers won the pennant all three seasons; Koufax was Koufax all three seasons.   But only the first one won an MVP Award; after that it was kind of expected of him.

48.  Bobby Shantz, 1952 (29 – 6)

            Actual MVP.

49.  Larry Doby, 1950  (25 -2) 

            .326 average, 102 RBI. 

50.  Don Mattingly, 1985 (28 – 6)

            Career high 145 RBI. 

            This is how good this group of players is:  There are ten MVP seasons in this study which didn’t rank among the top 50 seasons in the study.  

Johnny Evers, 1914                  22-9

Mickey Cochrane, 1928           20-9

Mickey Cochrane, 1934           19-5

Hank Greenberg, 1940 26-5

Spud Chandler, 1943               25-4

Joe DiMaggio, 1947                 25-3

Phil Rizzuto, 1950                     27-6

Roy Campanella, 1953 25-2

Roy Campanella, 1955 21-4

Don Newcombe, 1956 26-9

            OK, one more phase to this project.  This is really silly; I confess freely that it is really silly, it doesn’t mean anything, but I just like to organize these kind of competitions in my head and see where they go, so if you want to follow along, follow along, and if you want to have a life, well, Be That Way, see if I care.

            The other thing that I wanted to do is to compare these 71 short-career players by age; who was the best player in this group at age 23, at age 24, etc.?   I made up a top ten list at each age, and then I credited “points” for being on the list, 10 points for first, 9 points for second, etc. etc.   The only thing was that this would have given Johnny Evers ten points for playing in one game when he was 47 years old and Smokey Joe Wood 9 points for pitching a couple of games when he was 18 years old, so I made a special rule that the “points” awarded for age-group leadership could not exceed you Fibonacci Win Value for the season.   These are the leaders—and again, I emphasize that these players here are not competing with Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth or Barry Bonds.   They are “only” competing with one another:

Age 18:

            1.  Freddie Lindstrom, 1924, .253 average, 4 RBI, unfortunate post-season.

            2.  Smokey Joe Wood, 1908, 1-1 record, 2.38 ERA.

            3.  Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1908, .130 average in 5 games.

Age 19:

            1.  Joe Wood, 1909, 11-7, 2.18 ERA.

            2.  Tony Conigliaro, 1964, 24 homers, .290 average.

            3.  Freddie Lindstrom, 1925, .287 average, 33 RBI.

Age 20:

            1.  Fred Lindstrom, 1926, .307 average, 76 RBI.

            2.  Tony Conigliaro, 1965, led American League in homers with 32.

            3.  Smokey Joe, 1910, 12-13 record but 1.68 ERA.

            At this point in the battle, Smokey Joe Wood and Tony Conigliaro are tied for first with 18 points apiece, Lindstrom has 13.

Age 21:

            1.  Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1911, .408 average.

            2.  Hal Trosky, 1934, 35 homers, 142 RBI.

            3.  Smokey Joe Wood, 1911, 23-17 record with 2.02 ERA.

            4.  Joe DiMaggio, 1936, 29 homers, 125 RBI, .323 average, 206 hits.

            5.  Ross Youngs, 1918, .318 average.

            6.  Darryl Strawberry, 1983, 26 homers.

Age 22:

            1.  Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1912, .395 average.

            2.  Smokey Joe Wood, 1912, 34-5.

            3.   Joe DiMaggio, 1937, 167 RBI.

            4.  Dick Allen, 1964.

            5.  Charlie Keller, 1939, .334 average.

            6.  Freddie Lindstrom, 1928, .358, 107 RBI, 231 hits.

            7.  Ross Youngs, 1919.

            8.  Johnny Pesky, 1942.

            9.  Jim Ray Hart, 1964, 31 homers.

            10.  Herb Score, 1955, 16-10, 245 strikeouts.

Age 23:

            1.  Joe Jackson, 1913.   Average dropped to .373, but the league offense was down.

            2.  Ross Youngs, 1920.   .351 average.

            3.  Don Mattingly, 1984.   .343 with 23 homers, 110 RBI.

            4.  Dick Allen, 1965.  

            5.  Hank Greenberg, 1933.   .339 with 63 doubles, 139 RBI.   

            6.  Herb Score, 1956.   20-9, 263 strikeouts, 2.53 ERA.

            7.  Tony Oliva, 1964.   .323 with 43 doubles, 32 homers, 217 hits.

            8.  Darryl Strawberry, 1985.   .947 OPS.

            9.  Charlie Keller, 1940.

            10.  Joe DiMaggio, 1938.  Drove in 140 runs.

Age 24:

            1.  Joe DiMaggio, 1939.   .381 average.

            2.  Hank Greenberg, 1935.  170 RBI.

            3.  Dizzy Dean, 1934.   Thirty wins.

            4.  Charlie Keller, 1941.

            5.  Dick Allen, 1966.

            6.  Don Mattingly, 1985.

            7.  Ralph Kiner, 1947.  .313 average, 54 homers.

            8.  Tony Oliva, 1965.  Won pennant and batting title; lost MVP award to Zoilo.

            9.  Joe Gordon, 1939.   .284 with 28 homers, 111 RBI.

            10.  Phil Rizzuto, 1942.

Age 25:

            1.  Charlie Keller, 1942.

            2.  Don Mattingly, 1986.  Both Mattingly and DiMaggio hit .352 with 31 homers.

            3.  Frank Chance, 1903.

            4.  Joe DiMaggio, 1940.

            5.  Roger Maris, 1960.   The prequel.

            6.  Nomar Garciaparra, 1999.   .357 average.

            7.  Jim Maloney, 1965.  20-9, 2.54 ERA, 244 strikeouts.

            8.  Darryl Strawberry, 1987.  39 bombs.

            9.  Dick Allen, 1967.   The season only looks bad by comparison.

            10.  Jacques Fournier, 1915. 

            At this point in the battle, despite a “down” year at age 25, Joe Jackson is in first place with 37 points, followed by Smokey Joe Wood with 35, Joe DiMaggio with 33, Charlie Keller with 25, Ross Youngs with 23, Don Mattingly and Dick Allen, tied with 22, Freddie Lindstrom with 21 and Tony Conigliaro with 20.   Conigliaro drove in 116 runs at age 25, but failed to make the list above, and that of course was his last good season. 

Age 26:

            1.  Joe DiMaggio, 1941.   56 straight.

            2.  Charlie Keller, 1943.

            3.  Roger Maris, 1961.   61*.

            4.  Ralph Kiner, 1949.   51 homers.

            5.  Darryl Strawberry, 1988.  39 more bombs.

            6.  Shoeless Joe, 1916.  

            7.  Bobby Shantz, 1952.

            8.   Larry Doby, 1950.

            9.  Nomah, 2000.   .372 average, 21 homers.

            10.  Hank Greenberg, 1937.   183 RBI.

Age 27:

            1.  Babe Herman, 1930. 

            2.  Ron Guidry, 1978.

            3.  Wally Berger, 1933.

            4.  Ross Youngs, 1924.

            5.  Frank Chance, 1905.

            6.  Hank Greenberg, 1938.  58 homers.

            7.  Joe Gordon, 1942.   MVP.

            8.   Joe DiMaggio, 1942.

            9.  Larry Doby, 1951.

            10.  Sandy Koufax, 1963.   25-5, MVP.

Age 28:

            1.  Frank Chance, 1906.

            2.  Larry Doby, 1952.

            3.  Albert Belle, 1995.

            4.  Ralph Kiner, 1951.

            5.  Addie Joss, 1908.

            6.  Mickey Cochrane, 1931.

            7.  Joe Gordon, 1943.

            8.  Wally Berger, 1934.

            9.  Danny Tartabull, 1991.

            10.  Sandy Koufax, 1964.

Age 29:

            1.  Sandy Koufax, 1965.

            2.  Charlie Keller, 1946.

            3.  Roy Campanella, 1951.   MVP.

            4.  Shoeless Joe, 1919.

            5.  Frank Chance, 1907.

            6.  Hank Greenberg, 1940.  MVP.

            7.  Babe Herman, 1932.   .326 with 16 homers, 87 RBI.

            8.  Tony Oliva, 1970.   .325 with 23 homers, 107 RBI.

            9.  Albert Belle, 1996.  48 homers, 148 RBI.

            10.  Larry Doby, 1953.

Age 30:

            1.  Dick Allen, 1972.  His MVP season with the White Sox.

            2.  Shoeless Joe Jackson, 1920.  His last season.

            3.  Sandy Koufax, 1966.  Also his last season.

            4.  Jackie Robinson, 1949.   MVP.

            5.  Larry Doby, 1954. 

            6.  Dolph Camilli, 1937.    .339 average.

            7.  Rico Carty, 1970.   .366 average.

            8.  Don Newcombe, 1966.   MVP with 27 wins, wins the first Cy Young Award.

            9.  Johnny Evers, 1912.

            10.  Mickey Cochrane, 1933. 

            OK, at this point our leader in this greatest-player-in-the-group competition is Shoeless Joe Jackson, with 58 points.   DiMaggio has been in the Army for a couple of years and is stuck at 46 points, while Keller is back from the Army and in third place with 43, although Keller, like Joe Jackson, will never be able to earn any more.    Smokey Joe Wood, although he hasn’t earned a point in eight years, is still fourth at 35 points, followed by a tie between Frank Chance and Dick Allen, 32 points each.    Ross Youngs is not merely out of baseball but actually dead, in 7^th place at 30 points.    Hank Greenberg is in a long holding pattern at 26 points, and Sandy Koufax has just retired with 23.    Don Mattingly is in tenth place with 22 points, but he also is done, although he remains active in theory for several more years.   That’s what makes this a short-career contest; those guys got hurt, and the other guys were late getting started.

Age 31:

            1.  Roy Campanella, 1953.   41 homers, 142 RBI, MVP Award.

            2.  Albert Belle, 1998.  48 doubles, 49 homers, 152 RBI.

            3.  Jackie Robinson, 1950.

            4.  Roy Thomas, 1905.

            5.  Kirby Puckett, 1992.  .329, 110 RBI.

            6.  Joe DiMaggio, 1946.

            7.  Riggs Stephenson, 1929.  .362.

            8.  Dolph Camilli, 1938.

            9.  Mickey Cochrane, 1934.   MVP.

            10.  Jacques Fournier, 1921.   .343 Average.

Age 32:

            1.  Jackie Robinson, 1951.

            2.  Joe DiMaggio, 1947.  MVP, although numbers were down.

            3.  Ken Williams, 1922.   39 homers, 37 steals, 155 RBI. 

            4.  Phil Rizzuto, 1950.   MVP.

            5.  Dolph Camilli, 1939.

            6.  Roy Thomas, 1906.

            7.  Mickey Cochrane, 1935.

            8.  Albert Belle, 1999.

            9.  Joe Gordon, 1947.  Now with Cleveland.

            10.   Johnny Evers, 1914.  MVP with Miracle Braves. 

Age 33:

            1.  Jackie Robinson, 1952.

            2.  Joe DiMaggio, 1948.   39 homers, 155 RBI.

            3.  Ken Williams, 1923.  .357 average.

            4.  Jacques Fournier, 1923.  .351 average, 102 RBI.

            5.  Roy Campanella, 1955.   His last MVP season.

            6.  Don Newcombe, 1959.  13-8 record, but also good pinch hitter.

            7.  Dolph Camilli, 1940.

            8.  Joe Gordon, 1948.  Had his best numbers, and the Indians won it all.

            9.  Sal Maglie, 1950.   18-4 record in first real season.

            10.  Roy Thomas, 1907. 

Age 34:

            1.  Dolph Camilli, 1941.   MVP.

            2.  Jacques Fournier, 1924.  .334, 116 RBI.

            3.  Thornton Lee, 1941.   22-11, 2.37 ERA.

            4.  Sal Maglie, 1951.   23-6, 2.93 ERA.

            5.  Jackie Robinson, 1953.

            6.  Joe DiMaggio, 1949.   67 RBI in half a season.

            7.  Rollie Fingers, 1981.   MVP.

            8.  Spud Chandler, 1942.   16-5 record, 2.37 ERA.

            9.  Steve Gromek, 1952.  18-16 record, 2.74 ERA.

            10.  Roy Thomas, 1908.

Age 35:

            1.  Hank Greenberg, 1946.   Returned with a vengeance, but his last good year.

            2.  Spud Chandler, 1943.   MVP.

            3.  Dolph Camilli, 1942.

            4.  Jacques Fournier, 1925.   .350 with 130 RBI.

            5.  Joe DiMaggio, 1950.

            6.  Phil Rizzuto, 1953.

            7.  Riggs Stephenson, 1933.   .329 average, only 51 RBI.

            8.  Jackie Robinson, 1954.  .311 with 15 homers.

            9.  Allie Reynolds, 1950.   16-12.

            10.  Sal Maglie, 1952.   18-8. 

            OK, through the age of 35 DiMaggio has taken a commanding lead with 80 points.   Our group is fading fast now, and will continue to do so as we look at the higher ages.  Part-time players are now showing up on our leader lists.   Joe Jackson is now in second place with 58 points, while Jackie Robinson, with a series of outstanding seasons, has jumped to third place with 44.   Keller has 43.   Hank Greenberg and Dolph Camilli are tied for 5^th at 36 points, Joe Wood is now 7^th with 35; hasn’t scored a point in thirteen years.   Frank Chance and Dick Allen are tied for 8^th with 32, and Ross Youngs is tenth with 30.

Age 36:

            1.  Rico Carty.   .310 with 83 RBI.

            2.  Hank Greenberg.   25 homers, 74 RBI with the Pirates.

            3.  Allie Reynolds, 1951.   17-8.

            4.  Joe DiMaggio, 1951.   .263 with 12 homers, 71 RBI.

            5.  Rollie Fingers, 1983.   1.96 ERA, 23 saves.   Woo-woo; 23 saves.

            6.  Jackie Robinson, 1955.   .256 as part-time player.

            7.  Dolph Camilli, 1943.   .246.

            8.  Bobby Shantz, 1962.  2.18 ERA in the bullpen.

            9.   Darryl Strawberry, 1998.   24 homers in a comeback season.

            10.  Jacques Fournier, 1926.

Age 37:

            1.   Allie Reynolds, 1952.   20-8, 2.07 ERA.

            2.  Sal Maglie, 1954.   14-6.

            3.  Jackie Robinson, 1956.  Retired after season.

            4.  Bobby Shantz, 1963.   2.62 ERA in the bullpen.

            5.  Ken Williams, 1927.   .327 with 17 homers.

            6.  Rico Carty, 1977.   .280 with 80 RBI.

            7.  Darryl Strawberry, 1999.  .327 in 49 at bats.

            8.  Jacques Fournier, 1927.

            9.  Phil Rizzuto, 1955.

            10.  Bob Veale, 1973.   11 Saves.

Age 38:

            1.  Spud Chandler, 1946.   20-8, 2.10 ERA.

            2.  Thornton Lee, 1945.   15-12, 2.45 ERA.

            3.  Rico Carty, 1978.  31 homers, 99 RBI as a DH.

            4.  Allie Reynolds, 1953.   13-7, 3.41 ERA.

            5.  Johnny Murphy, 1947.   2.78 ERA, 9 Saves.

            6.  Sal Maglie, 1955.

            7.  Ken Williams, 1928.  .303 as part-time player.

            8.  Bobby Shantz, 1964.

Age 39:

            1.  Sal Maglie, 1956.  8-6, 2.69 ERA.

            Maglie is the only player in this group worthy of a point at age 39, and no one in the group scores at age 40 or above.   These are the final standings in the year-by-year best-ball tournament:

            So DiMaggio ranks first no matter how we rank these guys.   This complete the series of articles about the Short Career players.  Thank you for reading, and thank you all for the varied and intelligent comments that you have posted.