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Best OPS+ Ages 35-36

Posted by Raphy on December 1, 2009

Tommy Henrich's passing today gives us the opportunity to reflect for a moment on his productive career. Henrich missed many of his prime seasons to WWII and injuries forced him into retirement at a relatively early age. Yet, in between he put up some very impressive numbers, including 2 remarkable back to back seasons.

Year Age Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP
1948 35 NYY 146 673 588 138 181 42 14 25 100 2 3 76 42 .308 .391 .554 .945 151 326 14 4
1949 36 NYY 115 502 411 90 118 20 3 24 85 2 2 86 34 .287 .416 .526 .942 148 216 7 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/1/2009.

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Henrich's combined OPS+ of 150 is good enough to tie him for 15th place all-time among players in their age 35-36 seasons (min. 1000 PA).

Rk Player OPS+ PA To From Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Barry Bonds 224 1271 2000 2001 35-36 296 956 258 303 60 6 122 243 294 57 170 12 .317 .479 .775 1.254
2 Babe Ruth 214 1339 1930 1931 35-36 290 1052 299 385 59 12 95 316 264 0 112 2 .366 .494 .716 1.210
3 Nap Lajoie 178 1030 1910 1911 35-36 249 906 130 342 71 8 6 136 86 0 0 9 .377 .437 .493 .930
4 Chipper Jones 170 1134 2007 2008 35-36 262 952 190 333 66 5 51 177 172 26 136 1 .350 .446 .590 1.037
5 Tris Speaker 163 1268 1923 1924 35-36 285 1060 227 385 95 20 26 195 165 0 28 8 .363 .453 .564 1.017
6 Hank Aaron 162 1237 1969 1970 35-36 297 1063 203 318 56 4 82 215 161 34 110 4 .299 .390 .591 .981
7 Mel Ott 160 1026 1944 1945 35-36 255 850 164 254 39 4 47 161 161 0 88 11 .299 .417 .520 .937
8 Stan Musial 156 1261 1956 1957 35-36 290 1096 169 360 71 9 56 211 141 34 73 5 .328 .403 .563 .966
9 Zack Wheat 156 1002 1923 1924 35-36 239 915 155 343 54 13 22 162 72 0 30 6 .375 .424 .534 .958
10 Edgar Martinez 155 1280 1998 1999 35-36 296 1058 172 348 81 2 53 188 203 10 195 9 .329 .438 .560 .997
11 Jim Thome 153 1146 2006 2007 35-36 273 922 187 260 45 0 77 205 202 23 281 12 .282 .414 .581 .995
12 Honus Wagner 153 1231 1909 1910 35-36 287 1051 182 346 73 18 9 181 125 0 47 8 .329 .405 .459 .863
13 Ty Cobb 152 1259 1922 1923 35-36 282 1082 202 400 82 23 10 187 121 0 38 7 .370 .436 .516 .952
14 Roberto Clemente 151 1008 1970 1971 35-36 240 934 147 323 51 18 27 146 64 19 131 2 .346 .387 .526 .912
15 Mike Schmidt 150 1302 1985 1986 35-36 318 1101 186 312 60 6 70 212 176 33 201 10 .283 .382 .540 .922
16 Tommy Henrich 150 1175 1948 1949 35-36 261 999 228 299 62 17 49 185 162 0 76 9 .299 .402 .543 .944
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/1/2009.

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That's some pretty impressive company.
In fact, here is what the list looks like when you remove the players that are already in the Hall-of-Fame. (I apologize for not including O'Doul and Cravath in the earlier chart.)

Rk Player OPS+ PA To From Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Barry Bonds 224 1271 2000 2001 35-36 296 956 258 303 60 6 122 243 294 57 170 12 .317 .479 .775 1.254
2 Chipper Jones 170 1134 2007 2008 35-36 262 952 190 333 66 5 51 177 172 26 136 1 .350 .446 .590 1.037
3 Edgar Martinez 155 1280 1998 1999 35-36 296 1058 172 348 81 2 53 188 203 10 195 9 .329 .438 .560 .997
4 Jim Thome 153 1146 2006 2007 35-36 273 922 187 260 45 0 77 205 202 23 281 12 .282 .414 .581 .995
5 Tommy Henrich 150 1175 1948 1949 35-36 261 999 228 299 62 17 49 185 162 0 76 9 .299 .402 .543 .944
6 Lefty O'Doul 150 1093 1932 1933 35-36 269 983 165 329 46 10 35 146 94 0 43 10 .335 .398 .509 .907
7 Gavvy Cravath 150 1122 1916 1917 35-36 277 951 140 268 50 24 23 153 134 0 146 6 .282 .374 .457 .831
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/1/2009.

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The writers' opinions about  steroids and the DH rules will determine how many of the players above Henrich will make the Hall. However, there is a very good chance that Henrich's 35-36 seasons will be among the best ever by a player not enshrined in Cooperstown.

Related posts:

    100+ RBI, ages 34 to 36
    Runs Created Ages 22-35
    PI Finds: Werth Comparables, Corner OFers, 1975-2010, Ages 29-31, OPS+ ≥ 100 and 1700+ PAs – Baseball-Reference.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 10:44 pm and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

8 Responses to “Best OPS+ Ages 35-36”

  1. Andy Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 9:03 am

    Henrich's passing is sad and sweet. He was such a great guy and a great player and it's nice that he lived such a long life.

    Summer of '49, one of the very best baseball books ever written, while it focuses on Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, contains a lot of info on Henrich as well and is very well worth the read.

  2. rpbrpb2002 Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 am

    Where's Ted Williams? I think he'd be at about 200.

  3. birtelcom Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    Ted Williams came up just short of the minimum 1,000 PAs required for the list over his age 35-36 seasons (943 PAs). He was fighting injuries over those two seasons and averaged only 108 games played a season over that two-year period -- in neither season did he play his first game until well into May.

  4. gerry Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 5:52 pm

    This opens the door to any number of future notes: best OPS+, ages 32-34, not in Cooperstown; best OPS+, ages 25-29, not in Cooperstown; best ERA+, ages 23, 29, and 31, not in Cooperstown.... Seriously, though, thanks for the tribute to Ol' Reliable.

  5. Raphy Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 7:40 pm

    Gerry - I agree with you that the criteria are a bit arbitrary (and I realize that you are partially kidding). However, given the number of years that Henrich lost shortly before these and also almost immediately after, I think there is more significance here than usual.

  6. richard Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 pm

    From 1901 to 2009, Retired (or inactive) Players, not in the Hall of Fame, (requiring At least 3000 plate appearances), sorted by greatest Adjusted OPS+

    Barry Bonds 181
    Joe Jackson 170
    Mark McGwire 162
    Frank Thomas 156
    Dick Allen 156

    I really wish they would let Dick Allen in already. There's also only 13 players in the HOF with a 156 OPS+ or better.

  7. TheGoofyOne Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Henrich is not only that high on the list, he's the second highest Yankee to Babe Ruth. That's pretty notable, considering how much production the Yankees have either had or counted on from older players, including this year's team. It is so sad that he's been so forgotten, and even when remembered, mostly for a strikeout!

  8. DavidRF Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    McGwire almost makes the list too. 185 OPS+ but just short with 982 PA. McCovey had a 162 OPS+ in 937 PA. If you drop the PA to 750, you get the immortal John Lowenstein at 157. Switch the ages to 34-35 and you get Jack Fournier at 161 and Dolph Camilli at 155.

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