The most average batters of all time
Posted by Andy on February 6, 2008
Following up on my post a while back about pitchers, here are batters with a lifetime OPS+ between 99 and 101, ranked by most career plate appearances.
Cnt Player **PA** OPS+ From To Ages G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+---------+----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Bill Buckner 10033 99 1969 1990 19-40 2517 9397 1077 2715 498 49 174 1208 450 111 453 42 47 97 247 183 73 .289 .321 .408 .729 *379D LAD-CHC-TOT-BOS-KCR 2 Pee Wee Reese 9470 99 1940 1958 21-39 2166 8058 1338 2170 330 80 126 885 1210 3 890 26 157 19 176 232 45 .269 .366 .377 .743 *65 BRO-LAD 3 Tony Fernandez 8793 101 1983 2001 21-39 2158 7911 1057 2276 414 92 94 844 690 48 784 64 67 61 161 246 138 .288 .347 .399 .746 *654/D TOR-SDP-TOT-CIN-NYY-CLE-TOR-TOT 4 Jay Bell 8525 101 1986 2003 20-37 2063 7398 1123 1963 394 67 195 860 853 25 1443 57 159 58 165 91 60 .265 .343 .416 .759 *64/53D CLE-PIT-KCR-ARI-NYM 5 Lloyd Waner 8326 99 1927 1945 21-39 1993 7772 1201 2459 281 118 27 598 420 0 173 26 108 0 57 67 0 .316 .353 .393 .746 *87/945 PIT-TOT-PHI-PIT 6 Willie McGee 8188 100 1982 1999 23-40 2201 7649 1010 2254 350 94 79 856 448 58 1238 15 30 46 157 352 121 .295 .333 .396 .729 *897/3D6 STL-TOT-SFG-BOS-STL 7 Charlie Jamieson 7488 101 1915 1932 22-39 1779 6560 1062 1990 322 80 18 552 748 0 345 35 145 0 0 131 110 .303 .378 .385 .763 *79/813 WSH-TOT-PHA-CLE 8 Bret Boone 7432 101 1992 2005 23-36 1780 6683 927 1775 366 28 252 1021 552 32 1295 69 55 73 168 94 53 .266 .325 .442 .767 *4/5D SEA-CIN-ATL-SDP-SEA-TOT 9 Gee Walker 7211 99 1931 1945 23-37 1784 6771 954 1991 399 76 124 997 330 0 600 44 66 0 82 223 70 .294 .331 .430 .761 789/5 DET-CHW-WSH-CLE-CIN 10 Tommy Harper 7164 101 1962 1976 21-35 1810 6269 972 1609 256 36 146 567 753 30 1080 35 76 31 87 408 116 .257 .338 .379 .717 7958D/43 CIN-CLE-SEP-MIL-BOS-TOT-BAL 11 Jason Kendall 7098 100 1996 2007 22-33 1682 6225 897 1848 327 31 71 615 588 36 538 218 18 49 149 162 77 .297 .375 .394 .769 *2/79D PIT-OAK-TOT 12 Curt Flood 6958 100 1956 1971 18-33 1759 6357 851 1861 271 44 85 636 444 22 609 52 72 33 117 88 73 .293 .342 .389 .731 *8/5749 CIN-STL-WSA 13 Phil Garner 6860 99 1973 1988 24-39 1860 6136 780 1594 299 82 109 738 564 74 842 34 67 59 131 225 105 .260 .323 .389 .712 *45/6 OAK-PIT-TOT-HOU-SFG 14 Eddie Joost 6783 99 1936 1955 20-39 1574 5606 874 1339 238 35 134 601 1043 2 827 33 101 0 83 61 31 .239 .361 .366 .727 *64/53 CIN-BSN-PHA-BOS 15 Garry Maddox 6775 100 1972 1986 22-36 1749 6331 777 1802 337 62 117 754 323 60 781 36 25 60 99 248 92 .285 .320 .413 .733 *8/79 SFG-TOT-PHI 16 Juan Samuel 6664 101 1983 1998 22-37 1720 6081 873 1578 287 102 161 703 440 38 1442 74 27 42 81 396 143 .259 .315 .420 .735 *48/D3975 PHI-TOT-LAD-CIN-DET-TOR 17 Hubie Brooks 6476 100 1980 1994 23-37 1645 5974 656 1608 290 31 149 824 387 62 1005 38 12 65 163 64 56 .269 .315 .403 .718 956/D347 NYM-MON-LAD-NYM-CAL-KCR 18 Billy Goodman 6446 99 1947 1962 21-36 1623 5644 807 1691 299 44 19 591 669 7 329 29 89 15 121 37 30 .300 .376 .378 .754 435/796 BOS-TOT-CHW-HOU 19 Cesar Tovar 6177 100 1965 1976 24-35 1488 5569 834 1546 253 55 46 435 413 23 410 88 73 34 58 226 108 .278 .335 .368 .703 87549/D6321 MIN-PHI-TEX-TOT 20 Mark Loretta 6057 100 1995 2007 23-35 1518 5370 722 1598 286 22 72 566 506 17 554 68 56 57 142 46 34 .298 .362 .399 .761 *4635/D71 MIL-TOT-SDP-BOS-HOU 21 Art Fletcher 6039 100 1909 1922 24-37 1533 5541 684 1534 238 77 32 675 203 0 348 141 154 0 0 159 28 .277 .319 .365 .684 *6/54 NYG-TOT-PHI 22 Max Flack 5905 101 1914 1925 24-35 1411 5252 783 1461 212 72 35 391 474 0 253 32 147 0 0 200 71 .278 .342 .366 .708 *97/8 CHI-CHC-TOT-STL 23 Terry Steinbach 5896 101 1986 1999 24-37 1546 5369 638 1453 273 21 162 745 418 31 938 48 15 46 176 23 22 .271 .326 .420 .746 *2/D3597 OAK-MIN 24 Carlos Baerga 5895 100 1990 2005 21-36 1630 5439 731 1583 279 17 134 774 291 41 580 73 26 66 158 59 24 .291 .332 .423 .755 *45/36D CLE-TOT-NYM-BOS-ARI-WSN 25 Rich Aurilia 5705 100 1995 2007 23-35 1452 5192 702 1435 278 21 174 688 412 17 781 23 36 42 124 22 17 .276 .330 .439 .769 *6543/D SFG-TOT-CIN-SFG
It's interesting that Bill Buckner comes out on top. I've always thought of him as an average player--not in a negative sense, but as a guy who might not have been the most talented or athletic, but who ground it out and ended up being pretty productive. He's the only guy on this list to play 1B or 3B as his primary position, which isn't surprising since others with this many PAs would probably be above an OPS+ of 101.
Rather, this list is populated by shortstops and second basemen primarily, which again is not that surprising. For years, these were positions from which little offensive production was expected, and therefore guys at these positions who got an OPS+ of 100 were probably fairly far above average for a 2B or SS, and therefore got a lot more career PAs.
There are lots of other interesting things about this list, but I won't go into too much more detail.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Of course most of these players were at least pretty good, not just average. Anyone who looks "average" over a long professional career must have had many seasons in their prime in which they were above-average.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
my vote for most average manager would be for Wilbert Robninson. Outside of interim guys, I think you should agree!
February 7th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I agree that there are a lot of good players in that bunch, even Buckner, but there is something to be said for their averageness, year-to-year as well as overall. Sure, none of these guys were ALWAYS in the 95-105 OPS+ range, and a lot of them were above-average defenders or baserunners, but for the most part you look at their numbers and see a lot of slightly above average years, followed by a few below average decline years.
That's the cool thing about a lot of these guys, especially Buckner. Offensively, he didn't really have many above average seasons, he didn't really have a huge peak. His best year was in the strike-shortened '81 season.
There are definiely not many full seasons in there where you see huge numbers (Harper '70, McGee '85, Boone & Aurilia '01). Jason Kendall started out pretty strong but has probably the worst decline stretch of any of these "average" guys.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Maybe Buckner was subconsciously trying to be memorable in '86.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I guess Buckner did have a fairly horrible end of career. Why did they keep him around so long in K.C.?
February 7th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
He may have been a very nice man, and his brother was a bigtime hitter. But Lloyd Waner on the inside of the HoF, and Tim Raines on the outside?
February 8th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Taking this in the other direction (least average batters of all-time), I was curious to know how many times anyone had a lifetime batting average at one point in their entire career higher than Cobb's final lifetime batting average of .366. So I went through year by year, starting at http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_18_bat.shtml , and I looked at batting average in the "Up to and including" column.
Only two players ever ended a season with a lifetime average higher than .366. Can you name them? I'll answer it in my next post.
By the way, I did the same thing for lifetime slugging average. Did you know that no one in the history of baseball (with at last 75 games played) had a lifetime slugging average at any point in their career higher than Ruth's lifetime mark of .690? In fact, no one comes close. Ted Williams peaked at .647 at age 27; Gehrig peaked four times at .643 at ages 28, 31, 33 and 34; Foxx peaked at .640 at age 26. Ruth peaked at .710 at AGE 35!!
February 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Willie Keeler had a lifetime average of .385 at ages 25 and 26, .384 at age 27, .381 at age 28, .376 at age 29, .371 at age 30, and .366 at age 31.
Joe Jackson had a lifetime average of .393 at age 22, .387 at age 23, and .377 at age 24. At age 25 he batted .308 for the season, dragging him down to .365.
By the way, Cobb peaked at at .373 at age 35 (the same age Ruth peaked at his highest slugging average.) So Joe Jackson hold the record for the highest lifetime batting average at the end of a season.
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:32 pm
[...] 7164 101 1962 1976 21-35 ... PHI-TOT-LAD-CIN-DET-TOR 17 Hubie Brooks 6476 100 1980 1994 23-37 ...http://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/485earthquake.usgs.gov/research/hazmaps/products_data/Puerto-Rico-VI/<b>...</b>... 2500 21.0000 [...]
June 10th, 2008 at 4:07 am
[...] Player **PA** OPS+ From To Ages G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/sotd/archives/485Human or Pet Cremains Incorporated Into Art from Ashes?? Exquisite ...May 21, 2008 ... Media [...]