All-time best single seasons in one lineup

[torez77]

Let's have some fun! If you could create a team of players using their best single season statistics, what would your lineup look like?

When you list your lineups, please refer to the specific single season of each player. You can list their stats if you want. You can have a DH if you want. For pitchers, I'd like to see at least one starter and a reliever.

I have a lineup that I think would be hard to argue with, but I wanna see others first.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Dang, that's gonna be tough, might take a little time.

How many bench guys, like 4 or 5?

[torez77]

Dang, that's gonna be tough, might take a little time.

How many bench guys, like 4 or 5?

Really, it's up to you. If you want to take the time to make out a 25 or 30 man roster, that's up to you. All I was originally requesting was a 9-man lineup, one at each position, preferably with a DH, and a starter and reliever.

[GiambiJuice]

Off the top of my head...

C - Piazza '97
1B - Gehrig '27 '30 '34 or '36...can't decide
2B - Hornsby - '22
3b - Schmidt - '80
SS - Wagner - '08
LF - Musial '48 or Ted Williams '41
CF - Cobb '11 or Mantle '56
RF - Ruth '20 or '21
DH - Edgar Martinez '95 or Big Papi '04 or '05

SP (pitching only) Pedro '00 or Walter Johnson '13
RP - Gagne '03

I also wanted to include Hack Wilson '30, Al Simmons '30, and Chuck Klein '30 but not sure what part of the outfield they played.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

LINEUP

1911 – Cobb - LF
1908 – Wagner - SS
1921 – Ruth - RF
1954 – Mays - CF
1927 – Gehrig - 1B
1981 – Schmidt - 3B
1976 – Morgan - 2B
1970 – Bench - C


BENCH

1923 – Speaker (.380 BA / .469 OBP / .610 SLG) (218 H / 59 2B / 11 3B / 17 HR) (133 R / 130 RBI) (93 BB / 15 K) (182 OPS+)

1956 – Mantle (.353 BA / .464 OBP / .705 SLG) (52 HR / 133 R / 130 RBI) (210 OPS+)

1948 – Musial (.376 BA / .450 OBP / .702 SLG) (230 H / 46 2B / 18 3B / 39 HR)(135 R / 131 RBI) (200 OPS+)

1939 – DiMaggio (.381 BA / .448 OBP / .671 SLG) (32 2B / 6 3B / 30 HR)(108 R / 126 RBI) (185 OPS+ / 12.30 RC/27)


STARTER

1913 – Walter Johnson (36-7) (29 CG / 11 SHO) (243 K / 38 BB)(1.14 ERA / 259+ ERA)

CLOSER

1992 – Dennis Eckersley (7-1) (51 Saves) (93 K / 11 BB / 1 HBP)(1.91 ERA / 196+ ERA)


MANAGERS

Mack
LaRussa
Mazzone

[Brian McKenna]

I also wanted to include Hack Wilson '30, Al Simmons '30, and Chuck Klein '30 but not sure what part of the outfield they played.

total baseball lists outfield position for each player in parenthesis (lf-cf-rf)
wilson(0-155-0)
simmons (129-7-0)
klein (0-0-156)

ruth played lf in 1921
musial played (41-64-76) in 1948

[Honus Wagner Rules]

LINEUP

1911 – Cobb - LF
1900 – Wagner - SS
1921 – Ruth - RF
1954 – Mays - CF
1927 – Gehrig - 1B
1981 – Schmidt - 3B
1976 – Morgan - 2B
1970 – Bench - C


BENCH

1923 – Speaker (.380 BA / .469 OBP / .610 SLG) (218 H / 59 2B / 11 3B / 17 HR) (133 R / 130 RBI) (93 BB / 15 K) (182 OPS+)

1956 – Mantle (.353 BA / .464 OBP / .705 SLG) (52 HR / 133 R / 130 RBI) (210 OPS+)

1948 – Musial (.376 BA / .450 OBP / .702 SLG) (230 H / 46 2B / 18 3B / 39 HR)(135 R / 131 RBI) (200 OPS+)

1939 – DiMaggio (.381 BA / .448 OBP / .671 SLG) (32 2B / 6 3B / 30 HR)(108 R / 126 RBI) (185 OPS+ / 12.30 RC/27)


STARTER

1913 – Walter Johnson (36-7) (29 CG / 11 SHO) (243 K / 38 BB)(1.14 ERA / 259+ ERA)

CLOSER

1992 – Dennis Eckersley (7-1) (51 Saves) (93 K / 11 BB / 1 HBP)(1.91 ERA / 196+ ERA)


MANAGERS

Mack
LaRussa
Mazzone

Sultan,

Why not Honus' 1908 season? He had had 59 win shares that year.

[GiambiJuice]

total baseball lists outfield position for each player in parenthesis (lf-cf-rf)
wilson(0-155-0)
simmons (129-7-0)
klein (0-0-156)

ruth played lf in 1921
musial played (41-64-76) in 1948

Thanks for the info Bk. Now that I think about it. I don't think it's important whether we put Ruth in Left or right, or musial in LF, CF, or RF. we should probably just pick the one that best suits our needs. Even Dimaggio moved to left eventually. I'm trying to picture Hack Wilson in centerfield, and it cracks me up. Was that big galoot actually a good centerfielder?

[torez77]

DH - Edgar Martinez '95 or Big Papi '04 or '05

I want to clarify that your DH can be ANYBODY. It doesn't have to be someone who was a DH for most of his career.

[torez77]

[1992 – Dennis Eckersley (7-1) (51 Saves) (93 K / 11 BB / 1 HBP)(1.91 ERA / 196+ ERA)

Pretty formidable lineup Sultan. Wouldn't you rather have Eck's 1990 season (0.61 ERA/605 ERA+) rather than '92? Some people say '92 was his best cuz he won both the CYA and MVP, but statistically '90 is clearly his best IMO.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

My list:

C- Piazza 1997
1B-Lou Gehrig 1927
2B Joe Morgan 1976
SS-Honus Wagner 1908
3B-Gerge Brett 1980
LF-Barry Bonds 2001
CF-Michey Mantle 1956
RF-Babe Ruth pick 'em
DH-Rogers Hornsby 1922

SP-Walter Johnson 1913
SP-Roger Clemens 1997
SP-Greg Maddux 1999
SP-Sandy Koufax 1965
SP-Pedro Martinez 2000

RP-Mariano Rivera 2005
RP-Dennis Eckersly 1990
RP-Eric Gagne 2003
RP-Trevor Hoffman 1998
RP-Billy Wagner 1999

[GiambiJuice]

I want to clarify that your DH can be ANYBODY. It doesn't have to be someone who was a DH for most of his career.

OK, in that case I'll take Bagwell '94 and his .750 slugging. If you look at his numbers over 162 games, it's absolutely mind-boggling.

I'm purposely discounting Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa (i know, i know, nothing's been "proven" yet). Otherwise it would be impossible to exclude one of Barry's '01 thru '04 seasons.

[GiambiJuice]

Are we supposed to factor defense into the equation? Otherwise I can't see any logic in choosing Mays '54 over Mantle '56.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Sultan,

Why not Honus' 1908 season? He had had 59 win shares that year.

Ahh, win shares, shmin shares.

I know what you're saying, I prefer 1900 though.

1900 - 107 R - 45 2B - 22 3B - .381 BA - .434 OBP - .573 SA - 10.55 RC/27 - .965 FP (.940 lgFP)

1908 - 100 R - 39 2B - 19 3B - .354 BA - .415 OBP - .542 SA - 8.93 RC/27 - .943 FP (.930 lgFP)

I know RC/27 has flaws, and his OPS+ was higher (205/175) in '08, but that's comparing him to everyone else, not really looking at what he actually did. The win shares thing is nice, I'm not sure how many he had in '00, but my guess is that it's so high because of his 15 more SB's in '08, and that probably factors in OPS+ right?

[leecemark]

--SB are not part of OPS+. That is just OPS adjusted for league OPS and also park factors. The reason Wagner's OPS+ (and WS and any league context adjusted metric) is so much higher in 1908 is because there were many fewer runs scored in 1908 than 1900. Hits and runs were harder to come by and thus more valuable. OTOH, the NL was probably a much better league in 1900 than it was in 1908, so which season is really more impressive is debatable (I lean toward 1908).