Greatest Player by Birthyear

[Ubiquitous]

Here is a list of greatest positional players by birthyear. This isn't complete record since some of the older guys have their birthyear missing from the record.

Year	RC	Name	Last	OBP	SLG	OPS	PA
1835	83.6	Harry	Wright	0.303	0.338	0.641	852
1836	99.0	Dickey	Pearce	0.270	0.276	0.546	1361
1838	20.8	Dave	Birdsall	0.278	0.313	0.590	245
1839	0.4	Al	Barker	0.400	0.250	0.650	5
1840	33.2	Al	Reach	0.264	0.321	0.584	402
1841	165.4	Wes	Fisler	0.318	0.390	0.708	1349
1842	561.8	Joe	Start	0.322	0.367	0.690	4911
1843	38.2	Jack	Chapman	0.255	0.298	0.553	510
1844	177.2	Bill	Craver	0.302	0.374	0.676	1594
1845	316.8	Bob	Ferguson	0.291	0.313	0.605	3596
1846	267.6	Andy	Leonard	0.308	0.363	0.671	2426
1847	888.5	Deacon	White	0.342	0.392	0.734	6931
1848	117.2	John	McMullin	0.310	0.349	0.660	1122
1849	347.1	Davy	Force	0.276	0.296	0.572	4407
1850	1257.7	Jim	O'Rourke	0.350	0.423	0.773	9015
1851	472.8	Tom	York	0.308	0.384	0.692	4201
1852	1787.8	Cap	Anson	0.391	0.445	0.836	11260
1853	362.8	Jack	Manning	0.299	0.345	0.645	3691
1854	501.3	Charlie	Bennett	0.339	0.387	0.726	4299
1855	841.6	Hardy	Richardson	0.343	0.435	0.778	6019
1856	1013.5	Harry	Stovey	0.358	0.461	0.819	6801
1857	1493.9	Roger	Connor	0.394	0.486	0.880	8796
1858	1446.9	Dan	Brouthers	0.415	0.519	0.934	7551
1859	1076.1	Bid	McPhee	0.348	0.372	0.721	9272
1860	1140.1	Sam	Thompson	0.378	0.505	0.882	6434
1861	898.6	Pete	Browning	0.400	0.467	0.866	5286
1862	996.7	Dummy	Hoy	0.376	0.373	0.749	8116
1863	1334.6	Jimmy	Ryan	0.369	0.444	0.812	8967
1864	1036.3	Ed	McKean	0.361	0.416	0.778	7525
1865	917.6	Mike	Griffin	0.381	0.407	0.788	6723
1866	1279.8	George	Van Haltren	0.382	0.417	0.800	8889
1867	1534.1	Ed	Delahanty	0.405	0.505	0.910	8246
1868	1543.0	Jesse	Burkett	0.410	0.446	0.857	9450
1869	846.7	Tommy	Corcoran	0.287	0.335	0.622	9186
1870	1303.5	George	Davis	0.357	0.405	0.761	9901
1871	1250.1	Joe	Kelley	0.395	0.451	0.847	7917
1872	1379.8	Fred	Clarke	0.376	0.429	0.804	9442
1873	1013.7	Bobby	Wallace	0.328	0.358	0.687	9392
1874	1868.3	Honus	Wagner	0.384	0.466	0.850	11393
1875	531.5	Kitty	Bransfield	0.301	0.353	0.654	5220
1876	945.1	Elmer	Flick	0.379	0.445	0.824	6194
1877	993.0	Tommy	Leach	0.338	0.370	0.707	8779
1878	1060.0	Jimmy	Sheckard	0.368	0.378	0.747	8740
1879	639.6	Roger	Bresnahan	0.378	0.377	0.756	5195
1880	1559.0	Sam	Crawford	0.360	0.452	0.812	10330
1881	751.1	Dode	Paskert	0.346	0.361	0.707	6732
1882	841.7	Frank	Schulte	0.327	0.395	0.721	7078
1883	917.2	Hal	Chase	0.316	0.391	0.707	7693
1884	1128.0	Sherry	Magee	0.355	0.427	0.782	8177
1885	1048.7	Ed	Konetchy	0.340	0.403	0.743	8338
1886	2510.0	Ty	Cobb	0.429	0.512	0.941	12683
1887	1794.7	Eddie	Collins	0.421	0.429	0.849	11448
1888	2157.0	Tris	Speaker	0.423	0.500	0.923	11576
1889	1073.4	Joe	Jackson	0.417	0.517	0.934	5500
1890	1464.7	Sam	Rice	0.370	0.427	0.797	9977
1891	1079.9	Rabbit	Maranville	0.315	0.340	0.655	10917
1892	935.7	Jack	Tobin	0.361	0.420	0.781	6682
1893	1454.7	George	Sisler	0.376	0.468	0.844	8739
1894	1648.8	Harry	Heilmann	0.407	0.520	0.927	8643
1895	2733.1	Babe	Ruth	0.472	0.690	1.162	10460
1896	2029.9	Rogers	Hornsby	0.431	0.577	1.007	9211
1897	942.5	Lu	Blue	0.399	0.401	0.799	6996
1898	1443.6	Frankie	Frisch	0.367	0.432	0.799	9840
1899	1182.7	Pie	Traynor	0.360	0.435	0.795	8031
1900	1658.9	Goose	Goslin	0.384	0.500	0.883	9605
1901	1360.9	Heinie	Manush	0.371	0.479	0.850	8160
1902	1770.2	Al	Simmons	0.378	0.535	0.913	9374
1903	2250.4	Lou	Gehrig	0.445	0.632	1.077	9509
1904	1330.4	Chuck	Klein	0.378	0.543	0.921	7087
1905	1368.9	Bob	Johnson	0.391	0.506	0.897	7995
1906	1372.8	Joe	Cronin	0.387	0.468	0.855	8638
1907	2118.7	Jimmie	Foxx	0.427	0.609	1.037	9586
1908	1085.4	Ben	Chapman	0.381	0.440	0.821	7302
1909	2069.9	Mel	Ott	0.411	0.533	0.944	11164
1910	1123.5	Dixie	Walker	0.381	0.437	0.818	7557
1911	1387.7	Joe	Medwick	0.360	0.505	0.865	8072
1912	1207.7	Arky	Vaughan	0.402	0.453	0.856	7559
1913	1422.3	Johnny	Mize	0.393	0.562	0.955	7299
1914	1558.2	Joe	DiMaggio	0.395	0.579	0.973	7611
1915	940.6	Joe	Gordon	0.354	0.466	0.820	6466
1916	1365.5	Enos	Slaughter	0.379	0.453	0.832	8964
1917	943.2	Lou	Boudreau	0.377	0.415	0.792	6825
1918	2347.4	Ted	Williams	0.481	0.634	1.114	9727
1919	928.6	Jackie	Robinson	0.402	0.474	0.876	5617
1920	2551.5	Stan	Musial	0.416	0.559	0.975	12571
1921	970.9	Andy	Pafko	0.344	0.449	0.793	6853
1922	1135.5	Minnie	Minoso	0.376	0.459	0.835	7393
1923	1104.3	Red	Schoendienst	0.336	0.387	0.724	9085
1924	1229.2	Gil	Hodges	0.359	0.487	0.846	7973
1925	1258.9	Yogi	Berra	0.346	0.482	0.828	8259
1926	1467.2	Duke	Snider	0.380	0.540	0.919	8132
1927	1260.6	Richie	Ashburn	0.394	0.382	0.777	9563
1928	951.8	Gus	Bell	0.330	0.445	0.775	6948
1929	908.3	Frank	Thomas	0.318	0.454	0.772	6769
1930	1009.4	Harvey	Kuenn	0.358	0.408	0.766	7507
1931	2332.5	Willie	Mays	0.385	0.557	0.942	12345
1932	829.2	Maury	Wills	0.330	0.331	0.661	8140
1933	1142.7	Rocky	Colavito	0.360	0.489	0.848	7454
1934	2576.4	Hank	Aaron	0.376	0.555	0.930	13766
1935	2051.7	Frank	Robinson	0.382	0.537	0.919	11426
1936	1555.9	Harmon	Killebrew	0.376	0.509	0.884	9706
1937	1375.1	Brooks	Robinson	0.322	0.401	0.723	11514
1938	1661.7	Billy	Williams	0.361	0.492	0.853	10395
1939	2107.8	Carl	Yastrzemski	0.381	0.462	0.843	13833
1940	1498.0	Willie	Stargell	0.358	0.529	0.886	8864
1941	2144.1	Pete	Rose	0.373	0.409	0.782	15619
1942	1548.5	Tony	Perez	0.342	0.463	0.805	10703
1943	1558.2	Joe	Morgan	0.393	0.427	0.820	11142
1944	1514.2	Rusty	Staub	0.362	0.431	0.792	10975
1945	1575.1	Rod	Carew	0.394	0.429	0.823	10333
1946	1702.8	Reggie	Jackson	0.352	0.490	0.842	11239
1947	1399.0	Darrell	Evans	0.362	0.431	0.793	10578
1948	1302.4	Steve	Garvey	0.330	0.446	0.777	9314
1949	1671.1	Mike	Schmidt	0.379	0.527	0.907	9859
1950	1216.4	Brian	Downing	0.364	0.425	0.790	9050
1951	1848.4	Dave	Winfield	0.354	0.475	0.829	12219
1952	1213.4	Fred	Lynn	0.362	0.484	0.846	7782
1953	1873.0	George	Brett	0.371	0.487	0.859	11445
1954	1530.9	Andre	Dawson	0.320	0.482	0.802	10516
1955	1622.8	Robin	Yount	0.343	0.430	0.773	11974
1956	1954.5	Eddie	Murray	0.362	0.476	0.838	12669
1957	1333.0	Lou	Whitaker	0.365	0.426	0.791	9767
1958	1829.8	Rickey	Henderson	0.399	0.419	0.817	13151
1959	1648.5	Harold	Baines	0.358	0.465	0.823	10970
1960	1757.9	Cal	Ripken	0.340	0.447	0.788	12680
1961	1356.7	Andres	Galarraga	0.336	0.499	0.835	8679
1962	1138.7	Wally	Joyner	0.363	0.440	0.803	7960
1963	1681.4	Fred	McGriff	0.377	0.509	0.886	10062
1964	2464.1	Barry	Bonds	0.441	0.611	1.052	11451
1965	1528.2	Craig	Biggio	0.357	0.437	0.793	10908
1966	1534.1	Larry	Walker	0.393	0.565	0.958	7820
1967	1384.0	Luis	Gonzalez	0.366	0.487	0.853	8755
1968	1701.6	Jeff	Bagwell	0.404	0.540	0.944	9198
1969	1656.0	Ken	Griffey	0.375	0.561	0.936	8908
1970	1354.7	Jim	Thome	0.407	0.562	0.969	7176
1971	1197.4	Ivan	Rodriguez	0.342	0.487	0.828	7609
1972	1490.0	Manny	Ramirez	0.406	0.599	1.005	7080
1973	1198.4	Todd	Helton	0.433	0.607	1.040	5333
1974	1075.6	Derek	Jeter	0.378	0.461	0.839	6803
1975	1358.6	Alex	Rodriguez	0.380	0.577	0.957	6925
1976	1108.1	Vladimir	Guerrero	0.386	0.587	0.972	5389
1977	895.6	Andruw	Jones	0.338	0.503	0.841	5836
1978	515.4	Aramis	Ramirez	0.324	0.481	0.806	3532
1979	601.8	Adrian	Beltre	0.325	0.455	0.780	4389
1980	756.0	Albert	Pujols	0.412	0.621	1.033	3355
1981	289.8	Carl	Crawford	0.319	0.421	0.740	2256
1982	161.1	David	Wright	0.367	0.524	0.891	924
1983	292.1	Miguel	Cabrera	0.365	0.523	0.888	1687
1984	46.3	Jeff	Francoeur	0.328	0.549	0.877	268

the longer names screws up the coding but for the most part it is legible.

[Ubiquitous]

Thats 149 names, with about 25 of those names not yet eligible for the HoF. Of the 125 or so names 66 are in the hall.

Now of course this isn't the be all end all list of players, it is merely a starter to a discussion. For instance I would disagree with the view that Harold Baines was the greatest player of 1959. He simply played the longest and racked up the runs because of it. I would guess that Tim Raines or Ryne Sandberg were truly the greatest positional players of that year.

[csh19792001]

Very interesting work! Did you use the Lahman database? How long did it take you to load the info, if so? How the hell do you use it once you download it? I have the inert WinZip file somewhere.

Isn't it ridiculous how close Bagwell and Thomas are- and both were born on the same day, the same year? They have basically identical career totals, and given the length of their careers, that's truly uncanny.

Truly bizarre coincidence.

[Ubiquitous]

Yes I used the Lahman database. Not sure what you mean by load the data. So I'll start from scratch.

I used the Lahman database access file since I have microsoft access. So in terms of actually loading the database file into my database it was almost instantaneous. If you don't have access I can't really help you much since I'm not really well versed in MySqL or any other database program, or for that matter all that well with Access. In Access if you don't have a file that is already formatted for Access then it takes a little bit of setup but it can be done. For instance the retrosheet PbP data is not in access format so one has to set it up for access. Which involves labeling each field (field 1-name, field 2-hits, field-3 AB, so on and so on).

For the year setup one needs to set up a query using batting table and master table. Select all the fields you want to use. Such as name, birthyear, hits, at bats, doubles, so on and so on. Sum all the counting stats up so that they are career totals and not single seasons totals. Then save and setup another query this time only using runs created and birthyear fields. Set the total field to max for RC which means that only the highest run created total for each year will be displayed. This way you remove over 16,000 names and only see the highest RC player per birthyear. Then save and do another query. You had your two saved files to this query and include the names and any other information you want. I added OBP, SLG, and PA to my list.

There it is that is how it is done in Access, of course if you don't have access that doesn't mean anything.

[ElHalo]

Or, you could try and rack up the greatest players born the same year as you. I'm young, so a lot of them haven't really hit their primes yet:

C: Chris Shelton (he has played there before...)
1B: Albert Pujols
2B: Scott Hairston
SS: Bobby Crosby
3B: Hank Blalock
LF: Ryan Langerhans
CF: Laynce Nix
RF: Austin Kearns
DH: Mark Texiera

SP: C. C. Sabathia
SP: Josh Beckett
SP: Chien-Ming Wang
SP: Mark Prior

RP: Yhency Brezoban

[Ubiquitous]

Wait a minute, you mean all this time you have been bashing the 80's and telling us how dreadful it was and you were only 10 when it ended?! Or how dreadful, boring, and weak the 70's was and you never even saw an inning of play from that era?

[RuthMayBond]

Wait a minute, you mean all this time you have been bashing the 80's and telling us how dreadful it was and you were only 10 when it ended?! Or how dreadful, boring, and weak the 70's was and you never even saw an inning of play from that era?

Only a lawyer
P-Viola
P-MWitt
P-RDarling
P-Valenzuela, JFranco
C-Tettleton
1B-Hrbek
2B-Sax/HReynolds/JSamuel
3B-Pendleton, HJohnson
SS-CRipken
OF-Van Slyke
OF-VColeman
OF-JCarter
UT-ADavis, RDeer, MMarshall

better than the 1899 Spiders

[ElHalo]

Wait a minute, you mean all this time you have been bashing the 80's and telling us how dreadful it was and you were only 10 when it ended?! Or how dreadful, boring, and weak the 70's was and you never even saw an inning of play from that era?

I didn't need to fight in Vietnam to know that it wasn't a good time. We've had plenty of discussion on the validity of deadball era players, and I don't think any of us ever actually watched them play.

[Ubiquitous]

Yes but we all know we haven't seen the deadball era players, but this is different. We have had talks in which you talk about watching 80's era players and then seeing the 90's and realizing how bad the 80's was. You saw all of 4 minutes of the 80's and you are talking about it in terms of excitement and entertainment appeal, and how it doesn't measure up. How does one talk about the excitement of an event that he himself was never even a part of? You want to talk talent pools, strategies, player development and busts sure thats all fine. you want to talk about excitement and entertainment? Well you have to really have been there to have any firm foundation behind your view.

[baseballPAP]

Most of my guys are in their prime...wish I could say the same!

C-Jason Varitek
1B-Carlos Delgado
2B-David Bell(born the day before me)
3B-Chipper Jones
SS-Deivi Cruz(yipes)
LF-Cliff Floyd
CF-Garret Anderson
RF-Shawn Green
UT-Melvin Mora
DH-Manny Ramirez
SP-Mike Hampton
SP-Andy Pettitte
SP-Brad Radke
RP-LaTroy Hawkins

Not as good as I would have thought...though I may have missed someone...my research wasn't the best.

[baseballPAP]

Yes but we all know we haven't seen the deadball era players, but this is different. We have had talks in which you talk about watching 80's era players and then seeing the 90's and realizing how bad the 80's was. You saw all of 4 minutes of the 80's and you are talking about it in terms of excitement and entertainment appeal, and how it doesn't measure up. How does one talk about the excitement of an invent that he himself was never even a part of? You want to talk talent pools, strategies, player development and busts sure thats all fine. you want to talk about excitement and entertainment? Well you have to really have been there to have any firm foundation behind your view.

Wow do I have to agree with this one! EH has talked about the 80's like he lived through every "boring" minute of them! I was 8 in 1980....I've seen the entire 80's, 90's and now half of the 00's, and the 80s up until about 92 or so were baseball at its best for me. Those years had everything...stolen bases, home runs, great pitching..... Not that other decades didn't, but it was a great balance of all the things that make baseball fun to watch.

[Budtaff]

Here's my All 1969 Team. Not too bad, but weak in starting pitchers. Great closers though!!!

C - Todd Hundley, Brad Ausmus
1B- Greg Colbrunn, Kevin Young (not good!)
2B- Bret Boone, Tony Womack
3B- Joe Randa, Jeff Cirillo, Travis Fryman
SS- Jose Valentin, Jose Hernandez
OF- Ken Griffey Jr.
OF- Juan Gonzalez
OF- Jeremy Burnitz, Marty Cordova, Rusty Greer

P- Alex Fernandez, Pedro Astacio, Arthur Rhodes, Bob Wickman
CL - Mariano Rivera, Troy Percival, Robb Nen

If I could just get a lead thru 6 i'd be ok!

[Blackout]

I think its safe to say Josh Gibson was the best player born in 1911


and that 1969 team comes down to Griffey and Rivera, in a Yankees bias I'll take Rivera

[BlueJay]

1974
C - Jason Kendall
1B - Richie Sexson
2B - Jose Vidro
SS - Derek Jeter
3B - Mike Lowell
LF - Geoff Jenkins
CF - Darin Erstad
RF - Bobby Abreu

SP - Kevin Millwood, Matt Morris, Jarrod Washburn, Kris Benson
RP - Ugueth Urbina

[RuthMayBond]

I think its safe to say Josh Gibson was the best player born in 1911

Probably, but Hank Greenberg might have something to say about that