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Top 5 Individual Seasons for a Position Player

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  • #1

    Top 5 Individual Seasons for a Position Player

    I haven't seen a thread like this recently.

    What do you think are the top 5 individual seasons for a position player? Why?

    1. Lou Gehrig, 1938 - disease kicking in and still has great year, not by his standards tho
    2. Roger Maris, 1961 - the ultimate career year
    3. Hack Wilson, 1930 - 191 RBI!
    4. Ted Williams, 1939 - amazing rookie year
    5. Babe Ruth, 1921 - stands out to me more than any other year

    Honorable Mention
    Jackie Robinson, 1947 - for obvious reasons
    Mickey Mantle, 1962 - how bad were those knees?
    Ty Cobb, 1911 - .420
    Tony Gwynn, 1994 - .394, WOW!! (and idc if it was in 110 games)
    Last edited by bluesky5; 02-22-2012, 04:10 PM. Reason: strike
    "No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget,” - W. A. Phelon in Baseball Magazine in 1915. “Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.”
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  • #2
    Aren't like the top 7-8 seasons by a position player all by Babe Ruth (if you discount Barry Bonds for PED's)?
    Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.-Crash Davis

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Honus Wagner Rules View Post
      Aren't like the top 7-8 seasons by a position player all by Babe Ruth (if you discount Barry Bonds for PED's)?
      Well depends on what you use to decide. WAR, Hornsby and Mantle makes an appearance. OPS+, Williams makes an appearance. But I don't think that's what the OP is looking for...as he mentions Maris' '61 and Gehrig's '38. Maybe the OP can clarify what he is looking for.

      Comment

      • #4
        Originally posted by bluesky5 View Post
        I haven't seen a thread like this recently.

        What do you think are the top 5 individual seasons for a position player? Why?

        2. Roger Maris, 1961 - the ultimate career year
        He wasn't even in the top 3 in his league in a lot of things like WAR, SLG%, OPS+, offensive win%, WPA ...

        Honorable Mention
        Mickey Mantle, 1962 - how bad were those knees?>

        377 AB?
        Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
        Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Joltin' Joe View Post
          Well depends on what you use to decide. WAR, Hornsby and Mantle makes an appearance. OPS+, Williams makes an appearance. But I don't think that's what the OP is looking for...as he mentions Maris' '61 and Gehrig's '38. Maybe the OP can clarify what he is looking for.
          I originally was going to say -- whether you use a combination of traditional stats, advanced, extenuating circumstances etc. Some people adjust for era or care more or less about steroids whatever you want to use to determine top 5, list their top 5 injury plagued years or why ranking by ops+ or WAR. Whatever 5 impress you most and why.. -- but thought that made it needlessly complicated.

          My bad fellas.
          Last edited by bluesky5; 02-22-2012, 05:19 PM.
          "No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget,” - W. A. Phelon in Baseball Magazine in 1915. “Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.”

          Comment

          • #6
            Originally posted by RuthMayBond View Post
            He wasn't even in the top 3 in his league in a lot of things like WAR, SLG%, OPS+, offensive win%, WPA ...

            Honorable Mention
            Mickey Mantle, 1962 - how bad were those knees?>

            377 AB?
            For instance those stand out to me as impressive and make my top 5. Maris hitting 61, thats outrageous for him. Feel free to rebuff me or list your impressives.
            "No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget,” - W. A. Phelon in Baseball Magazine in 1915. “Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.”

            Comment

            • #7
              Originally posted by bluesky5 View Post
              For instance those stand out to me as impressive and make my top 5. Maris hitting 61, thats outrageous for him. Feel free to rebuff me or list your impressives.
              Other than the usual Ruth suspects, I can see reasons for Wagner 08, Cobb 09, Hornsby 24, Musial 48, Williams 49, FRobinson 66.
              Maybe Medwick 37, Yaz 67 ... in terms of being near the top in league categories
              Mythical SF Chronicle scouting report: "That Jeff runs like a deer. Unfortunately, he also hits AND throws like one." I am Venus DeMilo - NO ARM! I can play like a big leaguer, I can field like Luzinski, run like Lombardi. The secret to managing is keeping the ones who hate you away from the undecided ones. I am a triumph of quantity over quality. I'm almost useful, every village needs an idiot.
              Good traders: MadHatter(2), BoofBonser26, StormSurge

              Comment

              • #8
                If we're listing seasons we find especially impressive, even if not the best statistically, Stan Musial's 1948, as RMB mentioned already, was amazing. He led the league in 11 offensive categories, including an OPS+ of 200, and 429 total bases, a number The Babe bettered only once, in 1921.

                Frank Robinson in 1966. The Reds said he was an "old 30", and traded him to Baltimore for Milt Pappas. This pissed Robinson off, so he went out and won the triple crown.

                Andre Dawson in 1987. He was a free agent, his knees had been nearly destroyed by the artificial turf in Montreal. He wanted to play on natural grass, and loved hitting in Wrigley Field. He signed a blank contract and told the Cubs to pay him whatever they thought he was worth. Think that would happen today? Not bloody likely. Then he went out and won the MVP (probably didn't deserve it, but 49 home runs and 137 RBI's got peoples' attention).

                As the OP mentioned, Ted WIlliams' rookie season in 1939 was impressive, only Albert Pujols and maybe Mark McGwire have matched it. Williams' 1957 season was also impressive, in that he missed hitting .400 by five hits, at age 38. With no speed to speak of, he didn't beat out any infield hits, otherwise he would have probably hit .400 again. His OPS+ that year was 233, not bad for a 38 year-old that wasn't on PED's.
                They call me Mr. Baseball. Not because of my love for the game; because of all the stitches in my head.

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                • #9
                  Ty Cobb, 1909 season. not only did he win the MLB triple crown with 9 HR, 107 RBI, .377 AVG during the true Deadball era while playing in a massive park, but he also led the league in Runs 116, hits 216, SB 76, OBP .431, SLUG% .517, OPS .947, OPS+ 194, and total bases with 296. That was the first season of 10 straight that he had an OPS+ of 179 or better. During that 10 year span, he also led the league in SB 5 times!
                  Last edited by pheasant; 02-22-2012, 10:17 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by ol' aches and pains View Post
                    Andre Dawson in 1987. He was a free agent, his knees had been nearly destroyed by the artificial turf in Montreal. He wanted to play on natural grass, and loved hitting in Wrigley Field. He signed a blank contract and told the Cubs to pay him whatever they thought he was worth. Think that would happen today? Not bloody likely. Then he went out and won the MVP (probably didn't deserve it, but 49 home runs and 137 RBI's got peoples' attention).
                    I was thinking of this when I first posted. Never heard the blank contract part.
                    "No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget,” - W. A. Phelon in Baseball Magazine in 1915. “Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.”

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Babe Ruth -1921
                      Stan Musial - 1948
                      Ted Williams - 1941
                      Barry Bonds - 2001
                      Rogers Hornsby 1922 or 1924
                      My top 10 players:

                      1. Babe Ruth
                      2. Barry Bonds
                      3. Ty Cobb
                      4. Ted Williams
                      5. Willie Mays
                      6. Alex Rodriguez
                      7. Hank Aaron
                      8. Honus Wagner
                      9. Lou Gehrig
                      10. Mickey Mantle

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Originally posted by bluesky5 View Post
                        I haven't seen a thread like this recently.

                        What do you think are the top 5 individual seasons for a position player? Why?

                        1. Lou Gehrig, 1938 - disease kicking in and still has great year, not by his standards tho
                        2. Roger Maris, 1961 - the ultimate career year
                        3. Hack Wilson, 1930 - 191 RBI!
                        4. Ted Williams, 1939 - amazing rookie year
                        5. Babe Ruth, 1921 - stands out to me more than any other year

                        Honorable Mention
                        Jackie Robinson, 1947 - for obvious reasons
                        Mickey Mantle, 1962 - how bad were those knees?
                        Ty Cobb, 1911 - .420
                        Tony Gwynn, 1994 - .394, WOW!! (and idc if it was in 110 games)
                        Interesting list, but 1939 was probably the 9th or 10th best season of Teddy's career.
                        My top 10 players:

                        1. Babe Ruth
                        2. Barry Bonds
                        3. Ty Cobb
                        4. Ted Williams
                        5. Willie Mays
                        6. Alex Rodriguez
                        7. Hank Aaron
                        8. Honus Wagner
                        9. Lou Gehrig
                        10. Mickey Mantle

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Originally posted by GiambiJuice View Post
                          Interesting list, but 1939 was probably the 9th or 10th best season of Teddy's career.
                          Definitely. But as for a rookie year I can't think of any better. He didn't even have a "cup of coffee." Pujols comes to mind. Theres a lot of similarities. He played 55 games at 3B, 42 at 1st and 39 in both left and right fields. Thats a lot to ask of a 21 year old rookie from the Dominican with 1 year of minor league ball, probably just so he could learn some english and what its like to play in the U.S. Then he puts up these numbers, ridiculous. I think Pujols has to trump Williams actually. I remember Pujols rookie year but I always thought it was spent entirely in LF.

                          Year Age Tm Lg Gms PA AB Runs H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
                          2001 21 STL NL 161 676 590 112 194 47 4 37 130 69 93 .329 .403 .610 1.013 157 360

                          Year Age Tm Lg Gms PA AB Runs Hits 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BAvg. OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
                          1939 20 BOS AL 149 675 565 131 185 44 11 31 145 107 64 .327 .436 .609 1.045 160 344
                          Last edited by bluesky5; 02-23-2012, 07:10 AM.
                          "No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget,” - W. A. Phelon in Baseball Magazine in 1915. “Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.”

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            I went to the trouble to make the numbers show up under the respective categories and they just default back.

                            Ok thats a little better.
                            Last edited by bluesky5; 02-23-2012, 07:10 AM.
                            "No matter how great you were once upon a time — the years go by, and men forget,” - W. A. Phelon in Baseball Magazine in 1915. “Ross Barnes, forty years ago, was as great as Cobb or Wagner ever dared to be. Had scores been kept then as now, he would have seemed incomparably marvelous.”

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              Memory time... I am not going to look anything up, but here are some seasons from my baseball card collecting days.

                              Let's roll with one per season with my choices based on the amount of media attention given that year to a position player.

                              Rod Carew in 1977
                              Jim Rice in 1978
                              Don Baylor in 1979 (Willie Stargell too I suppose)
                              George Brett in 1980

                              The strike broke up 1981. That was more about Fernando Valenzuela and the Reds getting hosed more than anything else. I can remember a lot of fuss over four guys in the American League tying for the home run title. One of them was Bobby Grich and a lot of the old timers remarked he has been great for years and now he is finally getting some notice. Mike Schmidt managed more than 30 homers anyway despite losing a third of the season. That was somewhat of a big deal too. For different reasons Dave Winfield was getting a lot of attention. His contract might have been the biggest story going into the season and his poor performance in the World Series the biggest story at the end of the season. Either that or the long-time Dodger infield finally winning a World Series before finally being broken up by the arrival of Steve Sax at second base.

                              Robin Yount in 1982
                              Cal Ripken in 1983
                              Ryne Sandberg in 1984

                              I'll stop there because I quit collecting baseball cards at that point. I saw Steve Garvey in a Padre Uniform and that ruined the whole cardboard experience for me. The Detroit Tigers TEAM was the biggest story of 1984 as they jumped out to a record of 30-5 or 35-5 or something like that. Kirk Gibson was noticed to some degree.

                              Please note this post took very little time to write and is based solely on memories that stuck with me.
                              Your Second Base Coach
                              Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey started 833 times and the Dodgers went 498-335, for a .598 winning percentage. That’s equal to a team going 97-65 over a season. On those occasions when at least one of them missed his start, the Dodgers were 306-267-1, which is a .534 clip. That works out to a team going 87-75. So having all four of them added 10 wins to the Dodgers per year.
                              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5hCIvMule0

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