The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #78 Mark McGwire

Thundering in at #78 is A’s and Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire. Depending on what statistics we focus on, we can say Big Mac is—without hyperbole—the most prolific home run hitter in baseball history. McGwire’s at-bat per home run ratio of 10.6 is by far the best of all time. He owns the records for most home runs over a two-year, three-year, and four-year period. He is the only player in history with a 70 and a 60-home run season. He’s tied with Babe Ruth and Sammy Sosa for most 50-home run seasons. McGwire and Sosa are the only players in history with four consecutive 50-home run seasons. McGwire joins Ruth as the only two players with five seasons of at least 49 home runs. McGwire is 7th all-time in slugging percentage and his .588 mark is the second-best since 1960. His adjusted OPS+ of 163 is 11th all-time and 4th since 1960. McGwire led the league in home runs, slugging %, and OPS+ four times and walks and on-base percentage twice each. His 162-walk total in 1998 is the 5th highest single-season mark in history.  Big Mac finished among the top-7 in MVP voting five times, including a runner-up finish in 1998 after breaking Roger Maris’s single-season home run record.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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