Month: July 2021

The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #13 Ty Cobb

Spiking in at #13 is “The Georgia Peach” Ty Cobb. Cobb is a bygone of the deadball era where hitters stubbornly emphasized contact over power even after Babe Ruth started demonstrating the virtue of power in 1918. Cobb himself railed against the home run reportedly remarking that anyone could hit a home run if they tried. While Cobb and his contemporaries were complicit in putting the dead in deadball, there is no doubt he was the king, ruler, and emporer of pre-1920s baseball. Nobody in baseball history dominated an era like Cobb did. He led the league in OPS+ 12 times, batting average 11 times, and hits eight times. All are the most or tied for the most in history. He led the league in OPS+ nine consecutive seasons which is the most all-time. He led the league in slugging percentage eight times, on base percentage seven times, and stolen bases six times, all are among the top-5 in history. Cobb’s .366 career batting average is #1 all-time, eight points ahead of anyone else. He’s #1 all-time in non-home run extra-base hits. He’s #2 in runs, hits, triples, and offensive WAR. He’s in the top ten in on-base percentage, RBIs, doubles, total bases, and runs created. There are too many one-of-a-kind accomplishments on Cobb’s resume to name them all but some stand out above the rest. He’s the only player in history with 2,200 runs, 1,900 RBIs, and 800 stolen bases. He’s the only player in history with 4,000 hits and fewer than 700 strikeouts. He’s the only player ever with 4,000 hits and 2,000 runs. Cobb had seven seasons with a .370 batting average and at least 50 stolen bases. No other player has more than two. Cobb had 217 more career stolen bases than strikeouts. To put that in perspective, Max Carey is the only other player in history with more stolen bases than strikeouts and his margin is 43. Cobb stole home 54 times. No other player did it more than 33 times. He’s the only player in MLB history to hit over .408 twice, and he’s the only player in history with an on-base percentage of at least .450 in seven consecutive seasons.

The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #14 Clayton Kershaw

Four-seaming in at #14 is Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw. How Kershaw finishes his career remains to be seen, but nobody in history has had a better career through the age-33. Even at a position that sees the historical leaderboard dominated by pitchers from 25, 50, and even a hundred years ago, Kershaw stands out. In the pinnacle pitching statistic in baseball—ERA+—Kershaw ranks number one in baseball history. He is second all time in H/9, third in winning %, fourth in WHIP, 10th in strikeouts-to-walks ratio, and 12th in K/9. He has won three Cy Young Awards and an NL MVP, joining Sandy Koufax and Roger Clemens as the only three pitchers to accomplish that feat. Kersh’s seven consecutive seasons in the top-5 of the Cy Young voting is tied for the longest streak in history (Max Scherzer and Greg Maddux). He has led the league in WHIP four consecutive seasons which is tied for the longest streak ever (with Carl Hubbell, Sandy Koufax, and Johan Santana.) He joins Koufax as the only two pitchers in history to lead the league in ERA and WHIP for four consecutive seasons. Kershaw produced eight consecutive seasons with lower than a 2.74 ERA and lower than a 1.05 WHIP which is the most by a starting pitcher in history. His six seasons of less than a 2.32 ERA and less than a .95 WHIP are the most in history by a starting pitcher and his streak of five consecutive seasons below those marks is the longest in history. It took some time for the payoff but Kershaw’s postseason success eventually came and his overall postseason numbers are stellar. Among pitchers with at least 110 postseason innings, Kershaw’s 1.07 WHIP is the fourth-best in history, and no pitcher ever has more postseason strikeouts. Kersh has led the Dodgers to three World Series appearances and went 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA and a .857 WHIP in LA’s World Series win in 2020.

The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #15 Mike Trout

Swimming in at #15 is Angels Outfielder Mike Trout. Trout is smack dab in the middle of his prime so his career numbers are TBD, but what he was able to accomplish by the age of 29 is unrivaled in baseball history.  Trout holds the record with nine consecutive seasons in the top-5 of the MVP voting. He’s the only player in history with three MVPs and two all-star game MVPs. He’s also tied for 2nd with seven top-2 finishes in MVP voting (Musial and Pujols). Trout is tied for 5th all-time in OPS+, 8th in OPS, 9th in slugging %, and he has the 2nd highest OPS+ since 1960. Trout’s worst season in terms of OPS+ in which he had at least 250 plate appearances is 169. For perspective, that is better than Ty Cobb’s career OPS+ and would be the 10th best career mark in history. In just eight non-COVID seasons as an everyday player, Trout has led the league in OPS+ six times, runs and on-base percentage four times, and slugging percentage and walks three times.