The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #57 Jeff Bagwell

Coming at #57 is Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell. Bagwell’s career is marked not by robust career numbers—although they are impressive—but by his ridiculous per-162 game totals. Bagwell joins Ted Williams as the only two players since 1940 with 162 game averages of at least 114 runs, 114 RBIs, and a .400 on-base percentage. He’s the only player in history to play 2,150 games or less and reach 1,500 runs and 1,500 RBIs. Bagwell is the first player since 1931— and only the third player in history along with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig—with back-to-back 140-run seasons. He’s the only player since 1936 to reach 152 runs in a single season. He’s the only player since 1949 with at least 143 runs and 143 walks in the same season, joining Babe Ruth and Ted Williams as the only players ever to do it. He’s one of only four players since 1950 with 1,500 runs, a 149 ops+ and a .405 on-base %, and he’s the only first baseman since the dead-ball era with 1,500 career runs and a 149 ops+. Bagwell won the NL MVP in 1994 when became just the third player since 1927 along with Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire with a single-season slugging percentage of at least .750.