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| Babe Ruth |
Our evaluation of HR hitting has remained primitive to the present. The simple method that I have been using recently is a big improvement over totals. Here are the top four HR hitters based on count:
| Rk | Player | HR | From | To | Age | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | GDP | SB | CS | Pos | Tm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barry Bonds | 762 | 1986 | 2007 | 21-42 | 2986 | 12606 | 9847 | 2227 | 2935 | 601 | 77 | 1996 | 2558 | 688 | 1539 | 106 | 4 | 91 | 165 | 514 | 141 | .298 | .444 | .607 | 1.051 | *78/D9 | PIT-SFG |
| 2 | Hank Aaron | 755 | 1954 | 1976 | 20-42 | 3298 | 13941 | 12364 | 2174 | 3771 | 624 | 98 | 2297 | 1402 | 293 | 1383 | 32 | 21 | 121 | 328 | 240 | 73 | .305 | .374 | .555 | .928 | *9783D/45 | MLN-ATL-MIL |
| 3 | Babe Ruth | 714 | 1914 | 1935 | 19-40 | 2503 | 10620 | 8399 | 2174 | 2873 | 506 | 136 | 2213 | 2062 | 1330 | 43 | 113 | 2 | 123 | 117 | .342 | .474 | .690 | 1.164 | 971/83 | BOS-NYY-BSN | ||
| 4 | Willie Mays | 660 | 1951 | 1973 | 20-42 | 2992 | 12496 | 10881 | 2062 | 3283 | 523 | 140 | 1903 | 1464 | 192 | 1526 | 44 | 13 | 91 | 251 | 338 | 103 | .302 | .384 | .557 | .941 | *8/39675 | NYG-SFG-TOT-NYM |
We all know these numbers: 762, 755, 714, 660. But how many of us know these:
9,847
12,364
8,399
10,881
Those are the at bats (AB). Using the two together we get a much better insight into the relative achievements. Even better insight is gained with my home run proficiency method, which simply subtracts the player's HR and AB from the league total and divides league HR by AB to get the league HR rate for all the other batters.
(P-(L-P))/((L-P)
In this equation each letter represents (HR/AB) for either the player or the league minus the player. The result is the number of times the player's HR rate is better than all the other batters in that league that season.
Season numbers have been in recent posts, labeled X in associated spreadsheets. This post takes that season data and aggregates for a career number (Y) weighted of course by AB per season. For data through 2011 there are 771 batters with at least 100 career HR. Sorted by Y (career home run proficiency), number one was Babe Ruth, number 771 was Wade Boggs.
Click link to view data. There are tabs for :
- top 50 or so
- bottom 50 or so
- 493 HR or 50 HR in a season
- Retired 1903-1928
- Retired 1929-1953
- Retired 1954-1979
- Retired 1980-1999
- Active after 1999
As was seen in the season data there is a clear trend toward more HR hitting by all batters, which reduces the proficiency factor in more recent decades.
First let's see where the top four ranked among all 771 batters with at least 100 career HR.
1. Ruth 7.8 times more proficient than the other batters when he played
30. Bonds 1.84
41. Aaron 1.64
53. Mays 1.5
Note: In a recent post I showed that Mays was a better HR hitter than Aaron by examining their common peak seasons (1954-1968) on the road but not in each others parks. My guess is that Aaron has an edge for their entire careers because:
- Mays missed two seasons in the Army
- Aaron got a late career boost playing his home games in Atlanta (1966-1974)
- Aaron experienced an inexplicable surge in his HR proficiency at an age when sluggers generally decline: age 37 career best, age 39 second best.
Top 11 of the 771 includes three guys named Williams:
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Babe | Ruth | 7.84119299220552 |
| Gavvy | Cravath | 4.55287306249984 |
| Lou | Gehrig | 3.51675697407194 |
| Jimmie | Foxx | 3.25037513563742 |
| Cy | Williams | 3.13367633515654 |
| Harry | Stovey | 2.98974641578546 |
| Mel | Ott | 2.96061715403917 |
| Ken | Williams | 2.90745879478981 |
| Hank | Greenberg | 2.80947802011959 |
| Hack | Wilson | 2.68388413055675 |
| Ted | Williams | 2.64056124469667 |
Now let's see the career rank for modern season HR record holders.
1. Ruth 7.8
2. Gavvy Cravath 4.56
18. Mark McGwire 2.3
30. Bonds 1.84
68. Sammy Sosa 1.37; He held the record briefly during the season, so what the heck, you're curious, right?
135. Roger Maris 1.01
493 HR or 50 HR in a season (43 batters):
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Babe | Ruth | 7.84119299220552 |
| Lou | Gehrig | 3.51675697407194 |
| Jimmie | Foxx | 3.25037513563742 |
| Mel | Ott | 2.96061715403917 |
| Hank | Greenberg | 2.80947802011959 |
| Hack | Wilson | 2.68388413055675 |
| Ted | Williams | 2.64056124469667 |
| Johnny | Mize | 2.46237701258111 |
| Ralph | Kiner | 2.325441451065 |
| Mark | McGwire | 2.31202210507171 |
| Mike | Schmidt | 2.29192247376923 |
| Willie | McCovey | 1.93267986717054 |
| Harmon | Killebrew | 1.86478286445436 |
| Barry | Bonds | 1.83914088593434 |
| Mickey | Mantle | 1.77401631775621 |
| Hank | Aaron | 1.6362542084195 |
| Ryan | Howard | 1.61415267178781 |
| Willie | Mays | 1.50161322816385 |
| George | Foster | 1.49079992585632 |
| Reggie | Jackson | 1.45146892664544 |
| Frank | Robinson | 1.40778300065197 |
| Sammy | Sosa | 1.37011977189588 |
| Eddie | Mathews | 1.35001169379752 |
| Jim | Thome | 1.34485800097992 |
| Prince | Fielder | 1.29479526926014 |
| Cecil | Fielder | 1.26565486773925 |
| Ernie | Banks | 1.22268236971851 |
| Albert | Belle | 1.19682403686368 |
| Alex | Rodriguez | 1.1825268797646 |
| Ken | Griffey | 1.15329156234718 |
| Fred | McGriff | 1.1355931491646 |
| Manny | Ramirez | 1.13451205105933 |
| Frank | Thomas | 1.10495669767812 |
| Roger | Maris | 1.09110324304376 |
| Greg | Vaughn | 1.0120948124869 |
| David | Ortiz | 0.971306443398467 |
| Gary | Sheffield | 0.93247459821661 |
| Jose | Bautista | 0.875580298079811 |
| Andruw | Jones | 0.863558533275092 |
| Rafael | Palmeiro | 0.812138043268096 |
| Eddie | Murray | 0.758648640212588 |
| Luis | Gonzalez | 0.30034328096535 |
| Brady | Anderson | 0.0548450575301493 |
Cecil and Prince Fielder are neck and neck.
Notable sluggers not on that list and their rank among the 771:
24. Joe DiMaggio 2.043
67. Albert Pujols 1.4
174. Stan Musial .96
330. Carl Yastrzemski .6
_______________________________
Batters retired before 1903:
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Harry | Stovey | 2.98974641578546 |
| Roger | Connor | 1.35904072873369 |
| Mike | Tiernan | 1.33722473016188 |
Batters retired 1903-1928
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Gavvy | Cravath | 4.55287306249984 |
| Tilly | Walker | 2.60390833633276 |
| Jack | Fournier | 1.80530167803463 |
| Sam | Thompson | 1.63960726987351 |
| Dan | Brouthers | 1.49241208567265 |
| Irish | Meusel | 1.25910322798581 |
| Ty | Cobb | 1.18325545675517 |
| Honus | Wagner | 1.06337078971399 |
| Hugh | Duffy | 0.991659511462082 |
| Ed | Delahanty | 0.954915940575368 |
| Jimmy | Ryan | 0.933099452727171 |
| Tris | Speaker | 0.901729597955839 |
| Zack | Wheat | 0.720072475649976 |
Note: Frank Home Run Baker played from 1908-1922 and retired with 96 HR.
Batters retired 1929-1953:
78 batters hit at least 100 HR. Four had Y > 3. 16 Y > 2; DiMaggio was #16.
Top 11:
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Babe | Ruth | 7.84119299220552 |
| Lou | Gehrig | 3.51675697407194 |
| Jimmie | Foxx | 3.25037513563742 |
| Cy | Williams | 3.13367633515654 |
| Mel | Ott | 2.96061715403917 |
| Ken | Williams | 2.90745879478981 |
| Hank | Greenberg | 2.80947802011959 |
| Hack | Wilson | 2.68388413055675 |
| Charlie | Keller | 2.49678463371142 |
| Johnny | Mize | 2.46237701258111 |
| Rogers | Hornsby | 2.44773695512855 |
Batters retired 1954-1979 (165 batters):
Top 14
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Ted | Williams | 2.64056124469667 |
| Ralph | Kiner | 2.325441451065 |
| Harmon | Killebrew | 1.86478286445436 |
| Mickey | Mantle | 1.77401631775621 |
| Gus | Zernial | 1.71781071017312 |
| Dick | Allen | 1.68203370144784 |
| Hank | Aaron | 1.6362542084195 |
| Hank | Sauer | 1.56930457802638 |
| Vern | Stephens | 1.5647764724648 |
| Frank | Howard | 1.52411277512819 |
| Willie | Mays | 1.50161322816385 |
| Al | Rosen | 1.50084005969308 |
| Frank | Robinson | 1.40778300065197 |
| Eddie | Mathews | 1.35001169379752 |
Batters retired 1980-1999 (211 batters):
Top 10
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Mike | Schmidt | 2.29192247376923 |
| Dave | Kingman | 2.17009588073119 |
| Willie | McCovey | 1.93267986717054 |
| Bob | Horner | 1.89406084390857 |
| Willie | Stargell | 1.87557650472496 |
| Darryl | Strawberry | 1.73596628418227 |
| Ron | Kittle | 1.52435868893314 |
| George | Foster | 1.49079992585632 |
| Johnny | Bench | 1.47737031158564 |
| Reggie | Jackson | 1.45146892664544 |
Batters active after 1999 (303 batters):
Top 15
| First | Last | Y |
|---|---|---|
| Mark | McGwire | 2.31202210507171 |
| Barry | Bonds | 1.83914088593434 |
| Ryan | Howard | 1.61415267178781 |
| Albert | Pujols | 1.39366384919872 |
| Sammy | Sosa | 1.37011977189588 |
| Jim | Thome | 1.34485800097992 |
| Jose | Canseco | 1.31122794441868 |
| Prince | Fielder | 1.29479526926014 |
| Adam | Dunn | 1.27559006087993 |
| Juan | Gonzalez | 1.2291672186237 |
| Mark | Reynolds | 1.20588963468537 |
| Albert | Belle | 1.19682403686368 |
| Eric | Davis | 1.18807801078555 |
| Alex | Rodriguez | 1.1825268797646 |
| Ken | Griffey | 1.15329156234718 |
In a future post I'll take the percentage difference per season from their career number for the top career HR hitters to look for trends such as improvement late in a career and will create graphs.
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