Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are compared for 15 seasons (1954-1968), which cover both players peaks. It eliminates:
- home park
- playing in each other's parks
- batting against each other's pitchers.
Using annual data, it is the most neutral and fair way to compare two players in the same league at the same time during peak seasons for both.
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A lot of data is not used but there is an ample sample size in plate appearances (PA):
Aaron 4,399
Mays 4,400
In fewer at bats (AB) Mays hit more home runs (HR):
3,868/243=15.9
4,002/232=17.25
BA OBP SLG OPS
.3154 .3925 .5866 .9791 Mays
.3211 .3913 .5792 .9705 Aaron
SB CS
155 45 Mays 77.5%
97 33 Aaron 74.6%
Amazingly close. Advantage Mays.
4 comments:
It's a little unfair to start with Mays' best year & Aaron's rookie year. If you use 1955 or 56 as the starting year the gap between them would probably be miniscule.
Maybe you could devote a future post to this.
That's a good point except Mays had just spent almost two full years in the Army. Had Mays returned and been mediocre, then the comparison would seem fair. I don't think that Mays should be penalized for doing something remarkable.
I still think it's unfair and skews the results in Mays' favor. The fact remains that Mays starts out with a huge advantage over Aaron.
That being said, you do great work on this blog & I appreciate it. Any plans on a future post using 1955-68 or 1956-68?
Think Mike Trout.
Thanks for the compliment. No current plans but the data is available. Have at it. I think starting Mays in 1955 or 1956 hurts Mays too much and removes MVP caliber seasons while I don't think Aaron is hurt much by leaving out his seasons after 1968. The idea was to compare them in real seasons, not by age as is usually done.
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