Rickey Henderson: Runs Created (RC): top 50 resorted by rate RC/PA.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/RC_career.shtml

Statistic Description: Runs Created A set of formulas developed by Bill James and others that estimates a player’s total contributions to a team’s runs total. This is computed with the "technical" formula when possible. If SB or CS data is missing, the "basic" formula is used. If HBP, IBB, SH, SF, or GIDP data is missing, the "stolen base" version of the formula is used.

Note that seasons prior to 1876 are not included in single-season marks, but are included in career marks.

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Say what?

I picked Runs Created out of a hat to try to provide more perspective on:

Rickey Henderson: top 10 all time? 20? 30? How about among outfielders? Sunday, March 3, 2024

But is Rickey really among the very best in the American League and National League since 1903? Let's look only at outfielders.

Rickey never played the infield in AL or NL...

Wow, Rickey is #9, a third stringer. But, of course, WAR is a total and totals reward longevity. Only Williams and Mantle had fewer than 10,000 PA and Rickey is second only to Aaron in PA...

But Rickey had high On Base Average...

Rickey is #16. Among those dropping out are Aaron, Mays, DiMaggio. Would you replace one of them with Rickey Henderson?

Do his SB really push Rickey Henderson into the top 20 OF?

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Enter Runs Created (RC).

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/RC_career.shtml

I copied the top 50 batters, which included 23 outfielders (OF), into a spreadsheet. I then took RC, which is a total, and divided it by Plate Appearances (PA) to create a rate. Click this link to view the spreadsheet.

The data to the right is presented below. It is sorted on RC/PA. Babe Ruth created an average of one fourth of a theoretical run (not real like a homer) for each PA. Stan Musial one fifth for each PA.

		Runs			RC	RC/PA			OF
RC/PA	Player (yrs, age)	Created	PA	Bats	Rank	Rank	Rdif	Pos	R
.25576	Babe Ruth+ (22)	2,718	10,627	L	2	1	1	OF	1
.24438	Ted Williams+ (19)	2,393	9,792	L	6	2	4	OF	2
.23094	Lou Gehrig+ (17)	2,232	9,665	L	10	3	7
.22941	Barry Bonds (22)	2,892	12,606	L	1	4	-3	OF	3
.22001	Jimmie Foxx+ (20)	2,129	9,677	R	15	5	10
.21538	Rogers Hornsby+ (23)	2,042	9,481	R	19	6	13
.20656	Mickey Mantle+ (18)	2,047	9,910	B	18	7	11	OF	4
.20514	Manny Ramirez (19)	2,005	9,774	R	22	8	14	OF	5
.20061	Stan Musial+ (22)	2,552	12,721	L	3	9	-6	OF	6
.19871	Frank Thomas+ (19)	2,002	10,075	R	23	10	13
.19549	Todd Helton+ (17)	1,848	9,453	L	33	11	22
.19306	Jim Thome+ (22)	1,991	10,313	L	25	12	13
.19179	Ty Cobb+ (24)	2,513	13,103	L	5	13	-8	OF	7
.18959	Jeff Bagwell+ (15)	1,788	9,431	R	42	14	28
.18892	Willie Mays+ (23)	2,370	12,545	R	7	15	-8	OF	8
.18761	Al Simmons+ (20)	1,786	9,520	R	43	16	27	OF	9
.18629	Alex Rodriguez (22)	2,274	12,207	R	9	17	-8
.18513	Chipper Jones+ (19)	1,965	10,614	B	26	18	8
.18284	Henry Aaron+ (23)	2,549	13,941	R	4	19	-15	OF	10
.18172	Mel Ott+ (22)	2,062	11,347	L	17	20	-3	OF	11
.18155	David Ortiz+ (20)	1,832	10,091	L	35	21	14
.18120	Frank Robinson+ (21)	2,128	11,744	R	16	22	-6	OF	13
.17903	Tris Speaker+ (22)	2,152	12,020	L	13	23	-10	OF	14
.17777	Gary Sheffield (22)	1,946	10,947	R	27	24	3	OF	15
.17640	Ken Griffey Jr.+ (22)	1,994	11,304	L	24	25	-1	OF	16
.17621	Albert Pujols (22)	2,298	13,041	R	8	26	-18
.17462	Mike Schmidt+ (18)	1,757	10,062	R	46	27	19
.17201	Miguel Cabrera (21)	2,029	11,796	R	21	28	-7
.17058	Eddie Mathews+ (17)	1,723	10,101	L	50	29	21
.16935	Rafael Palmeiro (20)	2,040	12,046	L	20	30	-10
.16681	Paul Waner+ (20)	1,796	10,767	L	41	31	10	OF	17
.16294	Wade Boggs+ (18)	1,750	10,740	L	47	32	15
.16215	Rickey Henderson+ (25)	2,164	13,346	R	12	33	-21	OF	18
.16155	George Brett+ (21)	1,878	11,625	L	31	34	-3
.16046	Honus Wagner+ (21)	1,888	11,766	R	30	35	-5
.15927	Al Kaline+ (22)	1,847	11,597	R	34	36	-2	OF	19
.15924	Joe Morgan+ (22)	1,804	11,329	L	39	37	2
.15921	Cap Anson+ (27)	1,804	11,331	R	39	38	1
.15692	Carlos Beltrán (20)	1,731	11,031	B	48	39	9	OF	20
.15511	Reggie Jackson+ (21)	1,771	11,418	L	45	40	5	OF	21
.15394	Paul Molitor+ (21)	1,873	12,167	R	32	41	-9
.15330	Carl Yastrzemski+ (23)	2,145	13,992	L	14	42	-28	OF	22
.15156	Derek Jeter+ (20)	1,910	12,602	R	29	43	-14
.15152	Eddie Murray+ (21)	1,942	12,817	B	28	44	-16
.14983	Eddie Collins+ (25)	1,811	12,087	L	38	45	-7
.14683	Adrián Beltré+ (21)	1,781	12,130	R	44	46	-2
.14671	Dave Winfield+ (22)	1,813	12,358	R	37	47	-10	OF	23
.14651	Craig Biggio+ (20)	1,832	12,504	R	35	48	-13
.13965	Pete Rose (24)	2,219	15,890	B	11	49	-38
.13421	Cal Ripken Jr.+ (21)	1,729	12,883	R	49	50	-1
		Runs			RC	RC/PA			OF
RC/PA	Player (yrs, age)	Created	PA	Bats	Rank	Rank	Rdif	Pos	R

Rickey Henderson drops from 12 to 33 among all top 50 batters in RC. Among OF Rickey is 18 of 23, a sixth stringer.

Some of these notable OF who did not make the cut of top 50 in RC might rank ahead of Rickey Henderson:

55 Billy Williams HoF
61 Tony Gwynn and Tim Raines HoF
77 Sam Crawford and Joe DiMaggio HoF
80 Roberto Clemente HoF
82 Willie Stargell HoF
92 Zack Wheat HoF
93 Duke Snider HoF
100 Dave Parker
102 Bernie Williams
111 Jim Edmonds
113. Mike Trout

Stop staring at Batting Average and Home Runs. Look at their percentage above the league. Sunday, January 30, 2022