Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis

Just for comparison sake...

So, as I was pondering which season to review next, I thought I might change things up a little bit. In following with the theme from the Cy Young/Walter Johnson article, I decided to pick ten players active in the last forty years (or when I was in my baseball formative years) and see how they match up with each other.

It was more of a curiosity, as I had no pre-conceived notions as to what I might find.

Of the ten players, only two of them were Hall of Fame players. Should there have been another one enshrined from this list? Lets' see.

Below are the averages based on the ten best season performances from their careers. I will not assign names to the players until the end of the article.

Player	HR	RBI	AVG	SLUGGING	ON BASE PCT	RAW NUMBER
A	14	74	0.286	0.417	0.366	1.8746
B	22	89	0.276	0.443	0.373	1.8249
C	24	78	0.271	0.472	0.376	1.8582
D	22	99	0.300	0.488	0.356	1.9081
E	16	75	0.284	0.445	0.360	1.8735
F	19	94	0.301	0.456	0.374	1.8504
G	15	82	0.291	0.430	0.360	1.9097
H	26	108	0.281	0.471	0.535	1.9327
I	20	86	0.307	0.481	0.364	1.8571
J	19	90	0.299	0.457	0.348	1.7479

We'll look at each player next.

Player A was an All-Star player, as was everyone else on this list. While he never won an MVP award, he did finish 2^nd in voting one year, and averaged 1.09 Runs Created per game during his ten year spread. He spent his entire career with one team. He never won a batting title, and in fact, the only offensive stat he led the league in was Sacrifice Hits, which he led twice in.
Player B played for three teams during his career. Again, another one from this list who never won an MVP award, he finished as high as fifth in voting, and averaged 1.01 Runs Created per game. He led the league in Runs Scored one year, and in On Base Percentage in another.
Player C also never won an MVP, and also played his entire career with the same team. He also averaged 1.01 Runs Created. He led the league in homers once, led in Runs Scored once, led in Walks three times, led in On Base Percentage once.
Player D did win an MVP award, and finished second one year, and third another. Over his career, he managed to receive MVP votes in nine of his nineteen seasons, playing for a handful of teams. He averaged 1.06 Runs Created. He won two batting titles, led the league in doubles twice, led in Hits once, led in Runs Batted In once, led in Slugging Percentage twice, and led in Total Bases three times.
Player E again never won an MVP award, although he did finish fourth in Rookie of the Year voting, in a season that didn't qualify him for any batting championships. He finished as high as sixth in MVP voting, and averaged 1.07 Runs Created. He only led the league in doubles, but did that twice. He did steal a lot of bases during a stolen base rich era. He stole 50 or more bases in six straight seasons.
Player F played for three National League teams throughout his career, winning one MVP award, and finishing as high as fifth on another occasion. He also was the runner up to the Rookie of the Year Award, and averaged 1.02 Runs Created. During his MVP season, he led the league in batting, Runs Batted In, Hits and Total Bases.
Player G was another one that spent his entire career with the same team. He won two MVP awards, and averaged 1.12 Runs Created. He hit over .300 six times, but never won a batting title. He led the league in hits once, in doubles twice, in triples twice, and once in Slugging Percentage and Total Bases
Player H had the longest career of all the players on this list, playing for a handful of teams. Never did win an MVP award, but he did finish as high as third in voting. He averaged 1.11 Runs Created. He never led the league in an offensive category, but did have 90 or more Runs Batted in for eleven straight seasons.
Player I also spent his career with the same team, and never won an MVP award, only finishing as high as second in voting. He did, however, win the Rookie of the Year award, and finished fourth in MVP voting that year. He averaged 1.01 Runs Created. He won three batting titles, led the league in hits five times, including three in a row, and he did it during his rookie season. He also led the league in doubles four times, in Slugging Percentage once, and in Total Bases once.
Finally, Player J played for two teams in his illustrious career, winning one MVP Award, finishing second once, and finishing sixth on three other occasions. His .94 Runs Created Average is the lowest of the ten on this list. He led the league in hits twice, and had six seasons of 200 or more hits.

So now, looking at the stats, and only the stats, we can make some notes. The top 4 in homers, players H,C, B & D, only one of them is in the Hall of Fame. RBI's, top 3 are H,D and F. Only one Hall of Famer in that group. Average...I,F and D. None of them are in the Hall. Slugging, D,I and C...again, none in the Hall. On Base Percentage, C, F and B...none in Hall. Runs Created per Game, G, H and E...two of them are the Hall of Famer from this list. And the Raw Number, which is the formula that I use for these rankings in all of these articles, the top three are H,G and D. Again, both of the Hall of Famers are in that grouping.

By Hall of Famers, I mean enshrined as players, voted in by the BBWAA or by the Veteran's Committee.

That being said, here is the reveal:

Player A: