Using Runs Above Average To Determine The Best All Around Seasons

Using the Baseball Reference Play Index, I called up the best seasons in fielding (Rfield), base running (Rbaser) and batting (Rbat). But when I called up the leaders in one category, they also had to meet some minimum level in each of the other two stats (more details at the end of the post).

To rate "all-aroundness," I used a geometric mean. For example, if a player was 10 runs better than average in all three stats, I multiplied 10*10*10 = 1000. Then I took the cube root of that, which gives us 10. The geometric mean rewards balance, so a guy with 20 in all three stats is better than someone who had 100 in batting and just 1 in each of the other two.

Here is the top 25. It seems heavily weighted to 1980-2001 (15 cases) and it seems that base running usually had to be pretty good. There were only two seasons from 1911-1960. There were 8 cases from 1996-2001, by 8 different players.

Rank	Player	Rfield	Rbat	Rbaser	Year	Rating
1	Rickey Henderson	13.2	47.5	17.7	1985	22.30
2	Mike Trout	21	52.5	9.8	2012	22.10
3	Eddie Collins	24	33	9.9	1910	19.86
4	Rickey Henderson	24.1	32	10.1	1989	19.82
5	Joe Morgan	13.7	54.9	10.1	1975	19.65
6	Willie Wilson	23.9	18.6	16.5	1980	19.42
7	Rickey Henderson	18	41	9.3	1980	19.00
8	Willie Mays	15.1	54.5	8.3	1958	18.97
9	Willie Mays	16.8	53.5	7.3	1964	18.72
10	Rickey Henderson	16.1	61.5	6.1	1990	18.21
11	Craig Biggio	18.7	43.5	7.2	1997	18.02
12	Alex Rodriguez	15.9	58.1	6.1	2000	17.79
13	Barry Bonds	9.9	69.8	7.8	1996	17.53
14	Darin Erstad	28.8	35.3	4.7	2000	16.84
15	Ellis Burks	12.4	47.9	8	1996	16.81
16	Larry Walker	9.6	69.6	6.6	1997	16.39
17	Ken Griffey	32.3	39.8	3.4	1996	16.35
18	Carl Yastrzemski	23.3	69.4	2.7	1967	16.34
19	Willie Mays	19.9	55.2	3.9	1962	16.24
20	Frankie Frisch	37	23.1	5	1927	16.22
21	Ichiro Suzuki	15.2	29.9	9.4	2001	16.22
22	Lenny Dykstra	25.4	29.2	5.7	1990	16.17
23	Hank Aaron	23.4	43.9	4.1	1961	16.14
24	Carl Yastrzemski	24.7	47.3	3.6	1968	16.14
25	Al Kaline	29.2	39.3	3.6	1961	16.04

Click here to see the complete rankings. After the top 50 or so, you might start to see duplicate entries. That is because as I called up these lists, some cases appeared on both of them and then I merged them all together and sorted them to get the ranking.

Criteria:

Seasons with 44.1+ batting runs, 0.1+ fielding runs, 0.1+ base running runs (197 cases)
Seasons with 0.1+ batting runs, 17.9+ fielding runs, 0.1+ base running runs (198 cases)
Seasons with 0.1+ batting runs, 0.1+ fielding runs, 5.8+ base running runs (190 cases)
Seasons with 30+ batting runs, 3+ fielding runs, 3+ base running runs (161 cases)

Introducing A New Stat: Weighted Gray Ink (WEGRI)

Like we need another one. Maybe this will secure my sabermetric legacy. Well, Larry Granillo did something like this back in 2009. Click here to see it. But I did something similar back in 2006 and mentioned it on the SABR list. Someone (Rosen380) also just mentioned it in a discussion at Tango's blog. Click here to go to it.

The idea is a point system based on finishing in the top 10 in a stat. A guy gets 10 points for 1st place, 9 for 2nd and so on. Ties split the difference. If you are tied for 1st you get 9.5.

The stat I used is TRAA from Lee Sinins (Total Runs Above Average). Click here to read what Sinins has to say about this. That combines RCAA or runs created above average with FRAA or fielding runs above average. RCAA is park adjusted. I called up all the top 10 lists for the AL & NL (it goes back to 1893). Then summed each guys's points and ranked them. Here is the top 25:

Rank	Player	Points
1	Barry Bonds	149.5
2	Ty Cobb	148.5
3	Tris Speaker	143
4	Babe Ruth	142
5	Willie Mays	136.5
6	Ted Williams	136
7	Stan Musial	132.5
8	Hank Aaron	128.5
9	Honus Wagner	120
10	Rogers Hornsby	118.5
11	Mel Ott	113
12	Mickey Mantle	111.5
13	Lou Gehrig	104
14	Mike Schmidt	102
15	Nap Lajoie	97
16	Albert Pujols	94
17	Rickey Henderson	88
18	Frank Robinson	86.5
19	Jimmie Foxx	84
20	Joe DiMaggio	77.5
21	Ed Delahanty	77
22	Johnny Mize	76
23	Eddie Mathews	71.5
24	Paul Waner	69.5
25	Elmer Flick	68.5

Click here to see the complete rankings. It might be useful to take into account a player's position. For example, Piazza is the highest ranked catcher at 109.

Here are some interesting tidbits:

Ted Williams could have been first but he missed so much time in military service. Of course, Ruth would do better if I included his years as a pitcher.

Elmer Flick at 25th. Wow. So guess who is 26th? Keith Hernandez. Joe Jackson is 40th despite being banned at age 30. Todd Helton is 41st. And that takes park effects into account.

Tim Raines is 47th and is having a hard time getting into the Hall of Fame. Edgar Martinez is 49th, despite being mostly a DH.

54-56: Jimmy Sheckard, Sherry Magee, Gavvy Cravath.

Charlie Keller-60, Joey Votto-62. George Foster 68. Roy White 76.

Jackie Robinson is 79th and only played 10 seasons.

There are a total of 819 players listed so you can check to see how your favorite did.

The Base in Baseball (sabermterics from 1935)

This is a very early kind of sabermterics. It was from Esquire in 1935. It is kind of like run expectancy. Baseball Think Factory has had it up on their site for many years. I am posting this in case anyone has missed it and is interested. Click here to read all of it.

Excerpt:

"We worked out a system with the base as a unit.  We gave the batter credit for the number of bases he achieved for his team, compared to the number of bases it had been possible for him to achieve.  If he came to bat with no one on base his “possible” was four bases. If he singled, then, he got credit for 1 base—.250; if he hit a home run he earned 4—1.000.  If there were men on base he got credit for the bases he advanced them—a homer with the bases full would give him 10 bases (count it for yourself) out of a possible ten.  We were actually measuring a player’s performance in realistic terms, as accurately, we thought, as figures could do it."

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