Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
Mantle had seasons of 40 and 42 HR with RBI totals only in the 90s, meaning he only drove in 50 or so runners other than himself. That does seem odd given that he played on the best team in baseball at the time and was I believe batting clean up. And not like he was Adam Dunn who couldn't hit for average. I am not sure the walks completely explain it, but maybe they do.
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Mantle almost always batted third. His career OB% was .421, allowing cleanup hitters like DiMaggio, Berra and Maris to hit in the first inning with a runner on base. Mantle had 9 straight seasons of 100+ runs scored.
He led the league in WAR 6 times, runs 5 times, home runs 4 times and OPS+ 8 times. He had 9 seasons where he finished in the top 5 in MVP voting.