Career stats adjusted for military service

[howard38]

Johnny Mize merits a look. He was nearly as good as Greenberg (he is Greenberg's most comparable player according to Mlb-ref.com) and lost three prime years during the war. He likely would have finished with over 450 HRs and around 1,700 RBIs.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by howard38

Johnny Mize merits a look. He was nearly as good as Greenberg (he is Greenberg's most comparable player according to Mlb-ref.com) and lost three prime years during the war. He likely would have finished with over 450 HRs and around 1,700 RBIs.

It's funny that I didn't catch that Johnny Mize had missed years in his prime, as I was looking at his career stats on Baseball reference about a week ago.

I took Johnny's seasonal averages from 1941 to 1948. Usually I will average based on the two full seasons prior to and after military service, but 1946 was a pitching dominated season. Mize only hit 22 home runs, but league leader Ralph Kiner only had 23. So, while he was outstanding for that season, I felt another season after his service should be included to normalize his power production. Otherwise, Mize would have had seasonal home runs of 16, 26, 22 and 51. I added his 1948 season with 40 home runs to come up with averages that were more representational of Mize's power capabilities.

Mize has always fascinated me. He and Carl Yastrzemski are the only players in Major League history to have three seasons of 40 or more home runs, but then no other seasons with over 30. He never ended a season with between 31 and 39 home runs. But, Mize had prodigious power. He holds the Major League record with six three home run games. That's impressive. And I feel that had he played those three years of his prime, he'd likely have had another season with about 40 home runs, and another two in the mid twenties or slightly higher.

Here are his adjusted career numbers then.