HOF Numbers Game: The Accumulators

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by rats60

Baines OPS + 121 Biggio OPS + 112. If Baines is an accumulator, as most would agree, then so are those who were worse hitters. Using Baines hit total as the floor, you get

Baines 121
Pete Rose 118
Beltre 116
Jeter 115
Yount 115
Biggio 112
Sam Rice 112
Ripken 112
Frisch 110
Brock 109
Ichiro 107
Vizquel 82

In defense of Yount, his first 700 games, he had an 89 OPS. He was a full-time player at age 18, long before medicine and training had guys hitting the ground running at such a young age. He didn't know if he wanted to be a baseball player, or a golfer. Once he decided, and started adding weight training to his exercise regiment, he took off. From age 24 to 34, he was a .305 hitter, and OPS +'d 135. For those ten seasons, his 162 game averages: 108 runs scored, 194 hits, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 20 home runs, 92 RBI, 17 stolen bases, .365/.485/.850. Considering, especially, that this is between 1980 and 1989, those numbers for a shortstop/center fielder are pretty exceptional.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Yaz had two great years, 67 and 70. Other than those years and a pretty good year in 69 though his BA went way down, the first half of his career wasn't so spectacular either.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

In defense of Yount, his first 700 games, he had an 89 OPS. He was a full-time player at age 18, long before medicine and training had guys hitting the ground running at such a young age. He didn't know if he wanted to be a baseball player, or a golfer. Once he decided, and started adding weight training to his exercise regiment, he took off. From age 24 to 34, he was a .305 hitter, and OPS +'d 135. For those ten seasons, his 162 game averages: 108 runs scored, 194 hits, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 20 home runs, 92 RBI, 17 stolen bases, .365/.485/.850. Considering, especially, that this is between 1980 and 1989, those numbers for a shortstop/center fielder are pretty exceptional.

His first 6 years and last 4 years he was an average hitter. That is half his career. The middle 10 years he had an OPS+ of 135 3 seasons. No doubt a Hofer, but Arky Vaughan had a career OPS+ of 136 and he played 85% of his games at shortstop.