By The Numbers: Listing The All-Time MLB Leaders
By Father Gabe Costa
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For this installment of By The Numbers, I thought I would take a look at the all-time hitting and pitching leaders, just to get a feel for some of the numbers.
HITTING
Games (G): Pete Rose -- 3,562
At-Bats (AB): Pete Rose -- 14,053
Plate Appearances: Pete Rose -- 15,890
Hits (H): Pete Rose -- 4,256
Singles (1B): Pete Rose -- 3,215
Doubles (2B): Tris Speaker -- 792
Triples (3B): Sam Crawford -- 309
Home Runs (HR): Barry Bonds -- 762
Total Bases (TB): Hank Aaron -- 6,856
Runs (R): Rickey Henderson -- 2,295
Runs Batted In (RBI): Hank Aaron -- 2,297
Bases On Balls (BB): Barry Bonds -- 2,558
Batting Average (BA = H/AB): Ty Cobb -- .366
Slugging Average (SLG = TB/AB): Babe Ruth -- .690
Isolated Power (ISO = SLG – BA): Babe Ruth -- .348
Total Power Quotient (TPQ = (HR + RBI + TB)/AB): Babe Ruth -- 1.039
On Base Average (OBA): Ted Williams -- .482
On-Base-Plus-Slugging (OPS = OBA + SLG): Babe Ruth -- 1.164
Adjusted OPS (OPS+): Babe Ruth -- 206
Wins Above Replacement (WAR): Babe Ruth -- 183.8
PITCHING
Games (G): Jesse Orosco --1,252
Wins (W): Cy Young -- 511
Losses (L): Cy Young -- 316
Winning Percentage (PCT = W/(W + L)): Whitey Ford -- .690 (with at least 200 W)
Earned Run Average (ERA): Ed Walsh -- 1.84
Innings Pitched (IP): Cy Young -- 7,356
Walks-Plus-Hits-Per Innings Pitched (WHIP): Addie Joss -- .9678
Strikeouts (K): Nolan Ryan -- 5,714
Shutouts (SO): Walter Johnson -- 110
Saves (S): Mariano Rivera -- 634 (and counting)
Wins Above Replacement: Cy Young -- 170.3
As we reflect on the history of the grand old game, we acknowledge that baseball has "changed" over the years. It has been forced to face such monumental issues as the Black Sox Scandal, the breaking of the color barrier and the steroid era (and is still dealing with the latter).
In a sense, all we really have left from year to year are the numbers.
And, to the extent that these numbers are tainted, baseball is the lesser for it.
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