Best Single Season WAR (without winning the MVP)

by adarowski on Mar 3, 2010 8:27 AM EST

When I first started talking about Wins Above MVP Level, commenter bdunc8 asked:

Which 10 non-MVP’s had the highest WAR?

Armed with a shiny new download of Rally's WAR database, I aim to please. Here they are:

Highest Single-Season Wins Above Replacement, since 1900, among non-MVPs
Name	Year	WAR	MVP Winner	MVP WAR
Babe Ruth	1921	14.0	(None)
Rogers Hornsby	1924	13.0	Dazzy Vance	9.1
Babe Ruth	1920	12.9	(None)
Babe Ruth	1927	12.8	Lou Gehrig	12.0
Steve Carlton	1972	12.2	Johnny Bench	9.1
Babe Ruth	1926	12.0	George Burns	4.5
Babe Ruth	1924	11.9	Walter Johnson	6.2
Ty Cobb	1917	11.9	(None)
Mickey Mantle	1961	11.9	Roger Maris	7.2
Walter Johnson	1912	11.8	Tris Speaker	11.0
Rogers Hornsby	1921	11.7	(None)
Dwight Gooden	1985	11.7	Willie McGee	8.5
Honus Wagner	1908	11.6	(None)
Babe Ruth	1931	11.4	Lefty Grove	9.4
Sammy Sosa*	2001	11.4	Barry Bonds	12.5
Ted Williams	1941	11.3	Joe DiMaggio	9.4
Cy Young	1901	11.2	(None)
Ty Cobb	1915	11.1	(None)
Ty Cobb	1910	11.0	(None)
Ted Williams	1942	11.0	Joe Gordon	8.4
Babe Ruth	1928	11.0	Mickey Cochrane	3.7
Alex Rodriguez	2000	11.0	Jason Giambi	8.7
Bob Gibson	1969	11.0	Willie McCovey	8.9

* Sosa, while ranked so highly here, actually did post a lower WAR than the MVP winner. They just both happened to be remarkable.

In many cases, the MVP winner (like Gehrig, Speaker, DiMaggio, and others) had a tremendous season in his own right, but there are certainly a couple head scratchers on here. Ruth appears on this list seven times (twice there was no MVP awarded). He came close to tripling the WAR total of MVPs George Burns and Mickey Cochrane.

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Comments

How about a related post

Player most robbed of MVP: gap between best player of a season and MVP winner

So, a guy with a 7 WAR and the MVP was 3 gives this guy a “4 wins above MVP”. Who had the most wins above MVP?

by tangotiger on Mar 3, 2010 11:11 AM EST reply actions

I like it.

Will definitely take a look. Amazing that Ruth actually had 7.5 wins more than the actual MVP had in 1926.

by adarowski on Mar 3, 2010 11:36 AM EST up reply actions

check out Walkoff Walk

I actually helped 310 to Joba over at Walkoff Walk answer a similar question (well, I gave him the MVP WAR data, he did the looking). The question he was trying to answer was the player who got the most robbed by the MVP voting – he used number of votes compared to WAR. So, someone finishing with 75% of the vote and a 12.0 WAR is less robbed than someone who finished with 30% of the vote and 9.0 WAR. It makes sense to me.

Check out his posts:
Part 1 – http://www.walkoffwalk.com/2010/01/venturing-down-ballot-once-aga.html
Part 2 – http://www.walkoffwalk.com/2010/01/venturing-down-ballot-once-aga-1.html

Basically, it comes down to the fact that Cal Ripken got killed in 1984. Instead of having a ROY and back to back MVPs, he gets 1 lousy MVP vote with a 9.2 WAR season… ridiculous.

==
Check out Wezen-Ball.com

by lar on Mar 3, 2010 5:07 PM EST up reply actions

Ruth could not have won MVP between 1924 and 1929

Repeat winners were banned from winning again. The real MVP vote started in 1931.

by KMils on Mar 3, 2010 12:01 PM EST reply actions

Didn't know that

Thanks for the clarfication. Certainly explains why he didn’t win ’em all

by adarowski on Mar 3, 2010 1:19 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

that is great to know

I’ve always wondered how Ruth didn’t win it every year in the 20’s. That makes Bonds’ “most MVP’s” a little hollower, b/c Ruth deserved it at least 7 times in which he didn’t win it, just based on seasons listed here. So that would be 8 MVP’s for Ruth, instead of just the 1 he actually won. Can you imagine that, Babe Ruth only won a single MVP Award…ridiculous.

2009 Did Not Happen

by cjmulrain on Mar 3, 2010 6:19 PM EST up reply actions

I've long considered Mickey Mantle in '61 the most deserving season to have not won.

This would say maybe Steve Carlton, but I’ll stick to my guns.

And That Happened: Sports with a Hint of Sarcasm

by philkid3 on Mar 3, 2010 1:07 PM EST reply actions

The differential between MVP and top WAR would agree with you, however.

Given that the rules barred Ruth from repeating as MVP.

by jwiscarson on Mar 3, 2010 2:37 PM EST up reply actions

Good post

I figured Ruth would be on here a bunch of times given the screwy MVP rules back then. Mantle obviously had an awesome season in ‘61, but I can’t blame anyone for voting for Maris.

by bdunc8 on Mar 3, 2010 6:28 PM EST reply actions