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Best All-Time Interpolated Seasons for Hitters

By Jeff Zimmerman

Joe Mauer had a great season, even though he missing a few games.  He got me thinking of which players had great seasons going, but were cut short by injury or a shorter season.  I decided to ignore regression (I wanted to name the article "F___ Regression," but I don't think it would have flown too far) and project all players with greater than 100 PA as if they had 700 PA.  Using Rally's WAR database, here are the top 21 seasons of all time if all the hitters had 700 PA. 

Rank Name WAR700 Year WAR PA
1 Ross Barnes 15.3 1872 5.2 238
2 Ross Barnes 15.1 1876 7.4 342
3 Babe Ruth 14.8 1920 12.9 610
4 Babe Ruth 14.8 1923 14.7 696
5 Rogers Hornsby 14.5 1924 13 627
6 Babe Ruth 14.2 1921 14 689
7 Barry Bonds 14.1 2004 12.4 614
8 Mickey Mantle 14.1 1957 12.5 620
9 Ted Williams 14.0 1953 2.2 110
10 Barry Bonds 14.0 2002 12.2 610
11 Mickey Mantle 14.0 1956 12.9 647
12 Babe Ruth 13.8 1919 10.6 539
13 Fred Dunlap 13.5 1884 9.2 478
14 Gates Brown 13.5 1968 2 104
15 Ty Cobb 13.4 1910 11 574
16 Jeff Bagwell 13.3 1994 8.9 469
17 Joe Morgan 13.3 1975 12 633
18 Babe Ruth 13.2 1927 12.8 677
19 George Brett 13.2 1980 9.6 508
20 Barry Bonds 13.2 2001 12.5 662
21 Walter Johnson 13.2 1925 1.9 101

Notes from the data:

  • I went with 21 because I was amazed that Walter Johnson's name showed up.  Here is his line from that 1925 season
Year Age Tm G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
1925 37 WSH 36 107 97 12 42 6 1 2 20 3 6 .433 .455 .577 1.033 163
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

  • Ross Barnes was a member of the "All Roscoe Team."
  • I expected more players with fewer than 300 PA to make list. Instead, only four did.
  • Babe Ruth's 1923 season is pretty amazing, in that he accumulated almost all the WAR himself and his value is barely projected.
Besides an over all list here are the top 5 players in each of the 50 PA intervals above 100:

Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Cal Ripken 1991 10.9 11.0 708
2 Jimmie Foxx 1932 10.7 10.7 701
3 Willie Mays 1962 10.6 10.6 703
4 Hank Aaron 1963 9.9 10.0 709
5 Stan Musial 1946 9.8 9.8 700






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Babe Ruth 1923 14.8 14.7 696
2 Babe Ruth 1921 14.2 14.0 689
3 Babe Ruth 1927 13.2 12.8 677
4 Barry Bonds 2001 13.2 12.5 662
5 Ty Cobb 1917 12.8 11.9 653






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Babe Ruth 1920 14.8 12.9 610
2 Rogers Hornsby 1924 14.5 13.0 627
3 Barry Bonds 2004 14.1 12.4 614
4 Mickey Mantle 1957 14.1 12.5 620
5 Barry Bonds 2002 14.0 12.2 610






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Ty Cobb 1910 13.4 11.0 574
2 Honus Wagner 1907 12.4 10.0 566
3 Honus Wagner 1906 12.0 10.0 584
4 Joe Morgan 1976 11.9 10.0 587
5 Rogers Hornsby 1925 11.9 10.0 589






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Babe Ruth 1919 13.8 10.6 539
2 George Brett 1980 13.2 9.6 508
3 Barry Bonds 2003 13.2 10.3 548
4 Roger Connor 1885 13.1 9.5 506
5 Ted Williams 1957 12.7 9.9 544






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Fred Dunlap 1884 13.5 9.2 478
2 Jeff Bagwell 1994 13.3 8.9 469
3 Ty Cobb 1918 10.9 7.2 464
4 Dave Orr 1884 10.7 7.1 464
5 Ezra Sutton 1884 10.7 7.6 497






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Mike Schmidt 1981 12.3 7.6 431
2 Ross Barnes 1875 11.7 6.7 400
3 Andre Dawson 1981 11.7 7.3 436
4 Ted Williams 1955 11.4 6.7 413
5 Buddy Bell 1981 10.7 6.2 405












Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Cap Anson 1881 12.1 6.4 369
2 Babe Ruth 1918 11.5 6.2 377
3 Dan Brouthers 1882 11.1 5.9 372
4 Bobby Grich 1981 10.4 5.9 396
5 Cal McVey 1875 10.2 5.7 390












Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Ross Barnes 1876 15.1 7.4 342
2 Ross Barnes 1873 10.7 5.2 340
3 Joe DiMaggio 1949 10.6 5.0 329
4 George Gore 1880 10.6 5.2 343
5 Pete Browning 1882 10.3 4.6 314






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 George Wright 1872 10.6 3.9 258
2 Solly Hemus 1954 10.2 4.0 274
3 Charlie Bennett 1888 9.6 4.0 291
4 Orator Shaffer 1878 9.5 3.8 279
5 Charlie Bennett 1886 9.4 3.8 283






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Ross Barnes 1872 15.3 5.2 238
2 Mickey Mantle 1963 10.9 3.3 212
3 Willie McCovey 1959 9.6 3.0 218
4 Carlton Fisk 1974 9.5 2.9 213
5 Buck Herzog 1908 9.3 2.7 203






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Ross Barnes 1871 11.9 2.9 170
2 Nig Clarke 1906 11.6 3.2 193
3 Jack Lapp 1911 10.6 2.9 191
4 George Uhle 1923 10.2 2.2 151
5 Greg Goossen 1969 9.9 2.2 156






Rank Name Year WAR700 WAR PA
1 Ted Williams 1953 14.0 2.2 110
2 Gates Brown 1968 13.5 2.0 104
3 Walter Johnson 1925 13.2 1.9 101
4 Don Newcombe 1955 13.0 2.3 124
5 Babe Ruth 1915 12.5 1.8 101



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