The genesis of this project was in reading “The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract” in 2001. I was familiar with James’ work, but his “Win Shares” system, which distills all of a particular player’s contributions into a single number, opened my eyes to the potential of deep statistical analysis.

Beyond Win Shares itself, a couple of other things caught my attention in that book. The first was using “runs saved” to evaluate a pitcher (more on that later). The second was that, once he had Win Shares, James looked at the final numbers from several  angles to rate players. Not just total Win Shares, but Win Shares per 162 games, top 3 seasons, top 5 consecutive seasons … all these went into the evaluation.

The third nugget was, in doing detailed comparisons of players, he would sometimes run through their hitting stats and compare the offense they generated to the league average, i.e. what a typical team would do. So Rogers Hornsby generated as much offense in 1921 as an average 1921 team would produce in 33 games; while Eddie Collins, in 1916, generated 35 games’ worth despite having less impressive statistics. That was the thunderbolt for me – it occurred to me that expressing their statistics in that way would be almost as accurate as Win Shares, and could be applied to other sports, too. I could compare Walter Payton to what an average NFL team did in 1984, or Michael Jordan to an average NBA team from 1991.

I started with baseball, using James’ work as a touchstone, checking every so often that the numbers I was generating moved in parallel to his. But I went off the reservation pretty early (I can’t let go of RBI, sorry), and after 100 or so players, I was ready to adapt Apples & Oranges, as I began to call it, to other sports. There were surprises along the way, but mostly I was heartened by how consistent it seemed to work as I moved to cricket, football, basketball, etc.

Baseball players are evaluated on two offensive and two defensive components. Offense 1 is total bases: singles, doubles times 2, home runs times 4, etc. We also count walks, steals, hit by pitch, sacrifice bunts, and steals. We subtract caught stealing and grounding into a double play. Then the whole mess is divided by the league average for a particular season.

Here are Babe Ruth’s numbers for 1920:

Games	Hits	2B	3B	HR	BB	HBP	SH	SB	CS
142	172	36	9	54	150	3	5	14	14

We don’t have GDP for 1920. Anyway, that’s 546 total bases. The typical American League team in 1920 had 16.30 per game (not counting HBP and SH, which are bonus categories). Dividing 546 by 16.30 gives us 33.50 games’ worth.

Offense 2 is much simpler. We average the player’s runs scored and RBI, and divide by the league scoring average. For the Bambino in 1920, that’s 158 and 137, respectively, giving us an average of 147.50. Divide by 4.76 runs per game to get 30.99 games’ worth of runs. Now average with the first number to get a total offense of 32.24.

Defense 1 is outs. Putouts by catchers are adjusted for team strikeouts, and first basemen are adjusted (heavily) by infield assists. Infield putouts (including pitchers) and all assists count as half an out each. Outfield putouts and strikeouts are a full out, and catchers get a bonus for preventing stolen bases. Errors, wild pitches and passed balls each take away an out.

Defense 2 is for catchers and pitchers only. Pitchers are credited for each run they allow less than 1.5 times the league average for the number of innings they pitch. Catchers get a small share of the team’s ERA, or cERA if available, prorated to the number of games caught. All other players get a zero in this spot. Take the average of Defense 1 and 2, then average that number with the offensive total to get the grand total for that season. For Ruth, that’s 9.30 on Defense 1, 0.11 on Defense 2 (he pitched a little), yielding 4.70 on defense and 18.47 all around. Then add up every season to get the grand total.

So let’s start where I started, with the catchers:

Catchers	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Johnny Bench	2203	196.96	14.30	14.03	28.34		21.76	6.85
Bill Dickey	1827	165.18	14.47	12.85	27.32		20.28	8.65
Gary Carter	2326	193.46	13.31	13.91	27.22		18.98	7.64
Carlton Fisk	2513	201.83	12.85	14.21	27.06		19.39	6.31
Yogi Berra	2195	182.97	13.34	13.53	26.86		20.34	6.34
Mickey Cochrane	1513	139.36	14.74	11.81	26.54		20.65	8.83
Ted Simmons	2362	188.37	12.76	13.72	26.48		20.43	5.09
Mike Piazza	1944	161.73	13.31	12.72	26.03		21.12	5.50
Gabby Hartnett	2006	163.93	13.08	12.80	25.88		18.37	7.78
Iván Rodríguez	2573	187.71	11.67	13.70	25.37		16.73	6.61
Roy Campanella	1247	111.47	14.30	10.56	24.86		21.04	7.57
Buster Posey	1429	116.40	13.03	10.79	23.82		18.93	7.14

The total is the average of the total offensive and defensive games’ worth that the player earned in his career. This number is then divided by the games played and multiplied by 160 to give us a 160-game average. That number is added to the square root of the total to give us the final rating (in bold). The last two columns are the offensive and defensive ratings per 160 games. In general, because they play so many games, baseball players have higher totals and lower 160-game averages than other athletes. For other sports, the average is quite a bit higher than the square root of the total. In baseball, they’re almost even. But that bold number tends to come out in the same ranges.

Johnny Bench rates a little low defensively because his pitching staff was mediocre, driving down his cERA, and he played a few hundred games at positions other than catcher. Defense is influenced most by playing a lot at a particular position, rather than how well you played it.

Campanella’s career is truncated at both ends: by the color line at the beginning and by a car crash at the end. In a fairer world, he’d rate higher. He’s dead even per game with Bench.

First Base	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Lou Gehrig	2198	215.25	15.67	14.67	30.34		28.07	3.27
Albert Pujols	3168	255.68	12.91	15.99	28.90		22.70	3.13
Jimmie Foxx	2335	205.22	14.06	14.33	28.39		25.01	3.12
Jeff Bagwell	2183	192.10	14.08	13.86	27.94		24.56	3.60
Harmon Killebrew	2448	201.90	13.20	14.21	27.41		23.35	3.04
Hank Greenberg	1417	136.47	15.41	11.68	27.09		26.86	3.96
Eddie Murray	3070	229.20	11.95	15.14	27.08		20.90	2.99
Willie McCovey	2596	199.46	12.29	14.12	26.42		21.63	2.96
Mark McGwire	1916	161.66	13.50	12.71	26.21		23.79	3.21
Johnny Mize	1902	159.92	13.45	12.65	26.10		23.74	3.16
Tony Pérez	2824	204.67	11.60	14.31	25.90		20.09	3.10
Jim Thome	2614	191.05	11.69	13.82	25.52		21.38	2.01
Frank Thomas	2338	177.58	12.15	13.33	25.48		23.07	1.24
David Ortiz	2440	178.90	11.73	13.38	25.11		23.12	0.34

Because the Red Sox wasted Babe Ruth’s first five years as a pitcher, Gehrig ends up with the highest offensive average of the players I’ve rated. Once he stopped pitching, Ruth was at 30.81.

We see the effect of the designated hitter rule here. Ortiz is the obvious example, but there are others. Eddie Murray was a good fielder who DH’d a lot. Frank Thomas was a lousy fielder who DH’d a lot. In both cases it cost them something like half a point on the final rating.

Hank Greenberg only played 1,417 games, due to World War II. Some guys are hurt by a short career, some guys are helped. It helped Greeberg; I don’t think he sustains those numbers over 2,200 games.

I can’t explain how McGwire does so well defensively other than to say he had a lot of balls hit his way.

Second Base	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Eddie Collins	2860	270.34	15.12	16.44	31.57		23.16	7.09
Rogers Hornsby	2271	229.76	16.19	15.16	31.35		25.76	6.62
Nap Lajoie	2480	240.67	15.53	15.51	31.04		23.87	7.18
Joe Morgan	2699	249.00	14.76	15.78	30.54		22.58	6.94
Charlie Gehringer	2342	211.71	14.46	14.55	29.01		21.35	7.57
Frankie Frisch	2361	208.47	14.13	14.44	28.57		20.97	7.28
Craig Biggio	2890	236.97	13.12	15.39	28.51		19.87	6.37
Ryne Sandberg	2174	194.22	14.29	13.94	28.23		21.54	7.05
Roberto Alomar	2437	203.40	13.35	14.26	27.62		20.09	6.62
Lou Whitaker	2403	193.51	12.88	13.91	26.80		19.02	6.75
Rod Carew	2483	196.55	12.67	14.02	26.68		20.29	5.04
Bobby Grich	2032	167.33	13.18	12.94	26.11		18.94	7.41
Jackie Robinson	1420	124.00	13.97	11.14	25.11		22.29	5.65
Dustin Pedroia	1563	127.30	13.03	11.28	24.31		19.71	6.36

If you’ve studied “The New Historical Abstract,” then you know this is where I part ways with the guy who inspired me. Hornsby and Lajoie over Morgan …

There are four guys over 30.00 among second basemen, which has emerged as the dividing line between the immortals or the merely great. Or maybe it’s 29.50. Not sure yet. Anyway, four over 30, and all within a point-and-a-half of each other, is unusual.

Apples & Oranges rates second basemen, as a group, over shortstops in the field. Shortstop is the more difficult position, but second basemen are more productive because of all the double plays they turn. In fact, I give zero extra credit for double plays. Just getting an assist and a putout on the same play is enough to push them ahead.

Third Base	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Mike Schmidt	2440	221.19	14.50	14.87	29.38		25.02	3.99
Eddie Mathews	2407	206.33	13.72	14.36	28.08		23.62	3.81
Chipper Jones	2592	208.27	12.86	14.43	27.29		22.65	3.06
George Brett	2750	214.60	12.49	14.65	27.14		21.70	3.27
Ron Santo	2243	182.08	12.99	13.49	26.48		21.91	4.07
Paul Molitor	2712	202.52	11.95	14.23	26.18		21.07	2.83
Home Run Baker	1600	141.46	14.15	11.89	26.04		23.91	4.39
Adrían Beltré	2961	209.08	11.30	14.46	25.76		19.17	3.42
Darrell Evans	2700	196.09	11.62	14.00	25.62		19.69	3.55
Brooks Robinson	2935	203.64	11.10	14.27	25.37		17.89	4.31
Stan Hack	1856	145.32	12.53	12.05	24.58		21.05	4.00
Wade Boggs	2478	174.13	11.24	13.20	24.44		19.14	3.34
Sal Bando	2063	151.97	11.79	19.95	24.11		19.95	3.63
Edgar Martinez	2089	141.30	10.82	11.89	22.71		20.75	0.90

Apples & Oranges doesn’t rate third basemen much higher than first basemen on defense. It makes a certain amount of sense; once you get past the fact that it’s more difficult to play third, you see that the number of plays they make is pretty similar. Brett and Molitor have their numbers depressed even further because they DH’d so much.

I was shocked at how low Boggs ended up. He deserves his own writeup, but for now I’ll just point out two things. One, his numbers fell off a cliff after 1991, his eighth year in the league. We remember early Boggs hitting doubles off the Green Monster, not the guy slapping singles for the Yankees. Second, a huge part of his value was in his walks, and I have a feeling that there’s diminishing returns on very high OBP players when it comes to scoring runs. I’d love to really go in-depth the issue one day.

Shortstop	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Honus Wagner	2809	274.75	15.65	16.58	32.23		24.99	6.31
Alex Rodriguez	2860	252.37	14.12	15.89	30.00		24.00	4.24
Robin Yount	2873	237.70	13.24	15.42	28.66		19.60	6.88
Ernie Banks	2528	212.36	13.44	14.57	28.01		21.97	4.91
Derek Jeter	2901	230.87	12.73	15.19	27.93		20.06	5.40
Bill Dahlen	2449	205.97	13.46	14.35	27.81		19.98	6.93
George Davis	2375	201.44	13.57	14.19	27.76		20.71	6.44
Cal Ripken Jr.	3029	233.87	12.35	15.29	27.65		18.97	5.74
Arky Vaughan	1820	161.79	14.22	12.72	26.94		22.17	6.28
Joe Cronin	2129	174.78	13.14	13.22	26.36		20.04	6.23
Pee Wee Reese	2210	178.88	12.95	13.37	26.33		19.46	6.45
Bobby Wallace	2383	188.97	12.44	13.75	26.18		17.51	7.36
Barry Larkin	2197	176.31	12.84	13.28	26.12		19.86	5.82
Ozzie Smith	2615	193.70	11.85	13.92	25.77		16.79	6.91
Luke Appling	2749	184.05	12.16	13.57	25.73		17.84	6.48
Alan Trammell	2306	172.90	12.00	13.15	25.15		17.96	6.03

The great shortstops, unlike second base, tend not to be all-rounders … other than Wagner, of course. The next three players after him are great hitters who ended up moving to easier positions, and Jeter should have moved. Ripken was a natural third baseman.

Ozzie’s the only real glove-first guy on the list. Most other defensive specialists lose value at the end of their careers because they can’t stay in the lineup. But even for him, defense is less than half of his offensive value. Defensive production is shared too evenly for stars to dominate like they do on offense.

Wagner could play anywhere and that dilutes his defense. Just as a shortstop, he rates at a stratospheric 7.27. Robin Yount, on the other hand, helped himself by moving to center field, which, like second base, is more productive than shortstop.

Left Field	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Barry Bonds	3034	306.61	16.17	17.51	33.68		26.75	5.59
Ted Williams	2299	239.37	16.66	15.47	32.13		27.87	5.44
Stan Musial	3049	281.54	14.77	16.78	31.55		24.97	4.58
Rickey Henderson	3141	273.87	13.95	16.55	30.50		21.74	6.16
Carl Yastrzemski	3325	275.84	13.27	16.61	29.88		22.05	4.49
Pete Rose	3629	283.52	12.50	16.84	29.34		20.34	4.66
Al Simmons	2234	207.28	14.85	14.40	29.24		23.03	6.66
Fred Clarke	2261	202.76	14.35	14.24	28.59		22.54	6.16
Billy Williams	2491	213.45	13.71	14.61	28.32		23.10	4.32
Manny Ramírez	2413	204.20	13.54	14.29	27.83		22.94	4.14
Zack Wheat	2422	203.33	13.43	14.26	27.69		20.80	6.06
Willie Stargell	2396	195.50	13.06	13.98	27.04		22.78	3.33
Tim Raines	2536	202.34	12.77	14.22	26.99		20.44	5.09
Joe Jackson	1346	130.74	15.54	11.43	26.98		25.78	5.30
Jesse Burkett	2067	176.77	13.59	13.30	26.89		21.70	5.48
Minnie Minoso	1835	155.58	13.57	12.47	26.04		21.66	5.47

Bonds … yeah, I know. Whatever he did to his body, the results are there on the field. The home runs counted, the games he helped win counted, and the ERAs he inflated counted. Same goes for McGwire and Sosa.

Pete Rose is hard to place, since he played all over the field. He had the most games at first base, but all but two those all came in the second half of his long career, after he left the Reds. He essentially played a whole normal career before that. Of the other positions, left field is the one he played the most.

Williams lost 4¾ seasons to military service. With those games, he’d probably be neck-and-neck with Bonds, maybe even ahead.

Al Simmons leads in defense because he played a good deal of center field. Henderson’s the top “true” left fielder.

Center Field	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Ty Cobb	3052	318.01	16.67	17.83	34.50		27.19	6.15
Willie Mays	3017	305.97	16.23	17.49	33.72		25.40	7.05
Tris Speaker	2809	279.42	15.92	16.72	32.63		24.60	7.23
Mickey Mantle	2466	242.59	15.74	15.58	31.32		25.74	5.74
Joe DiMaggio	1787	191.11	17.11	13.82	30.94		26.53	7.69
Ken Griffey Jr.	2689	240.27	14.30	15.50	29.80		22.39	6.21
Carlos Beltrán	2651	226.38	13.66	15.05	28.71		21.46	5.87
Billy Hamilton	1591	151.58	15.24	12.31	27.56		24.44	6.05
Duke Snider	2179	188.26	13.82	13.72	27.54		21.95	5.70
Jimmy Wynn	1929	170.93	14.18	13.07	27.25		22.30	6.05
Kirby Puckett	1807	159.39	14.11	12.62	26.74		20.90	7.33
Richie Ashburn	2193	180.29	13.15	13.43	26.58		18.09	8.22

I was mildly surprised that Cobb came in ahead of Mays. Maybe if we had caught-stealing data for Cobb’s career that would be different, but I think his numbers would hold steady relative to the league average. Could it be that we underrate Cobb as a ballplayer because he was such a terrible person?

It’s harder to make the wartime case for Joe DiMaggio than it is for Ted Williams. With an extra 450 games in his prime, DiMaggio probably passes Mantle, but no more.

I mentioned that Apples & Oranges rates center field ahead of shortstop, defensively — mostly because an outfield putout counts twice as much as an infield putout. Why? Two reasons. First, infield outs generally take two people, one to field and make the throw, the other to get the out, so they split credit. Second, the stakes in the outfield are higher. If an infielder screws up, there’s a man on first and the players on base advance once. If an outfielder misses one, it’s at least a double, and all the runners score.

Right Field	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Babe Ruth	2544	302.38	17.95	17.39	35.34		27.94	7.97
Hank Aaron	3315	321.63	15.52	17.93	33.46		25.78	5.27
Frank Robinson	2843	268.77	15.13	16.39	31.52		25.69	4.56
Mel Ott	2745	256.29	14.94	16.01	30.95		24.59	5.28
Sammy Sosa	2369	217.91	14.72	14.76	29.48		23.82	5.62
Sam Crawford	2534	225.60	14.24	15.02	29.26		24.06	4.43
Al Kaline	2846	242.91	13.66	15.59	29.24		21.92	5.39
Dave Winfield	2999	245.10	13.08	15.66	28.73		21.20	4.95
Reggie Jackson	2897	239.02	13.20	15.46	28.66		22.27	4.13
Roberto Clemente	2459	208.60	13.57	14.44	28.02		21.42	5.73
Paul Waner	2553	213.62	13.39	14.62	28.00		21.05	5.73
Larry Walker	2016	181.25	14.38	13.46	27.85		23.66	5.11
Tony Gwynn	2467	194.15	12.59	13.93	26.53		19.70	5.49
Vladimir Guerrero	2191	179.41	13.10	13.39	26.50		21.97	4.23
Suzuki Ichiro	2672	179.43	10.76	13.41	24.17		15.91	5.61

If Ruth’s numbers look off, it’s because he started as a pitcher early in his career and, as I explain below, pitcher starts count double in determining averages. That’s also why his defensive average is so high.

Roberto Clemente and Paul Waner, both right fielders for the Pirates, are almost exactly even. Makes me wonder about Ralph Kiner …

Starting Pitchers	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Walter Johnson	808	177.51	19.20	13.32	32.53		6.72	31.69
Cy Young	913	174.48	16.09	13.21	29.30		5.64	26.54
Bob Gibson	537	117.75	18.33	10.85	29.18		5.48	31.17
Roger Clemens	744	151.74	16.35	12.32	28.67		0.38	32.32
Tom Seaver	664	137.24	16.65	11.71	28.36		3.34	29.96
Christy Mathewson	647	128.49	16.99	11.34	28.33		5.70	28.29
Randy Johnson	627	131.25	16.85	11.46	28.31		0.98	32.73
Pete Alexander	703	134.93	16.51	11.62	28.12		4.90	28.11
Greg Maddux	782	149.87	15.45	12.24	27.69		2.82	28.08
Warren Spahn	758	140.83	15.77	11.87	27.64		4.52	27.02
Lefty Grove	624	114.67	16.89	10.71	27.60		3.79	30.00
Steve Carlton	757	141.35	15.28	11.89	27.17		4.13	26.44
Nolan Ryan	816	148.41	14.88	12.18	27.06		1.17	28.59
Kid Nichols	621	118.35	15.98	10.88	26.86		6.43	25.59
Pedro Martínez	492	97.06	16.97	9.85	26.82		1.05	32.89
Bob Feller	572	104.25	15.77	10.21	25.98		3.69	27.84
Juan Marichal	477	94.63	16.18	9.73	25.90		3.46	28.89
Gaylord Perry	789	132.94	14.36	11.53	25.89		1.76	25.89
Whitey Ford	522	97.43	15.87	9.87	25.75		3.55	28.20
Carl Hubbell	541	96.46	15.75	9.82	25.57		3.71	27.78
Eddie Plank	637	107.51	14.68	10.37	25.05		4.85	24.51
Curt Schilling	588	97.69	14.99	9.88	24.87		1.74	28.24
Bert Blyleven	707	120.99	13.85	11.00	24.85		0.80	26.89
Sandy Koufax	405	73.07	16.10	8.55	24.65		1.85	30.35
Robin Roberts	690	113.38	13.95	10.65	24.60		3.61	24.29
Mordecai Brown	502	81.26	15.46	9.01	24.47		4.51	26.41
Phil Niekro	866	127.80	12.91	11.30	24.21		2.66	23.16
Ferguson Jenkins	665	108.37	13.77	10.41	24.18		2.47	25.07

Starting pitchers forced me into my first judgment call. On one hand, they’re massively valuable on a per-game basis; more so than any other group of players in any sport. On the other hand, they can’t go every game, needing three or four games off for every one they pitch. If I rated them like everyone else, they’d end up with final values in the 40s. But cutting their scores by three-quarters seemed an extreme way to balance the scales, especially given that I’m comparing them, among others, to NFL players who play 16 times a year and get a week off between games.

The compromise I came up with was to count every pitching start as two games when determining the 160-game averages. It’s not a number grounded in any scientific formulation, just one that I found gives us the best balance between their game-to-game production and their general unavailability. Games started are on the individual player pages.

Relief Pitchers	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Hoyt Wilhelm	1072	66.03	9.40	8.13	17.53		0.81	17.99
Dennis Eckersley	1099	77.03	8.44	8.78	17.21		0.31	16.56
Rollie Fingers	974	46.34	7.33	6.81	14.14		0.49	14.17
Mariano Rivera	1211	52.27	6.85	7.23	14.08		0.02	13.70
Goose Gossage	1021	47.06	7.12	6.86	13.98		0.09	14.14
Bruce Sutter	667	28.47	6.83	5.34	12.17		0.52	13.14
Dan Quisinberry	692	26.70	6.17	5.17	11.34		0.03	12.32
Trevor Hoffman	1047	34.75	5.13	5.89	11.21		0.08	10.54

Baseball statisticians twist themselves into knots trying to find extra value for relievers in “high-leverage” situations. I don’t … but even if you do, it doesn’t make up for the plain fact that relievers don’t do very much when compared to starters or regular position players. Pitching the ninth inning with a lead isn’t that valuable, beyond serving as a security blanket for the manager.

As I write this, the Tampa Bay Rays are engaged in a high-profile experiment to have relievers begin the game, then bring in the “starter” to take care of innings 2 through 6 or whatever. I don’t think it’ll mean much … it will just expose the lie of the high-leverage situation. Pitch Sergio Romo in the first, sixth or ninth and it won’t matter … he’ll give you the same mediocre innings.

Eckersley rates as high as he does because he started 361 games in the first half of his career. (But Wilhelm started only 52 games and still comes out ahead …)

Quisinberry gets dinged for an extremely low strikeout total. He had great control and did a lot of things well to keep the score down, but ultimately relied on his defense to get almost all his outs.

19th Century	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum	Off	Def
Ed Delahanty	1835	173.04	15.09	13.15	28.24	24.58	5.60
Cap Anson	2523	207.14	13.14	14.39	27.53	22.91	3.36
Dan Brouthers	1676	149.39	14.26	12.22	26.48	25.38	3.15
Roger Connor	1998	166.99	13.37	12.92	26.30	22.76	3.99
King Kelly	1455	130.29	14.33	11.41	25.74	24.17	4.18
Monte Ward	1825	167.05	12.81	12.92	25.73	16.03	9.58
John Clarkson	546	101.80	15.31	10.09	25.40	6.63	23.98
Tim Keefe	618	111.58	14.73	10.56	25.29	5.99	23.47
Buck Ewing	1315	115.41	14.04	10.74	24.78	22.24	5.84
Jim O’Rourke	1999	143.95	11.52	12.00	23.52	19.21	3.83
Tony Mullane	784	108.75	13.51	10.43	23.94	8.63	18.39
Old Hoss Radbourn	653	100.06	13.90	10.00	23.90	7.81	19.98
Ross Barnes	499	50.23	16.11	7.09	23.19	26.11	6.11
Tip O’Neill	1054	91.06	13.40	9.54	22.95	21.39	5.41
Pud Galvin	731	102.46	11.55	10.12	21.68	5.55	17.56
Al Spalding	411	57.12	12.42	7.56	19.97	11.29	13.55

This selection of 19th century stars is here mostly for context. Anson and Delahanty  have the numbers to be included with the modern players (as Billy Hamilton and Kid Nichols were), but the rest of them don’t really measure up.

Radbourn and Spalding, like a lot of pitchers who played before 1890, put up extremely high single-season numbers but burned out quickly. I treated them exactly like modern starters, counting each start double for the purpose of figuring out the averages.

Negro Leagues	Games	Total	Per 160	Sqr Root	Sum		Off	Def
Joe Williams	275	64.94	22.49	8.06	30.55		10.21	34.77
Oscar Charleston	1345	148.90	17.71	12.20	29.92		29.54	5.89
Josh Gibson	748	93.06	19.91	9.65	29.55		31.66	8.15
Turkey Stearnes	950	110.01	18.53	10.49	29.02		31.22	5.84
Bullet Rogan	701	94.85	17.67	9.74	27.41		16.76	18.58
Martín Dihigo	483	63.87	19.14	7.99	27.13		23.13	15.14
Satchel Paige	241	52.86	19.76	7.27	27.03		4.43	35.09
Cristóbal Torriente	916	101.12	16.84	10.06	26.89		26.19	7.48
Cool Papa Bell	1212	122.71	15.81	11.08	26.89		24.97	6.65
Mule Suttles	929	94.36	16.25	9.71	25.97		28.40	4.11
John Henry Lloyd	995	95.78	15.40	9.79	25.19		24.10	6.70
Buck Leonard	605	63.10	16.69	7.94	24.63		28.94	4.43
Ted Radcliffe	434	38.64	12.34	6.22	18.56		12.88	11.80

Thanks to the work of Seamheads.com, I feel we have good enough numbers to include the pre-segregation Negro League players. This is a super-exciting development for me, and I look forward to adding more names to this list. The league seasons were shorter, so that results in lower totals and higher per-game rates, something that is consistent with other sports. Again, it all worked out; in the end, the top players came in right at that 29/30-point range.

To do list:

Sal Bando
Luke Appling
Lou Brock
Larry Doby
Jim McCormick
Joe Torre
Enos Slaughter
Ed Walsh