Sunday, November 28, 2004

Rating The Top 200

Over at Sethspeaks.net, Seth Stohs has posted Justin Ahern's rankings of the top 200 baseball players of all-time. It's always an interesting endeavor to see how others rank the greatest players of all-time. Well, it's interesting to me, anyway.

Justin used a formula based on Bill James' Win Shares. For the specifics of how each player's performance was evaluated, click here. Lists for the top 100 everyday players at each position is also provided.

The two names that immediately jumped out at me were Dick Allen and Will Clark. Allen came in at twenty-third. Clark joined in list at number 25. I never would have imagined any statistical breakdown where either man would covet a spot so high on an all-time list. As Clark is a favorite around here, his ranking both surprises and pleases the B.B. staff.

For Tigers fans, Ahern's rankings provide more Hall of Fame support for Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker. Both are in the top 200 players of all-time. So are Darrell Evans and Bill Freehan. Freehan finished 11th all-time at his position. Which, surprisingly, was one spot ahead of current Tiger catcher, Ivan Rodriguez. Lance Parrish also gets a HOF boost as he ranks 19th amongst catchers all-time. That's pretty good no matter how you analyze it.

It's nice work by Justin and Seth. I encourage all baseball fans to read their work.

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