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Friday, February 1, 2008

Top Twenty Offensive Yankee Seasons - Left Field

With the Santana foolishness out of the way, here's a look at top twenty offensive seasons by a Yankee left fielder. For the sake of simplicity, I am considering players at the position they played the most games at in a given year, so if someone split time in LF and RF, they get listed at the position they played the most. Ties get listed in the more challenging postion.

For those just catching up, I've described the methodology I'm using here. It's important to remember that this methodology compares players to their peers of the same season, so you can't just compare raw stats. Context counts.

And here we go with the left field.

Rank Player Year Team Lg Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG BRAA psOPS+
1 Babe Ruth 1921 NYA AL LF 152 540 177 204 44 16 59 171 17 13 145 81 .378 .512 .846 88 218
2 Babe Ruth 1926 NYA AL LF 152 495 139 184 30 5 47 150 11 9 144 76 .372 .516 .737 72 203
3 Charlie Keller 1941 NYA AL LF 140 507 102 151 24 10 33 122 6 4 102 65 .298 .416 .580 33 149
4 Babe Ruth 1922 NYA AL LF 110 406 94 128 24 8 35 99 2 5 84 80 .315 .434 .672 32 161
5 Charlie Keller 1946 NYA AL LF 150 538 98 148 29 10 30 101 1 4 113 101 .275 .405 .533 30 149
6 Charlie Keller 1942 NYA AL LF 152 544 106 159 24 9 26 108 14 2 114 61 .292 .417 .513 29 135
7 Charlie Keller 1943 NYA AL LF 141 512 97 139 15 11 31 86 7 5 106 60 .271 .396 .525 28 148
8 Birdie Cree 1911 NYA AL LF 137 520 90 181 30 22 4 88 48 0 56 0 .348 .415 .513 27 152
9 Rickey Henderson 1988 NYA AL LF 140 554 118 169 30 2 6 50 93 13 82 54 .305 .394 .399 27 119
10 George Selkirk 1939 NYA AL LF 128 418 103 128 17 4 21 101 12 5 103 49 .306 .452 .517 25 143


Babe Ruth - 1921
I thought I was a diehard Yankee fan, but I never heard of this Ruth fella. Anyone know anything about him? I kid of course. This was Ruth's second season as a Yankee and he spent it mainly in LF, although he did play 18 games in CF. An .846 SLG? Just ludicrous. Ruth's 59 HRs broke his record of 54, in 1921. Ruthw as worth 90 runs more than an average LF. Try to wrap your head around that.

Babe Ruth - 1926
This season only looks unimpressive when compared to 1921, but it was a monstrous season in its own right.

Charlie Keller - 1941
Third place sees a forty run drop from second place. "King Kong" Keller had some solid seasons for the Yankees, although his prime intersected with WWII. This was his best season, as part of the 1941 World Series champs.

Babe Ruth - 1922
Ruth's 1922 Was quite a step back from his 1921, but still a strong season.

Charlie Keller - 1946
Keller served in the US Merchant Marines in 1944 and 1945 before returning in 1946 and putting up the second most valuable of his season.

Charlie Keller - 1942
As discussed when looking at Joe Gordon's 1942, the '42 Yanks won the AL pennant but lost the Series to the Cardinals. Keller was the third most valuable offensive player on this squad behind Gordon and Joe D.

Charlie Keller - 1943
The '43 Yanks won the World Series, and Keller was the most valuable offensive player at 28 BRAA.

Birdie Cree - 1911
To me the best part of doing these lists so far has been uncovering people like Lyn Lary, Fritz Maisel, and my new personal favorite, Birdie Cree. Birdie Cree? Who?


Wikipedia tells me that William Franklin "Birdie" Cree had his career year in 1911. He played eight years for the Highlanders and ended his career with a respectable OPS+ of 125.


Rickey Henderson - 1988
This wasn't Rickey's best Yankee season, but it was his most valuable season as a LF. Henderson's 93 SB is the Yankee single season record and with the way the game has changed may be the record for the forseeable future.

George Selkirk - 1939
A lot of '39 Yanks are showing up in these top ten lists, and for good reason. Selkirk was the third most valuable offensive player that season, behind Joe DiMaggio and Bill Dickey.

And here's the rest of the top 20...

Rank Player Year Team Lg Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG BRAA psOPS+
11 Joe DiMaggio 1936 NYA AL LF 138 637 132 206 44 15 29 125 4 0 24 39 .323 .352 .576 24 122
12 Dave Winfield 1982 NYA AL LF 140 539 84 151 24 8 37 106 5 3 45 64 .280 .331 .560 22 131
13 Roy White 1971 NYA AL LF 147 524 86 153 22 7 19 84 14 7 86 66 .292 .388 .469 21 121
14 Ben Chapman 1931 NYA AL LF 149 600 120 189 28 11 17 122 61 23 75 77 .315 .396 .483 19 112
15 Bob Meusel 1927 NYA AL LF 135 516 75 174 47 9 8 103 24 10 45 58 .337 .393 .510 19 120
16 Hideki Matsui 2004 NYA AL LF 162 584 109 174 34 2 31 108 3 0 88 103 .298 .390 .522 16 118
17 Dave Winfield 1983 NYA AL LF 152 598 99 169 26 8 32 116 15 6 58 77 .283 .345 .513 16 116
18 Roy White 1970 NYA AL LF 162 609 109 180 30 6 22 94 24 10 95 66 .296 .387 .473 16 110
19 Dan Pasqua 1986 NYA AL LF 102 280 44 82 17 0 16 45 2 0 47 78 .293 .399 .525 16 143
20 Oscar Gamble 1979 NYA AL LF 36 113 21 44 4 1 11 32 0 0 13 13 .389 .452 .735 14 193


Here's how the top 20 breaks down: Charlie Keller: 4
Babe Ruth: 3
Dave Winfield: 2
Roy White: 2
Ben Chapman: 1
Birdie Cree: 1
Bob Meusel: 1
Dan Pasqua: 1
George Selkirk: 1
Hideki Matsui: 1
Joe DiMaggio: 1
Oscar Gamble: 1
Rickey Henderson: 1

A Dan Pasqua sighting! Oscar Gamble's 1979 deserves a little respect. To play in only 36 games but put up the 20th most valuable offensive season by a Yankee LF is pretty damn mpressive. To do it while rocking this afro is even more impressive.


Update: 21-40
Rank Player Year Team Lg Pos G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG BRAA psOPS+
21 Hideki Matsui 2005 NYA AL LF 162 629 108 192 45 3 23 116 2 2 63 78 .305 .367 .496 14 115
22 David Justice 2000 NYA AL LF 78 275 43 84 17 0 20 60 1 0 39 42 .305 .391 .585 13 133
23 Gene Woodling 1952 NYA AL LF 122 408 58 126 19 6 12 63 1 4 59 31 .309 .397 .473 13 117
24 Dave Winfield 1981 NYA AL LF 105 388 52 114 25 1 13 68 11 1 43 41 .294 .360 .464 12 120
25 Roy White 1969 NYA AL LF 130 448 55 130 30 5 7 74 18 10 81 51 .290 .392 .426 12 113
26 Earle Combs 1930 NYA AL LF 137 532 129 183 30 22 7 82 16 10 74 26 .344 .424 .523 12 113
27 Charlie Keller 1945 NYA AL LF 44 163 26 49 7 4 10 34 0 2 31 21 .301 .412 .577 11 175
28 Glenallen Hill 2000 NYA AL LF 40 132 22 44 5 0 16 29 0 0 9 33 .333 .378 .735 11 160
29 Tommy Henrich 1937 NYA AL LF 67 206 39 66 14 5 8 42 4 0 35 17 .320 .419 .553 11 140
30 Oscar Gamble 1980 NYA AL LF 78 194 40 54 10 2 14 50 2 0 28 21 .278 .376 .567 11 138
31 Cliff Johnson 1977 NYA AL LF 56 142 24 42 8 0 12 31 0 1 20 23 .296 .405 .606 10 157
32 Bob Meusel 1925 NYA AL LF 156 624 101 181 34 12 33 138 13 14 54 55 .290 .348 .542 10 108
33 Mickey Mantle 1965 NYA AL LF 122 361 44 92 12 1 19 46 4 1 73 76 .255 .379 .452 10 120
34 Johnny Lindell 1948 NYA AL LF 88 309 58 98 17 2 13 55 0 0 35 50 .317 .387 .511 9 121
35 George Selkirk 1940 NYA AL LF 118 379 68 102 17 5 19 71 3 6 84 43 .269 .406 .491 9 115
36 Bob Meusel 1924 NYA AL LF 143 579 93 188 40 11 12 120 26 14 32 43 .325 .365 .494 9 109
37 Gene Woodling 1953 NYA AL LF 125 395 64 121 26 4 10 58 2 7 82 29 .306 .429 .468 9 115
38 Lou Piniella 1978 NYA AL LF 130 472 67 148 34 5 6 69 3 1 34 36 .314 .361 .445 9 110
39 Roy White 1976 NYA AL LF 156 626 104 179 29 3 14 65 31 13 83 52 .286 .365 .409 9 110
40 Hideki Matsui 2007 NYA AL LF 143 547 100 156 28 4 25 103 4 2 73 73 .285 .367 .488 8 114

--Posted at 8:42 am by SG / 57 Comments | - (1255)


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