Top Ten Seasons' Win Shares by Jeremy Harmon
Some stars burn out after a few years, some hang on foreverpadding their career totals long after their stars have faded. Perhaps the best single measurement to rate players' careers is this: add up the Win Shares in their ten best seasons (not necessarily consecutive). Ten seasons defines a Hall of Famer -- it's long enough to account for one or two peak stretches and then some, short enough to knock down the players who stuck around too long -- and evens the measuring field for all players. Here are the 21 players who managed to accumulate 350 Win Shares in their ten best seasons, followed by the period in which those ten seasons occurred: Babe Ruth - 460 (1918-31)Barry Bonds - 432 (1990-04)Honus Wagner - 422 (1901-12)Ty Cobb - 419 (1907-17)Mickey Mantle - 399 (1952-64) Ted Williams - 394 (1939-57)Kid Nichols - 391 (1890-01)Willie Mays - 389 (1954-66)Tris Speaker - 388 (1909-23)Cy Young - 385 (1892-04) Lou Gehrig - 384 (1927-37)John Clarkson - 384 (1885-94)Old Hoss Radbourn - 382 (1881-90)Rogers Hornsby - 381 (1916-29)Walter Johnson - 380 (1910-24) Stan Musial - 378 (1943-57)Eddie Collins - 376 (1909-20)Tim Keefe - 369 (1881-92)Tony Mullane - 367 (1882-93)Hank Aaron - 356 (1957-71) Pud Galvin - 356 (1879-91) Couple of notes: 1) Players with over 500 career Win Shares who didn't make the cut: Pete Rose - 547WSRickey Henderson - 530Mel Ott - 528Frank Robinson - 519Joe Morgan - 512 2) Several players missed significant playing time due to military service during their prime years: Since the top-ten peaks are not necessairly consecutive seasons, but the sum of a player's ten best seasons, the totals are not usually significantly lower due to wartime years lost, since a higher season is only replacing another top season, not adding to the total number of top seasons. Some players' top-ten totals ARE significantly affected, in all likelihood: Ted Williams' five-best seasons were 1941 (42WS), 1942 (46WS), 1946 (49WS), 1947 (44WS) and 1949 (40WS). He also had 39WS in 1948 and 38 WS in 1957. These is little doubt that he would have had 40WS AT LEAST in 1943, 1944 and 1945 had he played -- probably over 45 WS; and likely would have had around 35 WS in 1952 and 1953 as well. Ted likely lost about 40WS from his top-ten peak due to wartime service. Those lost WS would send his top-ten peak to about 433WS, second only to Ruth. Pete Alexander's best seasons were from 1915-1917, when he earned 40-43WS. He missed 1918 fighting in WW1, and it was then that his epilepsy was diagnosed. Returning in 1919, he had 26WS and 39WS in 1920 before declining due to alcoholism and age. Pete lost at least 20WS from his top-ten peak due to wartime service alone. He is ten-year peak was 331, so he likely would have made the list had he not fought in WWI. Stan Musial had 39WS in 1943, 38WS in 1944, 44WS in 1946, 25 WS in 1947, 46WS in 1948, 40WS in 1949, 32WS in 1950, 39WS in 1951 and 37WS in 1952 before beginning a slow decline. It is likely that Stan lost about 10 WS from his top-ten peak due to wartime service. Eddie Collins had a sustained peak from 1909-1915, with 35-43WS each season; he dropped to 31 and 32WS in 1916 and 1917 and missed most of 1918 due to service in the Marines, but still earned 16WS that season. Collins earned 27WS with the 1919 Black Sox and 38WS in 1920, his last great season. Cocky likely lost about 5WS from his top-ten peak due to military service. Willie Mays missed most of 1952 and all of 1953 while in the Army. He picked up with a bang in 1954, with 40WS, and reached 40WS again in 1955. After 27WS in 1956, Mays had 32-43WS every season from 1957-66. Mays likely lost about 5WS from his top-ten peak due to military service, which would put his top-ten peak just about equal to Mantle's. Warren Spahn's best season was 1947, his first full season, with 32WS. He reached 31WS one other time, in 1953. He lost three years at the start of his long career due to wartime service, from 1943-45, but his top-ten peak was probably little affected.