The 25 Right Fielders With the Best Careers

March 17, 2008 by Michael Hoban · 7 Comments

Here are the 25 right fielders who had the best careers during the 20 ^th century (as measured by the NEWS HOF Gauge).

For a right fielder, a NEWS score of 280 is required to say that he has obvious HOF numbers.There are fourteen right fielders who posted these numbers.Keep in mind that a player may not have obvious HOF numbers but may still be a deserving Hall of Famer for other reasons.

All numbers include the 2007 season.

Bold print = Hall of Famer

Italic = active player in 2007

CWS = Career Win Shares

CV=Core Value (sum of win shares for 10 best seasons)

NEWS = Career Value=CV+.25(CWS – CV)

	Player	Years	CWS	CV	NEWS
1.	Babe Ruth	1914-1935	756	460	534
2.	Hank Aaron	1954- 1976	643	356	428
3.	Mel Ott	1926-1947	528	335	383
4.	Frank Robinson	1956-1976	519	316	367
5.	Sam Crawford	1899-1917	446	303	339
6.	Paul Waner	1926-1945	423	304	334
7.	Reggie Jackson	1967-1987	444	296	333
8.	Al Kaline	1953-1974	443	268	312
9.	Dave Winfield	1973-1995	415	259	298
10.	Roberto Clemente	1955-1972	377	269	296
11.	Tony Gwynn	1982-2001	398	269	294
12.	Harry Heilmann	1914-1932	356	267	289
13.	Elmer Flick	1898-1910	291	280	283

With the election of Tony Gwynn in 2007, all fourteen of the right fielders who have obvious HOF numbers are now in the Hall of Fame.What is unusual about this is that this is the only position for which that statement is true.That is, for every other position, there is at least one player who has obvious HOF numbers who is not in the Hall.

Note the balance of era within this group.Six of the right fielders played during the first half of the 20th century and eight of them during the second half.And in looking at this list of outstanding right fielders, I assume that the least well known of the group would be three of those who played early in the century: Sam Crawford, Elmer Flick and Harry Heilmann.

Here are the other twelve players who round out the top 25 right fielders with the best careers.

	Player	CWS	CV	NEWS
14.	Rusty Staub	354	254	279
15.	Bobby Bonds	302	264	274
16.	Sammy Sosa	325	255	273
17.	Ken Singleton	302	260	271
18.	Reggie Smith	325	250	269
19.	Willie Keeler	333	246	268
20.	Dave Parker	327	248	268
21.	Vladimir Guerrero	274	264	267
22.	Enos Slaughter	323	246	265
23.	Bobby Abreu	268	262	264
24.	Jack Clark	316	247	264
25.	Dwight Evans	347	234	262

Are some of these players also legitimate Hall of Famers?That, of course, is a matter of opinion.And, of course, Guerrero and Abreu are still active and could yet achieve the 280 NEWS benchmark.

Note that Sammy Sosa, despite having more than 600 home runs, does not have obvious HOF numbers.What is significant about this is that every other player with 500 or more home runs does have obvious HOF numbers.

Here is the next right fielder.I mention this because Andre Dawson is still on the BBWAA ballot for the Hall of Fame.

Player	CWS	CV	NEWS
Andre Dawson	340	234	261

Here are five right fielders who are in the Hall of Fame but who did not make it into the top 25 at the position.

Player	CWS	CV	NEWS
Kiki Cuyler	292	244	256
Sam Rice	327	228	253
Harry Hooper	321	221	246
Chuck Klein	238	217	222
Ross Youngs	206	206	206

As you can see, there are seven right fielders who are in the Hall of Fameand who do not have obvious HOF numbersaccording to the NEWS Gauge.Do they deserve to be in the Hall?You can judge that for yourself.

Here are a few other right fielders who have been on the BBWAA or the Veteranâ€™s Committee ballot over the past few years and who do not appear above.

Player	CWS	CV	NEWS
Rocky Colavito	273	243	251
Tony Oliva	245	234	237
Jose Canseco	272	206	223
Paul O’Neill	259	201	216
Roger Maris	223	209	213

Obviously, none of these players came close to the 280 NEWS benchmark for obvious HOF numbers for a right fielder.

For more information on the NEWS HOF Gauge, see BASEBALLâ€™S BEST: The TRUE Hall of Famers on this site.

Filed under Prof Hoban's Hall of Fame Blog · Tagged with

Comments

7 Responses to “The 25 Right Fielders With the Best Careers”

John Lease says:

March 17, 2008 at 10:04 am

Interesting. Do you have a typo on your first list? I would assume that Elmer Flick should be 282 to get over the value of 280. Also, how do you assign which field guys are listed in? I believe Andre Dawson was a Centerfielder when he came up and remained so for many years, if my memory is correct. I also looked up Rusty Staub, and while he played right in his youth, I remember him as a 1B/PH/DH type. I was amazed to see that he led the league several times in assists. Did he actually have a good arm, or was everyone running on him? Great article as usual.
Mike Lynch says:

March 17, 2008 at 10:44 am

John,

Nice catch on Flick. That was indeed a typo and was my fault. Mike had it right on the list he sent me, I just had a brain cramp and missed it.

As far as Dawson goes, he came up as a center fielder, but actually played more career games (in RF( 1,284) than in CF (1,027). 55% of his outfield playing time came in RF, while 44% came in CF.
Mike Hoban says:

March 17, 2008 at 12:15 pm

John,

You may also note another typo. The second list contains twelve names – not eleven. This happened because I originally had Willie Stargell as a right fielder instead of a left fielder (which he was). He will, of course, be on the list of left fielders. (Mike Lynch caught that one for me.)

Mike
Mike Lynch says:

March 17, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Whoops! Sorry about that. I just fixed it.
John Lease says:

March 18, 2008 at 5:28 am

Rocky Colavito isn’t in the Hall, which I would not have guessed. Andre Dawson remains probably the best position player I’ve seen who I was old enough to remember his entire career, since Mike Schmidt came up when I was still wrestling with the idea of subtraction in elementary school. I’m still just amazed at Staub’s numbers being that high. I’m going to have to re-think some of my assumptions, because I do remember a lot of his career and just don’t think it was really HOF worthy, he never impressed me as being one of the top players in baseball. A good player, yes.
Brian Joseph says:

March 20, 2008 at 7:38 pm

Bobby Abreu should be interesting to watch over the next few years. He was never really popular in Philadelphia despite his statistical success. I was always a fan but most in Philly were not. Now, he’s silently cleaning up in New York but playing in anonymity behind A-Rod and Jeter.
Mike Hoban says:

March 20, 2008 at 9:14 pm

If Bobby Abreu can play five more years at his current level, I believe that he will easily post HOF numbers (perhaps in less than five years).

If he has the numbers, will playing with ARod and Jeter help him to achieve the fame that he will need to be elected to the Hall (or will it hurt him?). I really am not sure. Only time will tell.

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