High-OPS Iron Men

Playing every game in a 162-game season is a relatively impressive feat. Since 1961, when the 154-game season was expanded to 162 games, a player has played in 162 games or more on 253 occasions – or roughly four times per year.

A much smaller number? Twenty two. That’s the number of players who have played 162 games or more since 1961 and compiled an OPS of .950 or higher. Being an iron man who plays every day rarely means you hit like an iron man over the course of a season.

Playing every game is a testament to stamina, luck and a host of other factors – including not stinking at your job. (Oh, and not playing catcher.) So who were the best ones at staying in the lineup, getting on base and hitting for power?

So which of these 162/.950 guys had the biggest disparity between on-base and slugging percentage? Which guy had the most hits? The fewest? Who was the oldest player to do this? The youngest? Who had two 30-30 seasons while doing this? Who was the only one to do this while leading the league in strikeouts?

Surprisingly, only three of these guys led the league in slugging the year they did this — and none led the league in batting average.

Let’s look from 1961 to the present first, then go back and cover 1901 to 1960. Each era is filled with a mix of Hall of Famers, one-year wonders and a few guys who never had another season in which they played every game.

1961 to the Present

We might as well answer the most obvious question right now: No, Cal Ripken Jr. never posted an .OPS of .950 or better in a full season, topping out at .940 in his second MVP season in 1991. If we were gauging players who played 162 games or more and had the highest single-season WAR, then Ripken (thanks in part to the value that WAR attributes to playing shortstop on defense) has two of the three top seasons. But we’re after something else in this exercise.

Carlos Delgado

In 2000, Delgado led the league in doubles (57), total bases (378), hit by pitches (15) and, well, games. Yeah, that’s not necessarily a given when a guy plays 162 games, as sometimes a team will (look away, Red Sox fans) play 163 games if the regular-season standings end in a tie. But for our purposes, we’re looking at the guys who played at least 162 games. Why? Because that’s still a boatload of games and we don’t need to make this select list any shorter. And of course, Game 163 doesn’t occur all that frequently.

Delgado posted the highest OPS (1.134) of anyone who ever played 162 games or more. The next season (2001) he also played every game, but “only” posted an OPS of .948, and thus barely missed joining this group again. And in 2003, he had another stellar year at the dish, posting an OPS of 1.019 while leading the league in runs batted in. Unfortunately, the slacker only played 161 games that year.

In 2015, in his only year of eligibility, Delgado received 3.8 percent of the vote for the Hall of Fame. For a guy whose career OPS is .929 (29th all-time, right behind Alex Rodriguez and just ahead of Hank Aaron), that seems like a pretty raw deal.

Harmon Killebrew (1967, 1969) and Luis Gonzalez (2001)

Killebrew and Gonzalez are tied as the oldest players (33) to attain this feat during this era. Along with Frank Robinson (1962), Killebrew is the only member of this club to lead the league in on-base percentage (1969), buoyed by a league high in walks (145) and intentional bases on balls (20). Killebrew only hit .269 that season, the lowest batting average among players in this select group. Luckily for him, batting average does not affect OPS. Seriously, I checked.

Gonzalez, for his part, had one of the great outlier seasons in MLB history. After Delgado, he had the second highest OPS (1.117) among players in this circle – and he did it by hitting 57 home runs (or 26 more than he hit in any other season). He also had the most total bases (419) – though that didn’t even lead the league in 2001.

Like Delgado, Gonzalez played in every game in 2000 and 2001 – but never did before or after.

Albert Belle (1998)

After Delgado and Gonzalez, Belle had the third-highest OPS (1.055) of any player who ever played 162 games or more. Like those two, Belle got very little Hall of Fame support; he fell off the ballot after two years. He was also the quickest to go from 162/.950 to out of the game, retiring with a degenerative hip condition in 2000.

Jeff Bagwell (1996, 1997, 1999) and Alex Rodriguez (2001, 2002, 2005)

The only three-time members of the club in this era. Bagwell was just a flat-out showoff, as he tallied more than 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in two of these three seasons.

Rodriguez, who never played fewer than 154 games between 2001 and 2007, played in 546 straight between 2000 and 2003, good for the 20th-longest streak ever. Other sluggers who also notched long streaks: Stan Musial and Ernie Banks (whom we’ll get to below), Prince Fielder (whom we’ll get to in two seconds) and some guy named Lou Gehrig.

Prince Fielder (2009, 2011)

Fielder turned the trick of suiting up in 162 games on four separate occasions, while twice surpassing a .950 OPS (2009, 2011). Unfortunately, Fielder’s career was cut short following a neck injury and he had to retire after the 2016 season at just 32 years of age.

Jim Rice (1978)

Rice had arguably the best all-around season of any of these players, when he won the 1978 MVP after leading the league in games played, OPS, hits, plate appearances, triples, home runs, runs batted in and slugging percentage.

Of the players on this list, the only ones to win MVP that same season are: Rice, Rodriguez (2005) and Killebrew (1969). Rice is the only one whose team blew a 14-game lead to the Yankees starting in July.

Frank Robinson (1962), Vinny Castilla (1998) and Others

Among the players who played 162 games or more and posted a .950 OPS or higher, these are the only two who never played 162 games in any other season. How do these two guys always end up in the same conversation?

Castilla, of course, was bolstered by playing his home games at Coors Field. His OPS at home was 1.097, while away from that launching pad it was .800.

Robinson was one of four players who played 162 games but didn’t lead the league in games played, in that 1962 season. One of the other four was Willie Mays in this very same season. As luck would have it, the Dodgers and Giants tied to finish the regular season, and the league brass decided the best way to settle it was with a three-game playoff. As a result, the Dodgers’ Maury Wills led the league in games played with all 165, and he was followed by the Giants’ Jose Pagan at 164, and Dodgers’ Tommy Davis at 163. Robinson, who played for the Reds that season, suited up for every one of his team’s games, so he came by the mark honestly, but what of Mays?

Should we really drop Willie freaking Mays from this conversation just because of this historical oddity? Nope. We will not drop the greatest living player for such a trifle. In fact, this seems like an appropriate place to mention that Mays posted 10 straight top-six finishes in the MVP voting (1957-1966). What does that have to do with OPS? Nothing. Just a bonus factoid.

The other two players who played at least 162 games and hit .950 but didn’t lead the league in games played were Harmon Killebrew in 1967 and Don Mattingly in 1986. In ’67, Killebrew’s Twins had to play an extra two games against the Red Sox to determine the AL pennant, and Killebrew’s teammate Cesar Tovar played in all 164, one more than Killebrew, who played in 163. Mattingly played in all of the Yankees games in ’86, but Tony Fernandez of the Blue Jays played in 163.

Other players who pulled off 162 and .950: Rocky Colavito (1961), Sammy Sosa (1999), Mark Teixeira (2005) and Jason Bay (2005). Sosa was the only one to do this while leading the league in strikeouts (171). He also had the biggest disparity between on-base percentage (.367) and slugging percentage (.635). With 63 home runs, he made his contact count.

1901 to 1960

No one played in 154 games or more and posted an OPS of .950 or higher in the first nine years of the 20th century, though not for lack of trying. While it’s a bit arbitrary, I’m going to use 154 games as the benchmark for an iron man from 1901 to 1960. While there can be such a disparity of games played by certain teams in any given season — due to rainouts that were not made up, unique tie-breaker playoff series, etc., I use 154 because that’s the typical average that each team was scheduled to play. If any players had a .950 OPS or better, played every one of their team’s games and fell through the cracks, I accept full responsibility and will gladly update this piece.

More than 60 players in that near-decade played 154 games or more, but none of them had an OPS of over .950. The ones who did have such a high OPS — seven players, including Nap Lajoie (three times) and Ed Delahanty (two) — didn’t really come close to playing every game. Lajoie only played in 87 games in 1902, even though he was still credited with the batting title.

The closest any player came was Honus Wagner, who in 1908 played in 151 games and had an OPS of .957, a year in which he led the league in hits, doubles, triples, steals, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging. What a menace.

Plenty of folks played every game in a season from 1901-1909 – unfortunately they were playing in the first Dead Ball Era, and slugging percentages were depressed, which made a .950 OPS less likely than it would become in the ensuing years.

The first players to go 154/.950 were Lajoie and Sherry Magee in 1910. Lajoie was in the midst of a Hall of Fame career, while Magee was in the midst of a career that would go largely overlooked in retrospect. In 1910, he led the league in batting average, runs, runs batted in, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS (duh) and total bases. And this wasn’t a fluke year.

He led the league in runs batted in four times, hits once, doubles once and total bases twice. His career slash line is .291/.364/.427. He totaled 2,169 hits and 441 stolen bases. And the best showing he ever had in a Hall of Fame vote was in 1937 — when he got 1.0 percent of the vote.

In terms of career WAR (that stat we’re typically trying to avoid here), he ranks 126th – just behind Yogi Berra, Mike Piazza and Vladimir Guerrero, and ahead of numerous Hall of Famers, including George Sisler, Hank Greenberg, Willie Stargell, Joe Medwick, Sam Rice, Elmer Flick and Willie Keeler.

Perhaps the powers that be need should revisit Magee’s candidacy for Cooperstown.

Between 1910 and 1960, 67 players had seasons in which they posted a 154/.950 or better — or 1.31 per season for the 51 years. Not surprisingly, a large rash occurred during the offensive explosion of the 1920s and 1930s, with 42 of these seasons taking place in those two decades.

But each decade up to 1960 had a few such campaigns that truly stood out. Let’s highlight a few before we go.

The 1910s

In addition to Lajoie and Magee, three other players met the mark that decade: Shoeless Joe Jackson (1912), Benny Kauff (1912) and Ty Cobb (1915).

Jackson and Cobb have the distinction of reaching this plateau with the fewest home runs (three). Jackson compensated for it by hitting the most triples ever for such players (26) while Cobb helped himself with an otherworldly .488 on-base percentage. The only player from 1901 to 1960 to exceed him in that capacity was Ted Williams, who in his two seasons of 154/.950 (1947 and 1949) tallied on-base percentages of .499 and .490.

But back to Benny Kauff because, well, I’d never heard of him before. Kauff earned a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 1912, then jumped to the Federal League in 1914, where he led the league in plate appearances, runs, hits, doubles, stolen bases, batting average, on-base percentage, OPS and total bases.

He jumped back to the National League with the Giants in 1916, where he enjoyed much less success, topping out with a full-season OPS of .767 in 1917. He was out of the game at the age of 30 in 1920.

The 1920s

Rogers Hornsby had four seasons of 154/.950 this decade. From 1917-1929, he finished first in WAR in the National League a ridiculous 11 times.

Another name that stands out that decade is Jack Fournier (1924). Fournier, like Benny Kauff, is not exactly a baseball familiar. But prior to 1924, he led the league in a few categories: slugging percentage (1915), hit by pitch (1915, 1920 and 1921) and caught stealing (1921). In 1924, he led the Senior Circuit in home runs and games played at the age of 34, the second-oldest player of the 1901-1960 era to surpass 154/.950, eclipsed only by Nap Lajoie (35 in 1910) and tied with Johnny Mize (1947), Stan Musial (1955) and Lou Gehrig (1937).

Some other notables this decade: Babe Ruth (1928), Lefty O’Doul (1929), Dale Alexander (1929).

The 1930s

Ten times in 11 years. From 1926 to 1936, Lou Gehrig surpassed 154/.950 in every season but one, 1935. The only reason he didn’t that year is because the Yankees only played 149 games. In 1929, he had 166 hits, the fewest number for an iron man player of this era. He’s the patron saint of our list.

Hal Trosky (1934) is tied with Eddie Mathews (1953) as the youngest players (both 21) to make this list. Mathews went on to Cooperstown, while Trosky had an excellent career (.302/.371/.522). He retired after just 11 years and didn’t have the counting stats that typically impress Hall of Fame voters.

Some other notables this decade: Mel Ott (1932), Ripper Collins (1934), Harlond Clift (1937), Chuck Klein (1930, 1932), Bill Terry (1930, 1932), Earl Averill (1931, 1934), Jimmie Foxx (1932, 1936), Charlie Gehringer (1934, 1936), Hank Greenberg (1937, 1938) and Joe Medwick (1935, 1936, 1937).

In 1930, Bill Terry had the most hits (254) of any iron man from either era.

The 1940s

It’s not as if Stan Musial is overlooked among the game’s all-time greats, but it’s rare that his durability and playing streaks are among the first items put forth as evidence of his greatness. He has the eighth longest streak in MLB history (895 straight games from 1952 to 1957). And next to Gehrig, he has the second-most seasons of 154/.950 with seven (four of which took place in the 1940s).

Some other notables this decade: Rudy York (1940), Tommy Holmes (1945), Jackie Robinson (1949) and Johnny Mize (1940, 1947).

The 1950s

Ernie Banks won back-to-back MVP awards in 1958 and 1959, smack dab in the middle of 15th-longest longest playing streak ever (717 games from August 1956 to June 1961). Let’s play two? More like, let’s play ‘em all.

Some other notables this decade: Gil Hodges (1954), Hank Aaron (1959).

References & Resources

• All stats via Baseball-Reference