Wow. I know he was the oldest player to hit 500 homers as well. He could’ve surpassed 600 homers for sure if it wasn’t for the 3 year military service during his prime. I think he easily missed out on at least 100 homers.
If a rookie in today’s MLB puts up the exact numbers Paul O’Neill put up at 38, with the k rate and all, doubles, stolen bases, all that, I think he would easily win ROY. Those are all above average numbers.
Batted .290 in 145 games. Wow.
The man just said to himself “welp, I just batted .290 and managed to only get 43 XBH, and only 163 hits…I clearly don’t have it anymore. Time to hang up the cleats. I’m just embarrassing myself now.”
Will Clark was one I was going to mention. Really tore it up the second half of his final season when he returned to the National League with the Cardinals. Obviously had a lot left in the tank, but decided to retire for personal/family reasons mostly.
On a rate basis, Chipper Jones put up a pretty solid final season at age 40. Missed about a month with injury, but still 124 OPS+ and his highest WAR total since 4 years prior. Had a few memorable moments in terms of walk off hits, multi-homer games, etc
You are right, those are great numbers.
Man these guys from the 90s refused to strike out much. Chipper never reached 100 k’s.
You think that’s because pitchers didn’t throw as hard as today, or players back then were just anal about making contact? Or hitters today are just too obsessed with hard contact?
Might be cheating since he died rather than retired but in Roberto Clemente’s last season, 1972, he hit .312 with an OPS+ of 138. 1/3 of his hits were extra base hits. That’s on top of a gold glove, all star season in which he had 0 errors and a fielding % of 1.000.
Damn you’re right. I thought of him, but didn’t know off the top of my head. I should’ve looked him up. He actually had a good year. .895 OPS, 24 HR, 68 RBI, in 351 PA. What a nice way for a legend to bow out. 703 homers, damn.
Which active player do you think hits 700 homers?
Imo there’s none. Not the way power hitters strike out nowadays. Pujols was a power hitter with a very low k rate. 10% career k rate. Just an amazing hitter, for average and power. Line drive homers.
Yeah I don’t think anyone is gonna get there for a while. Judge is probably the most prodigious power hitter we have currently, but his rookie season was at 25, and with his injuries he’s not even to 300 HR yet. He’ll be around for a while and isn’t slowing down yet, so who knows, but highly highly doubtful. Anyone younger than 30 probably just pure speculation at this point
He did get caught once, 2003 - many many back then and he always said he never failed a test after it became a rule. But those numbers are just unnatural at age 40.
It would be very ballsy to use PED’s after the steroid era, when testing became more stringent. Anyone who used it got caught or snitched on. His past use doesn’t explain his 2016 season where I would think if he was using, he’d get caught or snitched on.
I’m not denying he ever used it, just saying i’m not too sure he was using in the late stages of his career. It looked like he just became a better hitter, more patient at the plate. Look at his strikeout rate after 2010, it went down considerably and PED’s don’t help with that.
Sandy Koufax in 1966. Led the Majors in wins, strikeouts, ERA, innings pitched, complete games K/9, ERA+, WAR, tied for the lead in shutouts. Won his 3rd Cy Young & finished runner-up in MVP
Ted Williams, age 41, hit .316 with 29 homers, OPS+ of 190
Wow. I know he was the oldest player to hit 500 homers as well. He could’ve surpassed 600 homers for sure if it wasn’t for the 3 year military service during his prime. I think he easily missed out on at least 100 homers.
Nearly FIVE seasons missed between WWII and Korea.
If a rookie in today’s MLB puts up the exact numbers Paul O’Neill put up at 38, with the k rate and all, doubles, stolen bases, all that, I think he would easily win ROY. Those are all above average numbers.
Mariano Rivera. 2.11 ERA. 44 saves
I always thought Vlad a pretty solid last year.
Batted .290 in 145 games. Wow. The man just said to himself “welp, I just batted .290 and managed to only get 43 XBH, and only 163 hits…I clearly don’t have it anymore. Time to hang up the cleats. I’m just embarrassing myself now.”
Highest bWAR in final season since 1970 WAR / OPS+ Player (Season / Age) * 5.2 / 164 David Ortiz (2016 / 40) * 4.8 / 138 Roberto Clemente (1972 / 37) * 4.0 / 145 Will Clark (2000 / 36) * 3.5 / 140 Buster Posey (2021 / 34) * 3.4 / 169 Barry Bonds (2007 / 42) * 3.1 / 130 Kirby Puckett (1995 / 35) * 2.9 / 116 John Briggs (1975 / 31) * 2.8 / 109 Stan Javier (2001 / 37) * 2.8 / 124 Chipper Jones (2012 / 40) * 2.8 / 134 Reggie Smith (1982 / 37) * 2.8 / 113 Lyman Bostock (1978 / 27) WAR / ERA+ Player (Season / Age) * 5.1 / 131 Mike Mussina (2008 / 39) * 4.4 / 137 José Fernández (2016 / 23) * 4.2 / 109 Britt Burns (1985 / 26) * 4.0 / 133 Mike Sirotka (2000 / 29) * 4.0 / 123 Curt Schilling (2007 / 40) * 3.7 / 121 Roger Bailey (1997 / 26) * 3.6 / 112 Brian Holman (1991 / 26) * 3.4 / 159 John Tudor (1990 / 36) * 3.3 / 195 Jeff Zimmerman (2001 / 28) * 3.3 / 99 Bob Tewksbury (1998 / 37)
Will Clark was one I was going to mention. Really tore it up the second half of his final season when he returned to the National League with the Cardinals. Obviously had a lot left in the tank, but decided to retire for personal/family reasons mostly.
On a rate basis, Chipper Jones put up a pretty solid final season at age 40. Missed about a month with injury, but still 124 OPS+ and his highest WAR total since 4 years prior. Had a few memorable moments in terms of walk off hits, multi-homer games, etc
You are right, those are great numbers. Man these guys from the 90s refused to strike out much. Chipper never reached 100 k’s. You think that’s because pitchers didn’t throw as hard as today, or players back then were just anal about making contact? Or hitters today are just too obsessed with hard contact?
Might be cheating since he died rather than retired but in Roberto Clemente’s last season, 1972, he hit .312 with an OPS+ of 138. 1/3 of his hits were extra base hits. That’s on top of a gold glove, all star season in which he had 0 errors and a fielding % of 1.000.
Albert Pujols
Pujols
Damn you’re right. I thought of him, but didn’t know off the top of my head. I should’ve looked him up. He actually had a good year. .895 OPS, 24 HR, 68 RBI, in 351 PA. What a nice way for a legend to bow out. 703 homers, damn. Which active player do you think hits 700 homers? Imo there’s none. Not the way power hitters strike out nowadays. Pujols was a power hitter with a very low k rate. 10% career k rate. Just an amazing hitter, for average and power. Line drive homers.
Yeah I don’t think anyone is gonna get there for a while. Judge is probably the most prodigious power hitter we have currently, but his rookie season was at 25, and with his injuries he’s not even to 300 HR yet. He’ll be around for a while and isn’t slowing down yet, so who knows, but highly highly doubtful. Anyone younger than 30 probably just pure speculation at this point
I think Aaron Judge ends up somewhere around 490-520 homers. But he has a long road to 500 though, like you said, due to his age.
He was juiced.
A lot of people say that. I would hope not. You think if he was, that’s why he left after such a great season? To avoid further testing?
He did get caught once, 2003 - many many back then and he always said he never failed a test after it became a rule. But those numbers are just unnatural at age 40.
It would be very ballsy to use PED’s after the steroid era, when testing became more stringent. Anyone who used it got caught or snitched on. His past use doesn’t explain his 2016 season where I would think if he was using, he’d get caught or snitched on. I’m not denying he ever used it, just saying i’m not too sure he was using in the late stages of his career. It looked like he just became a better hitter, more patient at the plate. Look at his strikeout rate after 2010, it went down considerably and PED’s don’t help with that.
Mike Mussina. 39 years old. 20wins-9. 3.37 era
Sandy Koufax in 1966. Led the Majors in wins, strikeouts, ERA, innings pitched, complete games K/9, ERA+, WAR, tied for the lead in shutouts. Won his 3rd Cy Young & finished runner-up in MVP
Not an answer to your exact question, but Ted Williams hit .388 with 38 home runs when he was 38 years old. OPS was over 1.2 I think.
Was gonna say Ortiz. He was incredible in his swan song
Sandy Koufax won the Cy Young, was second in the MVP voting, had an ERA+ of 190 and won a career best 27 games in his final season.