MLB History: 11 Greatest Shortstops of All Time, Part 2

Lou Boudreau, Barry Larkin, Joe Cronin, Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughan, Ernie Banks, Cal Ripken Jr. Ozzie Smith, Luke Appling, Bill Dahlen, and Gorgeous George Davis.

To catch up, here are our top 11, in no particular order, with their career WARP totals:

Boudreau (108), Larkin, (110), Cronin (120), Wagner (240), Vaughan (134), Banks (115), Ripken (127), Ozzie (127), Appling (130), Dahlen (180), Davis (170).

As impressive as they appear here, remember that Bill Dahlen and George Davis were doing this before baseball was baseball. Other than Honus Wagner, there is not that much immediately separating these shortstops form one another.

Here are their best 5-year WARP totals, some measure of their level of peak play:

Boudreau (60.5), Larkin (49.5), Cronin (59), Wagner (79.6)!!!, Vaughan, (69.4), Banks (59.4), Ripken (57.9), Ozzie (47.7), Appling (53.4), Dahlen (59.9), Davis (58.5).

Here are their best 10 year WARP totals, some measure of how long they were able to sustain these peaks.:

Boudreau (101.6), Larkin (83), Cronin (88.2), Wagner (146.7), Vaughan (118), Banks (91), Ripken (92.4), Ozzie (88), Appling (93.8), Dahlen (111.6), Davis (109.7).

Things look pretty even, with two notable exceptions.

1. Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner is very clearly the greatest shortstop in the annals of the game, and quite possibly (Babe Ruth included), the most dominant performer at any point in baseball history. Looking at the above numbers, it is shocking the level to which Wagner exceeds the other shortstops on this list. He was worth 240 wins-above- replacement-player in his career, none of the others were within 60 points of that. His 5- year peak exceeded the 2nd place finisher by 10, 3rd place by almost 20. His 10-year totals were even more impressive. His 1908 season may be the best ever, where he put up the following line:

AB-568  H-201  D-39  T-19  HR-10  R-100  RBI-109   SB-53   BB-54 .354/.415/.542/.957

This looks pretty spectacular, and then you realize that 1908 was the lowest offensive point of the twentieth century, the deadest of the dead ball seasons. Baseball Prospectus translates this 1908 season into contemporary numbers. Prepare to be blow away, and remember, he is also one of the game’s 3-4 greatest defensive shortstops.

AB-609  H-226  D-54  T-14   HR-57   BB-70  SB-54 R-150  RBI-177 .371/.440.787/1.227

From a gold glove shortstop, this is beyond belief. This season was worth 19 wins above a replacement player. This means that, given an average team that would finish the season with a record of 81-81, was starting a replacement level shortstop, replaced that shortstop with Wagner, and the team could expect to win 100 games.

Following is Wagner’s career line, as translated through Baseball Prospectus:

H-3640  D-855  T-138  HR-637 BB-1174 SB-640  R-2060 RBI-2257 .324/.394/.595

It’s like combining Albert Pujols and Ozzie Smith.



2. Arky Vaughan

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