What does it take to score runs? Well, getting on base is Job #1. But once you’re on base, not everybody scores at the same rate. Among players who reached base (counting errors) at least 3500 times since the dawn of modern offenses in 1920, here’s the 20 guys who scored most often:
Player | R | TOBwe | R/TOB |
---|---|---|---|
Babe Ruth | 1972 | 4438 | 44.4% |
Lou Gehrig | 1888 | 4274 | 44.2% |
Charlie Gehringer | 1774 | 4075 | 43.5% |
Kenny Lofton | 1528 | 3527 | 43.3% |
Alex Rodriguez | 1824 | 4218 | 43.2% |
Jimmie Foxx | 1751 | 4111 | 42.6% |
Johnny Damon | 1643 | 3891 | 42.2% |
Al Simmons | 1507 | 3572 | 42.2% |
Frankie Frisch | 1511 | 3592 | 42.1% |
Sammy Sosa | 1475 | 3512 | 42.0% |
Rickey Henderson | 2295 | 5503 | 41.7% |
Willie Mays | 2062 | 4959 | 41.6% |
Steve Finley | 1443 | 3535 | 40.8% |
Lou Brock | 1610 | 4001 | 40.2% |
Hank Aaron | 2174 | 5404 | 40.2% |
Derek Jeter | 1769 | 4416 | 40.1% |
Mel Ott | 1859 | 4648 | 40.0% |
Goose Goslin | 1483 | 3739 | 39.7% |
Craig Biggio | 1844 | 4679 | 39.4% |
Mickey Mantle | 1676 | 4268 | 39.3% |
There’s no single common thread here. Most of these guys played on good offenses and/or in good offensive times, in particular in lineups with a lot of high OBPs. Many of them were excellent at getting to scoring position on their own, whether by power (Ruth, Gehrig) or speed (Rickey, Brock). Others, like Mickey and A-Rod, had both great power and, in their younger years, excellent speed. (Obviously, you could re-run this with adjustments for HRs and the like to see who scores from where they start).
Now, the bottom ten:
Player | R | TOBwe | R/TOB |
---|---|---|---|
Edgar Martinez | 1219 | 3694 | 33.0% |
Willie McCovey | 1229 | 3735 | 32.9% |
Buddy Bell | 1151 | 3518 | 32.7% |
Luke Appling | 1319 | 4064 | 32.5% |
Mark Grace | 1179 | 3650 | 32.3% |
Ron Santo | 1138 | 3535 | 32.2% |
Harold Baines | 1299 | 4043 | 32.1% |
Brooks Robinson | 1232 | 3916 | 31.5% |
John Olerud | 1139 | 3679 | 31.0% |
Rusty Staub | 1189 | 4165 | 28.5% |
No surprise here: Rusty is the slowest of a slow lot, and only McCovey – who played in a low-scoring era – had great power in this group. This is why Rusty is not in the Hall of Fame, despite being arguably a good enough hitter to be in there, compared to other guys with similar longetivity. Here’s the rest of the list:
Player | R | TOBwe | R/TOB |
---|---|---|---|
Barry Bonds | 2227 | 5696 | 39.1% |
Ken Griffey | 1662 | 4259 | 39.0% |
Eddie Mathews | 1509 | 3885 | 38.8% |
Bernie Williams | 1366 | 3525 | 38.8% |
Frank Robinson | 1829 | 4728 | 38.7% |
Paul Molitor | 1782 | 4622 | 38.6% |
Tim Raines | 1571 | 4076 | 38.5% |
Ivan Rodriguez | 1354 | 3521 | 38.5% |
Roberto Alomar | 1508 | 3925 | 38.4% |
Vada Pinson | 1366 | 3557 | 38.4% |
Jeff Bagwell | 1517 | 3954 | 38.4% |
Mike Schmidt | 1506 | 3933 | 38.3% |
Paul Waner | 1627 | 4281 | 38.0% |
Andre Dawson | 1373 | 3630 | 37.8% |
Ted Williams | 1798 | 4757 | 37.8% |
Manny Ramirez | 1544 | 4085 | 37.8% |
Jim Thome | 1566 | 4149 | 37.7% |
Vladimir Guerrero | 1328 | 3520 | 37.7% |
Robin Yount | 1632 | 4343 | 37.6% |
Lou Whitaker | 1386 | 3692 | 37.5% |
Chipper Jones | 1561 | 4193 | 37.2% |
Reggie Jackson | 1551 | 4179 | 37.1% |
Gary Sheffield | 1636 | 4412 | 37.1% |
Dave Winfield | 1669 | 4501 | 37.1% |
Brett Butler | 1359 | 3679 | 36.9% |
Roberto Clemente | 1416 | 3842 | 36.9% |
Luis Aparicio | 1335 | 3635 | 36.7% |
Dwight Evans | 1470 | 4007 | 36.7% |
Rafael Palmeiro | 1663 | 4544 | 36.6% |
Ernie Banks | 1305 | 3570 | 36.6% |
Stan Musial | 1949 | 5352 | 36.4% |
Joe Morgan | 1650 | 4544 | 36.3% |
Cal Ripken | 1647 | 4546 | 36.2% |
Bobby Abreu | 1412 | 3907 | 36.1% |
Billy Williams | 1410 | 3913 | 36.0% |
George Brett | 1583 | 4403 | 36.0% |
Al Kaline | 1622 | 4512 | 35.9% |
Luis Gonzalez | 1412 | 3942 | 35.8% |
Dave Parker | 1272 | 3560 | 35.7% |
Omar Vizquel | 1432 | 4022 | 35.6% |
Todd Helton | 1329 | 3757 | 35.4% |
Julio Franco | 1285 | 3651 | 35.2% |
Pete Rose | 2165 | 6168 | 35.1% |
Nellie Fox | 1279 | 3672 | 34.8% |
Frank Thomas | 1494 | 4292 | 34.8% |
Fred McGriff | 1349 | 3918 | 34.4% |
Eddie Murray | 1627 | 4727 | 34.4% |
Willie Randolph | 1239 | 3614 | 34.3% |
Darrell Evans | 1344 | 3955 | 34.0% |
Ozzie Smith | 1257 | 3707 | 33.9% |
Tony Gwynn | 1383 | 4094 | 33.8% |
Richie Ashburn | 1322 | 3923 | 33.7% |
Mickey Vernon | 1196 | 3554 | 33.7% |
Chili Davis | 1240 | 3686 | 33.6% |
Brian Downing | 1188 | 3535 | 33.6% |
Rod Carew | 1424 | 4255 | 33.5% |
Harmon Killebrew | 1283 | 3837 | 33.4% |
Carl Yastrzemski | 1816 | 5442 | 33.4% |
Eddie Yost | 1215 | 3670 | 33.1% |
Wade Boggs | 1513 | 4576 | 33.1% |
Tony Perez | 1272 | 3848 | 33.1% |
UPDATE: Here’s the top 20 and bottom ten if you remove homers from both runs and times on base. Top 20, which drops the Babe way down the list:
Player | R | TOBwe | HR | R/TOB |
---|---|---|---|---|
Kenny Lofton | 1528 | 3527 | 130 | 41.2% |
Charlie Gehringer | 1774 | 4075 | 184 | 40.9% |
Frankie Frisch | 1511 | 3592 | 103 | 40.4% |
Johnny Damon | 1643 | 3891 | 231 | 38.6% |
Rickey Henderson | 2295 | 5503 | 297 | 38.4% |
Lou Brock | 1610 | 4001 | 149 | 37.9% |
Lou Gehrig | 1888 | 4274 | 493 | 36.9% |
Al Simmons | 1507 | 3572 | 307 | 36.8% |
Derek Jeter | 1769 | 4416 | 240 | 36.6% |
Paul Waner | 1627 | 4281 | 113 | 36.3% |
Brett Butler | 1359 | 3679 | 54 | 36.0% |
Tim Raines | 1571 | 4076 | 170 | 35.9% |
Craig Biggio | 1844 | 4679 | 291 | 35.4% |
Goose Goslin | 1483 | 3739 | 248 | 35.4% |
Paul Molitor | 1782 | 4622 | 234 | 35.3% |
Steve Finley | 1443 | 3535 | 304 | 35.3% |
Luis Aparicio | 1335 | 3635 | 83 | 35.2% |
Roberto Alomar | 1508 | 3925 | 210 | 34.9% |
Babe Ruth | 1972 | 4438 | 665 | 34.6% |
Omar Vizquel | 1432 | 4022 | 80 | 34.3% |
Bottom 10, which puts McCovey and Harmon Killebrew below Rusty:
Player | R | TOBwe | HR | R/TOB |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ernie Banks | 1305 | 3570 | 512 | 25.9% |
John Olerud | 1139 | 3679 | 255 | 25.8% |
Frank Thomas | 1494 | 4292 | 521 | 25.8% |
Tony Perez | 1272 | 3848 | 379 | 25.7% |
Harold Baines | 1299 | 4043 | 384 | 25.0% |
Fred McGriff | 1349 | 3918 | 493 | 25.0% |
Ron Santo | 1138 | 3535 | 342 | 24.9% |
Rusty Staub | 1189 | 4165 | 292 | 23.2% |
Willie McCovey | 1229 | 3735 | 521 | 22.0% |
Harmon Killebrew | 1283 | 3837 | 573 | 21.8% |
Um…Ty Cobb?
I’ve just run the pre-1920 guys. Cobb actually comes in a little under 40% for his career if you back out the HRs, but then he had an enormously long career with a ton of times on base.
But you’ll see when I run the leaderboard that the #1 guy is way ahead of Lofton.
Also FYI, Frisch’s career averages with and without HRs are the same if you include his career through 1919; Ruth’s are a bit lower in both categories.
Someone once cracked back in the day that the two slowest runners in baseball were Rusty Staub and Richie Zisk.
Where would Zisk figure in this list?