How to Score Runs

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%

3 thoughts on “How to Score Runs”

  2. 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.

  3. 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?

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