Ken Griffey: Senior or Junior Status?
News Item: Ken Griffey Jr. ruptured a tendon in his right ankle Thursday and had surgery to replace the tendon on Friday. Griffey will miss the rest of the season and is also expected to have surgery on his right shoulder in a few weeks. To answer that question, I have compiled the following lists to determine Griffey's career rankings among modern-day (1900-on) center fielders. RATE STATS ON BASE PERCENTAGE OBP 1 Ty Cobb .433 2 Tris Speaker .428 3 Mickey Mantle .421 4 Roy Thomas .408 5 Joe DiMaggio .398 6 Earle Combs .397 7 Richie Ashburn .396 8 Hack Wilson .395 9 Earl Averill .395 10 Bernie Williams .392 16 Ken Griffey Jr. .379 OBP DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Ty Cobb .093 .433 .340 2 Mickey Mantle .087 .421 .333 3 Tris Speaker .084 .428 .344 4 Roy Thomas .082 .408 .326 5 Richie Ashburn .058 .396 .339 6 Willie Mays .054 .384 .330 7 Bernie Williams .051 .392 .341 8 Brett Butler .047 .377 .330 9 Hack Wilson .044 .395 .351 10 Lenny Dykstra .044 .375 .331 14 Ken Griffey Jr. .040 .379 .339 SLUGGING AVERAGE SLG 1 Joe DiMaggio .579 2 Ken Griffey Jr. .562 3 Willie Mays .557 4 Mickey Mantle .557 5 Hack Wilson .545 6 Duke Snider .540 7 Earl Averill .533 8 Wally Berger .522 9 Ellis Burks .514 10 Ty Cobb .512 SLG DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Joe DiMaggio .171 .579 .407 2 Mickey Mantle .165 .557 .392 3 Willie Mays .156 .557 .401 4 Ty Cobb .148 .512 .364 5 Ken Griffey Jr. .143 .562 .419 6 Tris Speaker .131 .500 .370 7 Hack Wilson .129 .545 .415 8 Duke Snider .129 .540 .411 9 Wally Berger .114 .522 .407 10 Earl Averill .111 .533 .422 ON BASE PLUS SLUGGING OPS 1 Mickey Mantle .977 2 Joe DiMaggio .977 3 Ty Cobb .945 4 Willie Mays .941 5 Ken Griffey Jr. .940 6 Hack Wilson .940 7 Tris Speaker .928 8 Earl Averill .928 9 Duke Snider .919 10 Bernie Williams .890 OPS DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Mickey Mantle .252 .977 .725 2 Ty Cobb .242 .945 .704 3 Tris Speaker .215 .928 .714 4 Joe DiMaggio .213 .977 .764 5 Willie Mays .210 .941 .731 6 Ken Griffey Jr. .182 .940 .758 7 Hack Wilson .174 .940 .766 8 Duke Snider .171 .919 .749 9 Earl Averill .145 .928 .782 10 Larry Doby .132 .876 .744 ADJUSTED OPS OPS+ 1 Mickey Mantle 172 2 Ty Cobb 167 3 Tris Speaker 158 4 Willie Mays 156 5 Joe DiMaggio 155 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 144 7 Hack Wilson 144 8 Duke Snider 140 9 Wally Berger 138 10 Larry Doby 136 TOTAL AVERAGE TA 1 Mickey Mantle 1.091 2 Ty Cobb 1.057 3 Joe DiMaggio 1.012 4 Tris Speaker 1.012 5 Hack Wilson 1.005 6 Willie Mays .982 7 Ken Griffey Jr. .980 8 Earl Averill .956 9 Duke Snider .931 10 Larry Doby .893 TOTAL AVERAGE DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Mickey Mantle .431 1.091 .661 2 Ty Cobb .393 1.057 .664 3 Tris Speaker .338 1.012 .673 4 Willie Mays .319 .982 .663 5 Joe DiMaggio .299 1.012 .713 6 Hack Wilson .278 1.005 .727 7 Ken Griffey Jr. .273 .980 .708 8 Duke Snider .243 .931 .688 9 Earl Averill .211 .956 .746 10 Larry Doby .209 .893 .684 COUNTING STATS TIMES ON BASE TOB 1 Ty Cobb 5532 2 Tris Speaker 4998 3 Willie Mays 4790 4 Mickey Mantle 4161 5 Richie Ashburn 3815 6 Max Carey 3782 7 Brett Butler 3542 8 Vada Pinson 3385 9 Al Oliver 3360 10 Doc Cramer 3317 15 Ken Griffey Jr. 3015 TOB DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Ty Cobb 1777 5532 3755 2 Tris Speaker 1493 4998 3505 3 Mickey Mantle 1366 4161 2795 4 Willie Mays 1022 4790 3768 5 Richie Ashburn 850 3815 2965 6 Roy Thomas 695 2535 1840 7 Brett Butler 585 3542 2957 8 Joe DiMaggio 547 3050 2503 9 Bernie Williams 527 2691 2164 10 Duke Snider 519 3108 2589 11 Ken Griffey Jr. 512 3015 2503 TOTAL BASES TB 1 Willie Mays 6066 2 Ty Cobb 5857 3 Tris Speaker 5101 4 Mickey Mantle 4511 5 Vada Pinson 4264 6 Al Oliver 4083 7 Joe DiMaggio 3948 8 Ken Griffey Jr. 3883 9 Duke Snider 3865 10 Willie Davis 3778 TOTAL BASES DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Ty Cobb 2201 5857 3656 2 Willie Mays 1939 6066 4127 3 Tris Speaker 1692 5101 3409 4 Mickey Mantle 1576 4511 2935 5 Joe DiMaggio 1399 3948 2549 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 1122 3883 2761 7 Duke Snider 1030 3865 2835 8 Earl Averill 848 3391 2543 9 Ellis Burks 798 3599 2801 10 Al Oliver 755 4083 3328 RUNS CREATED RC 1 Ty Cobb 2757 2 Willie Mays 2355 3 Tris Speaker 2353 4 Mickey Mantle 2042 5 Joe DiMaggio 1622 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 1487 7 Duke Snider 1476 8 Max Carey 1435 9 Earl Averill 1393 10 Vada Pinson 1388 RUNS CREATED DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Ty Cobb 1381 2757 1376 2 Tris Speaker 1069 2353 1284 3 Mickey Mantle 1046 2042 996 4 Willie Mays 982 2355 1373 5 Joe DiMaggio 661 1622 961 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 538 1487 949 7 Duke Snider 500 1476 976 8 Earl Averill 418 1393 975 9 Hack Wilson 355 1050 695 10 Ellis Burks 352 1305 953 RUNS CREATED/GAME RC/G 1 Mickey Mantle 9.35 2 Ty Cobb 9.25 3 Joe DiMaggio 9.11 4 Tris Speaker 8.59 5 Earl Averill 8.15 6 Hack Wilson 8.02 7 Willie Mays 7.89 8 Ken Griffey Jr. 7.80 9 Duke Snider 7.45 10 Bernie Williams 7.15 RUNS CREATED/GAME DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Mickey Mantle 4.78 9.35 4.57 2 Ty Cobb 4.65 9.25 4.60 3 Tris Speaker 3.90 8.59 4.69 4 Joe DiMaggio 3.72 9.11 5.39 5 Willie Mays 3.29 7.89 4.60 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 2.82 7.80 4.98 7 Hack Wilson 2.70 8.02 5.32 8 Duke Snider 2.52 7.45 4.93 9 Earl Averill 2.44 8.15 5.71 10 Larry Doby 2.21 7.14 4.93 ADDITIONAL STATS HOMERUNS HR 1 Willie Mays 660 2 Mickey Mantle 536 3 Ken Griffey Jr. 468 4 Duke Snider 407 5 Dale Murphy 398 6 Joe DiMaggio 361 7 Ellis Burks 345 8 Fred Lynn 306 9 Jimmy Wynn 291 10 Eric Davis 282 HOMERUNS DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Willie Mays 390 660 270 2 Mickey Mantle 346 536 190 3 Ken Griffey Jr. 272 468 196 4 Joe DiMaggio 240 361 121 5 Dale Murphy 223 398 175 6 Duke Snider 218 407 189 7 Cy Williams 187 251 64 8 Hack Wilson 175 244 69 9 Wally Berger 164 242 78 10 Ellis Burks 150 345 195 RUNS R 1 Ty Cobb 2245 2 Willie Mays 2062 3 Tris Speaker 1882 4 Mickey Mantle 1677 5 Max Carey 1545 6 Joe DiMaggio 1390 7 Vada Pinson 1366 8 Brett Butler 1359 9 Doc Cramer 1357 10 Richie Ashburn 1322 13 Ken Griffey Jr. 1237 RUNS DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Ty Cobb 928 2245 1317 2 Willie Mays 743 2062 1319 3 Mickey Mantle 712 1677 965 4 Tris Speaker 651 1882 1231 5 Joe DiMaggio 477 1390 913 6 Earle Combs 373 1186 813 7 Tommy Leach 343 1280 937 8 Duke Snider 333 1259 926 9 Kenny Lofton 318 1148 830 10 Max Carey 315 1545 1230 T11 Ken Griffey Jr. 310 1237 927 T11 Brett Butler 310 1359 1049 RUNS BATTED IN RBI 1 Ty Cobb 1933 2 Willie Mays 1903 T3 Tris Speaker 1537 T3 Joe DiMaggio 1537 5 Mickey Mantle 1509 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 1358 7 Duke Snider 1333 8 Al Oliver 1326 9 Dale Murphy 1266 10 Ellis Burks 1177 RBI DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE 1 Ty Cobb 810 1933 1123 2 Joe DiMaggio 686 1537 851 3 Willie Mays 671 1903 1232 4 Mickey Mantle 604 1509 905 5 Tris Speaker 484 1537 1053 6 Ken Griffey Jr. 481 1358 877 7 Duke Snider 465 1333 868 8 Hack Wilson 453 1063 610 9 Dale Murphy 348 1266 918 10 Al Oliver 317 1326 1009 * All statistics are through 2002. The career rate stats are based on a minimum of 5000 PA. Player positions are determined by career totals rather than by individual seasons. Ken Griffey's Career Stats (through 2003): YEAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS CAREER 1914 7079 1271 2080 382 36 481 1384 940 1256 177 .294 .379 .562 .941 Griffey's Seasonal Averages (per 162 games played): YEAR G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG OPS 11.81 162 599 108 176 32 3 41 117 80 106 15 .294 .379 .562 .941 Honors Post-Season Black Ink: Batting 26 (Average HOFer ~ 27) Sources: sabermetric baseball encyclopedia, baseball-reference.com, and espn.com An evaluation of Griffey (or any player) would not be complete without reviewing fielding and baserunning. By most measures, Griffey was at least an average--if not a plus--fielder and baserunner. Like most ballplayers, Griffey's defensive and baserunning performance improved through his early years before deteriorating slightly with age. Junior's defense and baserunning were generally stronger during his Seattle years and were weaker during his Cincinnati years. As noted above, Griffey won 10 Gold Gloves, perhaps due to his penchant for making spectacular catches as well as the possibility that his reputation may have preceded his actual performance. His fielding percentage as a center fielder was .985 vs. the league average for CF of .987. His range factor was 2.55 vs. the league average of 2.43. Baseball Prospectus rates Griffey's career defensive value at 99, meaning he was one run below average per 100 games. Griffey's highest defensive rating was 108 in 1995 and his lowest was 91 in 2002. Griffey had excellent speed, particularly early in his career before injuries took their toll. He stole 177 bases and was caught 66 times for a success rate of 73%, which is five percentage points above the league average and one percentage point above his position average. Miscellaneous Information Born on the same day (November 21) and in the same town (Donora, PA) as Stan Musial. The most similar player appears to be Duke Snider. Griffey was the first pick in the June 1987 draft. Junior collected 398 HR before the age of 30 and was the youngest player to reach 400. Ninth unanimous MVP in A.L. history. Belted 40 or more HR in seven out of eight seasons from 1993-2000 (with the only miss in 1995, a year he hit 17 homers in only 72 games). Four-year run of 209 HR and 567 RBI (equal to 52 HR and 142 RBI per year), including back-to-back seasons of 56 in 1997 and 1998. Hit A.L.-high 40 roundtrippers in just 111 games during the strike-shortened 1994 season, on pace for a 162-game total of 58. Conclusion: Based on statistical comparisons, I believe Ken Griffey, Jr. is the sixth best center fielder of all time and is clearly worthy of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame even if he were to retire now and never play another game. There is a huge gap between Griffey and The Big Five (in alphabetical order, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Tris Speaker), but he ranks higher than Snider (who I would rate #7) by almost every statistical measure and is unmistakably superior to the rest of the center fielders in baseball history. |