Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Al Rosen

Al Rosen as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records

In honor of Leap Day (February 29, 2020), I have updated an article I wrote several years ago about the best player in MLB history who was born on February 29th: Al Rosen. A very nice biography of Al Rosen, including his considerable post-playing as an MLB executive, can be found here.

The first two tables below present Al Rosen's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
Value Decomposition
Season Team Age Games pWins pLosses pWORL pWOPA
1947CLE23
7
0.20.20.0-0.0
1948CLE24
5
0.00.1-0.1-0.1
1949CLE25
23
1.21.6-0.3-0.5
1950CLE26
155
22.715.78.36.3
1951CLE27
154
21.816.26.74.8
1952CLE28
148
22.915.88.56.5
1953CLE29
155
26.717.211.08.6
1954CLE30
137
19.513.07.65.8
1955CLE31
139
16.313.53.52.0
1956CLE32
121
13.913.01.80.4
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
CAREER (reg. season)
1,044
145.1106.447.033.9
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
PostSeason (career)
4
0.20.5-0.3-0.4
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
COMBINED
1,048
145.3106.946.733.5


Expected Player Won-Lost Records
Value Decomposition
Season Team Age Games eWins eLosses eWORL eWOPA
1947CLE23
7
0.20.2-0.0-0.0
1948CLE24
5
0.00.1-0.0-0.1
1949CLE25
23
1.21.6-0.3-0.5
1950CLE26
155
21.916.46.74.7
1951CLE27
154
20.917.05.03.0
1952CLE28
148
22.016.76.74.7
1953CLE29
155
26.417.510.48.0
1954CLE30
137
18.414.25.23.5
1955CLE31
139
15.114.71.60.1
1956CLE32
121
13.713.31.3-0.1
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
CAREER (reg. season)
1,044
139.8111.736.523.3
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
PostSeason (career)
4
0.30.4-0.1-0.2
------ ------ ------ ------ ------
COMBINED
1,048
140.1112.136.423.1


From 1950 through 1954, Al Rosen was one of the best players in major-league baseball. Over those five seasons, Rosen played in 749 games (one game shy of exactly 150 per season) and batted .298/.396/.528 with per-season averages of 31 home runs, 114 RBI, and 95 runs scored. He won the American League MVP award in 1953, when he fell one hit short of winning a Triple Crown.

The next table shows the top 10 players in pWins over positional average and replacement level over this five-year stretch.

pWins over Positional Average
Top 10 Players, 1950 - 1954
          pWins over Replacement Level
Top 10 Players, 1950 - 1954
Player pWins pLosses pWOPA pWORL           Player pWins pLosses pWOPA pWORL
1Larry Doby111.374.732.6
42.4
1Robin Roberts105.880.531.0
42.5
2Al Rosen113.577.832.0
42.1
2Larry Doby111.374.732.6
42.4
3Jackie Robinson104.672.631.1
40.4
3Al Rosen113.577.832.0
42.1
4Robin Roberts105.880.531.0
42.5
4Jackie Robinson104.672.631.1
40.4
5Yogi Berra88.860.230.0
37.8
5Pee Wee Reese103.277.628.4
38.0
6Pee Wee Reese103.277.628.4
38.0
6Yogi Berra88.860.230.0
37.8
7Duke Snider108.375.828.1
37.8
7Duke Snider108.375.828.1
37.8
8Gil Hodges97.065.226.1
34.6
8E. Mike Garcia87.566.125.1
34.8
9Mickey Mantle80.251.525.9
32.9
9Stan Musial116.786.524.1
34.8
10E. Mike Garcia87.566.125.1
34.8
10Gil Hodges97.065.226.1
34.6


These five seasons were Al Rosen's age-26 through age-30 season. The next table shows the top 25 players in pWins over positional average and replacement level from age 26 through age 30, for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records (most games since 1916).

pWins over Positional Average
Top 25 Players, ages 26 - 30
          pWins over Replacement Level
Top 25 Players, ages 26 - 30
Player pWins pLosses pWOPA pWORL           Player pWins pLosses pWOPA pWORL
1Babe Ruth132.873.254.9
65.4
1Babe Ruth132.873.254.9
65.4
2Al Simmons122.575.441.4
51.7
2Al Simmons122.575.441.4
51.7
3Mickey Mantle112.969.639.0
48.2
3Mel Ott123.279.638.8
49.4
4Sandy Koufax97.964.338.9
48.9
4Sandy Koufax97.964.338.9
48.9
5Mel Ott123.279.638.8
49.4
5Mickey Mantle112.969.639.0
48.2
6Ted Williams109.065.138.7
47.6
6Ted Williams109.065.138.7
47.6
7Barry Bonds118.275.338.2
47.5
7Barry Bonds118.275.338.2
47.5
8Lou Gehrig111.468.035.7
45.0
8Duke Snider112.872.635.4
45.1
9Pedro J. Martinez70.435.935.7
43.1
9Lou Gehrig111.468.035.7
45.0
10Duke Snider112.872.635.4
45.1
10Lefty Grove94.964.134.2
44.3
11Greg Maddux82.453.034.5
42.9
11Joe L. Morgan118.486.733.8
43.8
12Lefty Grove94.964.134.2
44.3
12Willie Mays127.189.432.4
43.4
13Albert Pujols110.168.933.9
42.3
13Pedro J. Martinez70.435.935.7
43.1
14Joe L. Morgan118.486.733.8
43.8
14Greg Maddux82.453.034.5
42.9
15Larry Doby111.374.732.6
42.4
15Larry Doby111.374.732.6
42.4
16Willie Mays127.189.432.4
43.4
16Albert Pujols110.168.933.9
42.3
17Al Rosen113.577.832.0
42.1
17Al Rosen113.577.832.0
42.1
18Hack Wilson123.088.230.9
41.8
18Hack Wilson123.088.230.9
41.8
19Juan Marichal95.670.930.2
40.2
19Juan Marichal95.670.930.2
40.2
20Stan Musial117.581.629.8
40.1
20Stan Musial117.581.629.8
40.1
21Yogi Berra89.161.329.3
37.2
21Frank Robinson123.086.428.7
39.0
22Chipper Jones112.080.328.9
38.5
22Chipper Jones112.080.328.9
38.5
23Mike Schmidt113.581.728.8
38.3
23Carl Yastrzemski124.488.927.8
38.4
24Frank Robinson123.086.428.7
39.0
24Mike Schmidt113.581.728.8
38.3
25Rogers Hornsby106.377.828.4
37.7
25Rogers Hornsby106.377.828.4
37.7


Finally, Al Rosen has one other claim to fame as a baseball player. He is the best player in major-league history who was born on February 29th. The final table shows all of the players in major-league history who were born on February 29th for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records, ranked by pWins over replacement level (pWORL).

Major League Baseball Players Born on February 29th
(sorted by pWORL)
Player Birth Year Debut Year Games pWins pLosses pWOPA pWORL eWins eLosses eWOPA eWORL
Al Rosen19241947
1044
145.1106.433.9
47.0
139.8111.723.336.5
Pepper Martin19041928
1189
141.8121.915.4
29.1
140.2123.512.426.2
Terrence Long19761999
885
95.394.5-1.9
7.5
92.997.0-6.72.7
Steve Mingori19441970
386
24.926.3-1.9
2.7
26.624.61.25.7
Bill Long19601985
159
25.727.6-1.8
2.1
25.927.5-1.52.4
Stefan Crichton19922017
36
1.10.70.4
0.6
1.00.80.20.4
Al Autry19521976
1
0.40.30.1
0.1
0.20.5-0.3-0.2
Gerardo Concepcion19922016
3
0.00.1-0.1
-0.1
0.10.1-0.00.0
Jerry Fry19561978
4
0.10.3-0.2
-0.2
0.10.3-0.2-0.2
Ed Appleton18921915
12
1.82.6-0.7
-0.3
2.02.4-0.30.0
Paul Giel19321954
105
9.913.3-3.0
-1.2
10.313.0-2.5-0.6
Ralph J. Miller18961920
134
14.122.1-7.7
-5.9
15.720.4-4.4-2.5
Roy Parker18961919
0
0.00.00.0
0.0
0.00.00.00.0


Rosen has more career pWORL, 47.0, than everybody else in this table put together, 34.5.

Article last updated: February 29, 2020



All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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