Cal Ripken

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Cal Ripken

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Cal Ripken

Cal Ripken was elected to the Hall of Fame in his 1st year of eligibility, 2001, with 98.5% of the vote.

Five highlights of Cal Ripken’s career:

Cal Ripken was named to nineteen All-Star teams in his career. He was named American League Rookie of the Year in 1982. He received MVP votes ten times, winning the award in 1983 and 1991. He also won two Gold Gloves and eight Silver Sluggers in his career.

Ripken finished his career with 3,184 hits, which is currently 15th all-time. He is in the top 20 in career doubles (603, 16th) and total bases (5,168, 17th), and second in career sacrifice flies (since that statistic became official in 1954).

Ripken batted over .300 five times in his career (including 1999 when he batted .340 in 354 plate appearances). He scored 100 or more runs three times and scored at least 90 eight times. He had at least 100 RBI four times, with 90 or more RBI eight times.

In 1991, Cal Ripken became the first shortstop to win the Home Run Derby during All-Star festivities. The next day, he hit a 3-run home run off former teammate Dennis Martinez and was named All-Star Game MVP, making him the first player to win the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game MVP in the same season. He capped off the 1991 season by winning his second American League MVP award, with career highs in all three Triple Crown categories, with a .323 batting average, 34 home runs, and 114 RBI.

Only 38 players in major-league history have played more games in their career than Ripken played during his consecutive-game streak. Early in Cal Ripken’s consecutive-game streak, he played in 8,264 consecutive innings from June 5, 1982 through September 14, 1987.

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

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1981	BAL	20	23	0.6	0.9	-0.2	-0.2
1982	BAL	21	160	21.6	18.0	6.2	4.3
1983	BAL	22	162	24.8	19.4	8.7	6.6
1984	BAL	23	162	25.9	19.4	10.1	8.0
1985	BAL	24	161	23.1	20.4	6.2	4.1
1986	BAL	25	162	22.0	20.0	5.5	3.5
1987	BAL	26	162	19.3	21.4	1.2	-0.7
1988	BAL	27	161	19.9	19.7	3.2	1.3
1989	BAL	28	162	22.4	19.6	6.2	4.2
1990	BAL	29	161	20.4	18.4	5.1	3.2
1991	BAL	30	162	23.2	20.2	6.2	4.2
1992	BAL	31	162	19.7	18.7	4.1	2.2
1993	BAL	32	162	20.4	19.4	4.2	2.3
1994	BAL	33	112	14.9	12.8	4.4	3.0
1995	BAL	34	144	17.6	18.3	2.3	0.6
1996	BAL	35	163	20.6	19.4	4.3	2.3
1997	BAL	36	162	19.4	17.1	4.1	2.3
1998	BAL	37	161	16.4	17.5	0.6	-1.1
1999	BAL	38	86	10.0	9.3	1.6	0.6
2000	BAL	39	83	8.7	7.7	1.9	1.0
2001	BAL	40	128	11.5	14.0	-1.2	-2.5
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			3,001	382.3	351.6	84.5	49.2
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			28	3.7	2.8	1.4	1.1
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			3,029	386.1	354.4	85.9	50.3

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1981	BAL	20	23	0.6	1.0	-0.3	-0.3
1982	BAL	21	160	20.9	18.6	4.9	3.0
1983	BAL	22	162	24.2	20.1	7.5	5.4
1984	BAL	23	162	25.5	19.8	9.3	7.1
1985	BAL	24	161	23.1	20.4	6.3	4.2
1986	BAL	25	162	22.2	19.8	5.8	3.8
1987	BAL	26	162	20.6	20.1	3.7	1.8
1988	BAL	27	161	21.7	17.9	6.7	4.8
1989	BAL	28	162	21.6	20.4	4.7	2.7
1990	BAL	29	161	20.7	18.1	5.7	3.8
1991	BAL	30	162	24.8	18.6	9.4	7.4
1992	BAL	31	162	19.1	19.3	3.0	1.1
1993	BAL	32	162	20.3	19.4	4.1	2.2
1994	BAL	33	112	14.6	13.1	3.9	2.5
1995	BAL	34	144	18.0	17.9	3.1	1.4
1996	BAL	35	163	20.0	20.0	3.2	1.3
1997	BAL	36	162	17.8	18.7	0.9	-0.8
1998	BAL	37	161	16.5	17.4	0.7	-1.0
1999	BAL	38	86	10.3	9.0	2.1	1.1
2000	BAL	39	83	8.3	8.1	1.1	0.3
2001	BAL	40	128	11.8	13.7	-0.8	-2.1
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			3,001	382.6	351.4	85.1	49.8
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			28	3.6	3.0	1.0	0.7
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			3,029	386.1	354.3	86.1	50.5

Cal Ripken is almost certainly best known for his major-league record 2,632 consecutive games played from May 30, 1982 through September 19, 1998. Because of this, I think that Cal Ripken is sometimes viewed primarily as a career compiler, and, indeed, Cal Ripken is 8th in major-league history in games played (3,001), 6th in plate appearances (12,883), and 4th in at bats (11,551). Ripken is also fourth in major-league history in outs made and is second in major-league history in for double play groundouts.

And, similarly, Cal Ripken ranks extremely high in career Player wins and Player wins over replacement level, as shown in the table below.

		pWins Top 40 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 40 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Hank Aaron	496.7	369.1	98.5	142.5	1	Babe Ruth	410.9	236.0	161.2	195.2
2	Barry Bonds	466.8	310.6	136.5	174.4	2	Barry Bonds	466.8	310.6	136.5	174.4
3	Willie Mays	465.3	329.8	116.5	156.6	3	Willie Mays	465.3	329.8	116.5	156.6
4	Pete Rose Sr.	439.3	394.7	23.6	64.5	4	Hank Aaron	496.7	369.1	98.5	142.5
5	Carl Yastrzemski	430.9	360.2	45.5	85.7	5	Mickey Mantle	354.1	227.5	112.2	141.9
6	Rickey Henderson	428.4	350.3	62.5	100.5	6	Mel Ott	419.7	295.2	103.6	140.8
7	Stan Musial	424.1	311.3	88.2	126.2	7	Ted Williams	373.0	250.0	104.3	136.6
8	Mel Ott	419.7	295.2	103.6	140.8	8	Roger Clemens	316.9	228.6	94.6	131.3
9	Babe Ruth	410.9	236.0	161.2	195.2	9	Stan Musial	424.1	311.3	88.2	126.2
10	Frank Robinson	398.0	302.5	70.9	106.8	10	Lou Gehrig	304.3	183.8	99.6	124.8
11	Dave Winfield	397.3	339.8	38.7	75.5	11	Joe L. Morgan	371.9	293.9	84.9	117.6
12	Cal Ripken	382.3	351.6	49.2	84.5	12	Greg Maddux	327.2	271.7	77.9	115.0
13	Al Kaline	380.5	299.2	58.6	93.2	13	Alex Rodriguez	373.8	298.7	81.2	114.9
14	Alex Rodriguez	373.8	298.7	81.2	114.9	14	Warren Spahn	351.1	294.8	74.3	113.8
15	Ted Williams	373.0	250.0	104.3	136.6	15	Lefty Grove	261.0	187.5	84.0	112.3
16	Joe L. Morgan	371.9	293.9	84.9	117.6	16	Joe DiMaggio	287.1	193.1	84.5	109.4
17	Reggie Jackson	370.0	295.8	58.4	92.6	17	Jimmie Foxx	301.3	200.3	81.9	108.1
18	Derek Jeter	367.7	323.1	61.2	94.8	18	Frank Robinson	398.0	302.5	70.9	106.8
19	Robin Yount	366.7	345.7	31.9	66.5	19	Albert Pujols	359.9	267.3	71.8	104.3
20	Paul Waner	363.4	303.7	36.2	70.9	20	Randy 'Big Unit' Johnson	279.8	221.0	69.8	102.9
21	Albert Pujols	359.9	267.3	71.8	104.3	21	Rickey Henderson	428.4	350.3	62.5	100.5
22	Adrian Beltre	358.5	318.3	35.3	68.5	22	Mike Schmidt	338.5	257.6	71.0	99.7
23	Craig Biggio	357.7	325.7	34.0	67.3	23	Eddie Mathews	320.7	240.9	70.5	99.1
24	Roberto Clemente	357.0	295.1	37.8	70.5	24	Chipper Jones	336.2	257.6	69.6	98.6
25	Nolan Ryan	354.6	329.6	38.1	81.0	25	Tom Seaver	306.9	258.2	65.1	98.6
26	Mickey Mantle	354.1	227.5	112.2	141.9	26	Pee Wee Reese	299.9	239.2	68.0	96.0
27	Brooks Robinson	352.3	310.6	32.0	64.9	27	Derek Jeter	367.7	323.1	61.2	94.8
28	Warren Spahn	351.1	294.8	74.3	113.8	28	Al Kaline	380.5	299.2	58.6	93.2
29	Andre Dawson	350.4	309.7	22.8	55.1	29	Reggie Jackson	370.0	295.8	58.4	92.6
30	Lou Brock	347.6	328.7	-7.4	26.1	30	Manny Ramirez	320.0	247.6	60.2	88.9
31	Eddie Murray	346.7	285.5	38.6	70.7	31	Jim Palmer	241.5	186.1	61.9	88.7
32	Gary Sheffield	343.2	288.0	41.0	72.7	32	Yogi Berra	246.3	182.5	66.1	88.4
33	Ken Griffey Jr.	342.1	297.2	38.3	69.8	33	Bob Gibson	262.4	218.4	58.7	87.4
34	Mike Schmidt	338.5	257.6	71.0	99.7	34	Steve Carlton	335.6	305.9	49.2	86.9
35	Chipper Jones	336.2	257.6	69.6	98.6	35	Carl Yastrzemski	430.9	360.2	45.5	85.7
36	Steve Carlton	335.6	305.9	49.2	86.9	36	Rogers Hornsby	258.5	197.5	61.7	85.2
37	Ozzie Smith	333.3	312.5	35.6	66.5	37	Pedro J. Martinez	192.4	137.8	62.6	84.7
38	Billy Williams	332.4	278.2	31.2	62.1	38	Cal Ripken	382.3	351.6	49.2	84.5
39	Carlos Beltran	331.4	290.0	32.4	63.6	39	Duke Snider	270.3	198.7	59.8	84.2
40	Dwight Evans	330.1	271.9	45.6	75.3	40	Al Simmons	323.3	253.8	53.8	83.6

I think sometimes that the counting stats obscure that not only did Cal Ripken merely stick around for a very long time - although, obviously, he did - but he was also an excellent baseball player. The next table shows the top 10 single seasons, as measured by (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over replacement level (eWORL) from 1977 through 1992 (the longest stretch between expansions since MLB first expanded in 1961).

		eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Seasons, 1969 - 1992
	Player	Season	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Dwight Gooden	1985	19.7	12.5	8.5	10.4
2	Kevin Mitchell	1989	26.4	17.9	7.4	9.5
3	Mike Scott	1986	18.8	12.8	7.6	9.5
4	Cal Ripken	1991	24.8	18.6	7.4	9.4
5	Cal Ripken	1984	25.5	19.8	7.1	9.3
6	Robin Yount	1982	24.3	18.5	7.1	9.2
7	Rickey Henderson	1985	23.3	15.6	7.3	9.1
8	Ron Guidry	1978	17.7	10.5	7.3	9.1
9	Rickey Henderson	1990	23.1	15.2	7.3	9.1
10	Roger Clemens	1988	18.3	11.4	7.1	9.0

By this measure, Cal Ripken had the two of the five best seasons over this 26-year period. Cal Ripken did a lot more than just stick around for a long time playing every game. He stuck around for a long time playing every game because he was a great, great baseball player.

Article last updated: February 11, 2019

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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