1987 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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1987 Season

The 1987 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

This article takes a look at the 1987 season as measured by Player won-lost records.

The Best of 1987

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Alan Trammell	23.1	16.0	8.3	10.0	1	Alan Trammell	23.1	16.0	8.3	10.0
2	Roger Clemens	18.1	11.8	6.7	8.6	2	Roger Clemens	18.1	11.8	6.7	8.6
3	Ozzie Smith	22.9	17.5	6.3	8.1	3	Ozzie Smith	22.9	17.5	6.3	8.1
4	Jack Clark	18.4	10.6	6.2	7.5	4	Darryl Strawberry	24.2	17.0	5.9	7.8
5	Darryl Strawberry	24.2	17.0	5.9	7.8	5	Jack Clark	18.4	10.6	6.2	7.5
6	Bret Saberhagen	15.5	10.6	5.2	6.8	6	Bret Saberhagen	15.5	10.6	5.2	6.8
7	Howard Johnson	20.6	15.2	5.1	6.7	7	Frank Viola	16.8	12.2	5.0	6.7
8	Eric Davis	21.1	15.3	5.1	6.7	8	Eric Davis	21.1	15.3	5.1	6.7
9	Frank Viola	16.8	12.2	5.0	6.7	9	Howard Johnson	20.6	15.2	5.1	6.7
10	Tim Burke	7.5	2.3	4.9	5.9	10	Tony Fernandez	20.7	17.2	4.8	6.5

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.


		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Alan Trammell	22.2	16.9	6.5	8.3	1	Alan Trammell	22.2	16.9	6.5	8.3
2	Roger Clemens	17.9	12.0	6.2	8.1	2	Roger Clemens	17.9	12.0	6.2	8.1
3	Ozzie Smith	22.6	17.8	5.7	7.5	3	Ozzie Smith	22.6	17.8	5.7	7.5
4	Wade Boggs	20.1	14.3	5.5	7.1	4	Darryl Strawberry	24.0	17.2	5.5	7.3
5	Darryl Strawberry	24.0	17.2	5.5	7.3	5	Dale Murphy	23.8	17.2	5.3	7.1
6	Dale Murphy	23.8	17.2	5.3	7.1	6	Wade Boggs	20.1	14.3	5.5	7.1
7	Jack Clark	17.8	11.1	5.2	6.5	7	Mike Schmidt	22.5	16.6	5.1	6.9
8	Mike Schmidt	22.5	16.6	5.1	6.9	8	Eric Davis	21.2	15.2	4.9	6.6
9	Jimmy Key	14.8	9.9	5.0	6.5	9	Jack Clark	17.8	11.1	5.2	6.5
10	Eric Davis	21.2	15.2	4.9	6.6	10	Jimmy Key	14.8	9.9	5.0	6.5

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 1987 at the end of this article.

1987 Postseason

The 1987 postseason ended with the 85-win Minnesota Twins, who were outscored in the regular season and would have finished in 5th in the AL East, defeating the 98-win Detroit Tigers and the 95-win St. Louis Cardinals to win one of the most unlikely World Championships ever.

The best players of the 1987 postseason, as measured by pWins over replacement level, are shown in the next table.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	pWORL
	1987 Postseason: Total

Bert Blyleven	MIN	2.0	1.5	0.8
Tony Pena Sr.	SLN	1.6	1.0	0.8
Tim Laudner	MIN	1.4	0.8	0.8
Jeffrey Leonard	SFN	1.3	0.6	0.7
Todd Worrell	SLN	1.0	0.4	0.7
Mike Krukow	SFN	0.8	0.3	0.7
Gary Gaetti	MIN	1.8	1.2	0.7
Jose Oquendo	SLN	1.5	1.0	0.6
Frank Viola	MIN	1.9	1.6	0.6
Dave Dravecky	SDN	1.0	0.6	0.6

Top postseason players by round were as follows.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	1987 World Series

Tony Pena Sr.	SLN	0.9	0.5	0.4
Bert Blyleven	MIN	1.0	0.7	0.3
Don Baylor	BOS	0.6	0.3	0.3
Tim Laudner	MIN	0.8	0.5	0.2
Vince Coleman	SLN	1.0	0.8	0.2

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	1987 Postseason: League Championship Series

Jeffrey Leonard	SFN	1.3	0.6	0.7
Mike Krukow	SFN	0.8	0.3	0.6
Gary Gaetti	MIN	0.8	0.3	0.6
Tom Brunansky	MIN	0.8	0.3	0.5
Dan Gladden	MIN	1.0	0.4	0.5

Best of 1987 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in various aspects of the game.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 1987 in wins over positional average (WOPA) by factor were as follows.


Batting
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Jack Clark	15.2	8.3	6.6	1	Jack Clark	15.6	7.9	7.4
2	Darryl Strawberry	16.1	10.4	5.3	2	Alan Trammell	15.6	10.0	5.6
3	Dale Murphy	15.5	10.2	4.8	3	Darryl Strawberry	16.2	10.3	5.5
4	Mark McGwire	14.9	10.3	4.7	4	Howard Johnson	14.8	9.5	4.9
5	Wade Boggs	14.6	10.1	4.5	5	Eric Davis	13.9	8.8	4.7
6	Dwight Evans	14.9	10.4	4.5	6	George Bell	17.0	12.4	4.6
7	Eric Davis	13.7	9.1	4.2	7	Will Clark	13.5	8.8	4.4
8	Mike Schmidt	16.2	11.6	4.1	8	Darrell Evans	13.1	8.8	4.4
9	Alan Trammell	14.7	10.9	3.8	9	Dwight Evans	14.8	10.5	4.4
10	George Bell	16.6	12.8	3.8	10	Paul Molitor	11.6	7.4	4.2

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Vince Coleman	3.7	2.3	1.3	1	Tim Raines Sr.	2.3	1.1	1.2
2	Tim Raines Sr.	2.4	1.1	1.3	2	Willie Wilson	2.6	1.5	1.1
3	Willie Wilson	2.6	1.5	1.1	3	Eric Davis	1.8	0.7	1.0
4	Eric Davis	1.8	0.8	1.0	4	Tony Gwynn Sr.	2.7	1.6	1.0
5	Ozzie Smith	2.2	1.3	0.9	5	Vince Coleman	3.5	2.5	0.9
6	Lloyd Moseby	2.0	1.2	0.8	6	Lloyd Moseby	2.0	1.1	0.8
7	Willie Randolph	1.7	1.0	0.7	7	Ozzie Smith	2.2	1.3	0.8
8	Julio Franco	2.1	1.4	0.7	8	Lenny Dykstra	1.6	0.8	0.8
9	Kirk Gibson	1.4	0.7	0.7	9	Lou Whitaker	2.0	1.2	0.8
10	Lou Whitaker	2.0	1.3	0.6	10	Kirk Gibson	1.4	0.7	0.7

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Roger Clemens	17.0	12.6	4.5	1	Roger Clemens	18.0	11.6	6.3
2	Rick Reuschel	12.9	9.5	3.4	2	Tim Burke	7.3	2.1	5.2
3	Teddy Higuera	15.7	12.3	3.4	3	Bret Saberhagen	15.1	10.4	4.7
4	Jimmy Key	13.6	10.3	3.4	4	Frank Viola	16.5	12.0	4.5
5	Nolan Ryan	14.0	10.7	3.3	5	Teddy Higuera	16.0	12.0	4.0
6	Tim Burke	6.3	3.1	3.2	6	Todd Worrell	9.3	5.8	3.5
7	Bret Saberhagen	14.2	11.4	2.9	7	Charlie Leibrandt	14.7	11.3	3.4
8	Mike Scott	16.4	13.5	2.8	8	Rick Rhoden	13.6	10.2	3.4
9	Frank Viola	15.7	12.9	2.8	9	Jimmy Key	13.6	10.3	3.3
10	Dave S. Smith	5.0	2.6	2.5	10	Mark Langston	17.4	14.1	3.3

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Zane Smith	0.7	0.2	0.5	1	Zane Smith	0.7	0.1	0.6
2	Lee Guetterman	0.5	0.1	0.5	2	Lee Guetterman	0.5	0.1	0.5
3	Bob Welch	0.7	0.4	0.4	3	Bob Welch	0.8	0.3	0.4
4	Jimmy Key	0.5	0.2	0.3	4	Jamie Moyer	0.5	0.2	0.3
5	Jamie Moyer	0.5	0.2	0.3	5	Rick Sutcliffe	0.5	0.2	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Terry Kennedy	2.0	1.5	0.5	1	Bo Diaz	2.1	1.5	0.5
2	Bo Diaz	2.0	1.6	0.4	2	Larry Owen	0.9	0.5	0.4
3	Larry Owen	0.9	0.6	0.3	3	Ernie Whitt	1.6	1.3	0.3
4	Carlton Fisk	1.3	1.1	0.2	4	Mike LaValliere	1.5	1.2	0.3
5	Mike LaValliere	1.5	1.2	0.2	5	Rick Cerone	1.5	1.2	0.3


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Don Mattingly	2.8	2.2	0.6	1	Don Mattingly	3.1	1.9	1.1
2	Gerald Perry	2.8	2.2	0.6	2	Andres Galarraga	3.1	2.4	0.7
3	Pete M. O'Brien	2.6	2.0	0.5	3	Gerald Perry	2.8	2.2	0.7
4	Glenn Davis	2.7	2.3	0.4	4	Willie Upshaw	2.8	2.3	0.5
5	Willie Upshaw	2.7	2.4	0.3	5	Wally Joyner	2.8	2.4	0.4


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Robby Thompson	4.7	4.1	0.6	1	Mark T. McLemore	5.1	4.3	0.8
2	Fred Manrique	3.0	2.5	0.5	2	Robby Thompson	4.8	4.0	0.7
3	Glenn Hubbard	5.8	5.3	0.5	3	Jim Gantner	2.1	1.4	0.7
4	Willie Randolph	4.4	4.0	0.5	4	Frank White	6.0	5.4	0.6
5	Mark T. McLemore	4.9	4.5	0.4	5	Garth Iorg	2.6	2.1	0.6


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Wade Boggs	4.4	3.5	0.9	1	Mike Schmidt	5.2	4.0	1.2
2	Mike Schmidt	5.0	4.2	0.8	2	Gary Gaetti	4.1	3.1	1.0
3	Tim Hulett	1.6	1.1	0.5	3	Wade Boggs	4.4	3.5	0.9
4	Gary Gaetti	3.8	3.4	0.4	4	Chris Speier	1.3	0.8	0.5
5	Kevin Mitchell	3.3	2.9	0.4	5	Steve Lyons	1.4	1.0	0.5


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ozzie Smith	6.8	5.1	1.8	1	Ozzie Smith	7.5	4.4	3.0
2	Ozzie Guillen	6.3	4.9	1.4	2	Tony Fernandez	6.3	4.4	1.8
3	Greg Gagne	5.6	4.4	1.2	3	Jose Uribe	4.9	3.3	1.6
4	Tony Fernandez	5.8	4.9	1.0	4	Greg Gagne	5.6	4.4	1.1
5	Angel Salazar	4.3	3.5	0.8	5	Angel Salazar	4.4	3.4	1.1


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Barry Bonds	4.2	3.0	1.2	1	Dan Gladden	5.2	3.2	2.0
2	Dan Gladden	4.7	3.6	1.0	2	Kirk Gibson	5.5	4.3	1.3
3	Jack Howell	2.6	1.7	0.9	3	Vince Coleman	6.1	5.2	0.9
4	Luis Polonia	2.0	1.2	0.7	4	Jose Canseco	6.1	5.2	0.9
5	Kevin McReynolds	6.4	5.7	0.7	5	Luis Polonia	2.0	1.2	0.9


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Andy Van Slyke	5.3	4.0	1.3	1	Andy Van Slyke	5.2	4.0	1.3
2	Milt Thompson	5.0	4.2	0.8	2	Milt Thompson	5.0	4.1	0.9
3	Gary Pettis	4.3	3.7	0.6	3	Billy Hatcher	4.2	3.4	0.8
4	Billy Hatcher	4.0	3.6	0.4	4	Casey Candaele	1.7	0.9	0.8
5	Casey Candaele	1.5	1.2	0.4	5	Gary Pettis	4.3	3.6	0.8


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Glenn Wilson	7.2	5.5	1.7	1	Glenn Wilson	7.5	5.1	2.4
2	Jesse Barfield	6.3	5.3	1.0	2	Jesse Barfield	6.3	5.3	1.1
3	Devon White	4.6	3.8	0.9	3	Cory Snyder	6.5	5.6	0.9
4	Mike Kingery	4.6	3.8	0.8	4	Darryl Strawberry	6.5	5.6	0.9
5	Lee Lacy	3.3	2.6	0.7	5	Kevin Bass	6.1	5.4	0.7

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1987 Major-League leaders by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position.


Catcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Matt Nokes	10.4	8.7	2.6	1	Matt Nokes	10.8	8.3	3.4
2	Alan Ashby	11.5	9.7	2.5	2	Bill Schroeder	6.6	4.6	2.6
3	Bob Brenly	10.7	9.2	2.2	3	Bob Brenly	10.8	9.1	2.4
4	Benito Santiago	15.8	14.9	2.0	4	Ernie Whitt	11.0	10.0	2.0
5	Bill Schroeder	6.3	4.9	1.8	5	B.J. Surhoff	9.8	8.9	1.9


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jack Clark	17.5	11.0	4.9	1	Jack Clark	18.2	10.3	6.4
2	Mark McGwire	16.8	12.3	3.2	2	Will Clark	16.8	12.1	2.9
3	Dwight Evans	9.8	6.9	2.1	3	Darrell Evans	11.6	8.0	2.6
4	Will Clark	16.4	12.5	2.1	4	Mark McGwire	16.4	12.7	2.2
5	Kent Hrbek	15.8	12.6	1.8	5	Dwight Evans	9.8	6.9	2.2


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bill D. Doran	22.8	20.5	2.9	1	Willie Randolph	16.9	13.6	4.0
2	Willie Randolph	16.3	14.2	2.9	2	Lou Whitaker	20.1	17.4	3.6
3	Juan Samuel	21.5	20.1	2.0	3	Bill D. Doran	22.6	20.7	2.5
4	Ryne Sandberg	16.9	15.3	2.0	4	Randy Ready	5.8	3.6	2.2
5	Tim Teufel	9.8	8.0	2.0	5	Vance Law	11.7	9.9	2.1


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Wade Boggs	19.7	14.4	5.0	1	Howard Johnson	17.5	11.9	5.1
2	Mike Schmidt	21.0	15.6	4.7	2	Mike Schmidt	21.1	15.4	5.0
3	Tim Wallach	20.7	17.9	2.0	3	Wade Boggs	19.4	14.7	4.6
4	Kevin Mitchell	15.5	12.9	2.0	4	Tim Wallach	21.5	17.2	3.5
5	Kevin Seitzer	18.3	16.4	1.6	5	Terry Pendleton	20.8	17.3	2.7


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Alan Trammell	21.8	17.1	6.0	1	Alan Trammell	23.0	15.8	8.4
2	Ozzie Smith	22.2	18.0	5.1	2	Ozzie Smith	22.8	17.4	6.3
3	Tony Fernandez	19.7	18.2	3.0	3	Tony Fernandez	20.7	17.2	4.9
4	Greg Gagne	14.2	13.1	2.1	4	Jose Uribe	11.6	9.0	3.0
5	Cal Ripken	20.5	20.2	1.8	5	Greg Gagne	14.3	13.0	2.2


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	George Bell	22.6	18.1	3.8	1	George Bell	23.1	18.1	4.7
2	Tim Raines Sr.	21.2	16.8	3.3	2	Tim Raines Sr.	21.8	16.8	4.5
3	Kal Daniels	14.1	10.6	2.8	3	Kirk Gibson	17.3	13.3	4.5
4	Kirk Gibson	16.3	13.3	2.5	4	Rob Deer	13.3	11.0	2.8
5	Mike Greenwell	10.2	8.5	1.4	5	Vince Coleman	22.2	19.7	2.2


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Eric Davis	20.2	15.0	4.4	1	Eric Davis	20.6	14.6	5.2
2	Andy Van Slyke	16.3	12.4	3.2	2	Andy Van Slyke	16.5	12.2	3.7
3	Robin Yount	19.8	17.6	1.6	3	Lloyd Moseby	21.4	17.7	3.2
4	Kirby Puckett	20.1	18.1	1.5	4	Robin Yount	20.3	17.1	2.7
5	Lloyd Moseby	20.6	18.5	1.5	5	Kirby Puckett	20.5	17.7	2.3


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Dale Murphy	23.6	17.4	4.9	1	Darryl Strawberry	23.8	16.9	5.6
2	Darryl Strawberry	23.3	17.3	4.8	2	Dale Murphy	22.5	18.5	2.8
3	Tony Gwynn Sr.	21.9	18.0	2.5	3	Jesse Barfield	19.0	16.2	2.1
4	Devon White	15.7	12.9	2.2	4	Dave Winfield	19.8	17.1	2.0
5	Andre Dawson	23.3	19.9	2.0	5	Devon White	15.4	13.2	1.6


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Roger Clemens	17.2	12.7	4.9	1	Roger Clemens	18.1	11.8	6.7
2	Jimmy Key	14.2	10.5	3.9	2	Bret Saberhagen	15.5	10.6	5.2
3	Rick Reuschel	13.2	9.7	3.8	3	Frank Viola	16.8	12.2	5.0
4	Teddy Higuera	15.9	12.6	3.6	4	Teddy Higuera	16.2	12.2	4.3
5	Nolan Ryan	14.2	10.9	3.5	5	Charlie Leibrandt	15.4	11.8	3.9
6	Bret Saberhagen	14.6	11.5	3.4	6	Mark Langston	17.9	14.4	3.8
7	Mike Scott	16.8	13.9	3.2	7	Rick Rhoden	14.0	10.5	3.8
8	Frank Viola	15.9	13.1	3.2	8	Jimmy Key	14.0	10.7	3.5
9	Bob Welch	13.8	11.7	2.4	9	Rick Reuschel	13.0	9.8	3.5
10	Danny Jackson	14.4	12.3	2.3	10	Bob Welch	14.3	11.2	3.4


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Tim Burke	6.5	3.3	2.9	1	Tim Burke	7.5	2.3	4.9
2	Tom Henke	8.2	5.7	2.2	2	Todd Worrell	9.5	5.9	3.2
3	Dave S. Smith	5.1	2.6	2.2	3	Steve Bedrosian	8.3	5.1	2.9
4	Dennis Eckersley	7.2	4.8	2.1	4	Tom Henke	8.5	5.4	2.8
5	Dan Plesac	7.1	5.2	1.6	5	John Franco	7.7	4.9	2.5
6	Andy McGaffigan	5.6	4.0	1.3	6	Andy McGaffigan	6.1	3.4	2.5
7	De Wayne Buice	7.0	5.5	1.2	7	Dave S. Smith	5.0	2.7	2.2
8	Dale Mohorcic	5.8	4.4	1.2	8	Mike Henneman	5.4	3.1	2.1
9	Jim Gott	4.2	2.8	1.2	9	Dave Righetti	9.0	6.6	2.1
10	John Franco	6.9	5.6	1.1	10	Chuck Crim	6.2	3.9	2.0


Designated Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Brian Downing	12.1	9.3	2.4	1	Fred McGriff	6.9	4.6	2.1
2	Ken Phelps	9.0	6.8	2.0	2	Paul Molitor	6.8	4.5	2.1
3	Paul Molitor	6.6	4.7	1.7	3	Brian Downing	11.8	9.6	1.8

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.


Pitcher Offense
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bob Forsch	1.2	0.9	0.7	1	Brian Fisher	1.5	1.4	0.9
2	Brian Fisher	1.3	1.5	0.6	2	Orel Hershiser	1.6	2.0	0.7
3	Orel Hershiser	1.5	2.1	0.6	3	Bob Forsch	1.1	1.0	0.6


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	George Hendrick	1.5	0.6	0.9	1	George Hendrick	1.5	0.6	1.0
2	Ken Griffey Sr.	1.1	0.4	0.8	2	Jose Oquendo	1.2	0.6	0.7
3	John Kruk	0.9	0.3	0.6	3	Mike Young	0.9	0.3	0.7


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Rene Gonzales	0.3	0.0	0.2	1	Jim Walewander	0.3	0.0	0.3
2	Willie Wilson	0.2	0.0	0.2	2	Rene Gonzales	0.3	0.0	0.2
3	Claudell Washington	0.2	0.0	0.2	3	Willie Wilson	0.2	0.0	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 1987

Best Player in Baseball: Alan Trammell

How the heck did Alan Trammell not win the American League MVP award in 1987? He had a Triple Crown line of .343/28/105 while playing above-average defense at shortstop for a team that won 98 games and the AL East. Five years earlier, a shortstop put up a Triple Crown line of .331/29/114 for a 95-win AL East division winner. Four years earlier, a shortstop put up a Triple Crown line of .318/27/102 for a 98-win AL East division winner. They both won MVP awards! Was there a quota on how many AL East shortstops could win MVP awards in one decade?

Context? The Tigers entered the final weekend of the season one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays. Alan Trammell batted .333/.538/.667 in the last three games against the Blue Jays, including the game-winning single in the 12th inning of Saturday's game, as the Tigers swept the Blue Jays and won the AL East by two games.

What more does a man have to do?

I've written more about Alan Trammell elsewhere. Alan Trammell's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is presented next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Alan Trammell Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1977	DET	19	19	0.8	1.3	-0.5	-0.4	0.8	1.3	-0.4	-0.3
1978	DET	20	139	14.7	14.1	1.7	3.1	14.5	14.2	1.5	2.9
1979	DET	21	142	13.8	13.8	1.2	2.5	13.5	14.2	0.6	1.9
1980	DET	22	146	18.9	16.8	3.7	5.3	18.9	16.8	3.6	5.2
1981	DET	23	105	13.8	12.3	2.6	4.0	13.1	13.0	1.3	2.7
1982	DET	24	157	17.0	15.2	2.9	4.3	16.7	15.5	2.4	3.8
1983	DET	25	142	18.6	16.3	3.3	4.8	18.8	16.0	3.7	5.3
1984	DET	26	139	20.0	15.2	6.1	7.8	18.7	16.5	3.8	5.5
1985	DET	27	149	17.9	19.8	-0.1	1.6	18.6	19.0	1.3	3.0
1986	DET	28	151	19.5	17.7	3.2	4.9	20.0	17.2	4.2	5.9
1987	DET	29	151	23.1	16.0	8.3	10.0	22.2	16.9	6.5	8.3
1988	DET	30	128	20.9	14.9	6.9	8.7	19.7	16.1	4.5	6.3
1989	DET	31	121	14.7	14.8	0.9	2.3	15.1	14.3	1.8	3.2
1990	DET	32	146	19.7	17.1	3.8	5.4	19.8	17.1	3.9	5.6
1991	DET	33	100	13.2	12.5	1.4	2.6	13.3	12.4	1.5	2.7
1992	DET	34	29	3.9	3.6	0.6	0.9	3.8	3.7	0.3	0.6
1993	DET	35	112	13.4	11.4	2.4	3.6	13.0	11.8	1.9	3.1
1994	DET	36	76	7.1	10.1	-2.4	-1.5	8.2	8.9	-0.2	0.7
1995	DET	37	74	6.7	7.6	-0.3	0.4	6.9	7.4	0.0	0.7
1996	DET	38	66	4.1	7.4	-2.9	-2.3	4.9	6.6	-1.3	-0.8
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,292	281.6	257.9	42.6	68.1	280.5	258.9	40.8	66.3
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			13	2.2	1.5		1.1	2.0	1.7		0.6
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,305	283.8	259.4		69.2	282.6	260.6		67.0

Best Pitcher in Baseball: Roger Clemens

The best pitcher in major-league baseball in 1987 was Roger Clemens, who followed up his outstanding 1986 season with one almost as good.

Roger Clemens made his major-league debut in 1984. He made 30 starts in a season for the first time in 1986. So, he was basically active for half of the 1980s. The next table shows the top 15 players in eWins over positional average for the decade of the 1980s (1980 - 1989).

	Top 15 Players in eWOPA of the 1980s
		eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
1	Mike Schmidt	191.0	142.7	42.6
2	Rickey Henderson	213.7	165.3	41.5
3	Robin Yount	201.7	170.0	36.2
4	Cal Ripken	180.2	158.1	33.3
5	Alan Trammell	181.8	161.4	33.0
6	Dale Murphy	221.1	179.7	32.1
7	Wade Boggs	154.9	123.2	30.6
8	Dwight Evans	198.7	164.5	27.4
9	George Brett	160.6	130.3	26.6
10	Gary Carter	149.3	127.3	26.3
11	Lou Whitaker	180.1	161.1	26.0
12	Darryl Strawberry	142.8	109.8	25.8
13	Roger Clemens	80.9	56.5	25.4
14	Jack Clark	157.6	122.8	25.3
15	Ozzie Smith	194.6	181.0	23.4

That's right. Roger Clemens gave the rest of major-league baseball a 4-5 year head start and he still has an argument for being the best pitcher and one of the fifteen best players, regardless of position, for the entire decade.

Roger Clemens's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is presented below.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Roger Clemens Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1984	BOS	21	21	7.2	5.8	1.5	2.2	7.1	5.8	1.4	2.2
1985	BOS	22	15	5.8	4.6	1.3	2.0	6.0	4.4	1.6	2.3
1986	BOS	23	33	17.2	9.8	7.5	9.2	16.3	10.7	5.7	7.4
1987	BOS	24	36	18.1	11.8	6.7	8.6	17.9	12.0	6.2	8.1
1988	BOS	25	35	17.9	11.8	6.2	8.1	18.3	11.4	7.0	8.8
1989	BOS	26	35	14.7	12.7	2.3	4.1	15.3	12.2	3.4	5.2
1990	BOS	27	31	16.5	8.7	8.0	9.6	15.9	9.3	6.8	8.4
1991	BOS	28	35	16.7	11.2	5.7	7.5	16.7	11.1	5.8	7.5
1992	BOS	29	32	15.5	10.2	5.3	7.1	15.5	10.2	5.5	7.2
1993	BOS	30	29	12.7	12.6	0.2	1.7	13.8	11.5	2.4	3.9
1994	BOS	31	24	10.6	8.0	2.5	3.8	10.8	7.8	2.9	4.2
1995	BOS	32	23	8.8	6.7	2.1	3.2	7.9	7.5	0.4	1.5
1996	BOS	33	34	13.3	11.0	2.6	4.2	14.1	10.2	4.2	5.8
1997	TOR	34	34	18.6	9.7	9.0	10.9	19.0	9.3	9.8	11.7
1998	TOR	35	33	15.7	9.4	6.5	8.2	15.0	10.0	5.2	7.0
1999	NYA	36	30	13.1	12.4	1.0	2.6	13.2	12.3	1.1	2.7
2000	NYA	37	32	13.9	12.0	2.1	3.8	13.7	12.3	1.7	3.4
2001	NYA	38	33	13.9	8.9	5.3	6.8	12.3	10.4	2.2	3.8
2002	NYA	39	29	11.5	9.6	2.1	3.6	11.0	10.1	1.1	2.6
2003	NYA	40	33	13.4	11.0	2.6	4.3	13.0	11.3	1.9	3.5
2004	HOU	41	33	14.7	10.7	5.0	6.5	14.2	11.3	4.1	5.6
2005	HOU	42	32	14.1	9.8	5.1	6.5	14.7	9.2	6.3	7.7
2006	HOU	43	19	7.2	4.9	2.8	3.5	7.1	5.0	2.6	3.3
2007	NYA	44	18	5.9	5.5	0.6	1.3	5.9	5.5	0.6	1.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			709	316.9	228.6	94.0	129.3	314.8	230.7	90.0	125.3
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			35	12.4	11.2		3.2	13.0	10.6		4.4
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			744	329.3	239.8		132.4	327.8	241.3		129.6

Ozzie Smith

The best player in the National League in 1987, in each of the first four tables of this article, was St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith.

Ozzie Smith was, of course, most famous for being a brilliant defensive shortstop. In 1987, he coupled that with the finest offensive season of his career, batting .303/.392/.383, with 182 hits, 40 doubles, 89 walks, 230 total bases, 75 RBI, and 104 runs scored. Every number in the previous sentence was a career high for Smith. He added 43 stolen bases (against only 9 caught stealings) which was not quite a career high.

As for the fielding, Player won-lost records see 1987 as Smith's finest season defensively. Which is saying something, because Player won-lost records see Ozzie Smith as the finest defensive shortstop in major-league history.

		Top 10 Players, Career Net Fielding Wins, Shortstop
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	Net Wins
1	Ozzie Smith	116.5	102.1	0.533	14.5
2	Lou Boudreau	73.9	62.4	0.542	11.4
3	Pee Wee Reese	86.9	75.5	0.535	11.4
4	Mark Belanger	78.3	68.0	0.535	10.2
5	Everett Scott	69.1	60.2	0.534	8.9
6	Cal Ripken	94.4	86.2	0.523	8.2
7	Rabbit Maranville	89.2	82.3	0.520	6.9
8	Andrelton Simmons	40.8	34.2	0.544	6.6
9	Dave Bancroft	92.8	86.2	0.518	6.5
10	Alan Trammell	83.8	77.3	0.520	6.5

		Top 10 Seasons, Net Fielding Wins, Shortstop (since 1947)
			eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	Net Wins
1	Lou Boudreau	1948	6.8	4.9	0.583	1.9
2	Adam Everett	2006	6.8	5.0	0.579	1.8
3	Mark Belanger	1973	7.0	5.2	0.574	1.8
4	Larry Bowa	1977	6.9	5.1	0.575	1.8
5	Ozzie Smith	1987	6.8	5.1	0.574	1.8
6	Mark Belanger	1974	7.4	5.7	0.565	1.7
7	Mark Belanger	1975	7.0	5.3	0.569	1.7
8	Pee Wee Reese	1953	5.6	4.0	0.583	1.6
9	Ozzie Smith	1982	7.6	6.1	0.555	1.5
10	Ozzie Smith	1988	7.1	5.6	0.559	1.5

Ozzie Smith's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is presented next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Ozzie Smith Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1978	SDN	23	159	20.9	21.8	0.4	2.4	20.5	22.1	-0.2	1.8
1979	SDN	24	156	17.3	19.1	-0.5	1.3	17.2	19.2	-0.4	1.4
1980	SDN	25	158	21.1	21.3	1.2	3.2	21.1	21.3	1.1	3.1
1981	SDN	26	110	13.1	15.5	-1.4	0.2	13.7	15.0	-0.3	1.2
1982	SLN	27	140	19.5	17.0	3.4	5.1	18.8	17.7	2.2	3.8
1983	SLN	28	159	20.1	17.9	2.7	4.4	19.4	18.5	1.5	3.2
1984	SLN	29	124	17.9	15.8	3.3	4.8	17.2	16.5	2.0	3.5
1985	SLN	30	158	22.5	18.3	5.3	7.2	21.3	19.5	3.0	4.9
1986	SLN	31	153	18.7	16.9	2.8	4.5	18.3	17.3	2.0	3.7
1987	SLN	32	158	22.9	17.5	6.3	8.1	22.6	17.8	5.7	7.5
1988	SLN	33	153	22.3	17.8	5.1	7.1	21.9	18.2	4.3	6.3
1989	SLN	34	155	20.6	19.0	2.6	4.4	20.3	19.2	2.0	3.8
1990	SLN	35	143	16.0	17.4	-0.6	0.9	16.8	16.6	1.0	2.4
1991	SLN	36	150	20.7	17.6	3.7	5.5	20.4	17.9	3.2	5.0
1992	SLN	37	132	18.5	16.7	2.6	4.3	18.2	16.9	2.1	3.8
1993	SLN	38	141	18.3	18.1	0.9	2.7	18.0	18.4	0.3	2.1
1994	SLN	39	98	10.8	12.5	-1.0	0.1	11.3	12.1	-0.3	0.9
1995	SLN	40	44	4.8	5.6	-0.6	-0.1	4.7	5.7	-0.9	-0.3
1996	SLN	41	82	7.5	6.8	0.9	1.6	7.3	7.0	0.7	1.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,573	333.3	312.5	37.3	67.7	328.9	316.9	29.0	59.4
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			42	4.6	4.8		0.5	4.5	4.9		0.3
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,615	337.9	317.3		68.2	333.4	321.8		59.6

Best Relief Pitcher of 1987: Tim Burke

Tim Burke's 1987 season was remarkable, at least as measured by Player won-lost records. Actually, it was pretty remarkable by traditional measures as well. In 1987, Tim Burke appeared in 55 games for the Montreal Expos, all in relief, pitched 91.0 innings with a 1.19 ERA, a 7-0 traditional won-lost record, 18 saves, and 5 holds (with 4 blown saves). Overall, batters batted .196/.234/.254 against Burke. With men on base, that dropped to .180/.232/.223. With two outs and runners in scoring position, batters hit .158/.256/.184 off of him. In late and close situations, it was .181/.207/.221; in high-leverage situations, batters batted .183/.219/.204 against Burke.

The next table shows the top 10 single-season pWin percentages for players who earned at least 7.0 pWins.

Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
		Top 10 Player Winning Percentages, (min. 7.0 pWins)
Zach Britton	2016	7.8	1.8	0.811	5.7	6.7
Kenley Jansen	2017	7.8	2.1	0.786	5.4	6.5
Andrew Miller	2016	7.8	2.3	0.770	5.2	6.3
Tim Burke	1987	7.5	2.3	0.763	4.9	5.9
Keith Foulke	2000	9.1	2.9	0.760	6.1	7.4
Eric Gagne	2003	8.4	2.6	0.760	5.5	6.7
Willie Hernandez	1984	9.8	3.1	0.759	6.4	7.7
Dennis Eckersley	1992	7.4	2.4	0.755	4.9	5.8
Jim R. Johnson	2012	7.5	2.5	0.751	4.7	5.8
Trevor Hoffman	1998	7.3	2.4	0.750	4.8	5.7

Burke topped this list for nearly thirty years. Pretty good for a guy you may not have heard of before.

Notable Debuts

The 1987 season saw the debut of two player who have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, one in his first year of eligibility and the other in his tenth and final year of eligibility.

The next table compares the career records of Tom Glavine and Edgar Martinez, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Tom Glavine					Edgar Martinez
1987	9	3.3	3.7	-0.2	0.2	13	1.0	1.0	-0.0	0.1
1988	42	11.3	15.0	-2.9	-1.4	14	0.8	0.8	-0.1	0.0
1989	30	11.7	11.2	1.3	2.6	65	4.9	4.2	0.7	1.1
1990	34	11.8	13.3	-0.5	0.9	144	16.7	15.7	1.2	2.7
1991	36	16.8	12.0	5.8	7.4	150	20.4	16.6	3.8	5.4
1992	35	15.4	11.7	4.5	6.2	135	18.0	15.5	2.2	3.8
1993	36	16.5	12.5	4.8	6.5	42	3.3	3.5	-0.2	0.2
1994	26	10.8	9.9	1.6	2.9	89	9.2	9.0	0.2	1.2
1995	29	13.9	9.5	5.0	6.5	145	16.5	9.3	6.4	8.3
1996	39	16.0	12.0	4.9	6.6	139	16.5	10.4	5.4	7.1
1997	33	14.3	12.5	2.6	4.2	155	14.1	11.2	2.3	3.9
1998	33	15.1	10.7	5.3	6.9	154	15.1	11.8	2.4	4.2
1999	36	14.2	13.6	1.5	3.1	142	13.2	9.5	3.1	4.6
2000	37	14.7	11.6	4.2	5.8	153	15.6	11.1	3.7	5.6
2001	35	13.2	12.0	2.1	3.6	132	14.5	8.4	5.6	7.3
2002	37	15.4	12.9	3.7	5.5	97	9.0	6.5	2.2	3.3
2003	33	11.2	12.7	-0.5	0.9	145	14.4	12.1	1.6	3.5
2004	35	12.4	11.9	1.4	2.8	141	8.7	12.5	-4.1	-2.6
2005	33	13.0	13.0	0.7	2.3
2006	32	12.4	10.9	2.3	3.7
2007	35	11.3	11.9	0.3	1.8
2008	14	3.1	5.2	-1.9	-1.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	709	277.8	249.8	46.0	77.6	2,055	211.7	169.2	36.3	59.7

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 1987 was the final season for two Hall-of-Famers: one 500-home-run hitter and one 300-game winner: Reggie Jackson and Phil Niekro. The final table of this article compares the career records of Reggie Jackson and Phil Niekro, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Reggie Jackson					Phil Niekro
1964						10	0.2	0.3	-0.1	-0.0
1965						42	3.4	3.2	0.2	0.8
1966						28	2.1	1.9	0.2	0.6
1967	35	2.8	4.0	-1.6	-1.2	46	13.5	12.4	1.7	3.5
1968	154	21.5	18.3	1.8	3.8	37	15.3	14.3	1.8	3.4
1969	152	24.8	16.3	6.7	8.9	40	20.3	15.8	5.4	7.6
1970	149	16.4	15.4	0.0	1.6	34	14.2	17.6	-2.5	-0.7
1971	150	23.1	15.9	6.0	7.9	42	15.7	16.0	0.5	2.3
1972	135	20.9	15.7	4.3	6.1	38	17.8	14.5	4.3	6.3
1973	151	24.1	16.4	7.2	9.2	42	13.4	13.4	0.8	2.4
1974	148	22.5	17.3	4.5	6.4	41	18.3	16.8	2.5	4.3
1975	157	25.9	19.0	5.9	8.1	39	16.9	17.7	0.2	2.2
1976	134	22.3	16.2	5.5	7.4	38	17.2	15.5	2.7	4.4
1977	146	21.9	15.5	5.3	7.3	44	21.5	21.4	1.6	4.2
1978	139	19.2	14.5	4.0	5.6	45	21.9	18.9	4.2	6.4
1979	131	18.6	15.7	2.0	3.7	44	20.2	21.4	0.4	2.7
1980	143	19.7	14.0	5.2	6.9	40	17.2	18.8	-0.4	1.5
1981	94	10.6	9.9	0.2	1.4	22	8.6	9.3	-0.1	1.1
1982	153	19.9	17.5	1.8	3.5	35	12.5	11.2	2.3	3.5
1983	116	9.4	11.4	-2.3	-1.2	34	11.6	14.3	-1.6	-0.2
1984	143	13.5	11.9	0.9	2.5	32	13.4	9.8	3.7	5.1
1985	143	14.9	12.8	1.8	3.3	33	13.9	14.4	-0.3	1.5
1986	132	11.7	10.1	1.1	2.4	34	11.7	13.2	-1.4	0.1
1987	115	6.5	8.0	-1.8	-1.0	26	8.4	10.8	-2.3	-1.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,820	370.0	295.8	58.6	92.5	866	329.1	322.8	23.9	62.0

Article last updated: January 14, 2020

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 1987 season. Positional averages for starting pitching and relief pitching are calculated using single-year data for all starting pitchers and all relief pitchers.

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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