Larry Doby

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Larry Doby

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Larry Doby

Larry Doby was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans' Committee in 1998.

Five highlights of Larry Doby's career:

Larry Doby was named to seven All-Star teams in his 13-year major-league career. He received MVP votes four times, finishing 2nd in AL MVP voting in 1954.

Doby led the AL in home runs twice and in runs scored, RBI, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage once each.

Doby scored 100 or more runs three times and scored 90 or more runs six times. He had 100 or more RBI five times.

Larry Doby was the first African-American to hit a home run in the World Series, hitting a solo home run off Johnny Sain in the Cleveland Indians' 2-1 Game 4 win in the 1948 World Series (the last World Series won by Cleveland).

In addition to being the second African-American player in major-league history, Doby was also the second African-American manager in major-league history, succeeding his former teammate (and fellow Hall of Famer) Bob Lemon as the manager of the 1978 Chicago White Sox.

The first two tables below present Larry Doby'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
1947	CLE	23	28	0.6	1.0	-0.3	-0.4
1948	CLE	24	120	16.7	13.8	3.6	2.0
1949	CLE	25	147	22.2	17.4	5.9	3.8
1950	CLE	26	142	21.7	14.4	8.4	6.5
1951	CLE	27	134	19.2	14.8	5.4	3.7
1952	CLE	28	140	21.9	14.8	8.3	6.4
1953	CLE	29	149	21.7	15.6	7.2	5.2
1954	CLE	30	153	27.0	15.0	13.1	10.9
1955	CLE	31	131	17.8	14.4	4.1	2.4
1956	CHA	32	140	18.9	16.4	3.4	1.6
1957	CHA	33	119	16.0	13.9	2.8	1.2
1958	CLE	34	88	9.3	8.1	1.6	0.7
+– 1959		35	39	2.8	3.8	-1.0	-1.3
	CHA		21	1.6	1.9	-0.3	-0.5
	DET		18	1.2	1.9	-0.7	-0.9
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,530	215.6	163.5	62.5	42.8
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			10	1.2	1.3	-0.1	-0.2
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,540	216.8	164.7	62.5	42.6

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1947	CLE	23	28	0.6	0.9	-0.3	-0.4
1948	CLE	24	120	16.5	14.0	3.1	1.6
1949	CLE	25	147	22.0	17.7	5.3	3.2
1950	CLE	26	142	21.1	15.0	7.2	5.3
1951	CLE	27	134	19.5	14.4	6.3	4.6
1952	CLE	28	140	21.4	15.3	7.5	5.5
1953	CLE	29	149	21.3	16.0	6.4	4.4
1954	CLE	30	153	23.7	18.3	6.4	4.1
1955	CLE	31	131	17.7	14.5	3.8	2.2
1956	CHA	32	140	18.7	16.6	2.9	1.1
1957	CHA	33	119	16.0	13.9	2.9	1.3
1958	CLE	34	88	9.2	8.2	1.3	0.5
+– 1959		35	39	2.6	4.0	-0.7	-1.0
	CHA		21	1.2	2.3	-0.4	-0.6
	DET		18	1.4	1.7	-0.3	-0.4
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,530	210.2	168.9	52.2	32.5
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			10	1.2	1.2	0.0	-0.1
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,540	211.4	170.1	52.3	32.4

Larry Doby is probably most famous as the first American League player to break the color barrier on July 5, 1947. Despite his pioneer status, Larry Doby was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame until almost 40 years after his last game.

Even setting aside Doby's pioneer status (for which I absolutely think he deserves extra Hall-of-Fame credit), I think this is unfair. In contrast, Doby was elected to the Hall of Merit in his first year of eligibility ("1965").

The next table shows the top 25 players of the 1950's as measured by pWins over either positional average or replacement level.

		pWins over Positional Average Top 25 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 25 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Mickey Mantle	198.2	123.2	67.7	84.3	1	Mickey Mantle	198.2	123.2	67.7	84.3
2	Yogi Berra	169.5	121.2	51.1	66.2	2	Duke Snider	199.4	141.8	49.0	66.7
3	Duke Snider	199.4	141.8	49.0	66.7	3	Yogi Berra	169.5	121.2	51.1	66.2
4	Willie Mays	172.0	121.0	43.7	58.7	4	Warren Spahn	188.7	154.8	43.6	64.4
5	Warren Spahn	188.7	154.8	43.6	64.4	5	Robin Roberts	196.1	170.4	36.7	58.9
6	Eddie Mathews	167.9	122.2	41.2	56.1	6	Willie Mays	172.0	121.0	43.7	58.7
7	Larry Doby	176.1	131.3	37.3	53.3	7	Eddie Mathews	167.9	122.2	41.2	56.1
8	Minnie Minoso	208.2	159.0	36.9	55.8	8	Minnie Minoso	208.2	159.0	36.9	55.8
9	Gil Hodges	178.3	129.6	36.8	52.8	9	Early Wynn	180.0	154.9	34.3	54.6
10	Robin Roberts	196.1	170.4	36.7	58.9	10	Larry Doby	176.1	131.3	37.3	53.3
11	Jackie Robinson	130.2	92.6	35.9	47.6	11	Gil Hodges	178.3	129.6	36.8	52.8
12	Pee Wee Reese	157.2	126.9	34.5	49.3	12	Billy Pierce	161.7	136.7	33.6	51.9
13	Al Rosen	143.7	104.4	34.4	47.4	13	Stan Musial	196.1	151.7	32.3	50.4
14	Early Wynn	180.0	154.9	34.3	54.6	14	Pee Wee Reese	157.2	126.9	34.5	49.3
15	Billy Pierce	161.7	136.7	33.6	51.9	15	Jackie Robinson	130.2	92.6	35.9	47.6
16	Ted Williams	148.2	106.9	33.4	46.7	16	Al Rosen	143.7	104.4	34.4	47.4
17	Roy Campanella	109.4	78.9	32.5	42.3	17	Ted Williams	148.2	106.9	33.4	46.7
18	Stan Musial	196.1	151.7	32.3	50.4	18	Gil McDougald	156.4	126.2	31.2	45.8
19	Gil McDougald	156.4	126.2	31.2	45.8	19	E. Mike Garcia	131.2	109.0	28.3	43.5
20	Hank Aaron	140.3	102.5	30.2	42.6	20	Bob Lemon	140.8	120.9	26.7	42.9
21	Whitey Ford	105.6	82.0	28.3	39.9	21	Hank Aaron	140.3	102.5	30.2	42.6
22	E. Mike Garcia	131.2	109.0	28.3	43.5	22	Roy Campanella	109.4	78.9	32.5	42.3
23	Bob Lemon	140.8	120.9	26.7	42.9	23	Carl Furillo	168.9	134.5	25.7	41.5
24	Carl Furillo	168.9	134.5	25.7	41.5	24	Nellie Fox	198.3	180.8	21.9	41.4
25	Ernie Banks	133.7	114.3	23.5	36.2	25	Whitey Ford	105.6	82.0	28.3	39.9

The second shows the top 10 centerfielders of the 1950's, as measured by (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) wins over positional average earned as a centerfielder.

		Center Field
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Mickey Mantle	174.5	116.2	0.600	51.3
2	Duke Snider	182.3	137.4	0.570	36.4
3	Willie Mays	166.7	125.4	0.571	33.8
4	Larry Doby	164.9	130.8	0.558	26.3
5	Al Kaline	24.0	19.1	0.558	3.8
6	Stan Musial	18.8	14.5	0.565	3.6
7	Frank Robinson	13.8	10.5	0.570	2.7
8	Andy Pafko	31.3	27.4	0.533	2.5
9	Joe DiMaggio	34.3	30.3	0.531	2.5
10	Jackie Jensen	22.3	19.1	0.538	2.0

The most striking thing to me about that second table is the dropoff after Doby. There were essentially four elite center fielders for most of the 1950's (and four first-ballot Hall-of-Famers who played a bit of center field during the decade), of whom only Doby played his home games outside of New York.

If one were forced to associate Larry Doby's career with a decade, meaning a set of years with the same first three digits, he obviously fits best in the 1950's. But Doby was an above-average regular for the last two years of the 1940's and played only 127 games over the last two seasons of the 1950's. Expanding one's standard for a "decade" to be any consecutive ten-year period, Doby's best stretch was 1948 - 1957.

The next table, then, shows the top 10 players in pWOPA and pWORL over the 10-year period from 1948 through 1957.

		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	Mickey Mantle	154.8	92.7	56.8	69.8	1	Duke Snider	199.8	138.1	53.2	70.9
2	Duke Snider	199.8	138.1	53.2	70.9	2	Mickey Mantle	154.8	92.7	56.8	69.8
3	Yogi Berra	166.9	118.4	51.0	65.9	3	Stan Musial	226.9	166.1	48.3	68.8
4	Jackie Robinson	177.2	125.2	50.5	66.4	4	Jackie Robinson	177.2	125.2	50.5	66.4
5	Ted Williams	172.8	114.8	49.3	64.3	5	Yogi Berra	166.9	118.4	51.0	65.9
6	Stan Musial	226.9	166.1	48.3	68.8	6	Warren Spahn	189.7	154.5	44.5	65.6
7	Pee Wee Reese	196.3	156.5	45.0	63.4	7	Ted Williams	172.8	114.8	49.3	64.3
8	Warren Spahn	189.7	154.5	44.5	65.6	8	Pee Wee Reese	196.3	156.5	45.0	63.4
9	Larry Doby	203.0	150.6	43.7	62.2	9	Larry Doby	203.0	150.6	43.7	62.2
10	Bob Lemon	180.6	150.0	39.0	59.4	10	Bob Lemon	180.6	150.0	39.0	59.4

Everybody listed in the above table is in the Hall of Fame, all of them deservedly so (in my opinion).

Article last updated: May 8, 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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