Doesn't seem right: Johnny Damon passes Ted Williams on the all-time hit list...

[Auggie]

But Williams lost three seasons due to WWII. Given that in the four years leading up to the war he was averaging 187.25 hits a year, that would put him 749 hits ahead of Damon... a total of 3403 for the career, or at #9 on the all-time hit list, just behind Carl Yastrzemski.

Williams missed a lot of games in the early 1950's. That explains why he wouldn't be even higher up -- maybe behind Tris Speaker at #5 (3514) or Stan Musial (3630) at #4.

[El Supremo]

1. It AIN'T right.

But The Splendid Splinter's other records will last forever.

[JonLP24]

2. Don't worry too much about volume stats

There more about longevity rather than skill though you do need a lot of skill to rack up high numbers for a period of time.

[Auggie]

7. Yeah, I know... still seems really odd to me

[wilt the stilt]

13. Which is why Willie mays was the dominant player

and not Hank Aaron. Anyone growing up during their careers knew Mays was the best bar none and because of where he played was the only reason he didn't have 800 HR's. May's is the only player to hit 50 HR's in a season 10 years apart. Aaron never hit 50 HR's.

[Auggie]

14. Few would argue that Willie Mays isn't the greatest all-around player

of all time... I think.

:hide:

I give Babe Ruth high ranking because he also pitched, and quite well.

[madinmaryland]

3. Ted Williams did not play in the ROID era. nuff said.

[joeybee12]

4. Johnny Damon is a...what Mark Halperin says...nt

[madinmaryland]

5. A Roid Sox player. nt

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. Roid Sox? That's just plain WRONG.

It's Roid SUX.

[Ter]

8. No one here gets it

Ted Williams walked an lot. He never had a 200 hit year, not one. Which is perfectly ok, since he drew tons of walks and had a mega high OBP.

[Auggie]

10. I overlooked that

The Top Ten leaders in BB, all time:

1 Barry Bonds*..............2,558
2 Rickey Henderson.......2,190
3 Babe Ruth..................2,062
4 Ted Williams..............2,021
5 Joe Morgan...............1,865
6 Carl Yastrzemski.......1,845
7 Mickey Mantle...........1,733
8 Mel Ott.....................1,708
9 Jim Thome................1,697 (active)
10 Frank Thomas..........1,667

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_100_MLB_leaders_in_bases_on_balls

Intentional Walks weren't tracked until 1955.

[madinmaryland]

11. "asterisk" nuff said!!

:rofl:

[KamaAina]

9. Doesn't seem right: Johnny Damon still hacking away long after becoming washed up...

:eyes:

[bluedigger]

12. He lost nearly five years in all to military service.

If you look at his stats here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/willite01.shtml you can see that the bold #'s are league leading numbers. Williams was dominating the league before and after. Only the Babe was better.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. You Forgot About Korea

He actually missed almost 5 full seasons to fly fighter planes during war.

I read some time back, that he missed about 165 home runs and over 900 hits due to military service. The person did the analysis like you did. Average of homers and hits the two seasons before and after each stint in the military. Bracketing like that even helps to show that there wouldn't have been a falloff.

That would have put him at 680+ homers and almost 3700 hits.

GAC

[Auggie]

16. That explains the missed games in the early 1950s