DEBUT Episode1- Ted Williams OPS Rockstar

Today’s episode will be kinda analytical in discussing OPS. Seems we are inundated with .190 batting averages now in the Major Leagues…Thanks Joey Gallo, so average is not a topic. But, OPS? Interesting, right? Looking at OPS it’s obvious who is the career leader is, Babe Ruth. But, come on, The Babe was a freak, so let’s talk about the guy who was hated by the media, never acknowledged the crowds and fans but could HIT…TED WILLIAMS. Now, we have all ages of listeners in here, but I do hope everyone knows about Ted Williams? If not, look him up on my favorite Baseball site,  https://www.baseball-reference.com/.

Transcript

Moe’s World Podcast

MoeAtlanta

Season 1 Episode 1

The Star of OPS+

June 15, 2024

The Star of OPS+ = Ted Williams 

Howdy, Howdy, Welcome to Moe’s World Podcast. Yep. Another Baseball podcast. Here we talk about Baseball like a few friends sitting at the bar. We welcome your input to help improve us and make us grow. Today’s episode will be kinda analytical in discussing OPS. Seems we are inundated with .190 batting averages now in the Major Leagues…Thanks Joey Gallo, so average is not a topic. But, OPS? Interesting, right? Looking at OPS it’s obvious who is the career leader is, Babe Ruth. But, come on, The Babe was a freak, so let’s talk about the guy who was hated by the media, never acknowledged the crowds and fans but could HIT…TED WILLIAMS. Now, we have all ages of listeners in here, but I do hope everyone knows about Ted Williams? If not, look him up on my favorite Baseball site,                        https://www.baseball-reference.com/.

Let’s think of this as after the immortals…Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The top 25 career OPS leaders are definitely an interesting list. Looking at the leader board just makes you appreciate what a hitter Ted Williams was. He retired in 1960… shit, 64 years ago! Yeah, Yeah..I’m an old bastard, but thats not the topic. Ted played 19 years missing time in his prime for the Korean War. So we can only imagine his carrier stats if he did not miss 3 years from age 24 season in  1943 to age 26 season in 1945. He led MLB in 1941, 1942, went to war, then RETURNED in 1946 and picked up where he left off leading MLB in OPS and continued to lead in 1947, 1948 and 1949. 6 years in a row! Today we talk about how incredible Juan Soto is at getting on base and how good he can become. That is so true, he redefined the Yankee lineup this year. But..he is number 24 on the career list, so he has a ways to go. Ted ended up leading MLB in 10 of his 19 years in the league! Also his Career OPS+ number of 191 wasn’t too shabby either as he led MLB in that category for 9 years. So he had some incredible years obviously, but think of this… he retired with a CAREER 1.116 OPS. So that is crazy consistency!

Now, to define how good of a number that is, lets think of some of the other names on the list and the era’s they played in. See this is the thing about Baseball over any other sport, baseball fans are stat geeks. We love comparing players, teams, friggin’ balls even thru the years. So lets take a look first at the decade of baseball AFTER Ted Williams retired…The 1960’s.

1960’s OPS Leaders

Frank Robinson led the National League in OPS in the 1960’s with a 1.062. He was pretty damn good as he led the league 3 years in a row from 1960-1961-1962, and after getting traded to the Baltimore Orioles he led the American League in 1966 with a 1.047 OPS. Frank ended his 21 yr career with a .926 OPS. Mickey Mantle led the American League in OPS in the 60’s with 1.078. The Mick led the league 3x. and had a career number of .958. He was followed by Hank Aaron who had a OPS of .928 in the 60’s. Those are some pretty good players that played in a good combination of exploiting the expansion period and dealing with a dominant pitching time a the end of the 60’s. Next up…

1970’s OPS Leaders 

The 1970’s had a lot of different names from year to year in OPS leaders. In the National League Willie Stargell set the pace with an OPS of .925 leading the league 2X. Up next was Joe Morgan with a .858 OPS as he led the league 2x. Over in the American League Reggie Jackson set the pace in the 60’s with a .869 OPS as he led the league 1x. Rod Carew had a 60’s OPS of .863 and he also led the league 1x. Other leaders of the 60’s were Fred Lynn, Dick Allen, Bobby Murcer and Carl Yastrzemski. Next up…1980’s

1980’s OPS Leaders 

The 1980’s were led by Mike Schmidt of the Phillies who led the National League 5x. Schmidt had a .908 career OPS. He was followed by Wade Boggs who led the league 2x and had a .858 career OPS. Next leader was George Brett who led the League 3x and retired with a career .857 OPS. Next up 1990’s.

1990’s OPS Leaders 

The 1990’s were led by *Barry Bonds (There’s that asterisk), *Mark McGuire and *Frank Thomas. For obvious reasons lets jump to 2ooo’s.

2000’s OPS Leaders 

The 2000’s were led by Albert Pujols who led the League 3x and had a career .918 OPS and Manny Ramirez who was tainted too and led the League 2x and a career .996 OPS. You gotta look up the first 10 years of Albert Pujols, as he was the NEW Lou Gehrig! 2010’s are next.

2010’s OPS Leaders 

The 2010’s saw Mike Trout set the pace leading the American League in OPS 4x and averaging 1.000 for the decade. National League was Joey Votto leading 2x and carrying a decade long .944 OPS. Miguel Cabrera led the League 2x while producing a decade OPS of .943. Paul Goldschmidt rounded off the list by leading the National League 1x while having a decade OPS of .916. Our last era…The 2020’s.

2020’s OPS Leaders

The 2020’s saw Aaron Judge take charge leading the League 2x and carrying an OPS of .994 for his career so far. Juan Soto has led the League 1x producing a career .952 OPS. Lots of new names entering this list though.

So some GREAT names on these past 60 years of Baseball OPS leaders. But as we have Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuna Jr. and a host more of GREAT players now in the league. Take some time to appreciate the HISTORY of baseball and recognize TED WILLIAMS as an on base, OPS ROCK STAR. 

This has been fun, tossing some stats and numbers around. I hope you enjoyed our FIRST episode of Moe’s World- The Baseball Podcast. Join us weekly ( New Episodes released Friday) for a 20 minute broadcast. Whose world is it?- It’s Moe’s World! 

Season 1 - Episode 1 14:06