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percy_sutherland · 10-28-2020, 03:11 PM

CHASING A KING

I wanted to write a little about the absolutely awe-inspiring season that the Philadelphia Keystones's first baseman, Rankin Kellogg, is having. At the time of this writing he is hitting .399 (so, yes, he still as a shot at .400) with an on-base percentage of .465 and a slugging percentage of .714. He has 42 home runs, 31 doubles, 12 triples, and has 146 runs batted in and 129 runs scored. Now some gentleman--much smarter than me--has determined that if you add a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage together--which is then called OPS--you have a number that can be used as measuring stick of sorts for hitters. Kellogg's OPS is 1.179. A .700 OPS would be considered average this season, and so Kellogg is well above average, though you didn't need OPS to tell you that.

But it got me to thinking--can we use OPS to put Kellogg's season in a historical perspective. And as a matter of fact, we can.

If the 1933 season were to end today, Kellogg's OPS of 1.179 would rank as the 5th best in league history. Just ahead of Kellogg's 1928 season when he produced an OPS of 1.168 and behind 4 seasons of one man--Max Morris. Here are the top four OPS seasons in FABL history:

1925, Max Morris, 1.306
1921, Max Morris, 1.296
1923, Max Morris, 1.230
1922, Max Morris, 1.215

Max Morris was traded from Cleveland to St. Louis in October of 1919. In July of 1920, Morris ruptured his Achilles tendon and missed the remainder of the season, and so he only played a little more than half of that inaugural St. Louis season.

In 1921, the 26-year-old Morris returned healthy and with a vengeance. Now up to that point Morris had been a good hitter, but he had only been a full-time hitter for one and one-half seasons: 1919 and the injury-shortened 1920. During 1921, Morris was on another level, putting up offensive numbers the league had never before seen. He hit .411 with on-base percentage of .511. He set a new home run record with 53 home runs. He had 145 runs batted in and scored 153 runs. He had 239 hits. And all of it added up to the never before seen OPS of 1.296.

And then in 1922 Morris broke the home run record he had just set in 1921 by hitting 59 home runs. And then he topped that again in 1923 when he hit 60 home runs. He missed over a month of the 1924 season with an injury, but when he came back in 1925, he continued to hit at that same superlative level.

All told, the stretch of seasons that Morris had from 1921 through 1925 was unprecedented and quite frankly, I doubt we'll ever see any like that again. Consider--even with the jaw-dropping numbers that Rankin Kellogg is producing in 1933, he still remains well behind the Max Morris of 1921 through 1925. And paraphrasing the great Ralph Waldo Emerson--when you come at a king, you best not miss.

Max Morris

10-28-2020, 03:11 PM	#82
percy_sutherland Bat Boy Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 11	September 11th, 1933: From the Desk of Percy Sutherland CHASING A KING I wanted to write a little about the absolutely awe-inspiring season that the Philadelphia Keystones's first baseman, Rankin Kellogg, is having. At the time of this writing he is hitting .399 (so, yes, he still as a shot at .400) with an on-base percentage of .465 and a slugging percentage of .714. He has 42 home runs, 31 doubles, 12 triples, and has 146 runs batted in and 129 runs scored. Now some gentleman--much smarter than me--has determined that if you add a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage together--which is then called OPS--you have a number that can be used as measuring stick of sorts for hitters. Kellogg's OPS is 1.179. A .700 OPS would be considered average this season, and so Kellogg is well above average, though you didn't need OPS to tell you that. But it got me to thinking--can we use OPS to put Kellogg's season in a historical perspective. And as a matter of fact, we can. If the 1933 season were to end today, Kellogg's OPS of 1.179 would rank as the 5th best in league history. Just ahead of Kellogg's 1928 season when he produced an OPS of 1.168 and behind 4 seasons of one man--Max Morris. Here are the top four OPS seasons in FABL history: 1925, Max Morris, 1.306 1921, Max Morris, 1.296 1923, Max Morris, 1.230 1922, Max Morris, 1.215 Max Morris was traded from Cleveland to St. Louis in October of 1919. In July of 1920, Morris ruptured his Achilles tendon and missed the remainder of the season, and so he only played a little more than half of that inaugural St. Louis season. In 1921, the 26-year-old Morris returned healthy and with a vengeance. Now up to that point Morris had been a good hitter, but he had only been a full-time hitter for one and one-half seasons: 1919 and the injury-shortened 1920. During 1921, Morris was on another level, putting up offensive numbers the league had never before seen. He hit .411 with on-base percentage of .511. He set a new home run record with 53 home runs. He had 145 runs batted in and scored 153 runs. He had 239 hits. And all of it added up to the never before seen OPS of 1.296. And then in 1922 Morris broke the home run record he had just set in 1921 by hitting 59 home runs. And then he topped that again in 1923 when he hit 60 home runs. He missed over a month of the 1924 season with an injury, but when he came back in 1925, he continued to hit at that same superlative level. All told, the stretch of seasons that Morris had from 1921 through 1925 was unprecedented and quite frankly, I doubt we'll ever see any like that again. Consider--even with the jaw-dropping numbers that Rankin Kellogg is producing in 1933, he still remains well behind the Max Morris of 1921 through 1925. And paraphrasing the great Ralph Waldo Emerson--when you come at a king, you best not miss. Max Morris