Who is the greatest right handed hitter of all time?

[FrankWakefield]

Delahanty... among the best of the right handed hitters. I mentioned him in post #18.

I found Sowell's book July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty to be a most enlightening book. He covers Big Ed, the infancy of the 2 league system that we have today, the leagues' inclination to honor one another's contracts, and what baseball was like at the beginning of the 20th century. I recommend this book!

Now back to the best of the best of right handed hitters... I found another card.

[molenick]

I think Delahanty is right up there. I got curious and I was wondering what he would have had to do to top Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

He ended his career with a .346 average at age 35 with 2597 hits in 7510 ABs. If he hit .400 for the next six years going 240 for 600 (more hits and at bats than he ever had in a season) he would have 4037 hits and 11110 ABs for an average of .363 and would still be below Cobb. Even playing to age 42 and averaging .400 for seven seasons only gets him to .365. (For the purposes of this, I am pretending he did not die in 1903 but merely was disabled for the remainder of the season...but a full season of .333 in 1903 would not have helped him, which was his average that year.)

Considering that his averages his last four seasons were .323, .354. .376, and .333 I have to respectfully disagree that he would have surpassed Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

Don't blame me! Blame Excel for doing the calculations!

[darwinbulldog]

Haven't posted this one in a while. Seems like a good opportunity.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by molenick

I think Delahanty is right up there. I got curious and I was wondering what he would have had to do to top Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

He ended his career with a .346 average at age 35 with 2597 hits in 7510 ABs. If he hit .400 for the next six years going 240 for 600 (more hits and at bats than he ever had in a season) he would have 4037 hits and 11110 ABs for an average of .363 and would still be below Cobb. Even playing to age 42 and averaging .400 for seven seasons only gets him to .365. (For the purposes of this, I am pretending he did not die in 1903 but merely was disabled for the remainder of the season...but a full season of .333 in 1903 would not have helped him, which was his average that year.)

Considering that his averages his last four seasons were .323, .354. .376, and .333 I have to respectfully disagree that he would have surpassed Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

Don't blame me! Blame Excel for doing the calculations!

Nice research! Those are fair points--there is virtually no chance he could have equaled Cobb's career BA record. Delahanty was a great player, probably the best right handed hitter of his era. But it may be a stretch to call him the best right handed hitter ever.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by molenick

I think Delahanty is right up there. I got curious and I was wondering what he would have had to do to top Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.
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Considering that his averages his last four seasons were .323, .354. .376, and .333 I have to respectfully disagree that he would have surpassed Cobb's lifetime average if he had not died.

Michael

Why are you taking ONLY his last 4 seasons ?

I based my statistical projection on his last 10 seasons in which he batted an amazing .374

Your "4-year analysis" doesn't do-it.....you ignored 6 seasons of his significant batting performance.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

[molenick]

Honestly, I probably should not have mentioned those four seasons because that had nothing to do with my analysis.

Whatever he hit in any span of his previous seasons, to catch Cobb he would need to hit .400 for seven straight full seasons going 240 for 600 each year (and even then he would be one point short). I was just saying that I do not think he would have caught Cobb given that it is very hard to raise your career average 20 points when you already have 7510 ABs.

Since the next time a player hit .400 was in 1911, it is just my opinion that Delahanty would not have hit .400 for seven straight seasons from 1904-1910 starting at age 36.

[molenick]

Here is another way to look at it. Say Delahanty played 10 more seasons and hit .375 each year (225/600). He would end his career with 4847 hits in 13510 ABs and a .359 lifetime average. So even if he had another ten years hitting what he did in his last ten years, he would not have caught Cobb.

I am not saying he is not in the conversation for greatest right-handed hitter. I am just saying that I don't think he would have caught Cobb if he didn't die when he did.

Edited to add: I am sticking with Hornsby who hit .382 for the ten years 1920-1929.

[luciobar1980]

Originally Posted by FrankWakefield

Delahanty... among the best of the right handed hitters. I mentioned him in post #18.

I found Sowell's book July 2, 1903: The Mysterious Death of Hall-Of-Famer Big Ed Delahanty to be a most enlightening book. He covers Big Ed, the infancy of the 2 league system that we have today, the leagues' inclination to honor one another's contracts, and what baseball was like at the beginning of the 20th century. I recommend this book!

Now back to the best of the best of right handed hitters... I found another card.

I've always thought the placement of his name on this AND his 33 Goudey were rather unfortunate. They both bother me.