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Rating Albert Pujols among the greats

By Bill Felber

May 6, 2021; Anaheim, California, USA; An image Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols (5) is displayed inside Angel Stadium. The Angels designated Albert Pujols for assignment today, leaving the 41-year-old’s playing future in limbo. Pujols was in the final year of his historic 10-year, $253 million contract. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
May 6, 2021; Anaheim, California, USA; An image Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols (5) is displayed inside Angel Stadium. The Angels designated Albert Pujols for assignment today, leaving the 41-year-old’s playing future in limbo. Pujols was in the final year of his historic 10-year, $253 million contract. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Albert Pujols at his peak in 2010. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
Albert Pujols at his peak in 2010. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /

Peak OPS+

Peak OPS+ is the average of a player’s five best consecutive seasons in on base average plus slugging average, that figure normalized for the era and park in which each player competed. A rating of 100 is average, but these greats are without exception way above that level.

Pujols’ peak period for OPS+ occurred between 2006 and 2010. As a Cardinals first baseman for that period, he averaged 177.8 OPS+ for the five-season block. In a nutshell, that’s 77.8 percent better than the average player of his time.

He led the National League in that category four of the five seasons, peaking at 192 in 2008. That was the year he won his second of an eventual three MVP awards, the others coming in 2005 and 2009.

Compared with our field of two dozen greats, that 177.8 average leaves Pujols barely outside the top 10 all-time. Here are the top 10.

Rank      Player                   Avg.       Seasons

1              Barry Bonds        242.8     2000-2004

2              Babe Ruth           227.0     1920-1924

3              Ted Williams       224.6     1952-1956

4              Rogers Hornsby 203.6     1921-1925

5              Ty Cobb                197.4     1909-1913

6              Lou Gehrig          195.2     1927-1931

7              Mickey Mantle  190.0     1955-1959

8              Jimmie Foxx       186.2     1932-1936

9              Honus Wagner  184.6     1904-1908

10           Stan Musial         178.4     1948-1952

11           Albert Pujols      177.8     2006-2010

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