Career O-WAR
Simply put, Career WAR is the sum of a player’s WAR contributions over the course of his playing days. As with peak performance, this is an offense-based analysis, so when we used the term WAR we mean O-WAR.
Again, the continual decline in Pujols’ performance in Anaheim damages his standing on this career chart by comparison with his position on peak charts. For the record, that’s a major reason why we do both peak and career assessments; they are two different things, and a player’s standing in one can be far different from his position in the other.
As this is written, Pujols’ career O-WAR is 85.1. That stands him 22nd on the list. His closest comparable is Jimmie Foxx, at 91.7. Mike Schmidt, 91.8, is one hairsbreadth farther ahead.
But it’s worth noting that on the day he left St. Louis for Anaheim, Pujols’ career O-WAR was 74.4. Had he maintained the pace of the St. Louis portion of his career in Anaheim, he would rank at or close to the top of the category. Instead, he produced only a 10.6 career O-WAR in Anaheim, concluding with five non-productive seasons.
For that reason, his career score does not stack up well by comparison with the leaders. Here’s the category top 10.
Rank Player Career WAR
1 Babe Ruth 154.5
2 Ty Cobb 150.9
3 Barry Bonds 143.6
4 Willie Mays 136.6
5 Hank Aaron 132.6
6 Ted Williams 125.1
7 Stan Musial 125.0
8 Tris Speaker 124.4
9 Honus Wagner 123.3
10 Rogers Hornsby 121.7