I had done this calculation several years ago to look at Bill Mazeroski's statistics and found results similar to those that Mike Emeigh found using a slightly different method.
I found the "average 2b" in each of Mazeroski's seasons. In his last
two seasons, Mazeroski was a back-up, so I pro-rated the totals to his
actual games played. In his seasons as a regular I used the average number
of games played for the average secondbaseman, giving credit for durability
(the "Gehrig-Ripken effect") The totals are below
statistics notes and definitions are at the
bottom of the page. I have repeated the calculations for several other second basemen.
Eddie Collins 18yrs., 7 yrs. back-up
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
avg. 2b 2531 9068 2517 399 121 46 999 1253 936 513 339 .278 .345 .364 .709 4.43
Collins 2826 9949 3315 438 187 47 1300 1821 1499 286 744 .333 .421 .429 .850 6.90
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 2208 5147 6540 474 996 .961 5.29 .451 2.33 2.96
Collins 2650 6526 7630 435 1215 .970 5.34 .458 2.46 2.88
Collins had an OWL of .708, his career Park Factor was .98, making his adjusted OWL .715.
His RF was +.0476 above the average 2b his errors were 1.31 times less frequent than the average 2b.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 1743 6473 1718 299 65 111 798 857 697 603 81 .265 .337 .383 .720 4.48
Doerr 1865 7093 2042 381 89 223 1247 1094 809 608 54 .288 .361 .461 .822 5.96
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 1640 4114 4831 249 1189 .973 5.45 .725 2.51 2.95
Doerr 1852 4928 5710 214 1507 .980 5.74 .814 2.66 3.08
Doerr had an OWL of .639 with a park factor of 1.04 dropping his adjusted OWL to .619.
His RF was +.2892 above the average econd baseman, his errors were 1.37 times less frequent.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 2081 7583 2035 313 68 102 737 993 723 697 76 .268 .332 .368 .700 4.26
Fox 2367 9232 2663 355 112 35 790 1279 719 216 76 .288 .340 .363 .703 4.42
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 1888 4609 5140 215 1353 .978 5.17 .717 2.44 2.72
Fox 2295 6090 6373 209 1619 .984 5.43 .705 2.65 2.78
Fox had an OWL of .518, his career Park Factor was .98, making his adjusted OWL .526.
His RF was +.2655 above the average 2b, his errors were 1.31 times less fequent.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 1417 5236 1381 246 51 98 672 688 576 497 57 .264 .337 .387 .724 4.51
Gordon 1566 5707 1530 264 52 253 975 914 759 702 89 .268 .354 .466 .820 5.74
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 1339 3338 3937 204 967 .973 5.43 .722 2.49 2.94
Gordon 1519 3600 4706 260 1160 .970 5.47 .764 2.37 3.10
His OWL was .619, but his park factor was .96 making his offensive level a mirror
image of Bobby Doerr's. Gordon's adjusted OWL was .639.
His range factor was +.0337 above the average 2b and he made errors 0.90 times less frequently than the average 2b. (i.e. more often) In every season after his rookie season, there were more runs scored per game in Gordon's road games than in his home games.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 2504 9177 2513 389 141 45 1084 1226 744 154 393 .274 .326 .362 .690 4.17
Lajoie 2480 9589 3242 658 163 83 1599 1504 516 85 380 .338 .372 .467 .839 6.69
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 2118 4883 6211 556 785 .952 5.24 .371 2.31 2.93
Lajoie 2035 5496 6262 451 1050 .963 5.78 .516 2.70 3.08
His OWL was .720, his career Park Factor was 1.00, so his adjusted OWL was .720.
His RF was +.5401 and he made errors 1.29 times less frequently than the average.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 2127 7785 2035 302 66 92 654 978 639 801 125 .261 .317 .353 .670 3.87
Mazeroski 2163 7755 2016 294 62 138 853 769 447 706 84 .260 .300 .368 .667 3.80
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 1948 4421 5378 231 1234 .977 5.03 .634 2.27 2.76
Mazeroski 2094 4974 6685 204 1706 .983 5.57 .815 2.38 3.19
Mazeroski's OWL was .491, his career Park Factor was .99, making his adjusted OWL .497.
His RF relative to league was +.5370 and he made errors 1.34 times less frequently than average.
Mazeroski was roughly an average offensive secondbaseman, a little weak
in ability to get on base, but with good power. He made an extra out every
other game, an outstanding defensive performance.
Mike
Emeigh's analysis is worth checking out.
Most of Mazeroski's career was spent in Forbes field, a notoriously difficult home run park. During Mazeroski's years, the Pirates played 1353 games at home. 1503 home runs were hit in these games. The Pirates played 1354 games on the road - 2370 home runs were hit in these games. An average secoond baseman playing in these situtations would drop from the average of 92 HR to 78HR.
Mazeroski's home park (mostly Forbes Field) seems to have hurt his greatest offensive strength.
A more detailed look at the context of Mazeroski's performance is being worked on for my Maz page.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 2000 7813 2063 277 123 72 741 1350 751 251 412 .264 .329 .347 .676 3.96
McPhee 2135 8291 2250 303 188 53 1067 1678 981 229 568 .271 .348 .372 .720 4.54
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 1895 5175 5917 893 825 .925 5.85 .435 2.73 3.12
McPhee 2126 6545 6905 791 1186 .944 6.33 .558 3.08 3.25
McPhee's OWL was .569, his career Park Factor was 1.02, making his adjusted OWL .559.
His RF was +.4747 and E rate was 1.34 times better than average.
McPhee was one of the top second basemen of the 19th century.
G AB H 2b 3b HR RBI R BB SO SB BA AOB SLG AOPS RC/G
Avg. 2b 2055 7511 2012 325 70 105 731 1030 770 666 120 .268 .336 .372 .708 4.35
Schoendienst 2216 8479 2449 427 78 84 773 1223 606 346 89 .289 .336 .387 .723 4.67
G@2b PO A E DP FA RF DP/G PO/G A/G
avg. 2b 1651 4088 4584 210 1136 .976 5.25 .688 2.48 2.78
Schoendienst 1834 4616 5243 170 1368 .983 5.38 .746 2.52 2.86
Schoendient's OWL was .536. His career Park Factor was 1.02, making his adjusted OWL .526.
His RF was +.1226 and his E rate was 1.39 times better than average.
OPS is On-base average + Slugging average. AOPS is AOB+SLG.
RC/G is computed using the simple Bill James "Runs Created per Game", with "Runs created given by RC=(H+BB)*TB/(AB+BB), outs by outs=(AB-H) and RC/G=RC*25.5/outs.
RF is the simple "range factor", RF=(PO+A)/G
DP/G is double plays divided by games played at secondbase.
"Park Factor" is an estimate of how many runs an average team would score playing half their games in the particular park. For each team-season, this is computed using RH, runs per game a home, and RR, runs per game on the road. In a league with T teams, PF= (RH/2+RR/2)/(RH/T + (T-1)*RR/t). A player's "career Park Facto" is computed by taking the weighted average of the seasonal park factors, weighting by the number of AB+BB that the player had.
OWL is the player's "Offensive Won-Lost percentage" relative to the average, figured using the Bill James "Pythagorean Formula", (player RC/G)^2/ ( (player RC/G)^2+(avgRC/G)^2).
The "adjusted OWL" is computed by multiplying the average RC/G by the player's career Park Factor.