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Mark McGwire vs. Lou Gehrig ESPN.com | |||||||||||||||||
An interesting comparison: The Iron Horse, the man who played 2,131 consecutive games, and Big Mac, who has seemingly missed that many games during his career. Player G AVG OBP SLG OPS* OPS+^ Runs RBI TPR# Horse 2164 .340 .447 .632 1.080 182 1888 1995 68.9 Mac 1777 .267 .402 .593 .995 168 1119 1350 38.4* on-base percentage + slugging percentage ^ OPS adjusted for home park and normalized to league average (from "Total Baseball") # Total Player Rating (wins above average player at his position -- from "Total Baseball") Gehrig was an amazing hitter. He placed in the top five in the AL 12 times in OPS, including first in 1934, 1936 and 1937. Gehrig has the edge in the raw totals -- except home runs, of course. But McGwire isn't that far behind when looking at OPS+. While McGwire remains absolutely devastating at the plate, he is 37 years old with a body that breaks down (although it should be noted he played at least 150 games from 1997-99). Mac does have 554 career home runs, leaving him a good chance to hit 700 for his career. If he reaches that milestone, he'll have more than 200 more homers than Gehrig. That's impressive, but won't be enough. In Total Baseball's player rating, Gehrig is 30 wins ahead of McGwire. Final tally: Gehrig ... but don't forget Jeff Bagwell, who actually has a higher lifetime Total Player Rating than McGwire (45.2). Considering, he's four years younger than Big Mac and remains durable and consistent, Bagwell has plenty of good years left. --David Schoenfield  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | ALSO SEE Best now vs. best ever: Catcher Best now vs. best ever: Second base Best now vs. best ever: Third base Best now vs. best ever: Shortstop Best now vs. best ever: Left field Best now vs. best ever: Center field Best now vs. best ever: Right field Best now vs. best ever: Pitcher | ||||||||||||||||
