Top Tens thru the years

[Frayed Knot]

I was fiddling around with the spreadsheet that houses all our Ranking info and started wondering who were the top players at various points in NYM history.
Since we didn't start this project until 2002 there was no real list prior to that, but just based on our backward-looking rankings of early years there is at least a theoretical one for any point in time.

The list at the end of 1962 would have simply mirrored the results from that one year. So the top 10 would have been comprised of these guys:

1962
1st	Frank Thomas
2nd	Richie Ashburn
3rd	Al Jackson
4th	Roger Craig
5th	Charlie Neal
6th	Felix Mantilla
7th	Jay Hook
8th	Jim Hickman
9th	Elio Chacon
10th	Craig Anderson

Of those guys, only Hickman (70) and Al Jackson (77) remain in the top 100 of the up-to-date list.



By the end of 1963 it becomes the cumulative sum of those two years meaning that your reward for 10,000 posts would have been attainment of the exhalted Roger Craig level:

1963
1st	Roger Craig
2nd	Al Jackson
3rd	Frank Thomas
4th	Jim Hickman
5th	Ron Hunt
6th	Charlie Neal
7th	Carl Willey
8th	Richie Ashburn
9th	Duke Snider
10th	Larry Bearnarth

And after 1964 a few new faces start to crack the top 10 - including our namesake:

1964
1st	Jim Hickman
2nd	Al Jackson
3rd	Ron Hunt
4th	Roger Craig
5th	Frank Thomas
6th	Joe Christopher
7th	Tracy Stallard
8th	Ed Kranepool
9th	Galen Cisco
10th	Charlie Neal

Edited March 6, 2008 by Guest

[Guest AG/DC]

Cool. I did this, but for number one only.

[Frayed Knot]

With only 75 total names after 4 seasons it's much easier for new names to move up the list

1965
1st	Jim Hickman
2nd	Al Jackson
3rd	Ron Hunt
4th	Joe Christopher
5th	Ed Kranepool
6th	Charley Smith
7th	Roger Craig
8th	Frank Thomas
9th	Galen Cisco
10th	Tracy Stallard

1966
1st	Ron Hunt
2nd	Jim Hickman
3rd	Ed Kranepool
4th	Al Jackson
5th	Jack Fisher
6th	Joe Christopher
7th	Ron Swoboda
8th	Charley Smith
9th	Roger Craig
10th	Frank Thomas

The post-1967 list creeps up over 100 names (111) for the first time.
Some guy named Seaver debuts at #16

1967
1st	Ed Kranepool
2nd	Ron Hunt
3rd	Jack Fisher
4th	Jim Hickman]
5th	Ron Swoboda
6th	Al Jackson
7th	Cleon Jones
8th	Joe Christopher
9th	Charley Smith
10th	Roger Craig

Our namesake completes a 2-year stint on top.
Koosman debuts in 16th place.

1968
1st	Ed Kranepool
2nd	Ron Swoboda
3rd	Ron Hunt
4th	Cleon Jones
5th	Jack Fisher
6th	Jim Hickman
7th	Al Jackson
8th	Tom Seaver
9th	Jerry Grote
10th	Joe Christopher

Edited March 8, 2008 by Guest

[Guest AG/DC]

Now I'm remembering. You gave me shit when I did this.

[Frayed Knot]

AG/DC wrote: Now I'm remembering. You gave me shit when I did this.

???

[Frayed Knot]

Continuing merrily along ...

The championship year pushes its heroes to the top and starts to shove the early guys permanently out of the top 10

1969
1st	Cleon Jones
2nd	Ron Swoboda
3rd	Tom Seaver
4th	Ed Kranepool
5th	Jerry Grote
6th	Jerry Koosman
7th	Ron Hunt
8th	Jack Fisher
9th	Jim Hickman
10th	Al Jackson

In case you were wondering (and I know you were) how quickly Seaver took over the lead, now you know. He grabbed it after his 4th season, still has it 37 years later, and is almost certain to hold it for at least another 6 seasons and quite possibly on beyond that.

1970
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Cleon Jones
3rd	Ron Swoboda
4th	Jerry Koosman
5th	Ed Kranepool
6th	Jerry Grote
7th	Tommie Agee
8th	Bud Harrelson
9th	Tug McGraw
10th	Ron Hunt

Gary Gentry joins the party meaning that the entire top 10 save Swoboda (dealt prior to the season) are all active Mets

1971
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Cleon Jones
3rd	Jerry Koosman
4th	Ed Kranepool
5th	Ron Swoboda
6th	Tommie Agee
7th	Jerry Grote
8th	Tug McGraw
9th	Bud Harrelson
10th	Gary Gentry

The realization that this project is about to become really boring (assuming it wasn't already) has just hit. The rapid changes from the early years are no more as most of 1972's top-10 will remain there in some order or another for the next 15 years.

1972
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Cleon Jones
3rd	Tug McGraw
4th	Jerry Koosman
5th	Tommie Agee
6th	Ed Kranepool
7th	Ron Swoboda
8th	Jerry Grote
9th	Bud Harrelson
10th	Gary Gentry

Edited March 8, 2008 by Guest

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

This is pretty neat. It's interesting to watch the changes over time.

[Frayed Knot]

Jumping ahead a few years due to the relative stability at the top of the list; Koosman passes Cleon to claim the #2 spot that he'd hold for another 18 years.
Matlack & Rusty have replaced Swoboda and Gentry in the top 10.
This top 7 would remain unchanged until 1987.

1976
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Jerry Koosman
3rd	Cleon Jones
4th	Tug McGraw
5th	Ed Kranepool
6th	Jerry Grote
7th	Jon Matlack
8th	Bud Harrelson
9th	Tommie Agee
10th	Rusty Staub

The list is now 236 names long.
Rusty gets dealt away and as a result is dropped from his brief perch in the top 10 by Milner - only to rejoin the team in '81 and gain enough points to jump back in and drop the hammer on Hammer.
Kranepool's longevity pays off as he outlasts Tug to take over spot #4.

1980
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Jerry Koosman
3rd	Cleon Jones
4th	Ed Kranepool
5th	Tug McGraw
6th	Jerry Grote
7th	Jon Matlack
8th	Bud Harrelson
9th	Tommie Agee
10th	Jon Milner

The list goes past 300 names for the first time..
Hernandez breaks into the top 10 in 1986, Straw in '87, while Gooden & Mookie jump in with '88's list, dumping Agee, Matlack, Rusty and Harrelson.
Orosco peaked at #11 ('86 list).

1988
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Jerry Koosman
3rd	Cleon Jones
4th	Darryl Strawberry
5th	Ed Kranepool
6th	Keith Hernandez
7th	Mookie Wilson
8th	Dwight Gooden
9th	Tug McGraw
10th	Jerry Grote

In his last full season w/the Mets Gooden leaps past Straw & Koos and cements the top 4 into its present state.
Longevity and steady progress get Sid & HoJo into the ring of honor at the expense of Tug & Grote

1993
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Dwight Gooden
3rd	Jerry Koosman
4th	Darryl Strawberry
5th	Cleon Jones
6th	Sid Fernandez
7th	Howard Johnson
8th	Ed Kranepool
9th	Keith Hernandez
10th	Mookie Wilson

Franco jumps in after the '99 season dropping Mookie.
Fonzie reaches in '02 at Keith's expense.
And the final top 10 change was when Piazza got there in 2004 kicking Kranepool out.

2005
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Dwight Gooden
3rd	Jerry Koosman
4th	Darryl Strawberry
5th	Mike Piazza
6th	John Franco
7th	Edgardo Alfonzo
8th	Cleon Jones
9th	Sid Fernandez
10th	Howard Johnson

Next players with the best shot to crack the elite range are obviously Wright and/or Reyes, either one of which who could reach the top-10 with three more good years or possibly with two great ones.

Edited March 9, 2008 by Guest

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

How about this. Following 66, the Mets traded their No. 1 and No. 2 players of all time in the same deal!

[Gwreck]

Frayed Knot wrote: In case you were wondering (and I know you were) how quickly Seaver took over the lead, now you know. He grabbed it after his 4th season, still has it 37 years later, and is almost certain to hold it for at least another 6 seasons and quite possibly on beyond that.

Presumably Wright has the best shot to knock Seaver off #1, and Reyes slightly behind him. The question is...how likely? I know the formula accounts for team wins in a season, but why is it 6 seasons minimum? What does being player #1 in a season with 97 wins get you? What about a season with 87 wins? etc.

[Frayed Knot]

Wright is coming off a season which netted him 7,920 points in our system as the top ranked player in an 88 win season: 30 pts squared x 88 wins, then divide the whole thing by 10 (just to make the numbers more managable) ((30^2*88)/10).
A 98 win season would have made it worth 8,820 while a playoff bound team where the multiplier would often go above 100 (reg season wins + various post-season bonus points) a top-ranked player's score could top 10,000 points for that season.

But Wright is still more than 52,000 points behind Seaver, meaning that even 5 in a row of those best-case scenario seasons would still almost certainly leave him short which is what led me to guesstimate that 6 would be the minimum needed before GTS could be caught. The fact that we're even discussing the possibility that Wright, after 9 or 10 seasons as a Met, could even be near what it took Seaver 12 seasons to reach is optimistic enough.
At approx 8K pts/yr (Wright's avg over the last 3 seasons) it would take another 7 for him to grab the top slot. Reyes is only slightly behind Wright (5 slots and about 1,200 pts) so is essentially in the same boat although is averaging closer to 7K/yr recently.

[Frayed Knot]

Haven't updated this list in a while - haven't had to really.
But since D-Wright broke into the top ten this year (drop-kicking Howard Johnson just like Sandy Alderson just did) we have our first change in the top 10 in a number of years.

2010
1st	Tom Seaver
2nd	Dwight Gooden
3rd	Jerry Koosman
4th	Darryl Strawberry
5th	Mike Piazza
6th	John Franco
7th	David Wright
8th	Edgardo Alfonzo
9th	Cleon Jones
10th	Sid Fernandez

The total list now consists of 605 players