All-time Tigers Hitting Leaders - Part 2

In my last post, I ranked the all-time best Tigers batters according to runs created (RC) and offensive winning percentage (OWP). RC measures longevity more than quality while OWP says more about quality. Lee Sinnis developed the statistic runs created above average (RCAA) which combines longevity with excellence. RCAA is the difference between a player's RC total and the RC total for an average player who used same number of his team's outs.

The lifetime RCAA leaders for players with over 1,500 plate appearances with the Tigers are listed in Table 1 below. As usual, Ty Cobb is the run away leader with over twice as many RCAA (1,319) than the runnerup Harry Heilmann (624). They are followed by Al Kaline (546), Hank Greenberg (531) and Sam Crawford (492). These names should come to no surprise to any fan with even a passing interest in Tigers history.

While runs created does adjust for league average, it does not take fielding into consideration at all. Another statistic which does address fielding to some extent is Runs Created Above Position (RCAP). RCAP is like RCAA except a player is compared to others at his his position. This statistic will yield a fairer comparison between a player who plays a more demanding position such as catcher and a player who plays a more offensive oriented postion such as first base.
One thing it does not take into consideration is how well a player plays his position. That's an analysis for another time though.

Table 2 presents the Tigers lifetime RCAP leaders. Once again Cobb is on top by a substantial margin (1,046 RCAP) but Charlie Gehringer (581) is a strong second on this list. Heilmann (463), Kaline (395) and Lou Whitaker (369) round out the top 5. One name on the list might be a surprise to some. Donie Bush is 18th all-time with 118 RCAP. Just yesterday, Bush was appropriately voted into the MotownSports Tigers Hall of Fame.


Table 1: Lifetime Tigers RCAA Leaders

Player	PA	RC	RCAA
Ty Cobb	12106	2590	1319
Harry Heilmann	8390	1613	624
Al Kaline	11597	1830	546
Hank Greenberg	5586	1263	531
Sam Crawford	8871	1438	492
Charlie Gehringer	10237	1828	444
Norm Cash	7772	1243	419
Lou Whitaker	9967	1379	266
Bobby Veach	6785	1022	243
Kirk Gibson	4773	742	192
Rudy York	5349	889	185
Willie Horton	5978	824	167
Alan Trammell	9375	1246	161
Dick Wakefield	2499	399	119
Vic Wertz	3218	518	116
Bobby Higginson	5660	827	113
Ray Boone	2856	446	112
Dick McAuliffe	6829	858	112
Cecil Fielder	4252	628	108
Roy Cullenbine	1951	328	107

Table 2: Lifetime Tigers RCAP Leaders

Player	PA	RC	RCAP
Ty Cobb	12106	2590	1046
Charlie Gehringer	10237	1828	581
Harry Heilmann	8390	1613	463
Al Kaline	11597	1830	395
Lou Whitaker	9967	1379	369
Alan Trammell	9375	1246	365
Sam Crawford	8871	1438	341
Hank Greenberg	5586	1263	339
Norm Cash	7772	1243	291
Dick McAuliffe	6829	858	193
Bill Freehan	6899	855	188
Harvey Kuenn	4750	665	163
Rudy York	5349	889	161
Kirk Gibson	4773	742	134
Lance Parrish	4674	598	120
Bobby Veach	6785	1022	119
Mickey Tettleton	2343	366	114
Donie Bush	8451	890	110
Ray Boone	2856	446	102
George Kell	3734	568	101