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JohnTudor1985 wrote: ↑21 Nov 2025 22:46 pm Stan also missed the 1945 season during his prime due to WW II. His OPS in 1944/46 was over 1.000 combined.

Of course, Albert's Cardinals stats were significantly better than the time he spent with the Angels.

Cards' only OPS plus:

Albert 169
Stan 159

Would love to have another Stan or Albert in my lifetime.

rockondlouie wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 09:17 am

JohnTudor1985 wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 08:26 am Ted Williams missed 4 prime years for WWII and Korea. Making him the all time leader in WAR.

BABE RUTH by a mile JT:

182.6 -vs- 121.8

Even if we gave Teddy Ball game four years at his highest WAR (10.6 X 4 = 42.4 resulting in a 164.2 career) he falls 18.4 WAR points short of The Babe.

Cardinals4Life wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 10:35 am

rockondlouie wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 09:17 am

JohnTudor1985 wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 08:26 am Ted Williams missed 4 prime years for WWII and Korea. Making him the all time leader in WAR.

BABE RUTH by a mile JT:

182.6 -vs- 121.8

Even if we gave Teddy Ball game four years at his highest WAR (10.6 X 4 = 42.4 resulting in a 164.2 career) he falls 18.4 WAR points short of The Babe.

I think he was making a joke, Rock!

jbrach wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 10:07 am

JohnTudor1985 wrote: ↑21 Nov 2025 22:46 pm Stan also missed the 1945 season during his prime due to WW II. His OPS in 1944/46 was over 1.000 combined.

Of course, Albert's Cardinals stats were significantly better than the time he spent with the Angels.

Cards' only OPS plus:

Albert 169
Stan 159

Would love to have another Stan or Albert in my lifetime.

difference is stan maintained the 159 over 24 seasons...albert declined dramatically...11 otherworldly seasons and then the second half of his career was that of a journeyman

12xu wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 16:33 pm

jbrach wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 10:07 am

JohnTudor1985 wrote: ↑21 Nov 2025 22:46 pm Stan also missed the 1945 season during his prime due to WW II. His OPS in 1944/46 was over 1.000 combined.

Of course, Albert's Cardinals stats were significantly better than the time he spent with the Angels.

Cards' only OPS plus:

Albert 169
Stan 159

Would love to have another Stan or Albert in my lifetime.

difference is stan maintained the 159 over 24 seasons...albert declined dramatically...11 otherworldly seasons and then the second half of his career was that of a journeyman

The second half of Albert's career was sub par compared with his first 11 seasons, that is true. Calling it "journeyman" is not really accurate, he hit 258 HR in his final 11 seasons. Stan only hit 248 in his last 11 years. Stan also declined in his later years, his age 38-40 seasons were rather poor by his standards, but he did rebound to have a very strong season in 1962.

Bottom line, Stan Musial was the better hitter, Albert Pujols was the better slugger.

fullswing wrote: ↑21 Nov 2025 21:19 pm I know that you can't compare stats from different eras but this is just for fun. Yes, I did cherry pick these stats.

Stan AB
10,972
Albert AB
11,421

Stan WAR
129
Albert WAR
101

Stan Hits
3630
Albert Hits
3384

Stan BA
.331
Albert BA
.296

Stan Runs
1949
Albert Runs
1914

Stan OBP
.417
Albert OBP
.374

Stan SLG
.559
Albert SLG
.546

Stan OPS
.976
Albert OPS
.918

Stan ASG
24
Albert ASG
11

Stan Batting Title
7
Albert Batting Title
1

Stan SO
696
Albert SO
1404

Also, Albert made more money than Stan did in their careers in 32 ABs or 8 games.

ramfandan wrote: ↑22 Nov 2025 06:52 am

fullswing wrote: ↑21 Nov 2025 23:06 pm

JohnTudor1985 wrote: ↑21 Nov 2025 22:46 pm Stan also missed the 1945 season during his prime due to WW II. His OPS in 1944/46 was over 1.000 combined.

Of course, Albert's Cardinals stats were significantly better than the time he spent with the Angels.

Cards' only OPS plus:

Albert 169
Stan 159

Would love to have another Stan or Albert in my lifetime.

He probably would have got to 500 home runs, too.

Regarding lost HR's for Stan, I wonder how many more he would have had if the right field pavillion at Busch Stadium 1 (formerly Sportsman Park ) didn't have a 33 ft. high fence to clear. There was an 11 ft. concrete wall with an additional 22 ft. fence extending above that .
The RF was short 310 ft. ? down the line . However, I can remember being at games when I was kid there where Stan would hit a scorching rising line drive that would hit high off the upper part of the fence (surely a HR if no fence would extend that high ). In fact, I remember a couple times Stan hitting a scorcher like that and the RF player played it off the fence and held Stan to a single. It was not always an automatic double.
No way to know how many HR's that high fence cost him . A few of those balls rocketed off his bat probably were 375+ ft. HR's.

Very few on this forum are around that saw Stan play at Busch Stadium 1 on Grand Ave. Very seldom does that 33ft. RF fence get discussed but I witnessed it at games in person. I am trying to recall how far that high fence extended from the foul line in the field of play. . Somewhere toward right center is my memory but that has been 67 years ago.