Big Papi now holds most of the career records for DH, having passed Harold Baines last week for career hits. I expect he’ll keep going for a while, and put some distance between him and the others. But if he never plays another game, is he the greatest DH to ever live?
I thought of four contenders for the title: Hal McRae, Harold Baines, Edgar Martinez, and Ortiz. Each has played a similar number of games at the position (or lack of position), and they range from 1500 to 1700 hits. Separating out the top two from the third and fourth best is easy. McRae and Baines, considered the best DHs of the ‘70s and ‘80s, are not in the same league as Martinez and Ortiz. McRae and Baines were solid hitters, but weren’t among the best in the league other than an assorted fluke year or two. Choosing between Big Papi and Martinez (known as Papi according to Baseball Reference – no Big) is much more difficult. The Comparison: Career Numbers: Ortiz has played about an extra season’s worth of games than Martinez while at DH, allowing him to compile better raw numbers. Big Papi has especially large advantages in home runs (370 to 243) and RBI (1209 to 1003), but then again Ortiz’s greatest strength is his power, whereas Martinez dominance lies in his batting (29 point advantage over Ortiz) and on base percentage (43 point advantage). Big Papi played in the better hitters’ park, but Martinez played at the height of the steroid fueled offensive explosion. Close, but the extra season matters. Advantage: Ortiz. Peak Performance: Edgar Martinez dominated the league for several seasons. In 1995, for example, Martinez led the league in hitting (.356), on base percentage (.479 – wow), doubles (52), and OPS. He was no singles hitter either, hitting 29 home runs and driving in 116 runs. In 2000, he hit 37 homers, led the league in RBI at 145, and hit .324. His OPS+, one of my favorite measures of offensive performance, ranged from 152 to 185 over a 7 year period (100 is average, and a mark over 150 is excellent. Of course, Big Papi has been no slouch as well. His peak, from 2005 to 2007 was similarly outstanding, with OPS+ ranging from 158 to 171, leading the league in homers once, RBI twice, walks twice, hitting as high as .332, and on, and on. I think they were about equally good at their peak, but Martinez’s peak lasted longer. Advantage: Martinez. Durability: Ortiz stayed healthy for much of his run atop the leader boards. He played 145 or more games in seven out of eight seasons from 2004 to 2011. Martinez had a harder time staying off the disabled list. Advantage: Ortiz. Post Season: Edgar wasn’t much of a hitter in the post season, putting up a .266 average in seven post season series (It’s hard to remember there was a time the Mariners were good enough to play that many post-season games). One nice post-season bonus: He absolutely killed the Yankees in 1995, sending them to one last early exit before the Evil Empire’s battle star was fully operational.If Big Papi never played another post season game after 2004, I’d still give it to him. Advantage: Ortiz. Overall: It’s a really close call, but David Ortiz should now be considered the greatest DH of all. His DH career is a little longer than Edgar’s, even if it’s not as consistent. There’s the durability, the awesome post season performance, and some of the most memorable clutch hitting you’ve ever seen. Feels good just thinking about it.