Era-Adjusted WAR - All Time Ranking

RiceBondsMT2Yng · 06-26-2025, 03:18 AM

Has BO weighed in yet on this era-adjusted WAR study done at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2023? The below list uses updated stats through the 2024 season and is based on bWAR (from Baseball Reference):

https://eckeraadjustment.web.illinois.edu/#rankings

There's a parallel study/ranking based on fWAR (from FanGraphs) with some pretty interesting differences. Here's a side-by-side of the top 25:

Obviously, I find the results particularly fascinating because my favorite player, Barry Bonds, is atop a lot of these lists. It's confirmation bias - I already assumed that Bonds would be at the top or near the top of any dispassionate analysis of the relative quality of players.

But I'm not enough of a baseball nerd to even pretend to understand the underlying models for bWAR and fWAR, although more knowledgeable members have attempted to explain it. So I have no idea how persuasive this study's era-adjustment methodology is to a person in the know.

A couple of interesting tidbits from the original study done with stats through 2023. Bonds wouldn't be the era-adjusted home run king. That would be Ruth:

As of 2023, Bonds and Ruth were not the #1 highest WAR per PA players in history, adjusted for era. That would go to Trout. 2024 saw a drop off of course, and we are in the middle of his decline, so he should fall further down the list:

Bonds barely registered among the most dominant single season WAR performances, adjusted for era, in history. He, like the peer players atop the all time lists, was just incredibly great year after year after year after year. Ohtani and Judge are no joke:

06-26-2025, 03:18 AM	#1
RiceBondsMT2Yng Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Oakland, CA Posts: 731	Era-Adjusted WAR - All Time Ranking Has BO weighed in yet on this era-adjusted WAR study done at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2023? The below list uses updated stats through the 2024 season and is based on bWAR (from Baseball Reference): https://eckeraadjustment.web.illinois.edu/#rankings There's a parallel study/ranking based on fWAR (from FanGraphs) with some pretty interesting differences. Here's a side-by-side of the top 25: Obviously, I find the results particularly fascinating because my favorite player, Barry Bonds, is atop a lot of these lists. It's confirmation bias - I already assumed that Bonds would be at the top or near the top of any dispassionate analysis of the relative quality of players. But I'm not enough of a baseball nerd to even pretend to understand the underlying models for bWAR and fWAR, although more knowledgeable members have attempted to explain it. So I have no idea how persuasive this study's era-adjustment methodology is to a person in the know. A couple of interesting tidbits from the original study done with stats through 2023. Bonds wouldn't be the era-adjusted home run king. That would be Ruth: As of 2023, Bonds and Ruth were not the #1 highest WAR per PA players in history, adjusted for era. That would go to Trout. 2024 saw a drop off of course, and we are in the middle of his decline, so he should fall further down the list: Bonds barely registered among the most dominant single season WAR performances, adjusted for era, in history. He, like the peer players atop the all time lists, was just incredibly great year after year after year after year. Ohtani and Judge are no joke: __________________ \| \| BARRY BONDS \| GREG MADDUX \| ALEX RODRIGUEZ \| \| \|Rare 90s Inserts \| '97-'07 Bonds AUs \| Bonds RCs/XRCs\| Me: "Some have Cap Anson high on the best hitters list smh..." Pal: "He'd prob die of cholera if he saw a 100mph fastball..." Last edited by RiceBondsMT2Yng; 06-26-2025 at 03:22 AM.