Baseball has a lot of stats that allow us to compare players. Sometimes those comparisons are easy. For example: how does Adam Jones compare to other MLB centerfielders? Sometimes they are more difficult to judge. An example of this would be: how does Mike Mussina stack up next to Jim Palmer?

Discuss these questions and more about this post on the BSL Forum.

I often wonder about who some of the best Orioles of all time were. Now, there’s a difference between who the best players ever to don an O’s uniform, and who were the best players who were Orioles. For example, you could make an argument that Curt Schilling is the best pitcher ever to wear orange and black. Others would call you crazy, because Jim Palmer’s career in Baltimore easily eclipses the short stint Schilling had in Baltimore.

Comparing these two players is difficult because of the simple fact that they pitched in different eras. Enter the Hall of Stats. This site aims to put every player in history on a level playing field. It’s all in reference to the Hall of Fame, but their methodology results in a single score that makes players easy to compare.

Since being inducted into the Hall of Fame is the ultimate goal for a player, as far as individual accomplishments go, this seems as good a point of comparison as any. Here’s a brief overview of the Hall of Stats:

The Hall of Stats uses a formula called Hall Rating to rank every player in baseball history. Hall Rating combines the value of a player’s peak and longevity into a single number that represents the quality of that player’s Hall of Fame case. It’s not perfect, but there’s a lot to be said for rating all players in history according to the same objective criteria.

I highly recommend that you read about their work as it’s both fascinating and very educational.

So who are the best Orioles of all time? Glad you asked.

Hall of Stats- Baltimore OriolesThe graph above shows the 20 best Orioles of all time. It also shows the time periods during which they accumulated their Hall Rating points. While it’s not necessarily easy to see which player produced how much and when, it does allow for you to easily see the eras during which many of these players played.

So which players put up the highest Hall Rating as Orioles? It may seem obvious, but the three best are all O’s-lifers. Cal Ripken leads the pack with a 187 Hall Rating, all of it coming during his time with the Birds. Second and third were Brooks Robinson (148) and Jim Palmer (127). George Sisler is the first non-lifer on the list, though 109 of his career 112 Hall Rating came in Baltimore (though they weren’t the Orioles back then).

Mike Mussina (163) would have actually been second on the O’s list if he had stayed with the club for his entire career. As it is though, only 96 of his Hall Rating points came with Baltimore, placing him 6th on the O’s all-time list.

Frank Robinson actually put up a 212 Hall Rating over his career, though only 65 of that came from his time with the Orioles. That’s good for 14th on the club. It’s worth noting however, that 127 he put up in Cincinnati was good for fourth on that franchise’s list, behind only Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, and Barry Larkin. 5th on the list is fellow Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, so that’s pretty good company for Frank.

The top 20 is rounded out by everyone’s favorite Grand Slam hitter: Chris Hoiles. All 52 of Hoiles’ Hall Rating came with the O’s, and 40 of it came in that one game. Just kidding.

Soon though, Hoiles could be surpassed by a certain second baseman, assuming the club resigns him this offseason. It’s a shame that Roberts has dealt with such difficult injuries because he had put up positive Hall Rating figures every season from 2003 to 2010.

Some other names of note, especially for fans who’ve been watching the team for the past 20 years or so (first # is their Hall Rating w/ the O’s, second number is their overall Hall Rating):

22. Melvin Mora — 48 (48)

26. Rafael Palmeiro — 45 (125)

37. Miguel Tejada — 36 (80)

38. Nick Markakis — 36 (36)

57. Jeremy Guthrie — 28 (32)

59. B.J. Surhoff — 27 (51)

60. Adam Jones — 27 (29)

65. Matt Wieters — 25 (25)

73. Jim Johnson –24 (24)

There’s plenty more names, as the top 200 players for each team are listed on the Oriole’s franchise page. I was tempted to post Sidney Ponson’s Hall Rating, but we’ve all been through enough as O’s fans already.

The Hall of Stats is a cool site that uses some pretty cool math & analysis to measure every player’s Hall Rating. By taking into account both Peak and Longevity, just as a Hall of Fame voter ought to, the Hall of Stats gives a very unique look into comparing players of all different eras, positions, and types.

For O’s fans, it helps answer the questions many of us have wondered. What it also does is give us a glimpse into the prowess of players we could have never seen play, like George Sisler. It also challenges some of the expectations we might have (who would’ve thought Cal Ripken’s Hall Rating would be based more on Peak – 56%, than Longevity – 44%).

It also puts into perspective just how difficult it is to make it into the Hall of Fame. Take Chris Hoiles for example. Hoiles has a Hall Rating of 52, which is in the top 4.5% all-time. That’s remarkable. And yet, 52 is just barely half of what one would need to get into the Hall of Fame according to the Hall of Stats (a score of 100 is the ticket into the Hall of Stats). Only 5 players; Ripken, Robinson, Palmer, Sisler, and Murray were able to put up Hall Ratings of 100 or better in O’s uniforms. Only 10 players in the O’s franchise top 200 have put up Hall Ratings of 100 in their careers. Some players (Luis Aparicio – 95) made the Hall of Fame, but have inadequate Hall Ratings for the Hall of Stats.

Oh, that question I posed earlier about Schilling vs. Palmer. Well it’s really not even a contest. Curt Schilling‘s Hall Rating of 172 makes him the 16th highest ranked pitcher, while Palmer‘s 127 is just 39th among pitchers.

Jeff Long
Jeff Long

Jeff was the owner of the Orioles blog Warehouse Worthy, which focused on making advanced statistics a part of the conversation for the average fan. Outside of baseball, Jeff is a graduate of Loyola University where he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Business Administration. The Maryland native currently works for an Advertising Agency in downtown Baltimore. Previously a contributor to Beyond the Boxscore, he joined Baseball Prospectus in September 2014. You can reach him at [email protected].

X