Baseball GOATthird base
Lave Cross
Philadelphia Phillies, 1887–1907
29.3
Score, No. 827 all-time
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Grove leads on both counts: 104.4 wins added to 35.2 over a career, and 63.6 to 23.4 across his seven best seasons.
third base
Philadelphia Phillies, 1887–1907
29.3
Score, No. 827 all-time
starting pitcher
Philadelphia Athletics, 1925–1941
84.0
Score, No. 20 all-time
Wins added is how many extra games a player’s teams won because they had him and not a replacement-level player, the kind of fill-in any team can find. In one season, 2 is a solid regular, 5 is an All-Star and 8 or more is an MVP-level year. Score is the average of the career total and the best seven seasons.
| Lave Cross | Lefty Grove | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | ||
| 29.3 | Score | 84.0(better) |
| 35.2 | Wins added, career | 104.4(better) |
| 23.4 | Wins added, best 7 seasons | 63.6(better) |
| 827 | All-time rank | 20(better) |
| 21 | Seasons | 17 |
The dot marks the better number in each row. A hitter and a pitcher don’t share traditional stats, so this comparison uses the ratings only.