Royalty

120 years ago, a Reds center fielder named Cy Seymour emblazoned his 10th Major League season with a line so far beyond anything he’d accomplished before and anything he’d do in his final six years after this pinnacle:  a startling, awe-inspiring mountain flanked by short, rolling hills.  

In 1905, left-handed batter Cy Seymour – who hadn’t led his league in any offensive category in any campaign – made up for lost time.  NL-best figures in hits, doubles, triples, RBI, total bases, extra-base hits, average, slugging and OPS were his, an across-the-board manifestation of catching lightning in a bottle and alchemizing it to a golden finish.  The magic coalesces into a 181 OPS+ for Seymour – also the best in the NL, a figure so far above any other on his résumé (his best number outside the 1905 season is a 137 in 1909, in a mere 80 games; his lifetime mark sits at 118).  

Since Seymour’s 1905 perfect storm, there have been 139 additional player seasons in which a batter amassed at least 500 plate appearances and built a 180 OPS+ or better from his opportunities (this includes Benny Kauff’s year for Brooklyn in the Federal League in 1915).  A full two-thirds of the campaigns were, as might be expected, delivered by Hall of Famers.  Add in another eight from Barry Bonds, three apiece from Joe Jackson, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout, one from Miguel Cabrera, two each from Mark McGwire and Manny Ramírez and Aaron Judge, and the tally runs up to 117 by titans of the game, preeminent, kingly batters for which the record books are everyday reading.  

Even within this look at the giants inside the batter’s box, there are levels to comb through and sort.  Willie Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Jackson, Joe Morgan, George Brett, Rickey Henderson, Edgar Martínez, Mike Piazza, Jim Thome – all of these exquisite offensive showmen who have a plaque in Cooperstown – managed the feat (500 PA/180+ OPS+ since our starting point in 1905) just once.  Honus Wagner, Joe DiMaggio, Henry Aaron, Frank Robinson and Willie McCovey topped out with two.  There are only 14 players in this complete collection since Seymour’s pinnacle that managed at least three, and even here, a chance for slimming down the ultra-performers beckons.  

1906-2024:  Three or More Consecutive Seasons with at Least 180 OPS+ (Min. 500 PA)

7  Babe Ruth (1926-1932)

5  Ty Cobb (1909-1913)

5  Barry Bonds (2000-2004)

4  Jimmie Foxx (1932-1935)

4  Ted Williams (1946-1949)

4  Mickey Mantle (1955-1958)

3  Joe Jackson (1911-1913)

3  Babe Ruth (1919-1921)

3  Rogers Hornsby (1920-1922)

3  Lou Gehrig (1930-1932)

3  Mike Trout (2017-2019)

There could be one addition to this immaculate collection by the time the final regular season pitch in 2025 is thrown and addressed.  Coming off a hitless July 4, Dodgers DH/pitcher Shohei Ohtani holds a 179 OPS+, a magnificent mark following his 185 in 2023 and the 187 in his historic 2024.  Now 31 (Happy Birthday!), the eight-year veteran is a few months of pummeling and patience away from sauntering his way into a small community where some of the most fearsome and adept batters hold court.  The supernova experience of Ohtani being a force in both the batter’s box and from the mound put aside for the moment, the three-time MVP can simply submit his work on the offensive side and comfortably arrange his name to the ones that parade through the most hallowed corridors in the history of the National Pastime.  This might be Ohtani’s realm.  

Seymour’s 1905 campaign still captivates through its singularity, a numerical image of a quality ballplayer uncovering a formula for greatness , maintaining it for six months and then never recapturing anything nearly that exceptional again.  Mays’ 1965, Yaz’s 1967, Brett’s 1980, Cabrera’s 2013:  these seasons glisten and glow under a different perspective – single snapshots of a godly peak when the typical excellence found an even higher elevation.  And then there are our sustainers, those whose brilliance unfolded and then then kept enlarging and expanding, uninterrupted for two seasons and then three and then sometimes, even more.  

There’s so much more ball to be played – almost a full July, an entire August, just about a complete September.  The Dodgers’ regular season is scheduled to conclude on September 28 when they finish off a three-game set in Seattle.  From now until then, Shohei Ohtani will be tested time and again, a couple hundred more chances to achieve a single number that will resonate and signify toward something larger and more lasting.  

Batting royalty in the form of Cobb … Jackson … Ruth … Hornsby … Gehrig … Foxx … Williams  … Mantle … Bonds … Trout.

And maybe, if he can continue to conjure the magic of Cy Seymour in 1905, Shohei Ohtani.  

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.