Ken Griffey Jr. and Willie Mays are the best centerfielders of their respected eras. Willie Mays of the 50s and early 60s and Ken Griffey Jr. of the 90s and early 2000s. They have great career numbers as you might expect, Willie Mays hit .302/.384/.557 with 3283 hits, 660 home runs, and 1903 RBI’s. He also added 338 stolen bases and 2062 runs scored. Ken Griffey hit .284/.370/.538 with 2781 hits, 630 home runs and 1836 RBI’s. He also added 184 stolen bases and 1662 runs scored.

So obviously Mays amassed much more counting stats over his career. But Griffey had 5 seasons in his career where he missed extended time in his prime. From 1996-2000 he averaged over 50 home runs and 145 RBI’s a year. Right before that stretch he had an injury marred season where he only played 72 games. Also right after that stretch he had 4 seasons where he played no more than 111 games.

In those 5 seasons, the one before his all time tear and the 4 after I worked out how many home runs he was on pace for. In 1995 he missed 72 games as it was a strike shortened season he was on pace for 34 homers. In the four years after he only hit 63 home runs. In those seasons he averaged 32 per 162 games. 32 times 4 is 128 so he would hit 65 more home runs had he not gotten injured. So adding the 17 and 65 together you get 82 add that to his home run total of 630 and you get 712.

So had Ken Griffey not gotten hurt he would have been touching Hank Aaron just like Barry Bonds eventually did. Willie Mays is definitely a better player and the best centerfielder of all time, but that may change as Mike Trout is starting to amass some stats. Thanks for reading, check back tomorrow for another post 🙂