[Editor’s note: Below is another piece by Arturo called “Just Desserts” where Arturo gives a very quick slice of data. Enjoy!]
Sometimes a picture is enough to tell a great story.
I was asked to update an old poster of mine featuring the 100 greatest Wins Produced players of all time. I love a good graph. I readily agreed.
As we are between datasets it was a lot of work. But it was great,great fun.
I hope you get a kick out of it too.
-Arturo
Posted in: Baseball Stories
Wages of Wins Journal 
WC
June 30, 2011
Great one. Thanks for putting this up.
Patrick Minton
June 30, 2011
At first I was shocked Magic is not #1, but then I remembered his “retirement”. Well done, Homophobes!
Parker Flowers
June 30, 2011
I am putting this up on my wall.
I am surprised that Patrick Ewing’s unprecedented return to the NBA after 10 years of retirement received so little media attention.
David Morris
June 30, 2011
Hard to look at that and not see Walton on the list, but i know there’s a data limitation.
arturogalletti
June 30, 2011
Parker,
Thought I fixed that. I’ll get it fixed.
David,
We are actually working on that. We have a working beta for older date but as I said, we’re between datasets right now.
Parker Flowers
June 30, 2011
I don’t want to be too snarky, but I don’t think Walton would be on the list even if the old data were better. Even in his couple of good seasons, he was injured a large portion of the time. He might actually be number one if the metric were Career WP48 X Games Missed.
nerdnumbers
June 30, 2011
David and Parker,
It’s close. From 1978 on Walton produced around 50 wins. If he produced over 40 wins from 1974-1977 (his first three seasons) he might JUST crack the list. I’ve looked over this a little and he did have some good seasons but his minutes were limited. I think he’s an all time great but on a totals list he’ll get lost.
Todd Bogart
July 2, 2011
O”Neal’s and Moses Malone’s WPS are surprisingly low for a pair of MVP’s. There must have been a precipitous drop in production at some point. Could that be a characteristic of the center position? How would the composition of this list look if it was broken down by position? What’s the average career length for each position and how does their productivity fluctuate relevant to their age? What is the average WPS for the league?
Todd Bogart
July 2, 2011
With a second look, centers seem to be compensated for simply being tall at some point. O’Neal and Ewing were par for several years at the end of their careers.
andgoldfish
July 2, 2011
How on earth Jazz haven’t won a title during Stockton-Malone era. It’s beyond me… What was Utah missing? Was it Sloan fault or what?
arturogalletti
July 2, 2011
Andgoldfish,
andgoldfish
July 3, 2011
Yep, one offensive foul the refs just didn’t want to see ;-)