The top 101 position players by career WAR, 1871 to today

How baseball's greatest rose, peaked, and declined

Every season of the 101 position players, pitchers left out, with the most career WAR on Baseball-Reference, from their first year to their last. Half of them had their best season between ages — and —, and the group's average climbs through the early twenties, levels off in the late twenties, and falls steadily through the thirties.

Players

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Seasons played

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Average career, in seasons

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Average age in best season

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Average WAR in best season

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WAR by age, all 101 players

Each thin line is one player's seasons. The thick line is the average of everyone who played that season, and the shaded band holds the middle half of them. Bars along the bottom count how many players are in each point. Point at the chart to see the numbers.

Stat

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Average
Middle half of players
Each player
Highlighted player

Rate stats (batting average through OPS+) count a season only with at least — plate appearances, so a few at-bats can't swing a line. The average is drawn where at least — players have a season. The page's address keeps your choices, so you can share a view.

Every player's arc

The same stat and line-up as the chart above, one small chart each, in order of career WAR. All share one scale, and the dot marks each player's best season for the stat. Choose one to highlight it above.

Careers at a glance

Rank is among these 101 position players. All-time rank is Baseball-Reference's career WAR rank with pitchers in it. Best season is the season with the most WAR. Choose a row to highlight that player in the charts.

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About the data

Who's in it: The position players among Baseball-Reference's career WAR leaders: the 67 non-pitchers in its top 100, and the next 34 non-pitchers after them, from Ed Delahanty and Johnny Mize (tied at 102nd) to Joe Cronin, Reggie Smith, and Chase Utley (tied at 145th). That's 101 players. Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Paul Goldschmidt were still active, so their arcs aren't finished.
Pitchers left out: A player counts as a pitcher when more of his career WAR came from pitching, and the 34 pitchers in the top 100 are left out. Babe Ruth pitched for six seasons but stays in: most of his WAR came from hitting, and his WAR here includes his pitching.
WAR: Wins above replacement, Baseball-Reference's version: about how many more wins a player was worth than a freely available replacement, counting his hitting, baserunning, and fielding.
Seasons: One row per regular season, using the season totals for a player who changed teams. Years a player missed entirely, such as for military service, leave a gap. Age is the player's age as Baseball-Reference lists it for the season.
Years from best season: Lines each player up on his season with the most WAR, at 0, whatever stat is shown.
Source: Stats from Baseball-Reference.com: its career WAR leaders list and each player's standard batting and pitching tables, downloaded November 8, 2026. Hall of Fame is as Baseball-Reference marked it then.