Using Bill James' Formula, Guess the Five Players With the Most Similar Career to Mantle

[Omar 382]

Can you guys read my pic? You have to click on it

 

[Omar 382]

I'll copy and paste the code

 

[Omar 382]

> similar <- function(p, number=10){
+ P <- subset(C.totals, playerID == p)
+ C.totals$SS <- with(C.totals,
+ 1000 -
+ floor(abs(C.G - P$C.G) / 20) -
+ floor(abs(C.AB - P$C.AB) / 75) -
+ floor(abs(C.R - P$C.R) / 10) -
+ floor(abs(C.H - P$C.H) / 15) -
+ floor(abs(C.2B - P$C.2B) / 5) -
+ floor(abs(C.3B - P$C.3B) / 4) -
+ floor(abs(C.HR - P$C.HR) / 2) -
+ floor(abs(C.RBI - P$C.RBI) / 10) -
+ floor(abs(C.BB - P$C.BB) / 25) -
+ floor(abs(C.SO - P$C.SO) / 150) -
+ floor(abs(C.SB - P$C.SB) / 20) -
+ floor(abs(C.AVG - P$C.AVG) / 0.001) -
+ floor(abs(C.SLG - P$C.SLG) / 0.002) -
+ abs(Value.POS - P$Value.POS))
+ C.totals <- C.totals[order(C.totals$SS, decreasing = TRUE), ]
+ C.totals[1:number, ]
+ }
> similar(mantle.id, 6)
playerID C.G C.AB C.R C.H C.2B C.3B C.HR C.RBI C.BB C.SO C.SB C.AVG C.SLG POS Value.POS SS
1282 mantlmi01 2401 8102 1677 2415 344 72 536 1509 1733 1710 153 0.2980745 0.5567761 OF 48 1000
2013 thomafr04 2322 8199 1494 2468 495 12 521 1704 1667 1397 32 0.3010123 0.5549457 1B 12 856
1308 matheed01 2391 8537 1509 2315 354 72 512 1453 1444 1487 68 0.2711725 0.5094295 3B 84 853
1805 schmimi01 2404 8352 1506 2234 408 59 548 1595 1507 1883 174 0.2674808 0.5272989 3B 84 848
1844 sheffga01 2576 9217 1636 2689 467 27 509 1676 1475 1171 253 0.2917435 0.5139416 OF 48 847
1900 sosasa01 2354 8813 1475 2408 379 45 609 1667 929 2306 234 0.2732327 0.5337569 OF 48 831

 

[Omar 382]

The formatting got fucked up, so I highlighted the similarity scores. I apologize for my pics being unreadable.

 

[Guy Incognito]

I'm stunned that Steve Jeltz didn't make the cut.

 

[Omar 382]

Was going to say Sheffield. Guy is seriously underrated

I agree that he gets underrated, especially if you care about situational hitting. From 1988-2009, he is 23rd among position players in WAR, yet in that same span he's second in all of baseball in WPA. Probably had something to do with hitting on some really good teams ('97 Marlins, early 2000's Braves, mid-2000's Yankees) and a .417 wOBA and 160 wRC+ with RISP.

 

[Omar 382]

I'm stunned that Steve Jeltz didn't make the cut.

Me too. Those two home runs in Pittsburgh to make that asshole announcer walk all the way to Philly were legendary

 

[Omar 382]

I'm stunned that Steve Jeltz didn't make the cut.

It probably had something to do with the whole kicked ball fiasco- which was entirely the third base coach's fault....

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Boom

Funny aside:

I'm assuming you took the raw data from BR because of the system they use to label players where they take the first five letters of the player's last name, and the first two of the player's first name (if that's not BR's system, they at least use it).

Anywho, it's my understanding that Kevin Youkilis is the only player that they deviate from this system to label. When that formula is applied to his name, the result is "youkike," and Mr. Youkilis just happens to be Jewish. . .

 

[Omar 382]

Funny aside:

I'm assuming you took the raw data from BR because of the system they use to label players where they take the first five letters of the player's last name, and the first two of the player's first name (if that's not BR's system, they at least use it).

Anywho, it's my understanding that Kevin Youkilis is the only player that they deviate from this system to label. When that formula is applied to his name, the result is "youkike," and Mr. Youkilis just happens to be Jewish. . .

Actually, it's from this famous famous package called the Lahman database. I think BR got their shit from him

 

[Guy Incognito]

Funny aside:

I'm assuming you took the raw data from BR because of the system they use to label players where they take the first five letters of the player's last name, and the first two of the player's first name (if that's not BR's system, they at least use it).

Anywho, it's my understanding that Kevin Youkilis is the only player that they deviate from this system to label. When that formula is applied to his name, the result is "youkike," and Mr. Youkilis just happens to be Jewish. . .

One job I worked used a similar system for assigning user ID's.

Probably the funniest one I ever saw was a guy whose sign-in name was "poonani".

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Probably the funniest one I ever saw was a guy whose sign-in name was "poonani".

I got some of that on my hanglow once.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Actually, it's from this famous famous package called the Lahman database.

You and I might define "famous famous" differently.

 

[Guy Incognito]

I got some of that on my hanglow once.

 

[DragonfromTO]

Actually, it's from this famous famous package called the Lahman database. I think BR got their shit from him

Doesn't BR also list top 10 similaritiy scores on every player's page anyway? I was looking just yesterday because I was curious about similarity scores for McCutchen (I thought maybe Beltran for him, but he was 4th or 5th on the list as I recall).

Edit: they actually have slightly different numbers but nothing too crazy, here's their list

1. Eddie Mathews (854) *
2. Mike Schmidt (850) *
3. Frank Thomas (840) *
4. Gary Sheffield (840)
5. Sammy Sosa (821)
6. Jim Thome (820)
7. Manny Ramirez (813)
8. Mel Ott (812) *
9. Jeff Bagwell (811)
10. Chipper Jones (809)