This is a list of Major League Baseball (MLB) players to have accumulated a value of 50 or more career Wins Above Replacement (WAR). [1] As of the end of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, 316 players have reached a WAR value of 50.0 or higher, as detailed on this list.
Babe Ruth is the all-time leader in WAR with a value of 182.6. Mike Trout is the active WAR leader with 86.2.
| Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career Wins Above Replacement. A blank field indicates a tie. |
| Player (2024 WAR) | Name of the player. Amount of WAR accumulated during 2024 MLB season |
| WAR | Total career Wins Above Replacement. |
| * | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
|---|---|
| Bold | Denotes active player. |
Stats updated as of June 4, 2024.
Baseball statistics refers to a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the game of baseball.
On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are represented. An OPS of .800 or higher in Major League Baseball puts the player in the upper echelon of hitters. Typically, the league leader in OPS will score near, and sometimes above, the 1.000 mark.
In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where AB is the number of at-bats for a given player, and 1B, 2B, 3B, and HR are the number of singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, respectively:
James Francis "Pud" Galvin was an American Major League Baseball pitcher in the 19th century. He was MLB's first 300-game winner and was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1965.
Saturnino Orestes "Minnie" Armas Arrieta Miñoso, nicknamed "the Cuban Comet", was a Cuban professional baseball player. He began his baseball career in the Negro leagues in 1946 and became an All-Star third baseman with the New York Cubans. He was signed by the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB) after the 1948 season as baseball's color line fell. Miñoso went on to become an All-Star left fielder with the Indians and Chicago White Sox. The first Afro-Latino in the major leagues and the first black player in White Sox history, as a 1951 rookie he was one of the first Latin Americans to play in an MLB All-Star Game.
Louis Rodman Whitaker Jr., nicknamed "Sweet Lou", is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Whitaker spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. From 1977 to 1995, he appeared in 2,390 games for the Tigers, third most in franchise history behind Ty Cobb and Al Kaline. He helped the Tigers win the 1984 World Series, was selected as an American League All-Star five consecutive years (1983–1987) and won four Silver Slugger Awards and three Gold Glove Awards (1983–1985). The Tigers retired his No. 1 jersey in August 2022.
Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the Boston Beaneaters, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1906. A switch hitter who threw right-handed, he was listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 175 pounds (79 kg). He is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Rondell Bernard White is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and designated hitter. In addition to being a solid defensive player, White also had a batting average of .300 or higher for four consecutive seasons from 1998 to 2001.
A hold is awarded to a relief pitcher who meets the following three conditions:
José Antonio Rijo Abreu is a Dominican former pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who spent the majority of his career with the Cincinnati Reds. Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1980, Rijo made his MLB debut with them in 1984, and also played in MLB for the Oakland Athletics. He pitched and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg) during his playing career.
James Edward "Tip" O'Neill was a Canadian professional baseball player from approximately 1875 to 1892. He began playing organized baseball in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, and later played ten seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a left fielder, but also as a pitcher, for four major league clubs.
George Albert Wood, also known as "Dandy" Wood, was a British North America-born professional baseball player and manager whose career spanned from 1878 to 1896. He played 13 seasons of Major League Baseball, primarily as an outfielder, for the Worcester Ruby Legs (1880), Detroit Wolverines (1881–85), Philadelphia Quakers (1886–89), Philadelphia Athletics (1890–91), Baltimore Orioles, and Cincinnati Reds (1892). In 1891, he served as both a player and the manager of the Athletics.
James McCormick was a Scottish right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. A native of Glasgow, he was the first ballplayer born in Scotland to appear in a major league game.
Adjusted ERA+, often simply abbreviated to ERA+ or ERA plus, is a pitching statistic in baseball. It adjusts a pitcher's earned run average (ERA) according to the pitcher's ballpark and the ERA of the pitcher's league.
George Edward "Stump" Weidman was an American professional baseball player from 1880 to 1893. He played nine years in Major League Baseball, principally as a pitcher and outfielder, for five different major league clubs. He appeared in 379 major league games, 279 as a pitcher and 122 as an outfielder, and his longest stretches were with the Detroit Wolverines and the Kansas City Cowboys.
In baseball, batting average (BA) is determined by dividing a player's hits by their total at-bats. It is usually rounded to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three-hundred". If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the .001 measurement. In this context, .001 is considered a "point", such that a .235 batter is five points higher than a .230 batter.
Michael Nelson Trout is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). Trout is an 11-time MLB All-Star, three-time American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP), and nine-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award. He also captained the United States national team during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He is often regarded as the best player of his generation, and one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Wins Above Replacement or Wins Above Replacement Player, commonly abbreviated to WAR or WARP, is a non-standardized sabermetric baseball statistic developed to sum up "a player's total contributions to his team". A player's WAR value is claimed to be the number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player were substituted with a replacement-level player: a player who may be added to the team for minimal cost and effort.
