Pie Traynor
The man they called the greatest third baseman before Mike Schmidt arrived was built for contact, not power. Traynor's .320 career average across 18 seasons speaks to a hitter who rarely struck out and consistently found ways to reach base, tallying just 58 home runs in over 7,500 at-bats during an era when slugging was becoming fashionable.
What separated Traynor wasn't just his bat — it was his glove work at the hot corner that earned him legendary status. Playing the entire dead-ball-to-live-ball transition with Pittsburgh, he became the gold standard for third base defense in the 1920s and early 1930s.
His 1,273 RBIs tell the story of a player who thrived in clutch situations despite modest power numbers. Traynor's induction into Cooperstown in 1948 recognized a complete player who dominated his position through finesse rather than flash, setting the template for what a championship third baseman should look like.
Career · Batting
17 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | PIT | 17 | 52 | 0 | 2 | .212 | — | — |
| 1921 | PIT | 7 | 19 | 0 | 2 | .263 | — | — |
| 1922 | PIT | 142 | 571 | 4 | 81 | .282 | — | — |
| 1923 | PIT | 153 | 616 | 12 | 101 | .338 | — | — |
| 1924 | PIT | 142 | 545 | 5 | 82 | .294 | — | — |
| 1925 | PIT | 150 | 591 | 6 | 106 | .320 | — | — |
| 1926 | PIT | 152 | 574 | 3 | 92 | .317 | — | — |
| 1927 | PIT | 149 | 573 | 5 | 106 | .342 | — | — |
| 1928 | PIT | 144 | 569 | 3 | 124 | .337 | — | — |
| 1929 | PIT | 130 | 540 | 4 | 108 | .356 | — | — |
| 1930 | PIT | 130 | 497 | 9 | 119 | .366 | — | — |
| 1931 | PIT | 155 | 615 | 2 | 103 | .298 | — | — |
| 1932 | PIT | 135 | 513 | 2 | 68 | .329 | — | — |
| 1933 | PIT | 154 | 624 | 1 | 82 | .304 | — | — |
| 1934 | PIT | 119 | 444 | 1 | 61 | .309 | — | — |
| 1935 | PIT | 57 | 204 | 1 | 36 | .279 | — | — |
| 1937 | PIT | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .167 | — | — |
| Career | 1941 | 7559 | 58 | 1273 | .320 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.