A look at Box-Toppers 'all-time' top 100 player list, led by Hall inductee Randy Johnson

Randy Johnson, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame later this month, is Box-Toppers career points leader, sitting atop the top 100 “all-time” list.

Johnson, who pitched primarily for the Diamondbacks and the Mariners, has 278.8 Box-Toppers points, the most of any player since record keeping began in 1995. He retired in 2009.

Top 100 list ‘All-time’

Here is Box-Toppers ‘All-time’ Top 100, listing players with the highest Box-Toppers points totals since record keeping began in 1995. Also shown, where applicable, are each players Box-Toppers points total from 2015.


 Player Pos Team BTP BTP
'15
1 Johnson, randy pi sp retired 278.8
2 Martinez, Pedro J. pi sp retired 244.8
3 schilling, curt pi sp retired 194.1
4 Rodriguez, Alex dh nyy al 185.3 6.0
5 Sabathia, C.C. 1492 pi sp nyy al 175.3 2.0
6 Pujols, Albert 1438 1b dh ana al 171.3 4.0
7 Halladay, Roy 1178 pi sp retired 170.7
8 Ramirez, manny lf dh retired 167.2
9 Santana, Johan 1448 pi sp released 166.6
10 clemens, roger pi sp retired 164.8
11 smoltz, john pi sp retired 160.9
12 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 157.7 14.4
13 mussina, Mike pi sp retired 155.6
14 Hudson, Tim 1231 pi sp sf nl 155.0 2.0
15 bonds, barry lf retired 153.2
16 maddux, greg pi sp retired 151.7
17 jones, chipper 3b retired 149.0
18 Vazquez, Javier 1146 pi sp retired 148.3
19 thome, jim 1b dh retired 146.7
20 Kershaw, Clayton 2494 pi sp lad nl 142.6 9.0
21 pettitte, andy pi sp retired 138.5
22 Greinke, Zack 1871 pi sp lad nl 136.7 11.0
23 Colon, Bartolo pi sp nym nl 136.4 3.0
24 Ortiz, David dh bos al 134.4 1.0
25 giambi, jason dh ph retired 133.4
26 Cabrera, Miguel 1776 1b det al 132.9 4.7
27 Peavy, Jake 1635 pi sp sf nl 131.8
28 hoffman, trevor pi cp retired 129.4
29 Guerrero, Vladimir rf dh retired 128.3
30 Burnett, A.J. 1300 pi sp pit nl 127.8 6.0
31 Oswalt, Roy 1469 pi sp retired 127.2
32 rivera, mariano pi cp retired 126.4
33 sheffield, gary lf retired 124.1
34 Weaver, Jered 2178 pi sp ana al 119.4 4.0
35 Lee, Cliff 1798 pi sp phi nl 119.1
36 Hamels, Cole 2135 pi sp phi nl 118.8 8.0
37 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp det al 118.2
38 Delgado, Carlos 1b retired 117.7
39 Zito, Barry 1415 pi sp oak al 117.4
40 Buehrle, Mark 1407 pi sp tor al 116.7 2.0
41 Helton, Todd 1060 1b retired 116.4
42 Lincecum, Tim 2288 pi sp sf nl 115.0 5.7
43 Beckett, Josh 1544 pi sp retired 114.9
44 Hunter, Torii 1190 rf dh min al 114.4 6.5
45 Lester, Jon 2173 pi sp chi nl 114.1 5.0
46 Carpenter, Chris pi sp retired 113.3
47 sosa, sammy rf retired 113.2
48 brown, kevin j. pi sp retired 112.8
49 Haren, Danny 1787 pi sp fla nl 111.2 3.0
50 glavine, tom pi sp retired 110.6
51 kent, jeff 2b retired 109.7
52 Wagner, Billy pi cp retired 108.7
53 Millwood, Kevin pi sp retired 108.3
54 Berkman, Lance 1261 1b lf rf retired 108.1
55 thomas, frank dh 1b retired 106.2
56 moyer, jamie pi sp retired 104.0
57 Lackey, John 1640 pi sp stl nl 103.8 5.7
58 Ramirez, Aramis 1364 3b mil nl 102.3 2.5
59 Tejada, Miguel ss retired 102.3
60 griffey, ken jr. cf retired 102.2
61 Wainwright, Adam 2150 pi sp stl nl 101.8 3.0
62 wakefield, tim pi sp retired 101.4
63 schmidt, jason pi sp retired 101.2
64 Konerko, Paul 1107 1b retired 100.7
65 bagwell, jeff 1b retired 100.4
66 walker, larry rf retired 100.1
67 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp dc nl 100.0 15.0
68 edmonds, jim cf retired 98.8
69 Rolen, Scott 3b retired 97.6
70 Wolf, Randy 1235 pi sp tor al 97.4
71 Jones, Andruw cf retired 96.5
72 Cain, Matt 2081 pi sp sf nl 96.0 1.0
73 piazza, mike ca retired 95.7
74 Abreu, Bobby rf retired 95.5
75 nomo, hideo pi sp retired 95.5
76 Beltran, Carlos 1194 dh rf nyy al 95.4
77 Dempster, Ryan 1109 pi sp retired 95.2
78 Teixeira, Mark 1738 1b nyy al 94.8 5.0
79 Ordonez, Magglio rf retired 94.5
80 Dunn, Adam 1512 lf retired 94.3
81 williams, bernie cf retired 93.8
82 Lilly, Ted 1452 pi sp retired 93.3
83 Howard, Ryan 2040 1b phi nl 93.2 2.0
84 Shields, James 2157 pi sp sd nl 92.7 3.7
85 giles, brian rf retired 92.5
86 Kazmir, Scott 1947 pi sp oak al 92.4 8.7
87 Wood, Kerry pi sp retired 92.4
88 Glaus, Troy 1132 3b retired 91.6
89 Lowe, Derek pi sp retired 91.5
90 Holliday, Matt 1836 lf stl nl 90.3
91 Ibanez, Raul 1137 lf dh free agent 89.7
92 Beltre, Adrian 1141 3b tex al 89.3
93 Liriano, Francisco 2104 pi sp pit nl 88.7 8.4
94 Lohse, Kyle 1487 pi sp mil nl 88.0 3.0
95 Santana, Ervin 2005 pi sp min al 87.9
96 alou, moises lf retired 87.5
97 belle, albert rf retired 87.5
98 wells, david pi sp retired 87.5
99 castilla, vinny 3b retired 86.9
100 Gallardo, Yovani 2333 pi sp tex al 86.7 4.0
BTP: Box-Toppers points

The chart here shows the rankings of the top 100 players since record keeping started in 1995, along with their career Box-Toppers point total and, where applicable, their Box-Toppers points so far in 2015.

Here are some highlights of the top 100:

  • Two of the other three 2015 Hall of Fame inductees are among the top 100 players. Pitcher Pedro Martinez is second place overall with 244.8 Box-Toppers points. Pitcher John Smoltz is in 11th place with 160.9 Box-Toppers points. The other Hall of Fame inductee, second baseman Craig Biggio, is in 247th on the “all-time” Box-Toppers points list with 54.2. He ranks ninth among all second basemen, far behind overall leader Jeff Kent (109.7), who was not voted into the Hall.
  • Pitcher Curt Schilling, in third place with 194.1 Box-Toppers points, is the highest-ranked player eligible for the Hall who has not been inducted.
  • Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees leads active players in career Box-Toppers points. He has 185.3 points, including 6.0 this season, ranks fourth among all players and is the highest-ranked batter.
  • CC Sabathia of the Yankees has the most Box-Toppers points among active pitchers. He has 175.3 points, including 2.0 this season, and ranks fifth among all players.
  • Albert Pujols of the Angels is the third of three active players among the “all-time” top 10. He ranks sixth with 171.3 Box-Toppers points, including 4.0 this season.
  • Pitcher Johan Santana who was attempting a comeback after injury, was injured again and was released this season by the Blue Jays. Santana has 166.6 career Box-Toppers points and ranks ninth. Santana, who has not earned a Box-Toppers point since 2012, has indicated he will try to resume his comeback in 2016 when he will be 37.
  • Max Scherzer of the Nationals, who currently leads players in Box-Toppers points for the 2015 season with 15.0, has 100.0 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 67th.
  • Felix Hernandez of the Mariners, who currently leads American League players in Box-Toppers points with 14.4, has 157.7 career Box-Toppers points and ranks 12th, ninth among pitchers.
  • Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, who led players in Box-Toppers points in 2014 (and also led players in 2011 and 2013), has 142.6 career Box-Toppers points—including 9.0 this season—and ranks 20th among all players.

There are 30 players in the top 100 who have earned Box-Toppers points this season. There are nine other active players who have yet to earn points this season:

  • Jake Peavy, Padres (131.8 career Box-Toppers points, 27th place)
  • Cliff Lee, Phillies (119.1 points, 35th)
  • Justin Verlander, Tigers (118.2, 37th)
  • Barry Zito, Athletics (117.4, 39th)
  • Randy Wolf, Blue Jays (97.4, 70th)
  • Carlos Beltran, Yankees (95.4, 76th)
  • Matt Holliday, Cardinals (90.3, 90th)
  • Adrian Beltre, Rangers (89.3, 92nd)
  • Ervin Santana, Twins (87.9, 95th)

The New York Yankees have four active players in the top 100, the most of any team:

  • Alex Rodriguez (185.3 Box-Toppers points, fourth place)
  • CC Sabathia (175.3 points, fifth)
  • Carlos Beltran (95.4, 76th)
  • Mark Teixeira (94.8, 78th)

Three other teams each have three players in the top 100—the Phillies, Giants and Cardinals.

Most players in top 100 are  pitchers—57. Of those, 54 are starting pitchers and three are closers.

It should be noted that since record keeping began in 1995, some players who started before that, would likely have many more Box-Toppers points. For example, Greg Maddux started his career in 1986 and before 1995 had seven seasons with 15 or more wins. He has 151.7 career Box-Toppers points (since 1995) and ranks 16th, but might likely have nearly twice that many points if all his seasons were tabulated.

On the other hand, for a player like Chipper Jones (ranked 17th), Box-Toppers covers virtually his entire career—he only played in eight games before 1995, so Box-Toppers covers 2,491 games of his 2,499-game career. 

If you note how the names are listed in the chart—some all lowercase, some properly capitalized, some with numbers after them—you might cringe at the inconsistencies if you were a copy editor. But there is an unintentional method to this madness. In early days of keeping the Box-Toppers database from 1995 to 1997, names were inputted quickly, often with no capitalization—Box-Toppers' e.e. cummings phase, if you will. In about 1997, names were pretty consistently properly capitalized. And in 1998, numbers were added at the ends of names to denote their order of first appearance in the Box-Toppers database (the first time they earned Player of the Game).

So today, when you see player names like "rivera, mariano," (now ranked 32nd) you'll know that Rivera first appeared early in Box-Toppers history (in his case, the first year, 1995). "Ortiz, David," (properly capitalized) made his Box-Toppers debut in 1997 (now ranked 24th). And "Helton, Todd 1060," was one of the first players with the debut order number appended, when he first appeared in 1998 (now ranked 41st).

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

Top teams: St. Louis Cardinals lead teams in Box-Toppers points at All-Star break

Top players: Nationals’ Max Scherzer leads players in Box-Toppers points at All-Star break

Top 100 players of 2015: Detroit Tigers have most players (six) in Box-Toppers top 100 at All-Star break

Editor's note: Box-Toppers realizes the Marlins are no longer called the Florida Marlins and the Angels are no longer the Anaheim Angels. But we keep the old team abbreviation names around (fla nl, ana al) since the changes in the team name were largely for marketing or political purposes and involved no substantial change in the actual geography of the team. (Plus, it’s just a pain to make extensive database changes.)