Another addictive chart is over at baseball-reference.com, where Jay Jaffe developed the "JAWS" system, combining a player's career WAR with his peak 7-year total, to evaluate both their longevity and what they achieved at their best in determining a player's hall-of-fame credentials.
Since I've always been fascinated by who's star shone brightly at a given point, I thought I'd combine the two ideas: list the rolling chart of top 10 fWAR leaders over any given 5-year period, and then tally up the number of appearances a player made on all lists. The results show the expected names: Bonds, Pujols, Ruth, Mantle, Mays. But they also remind us of some of the names that history may forgotten...even among recent years, I was delighted to be reminded of the prowess of players like Grady Sizemore and Kevin Appier.
One small wrinkle: for players like Babe Ruth who were both hitters and pitchers, only their hitting/fielding WAR is counted, and similarly, pitchers are only counted for their pitching WAR.
Here now is the full list of fWAR leaders in any given five-year period, starting with the most recent and working backwards:
2009-2013 BATTERS
1. Miguel Cabrera, 32.5
2. Evan Longoria, 30.6
3. Ben Zobrist, 29.7
2009-2013 BATTERS:
1. Miguel Cabrera, 3B/1B, Det, 32.5
2. Evan Longoria, 3B, TB, 30.6
3. Ben Zobrist, 2B/SS/OF, TB, 29.7
4. Joey Votto, 1B, Cin, 29.6
5. Robinson Cano, 2B, NYY, 29.4
6. Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pit, 27.2
7. Adrian Beltre, 3B, Sea/Bos/Tex, 26.0
8. Matt Holliday, OF, Oak/Stl, 25.6
9. Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Bos, 25.2
10. Ryan Braun, 3B/OF, Mil, 25.0
2009-2013 PITCHERS:
1. Justin Verlander, Det, 33.6
2. Cliff Lee, Phi, 30.0
3. Felix Hernandez, Sea, 28.4
4. Clayton Kershaw, LAD, 27.1
5. Zack Greinke, KC/Mil/LAA/LAD, 25.3
6. C.C. Sabathia, NYY, 24.9
7. Roy Halladay, Tor/Phi, 23.1
8. Jon Lester, Bos, 22.4
9. Adam Wainwright, Stl, 21.1
10. Jered Weaver, LAA, 20.9
2008-2012 BATTERS:
1. Albert Pujols, 1B, Stl/LAA, 32.3
2. Evan Longoria, 3B, TB, 29.3
3. Chase Utley, 2B, Phi, 27.9
4. Ryan Braun, 3B/OF, Mil, 27.9
5. Miguel Cabrera, 3B/1B, Det, 27.5
6. Joey Votto, 1B, Cin, 27.0
7. Matt Holliday, OF, Col/Oak/Det, 26.9
8. Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Bos, 26.3
9. Ben Zobrist, 2B/SS/OF, TB, 25.7
10. Joe Mauer, C, Min, 24.9
2008-2012 PITCHERS:
1. Cliff Lee, Phi, 32.0
2. Justin Verlander, Det, 31.7
3. Roy Halladay, Tor/Phi, 30.9
4. C.C. Sabathia, Cle/Mil/NYY, 29.4
5. Zack Greinke, KC/Mil/LAA/LAD, 27.2
6. Felix Hernandez, Sea, 25.8
7. Dan Haren, Ari/LAA, 23.8
8. Tim Lincecum, SF, 23.3
9. Jon Lester, Bos, 23.2
10. Jered Weaver, LAA, 22.1
2007-2011 BATTERS:
1. Albert Pujols, 1B, Stl, 36.6
2. Chase Utley, 2B, Phi, 32.3
3. Matt Holliday, OF, Col/Oak/Stl, 29.5
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYY, 27.4
5. Evan Longoria, 3B, TB, 26.8
6. Miguel Cabrera, 3B/1B, Fla/Det, 25.8
7. Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Bos, 25.6
8. Hanley Ramirez, SS, Fla, 24.8
9. Curtis Granderson, OF, Det/NYY, 24.6
10. David Wright, 3B, NYM, 23.8
2007-2011 PITCHERS:
1. Roy Halladay, Tor/Phi, 33.8
2. CC Sabathia, Cle/Mil/NYY, 31.6
3. Justin Verlander, Det, 28.7
4. Cliff Lee, Cle/Phi/Sea/Tex, 27.3
5. Dan Haren, Oak/Ari/LAA, 26.9
6. Tim Lincecum, SF, 25.3
7. Zack Greinke, KC/Mil, 24.8
8. Felix Hernandez, Sea, 23.6
9. Jered Weaver, LAA, 22.3
10. Josh Beckett, Bos, 21.9
2006-2010 BATTERS:
1. Albert Pujols, 1B, Stl, 40.5
2. Chase Utley, 2B, Phi, 35.6
3. Matt Holliday, OF, Col/Oak/Stl, 28.4
4. Hanley Ramirez, SS, Fla, 28.2
5. Joe Mauer, C, Min, 28.2
6. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYY, 27.3
7. David Wright, 3B, NYM, 26.9
8. Miguel Cabrera, 3B/1B, Fla/Det, 25.5
9. Ichiro, OF, Sea, 25.1
10. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Wsh, 24.4
2006-2010 PITCHERS:
1. Roy Halladay, Tor/Phi, 31.1
2. CC Sabathia, Cle/Mil/NYY, 30.4
3. Justin Verlander, Det, 24.8
4. Dan Haren, Oak/Ari/LAA, 24.7
5. Cliff Lee, Cle/Phi/Sea/Tex, 23.5
6. Johan Santana, Min/NYM, 22.8
7. Felix Hernandez, Sea, 22.3
8. Tim Lincecum, SF, 21.7
9. Zack Greinke, KC, 21.1
10. Javier Vazquez, ChW/Atl/NYY, 20.8
2005-2009 BATTERS:
1. Albert Pujols, 1B, Stl, 41.2
2. Chase Utley, 2B, Phi, 37.5
3. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYY, 32.4
4. David Wright, 3B, NYM, 29.2
5. Grady Sizemore, OF, Cle, 28.7
6. Joe Mauer, C, Min, 26.2
7. Chipper Jones, 3B, Atl, 25.8
8. Mark Teixeira, 1B, Tex/Atl/LAA/NYY, 25.2
9. Carlos Beltran, OF, NYM, 25.1
10. Derek Jeter, SS, NYY, 25.0
2005-2009 PITCHERS:
1. CC Sabathia, Cle/Mil/NYY, 29.5
2. Roy Halladay, Tor, 29.0
3. Johan Santana, Min/NYM, 27.1
4. Dan Haren, Oak/Ari, 24.4
5. Javier Vazquez, Ari/ChW/Atl, 24.3
6. Brandon Webb, Ari, 22.4
7. Josh Beckett, Fla/Bos, 22.3
8. John Lackey, LAA, 21.8
9. Roy Oswalt, Hou, 21.8
10. Cliff Lee, Cle/Phi, 20.8
2004-2008 BATTERS:
1. Albert Pujols, 1B, Stl, 40.6
2. Alex Rodriguez, 3B, NYY, 35.0
3. Chase Utley, 2B, Phi, 31.0
4. Carlos Beltran, OF,
