masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgChris Davis is in the midst of an historic offensive season that is likely to rank among the greatest in team history. However, the season’s not complete. So as we head toward the All-Star Game, I chose to look at what Davis has done thus far and compare his numbers to those of all of the Orioles’ previous All-Star first baseman prior to the break.

As you might guess, Davis’ first-half totals stack up favorably with his O’s competition through the years. He has had the best first-half…Chris Davis is in the midst of an historic offensive season that is likely to rank among the greatest in team history. However, the season’s not complete. So as we head toward the All-Star Game, I chose to look at what Davis has done thus far and compare his numbers to those of all of the Orioles’ previous All-Star first baseman prior to the break.

As you might guess, Davis’ first-half totals stack up favorably with his O’s competition through the years. He has had the best first-half performance of any Orioles first baseman, and it’s not really that close.

Davis will become the sixth Orioles first baseman to be an All-Star. The previous five were Jim Gentile (1960, 1961, 1962), Boog Powell (1968, 1969, 1970, 1971), Eddie Murray (1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986), Rafael Palmeiro (1998), and Ty Wiggington (2010).

Davis already has the best numbers of all of those players for average, home runs and slugging percentage through the 84 games played by the Orioles through July 3. He should soon add RBIs to that grouping as he trails Powell for the lead in the category by three. That leaves on-base percentage as the only offensive category among those I examined that Davis won’t be leading prior to the break.

I provide below the full comparisons for average, home runs, RBI, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Each player’s totals are for all games played prior to that season’s All-Star showcase. Two All-Star games were played in 1961, so Gentile’s numbers come from prior to the first All-Star game on July 11, 1961.

In cases where a player appeared in multiple All-Star games during his Orioles career I used his best overall season for the comparison.

Here are the numbers.

Average:

Davis (2013, 84 games): .331
Murray (1984, 85 games): .315
Gentile (1961, 85 games): .306
Powell: (1969, 94 games): .299
Palmeiro (1998, 88 games): .293
Wiggington (2010, 83 games): .252

Home runs:

Davis (2013, 84 games): 32
Palmeiro (1998, 88 games): 26
Powell (1969, 94 games): 24
Gentile (1961, 85 games): 22
Murray (1984, 85 games): 17
Wiggington (2010, 83 games): 14

RBIs:

Powell (1969, 94 games): 86
Davis (2013, 84 games): 83
Gentile (1961, 85 games): 82
Murray (1984, 85 games): 72
Palmeiro (1998, 88 games): 72
Wiggington (2010, 83 games): 45

On-base percentage:

Gentile (1961, 85 games): .423
Murray (1984, 85 games): .418
Davis (2013, 84 games): .406
Powell (1969, 94 games): .384
Palmeiro (1998, 88 games): .378
Wiggington (2010, 83 games): .334

Slugging percentage:

Davis (2013, 84 games): .731
Gentile (1961, 85 games): .629
Palmeiro (1998, 88 games): .581
Powell (1969, 94 games): .561
Murray (1984, 85 games): .521
Wiggington (2010, 83 games): .434

Matthew Taylor blogs about the Orioles at Roar from 34. His ruminations about the Birds appear as part of MASNsports.com’s season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.