Because it’s mid-August and there's some time to kill before the playoff races heat up, we decided to look at some of the best names in the history of baseball. Not talking about guys like Dick Pole, Milton Bradley or Boof Bonser — we’re analyzing the surnames that collectively produced the most on a baseball field.
This won’t be anywhere near an exact science, so relax. For a rough, easy estimate we collected every player over the last 100 years with a career WAR above five, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Then we sorted by last name.
MORE: Top hitter names of the last 100 years
MORE: Top pitcher names of the last 100 years
For those unfamiliar with WAR — well if you’re unfamiliar with WAR the next 450 words will probably bore the heck out of you — but it’s an all-encompassing stat that essentially estimates how many wins a player is worth to his team compared to what a replacement-level player would provide.