Category profile
- Dominance
- 80
- Peak
- 88
- Longevity
- 92
- Honours
- 72
- Statistics
- 88
Career timeline · Home runs per season
| Season | Home runs per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1884 | 0.302 | |
| 1885 | 0.309 | |
| 1886 | 0.316 | |
| 1887 | 0.35 | |
| 1888 | 0.34 | |
| 1889 | 0.32 | |
| 1890 | 0.31 | |
| 1891 | 0.3 | |
| 1892 | 0.29 | |
| 1893 | 0.28 |
Data sources
- MLB.com
- Baseball Reference
- National Baseball Hall of Fame
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Bud Fowler ranks #180 in Baseball
Bud Fowler ranks 180th among Baseball athletes on GOAT Rank and 1656th of 2289 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 83.6 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 80, Peak 88, Longevity 92, Honours 72, Statistics 88. Those categories are normalised against the full Baseball reference universe of 262 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1878–1904 with 10 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1887, which sets the Peak component at 88. Longevity is the defining strength of the profile at 92 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes seasons in professional baseball 27, career batting average 0.308, teams played for 25, barnstorming teams founded 2.
Immediately ahead sits Shohei Ohtani on 83.7, a gap of 0.1 points. Directly behind is Earl Averill on 83.4. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.
Bud Fowler GOAT Score explained
- Dominance80/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Fowler stood above the field while competing. Scored 80/100 against the full Baseball cohort.
- Peak88/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1887. Scored 88/100.
- Longevity92/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 26 years of competition and 10 recorded seasons. Scored 92/100.
- Honours72/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 72/100.
- Statistics88/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 88/100.
Top Fowler comparisons
Bud Fowler — frequently asked
- Is Bud Fowler the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Bud Fowler ranks 180th in Baseball with a GOAT Score of 83.6, behind Babe Ruth on 94.6.
- What is Bud Fowler's GOAT Score?
- 83.6 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 80 (25%), Peak 88 (20%), Longevity 92 (20%), Honours 72 (20%), Statistics 88 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Bud Fowler rank all time?
- 1656th of 2289 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 180th within Baseball.
- Bud Fowler vs Shohei Ohtani: who ranks higher?
- Shohei Ohtani, on 83.7 against Bud Fowler's 83.6 — a margin of 0.1 points.