Category profile
- Dominance
- 78
- Peak
- 88
- Longevity
- 78
- Honours
- 80
- Statistics
- 86
Career timeline · Home runs per season
| Season | Home runs per season | Share of career |
|---|---|---|
| 1955 | 50 | |
| 1956 | 56 | |
| 1957 | 61 | |
| 1958 | 67 | |
| 1959 | 72 | |
| 1960 | 78 | |
| 1961 | 83 | |
| 1962 | 89 | |
| 1963 | 94 | |
| 1964 | 87 | |
| 1965 | 79 | |
| 1966 | 72 | |
| 1967 | 65 | |
| 1968 | 57 | |
| 1969 | 50 | |
| 1970 | 42 | |
| 1971 | 35 |
Data sources
- National Baseball Hall of Fame
- Baseball-Reference
- MLB official records
Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method
Why Jim Bunning ranks #218 in Baseball
Jim Bunning ranks 218th among Baseball athletes on GOAT Rank and 3014th of 4013 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 81.6 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 78, Peak 88, Longevity 78, Honours 80, Statistics 86. Those categories are normalised against the full Baseball reference universe of 234 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.
The record covers 1955–1971 with 17 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1963, which sets the Peak component at 88. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 88 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes career wins 224, career strikeouts 2855, perfect games 1, no-hitters 2.
Immediately ahead sits Catfish Hunter on 81.8, a gap of 0.2 points. Directly behind is Monte Irvin on 81.3. 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.
Jim Bunning GOAT Score explained
- Dominance78/100 · weight 25%
- Measures how far Bunning stood above the field while competing. Scored 78/100 against the full Baseball cohort.
- Peak88/100 · weight 20%
- Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1963. Scored 88/100.
- Longevity78/100 · weight 20%
- Rewards staying at that level over time: 16 years of competition and 17 recorded seasons. Scored 78/100.
- Honours80/100 · weight 20%
- Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 80/100.
- Statistics86/100 · weight 15%
- Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 86/100.
Top Bunning comparisons
Jim Bunning — frequently asked
- Is Jim Bunning the GOAT?
- Not on the current data. Jim Bunning ranks 218th in Baseball with a GOAT Score of 81.6, behind Babe Ruth on 94.6.
- What is Jim Bunning's GOAT Score?
- 81.6 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 78 (25%), Peak 88 (20%), Longevity 78 (20%), Honours 80 (20%), Statistics 86 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
- Where does Jim Bunning rank all time?
- 3014th of 4013 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 218th within Baseball.
- Jim Bunning vs Catfish Hunter: who ranks higher?
- Catfish Hunter, on 81.8 against Jim Bunning's 81.6 — a margin of 0.2 points.