Who is better, Lajoie or Mays?
Willie Mays leads with a GOAT score of 93.8 against 93.0 for Nap Lajoie — a gap of 0.8 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Lajoie vs Mays
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Willie Mays above Nap Lajoie: 93.8 vs 93.0. Willie Mays leads on Honours, Dominance, Longevity. Nap Lajoie leads on Peak, Statistics.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
MaysWinner
93.8Mays wins: Dominance, Longevity, Honours
Lajoie
93.0Lajoie wins: Peak, Statistics
Candidates
Locked to BaseballShareable URL · /compare/nap-lajoie-vs-willie-mays
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Willie Mays
93.8
Mays leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Willie Mays
2. Nap Lajoie
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through season 5 · Form index per season1. 🇺🇸 Willie Mays5 seasons played · career day 1,825152 home runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Nap Lajoie5 seasons played · career day 1,8251.7 home runs
-98.9% vs Mays at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Lajoie | 0 | 0 | 0.326 | 0.687 | 1.726 | 3.25 |
| 🇺🇸 Mays | 0 | 0 | 20 | 24 | 152 | 279 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | LajoieRetired | MaysRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Career hits | 3,243 | 3,293 |
| Career batting average | 0.338 | — |
| Batting titles | 4 | — |
| Best season average | 0.426 | — |
| Seasons played | 21 | — |
| Home runs | — | 660 |
| MVP awards | — | 2 |
| Gold Gloves | — | 12 |
| All-Star selections | — | 24 |
| World Series titles | — | 1 |
| Dominance w25% | 92 | 94 |
| Peak w20% | 98 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 92 | 94 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 92 |
| Statistics w15% | 96 | 95 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Mays93.8
Lajoie93.0
FAQ
Where does Lajoie beat Mays?
Lajoie scores higher on peak, statistics. Mays leads on dominance, honours, longevity.
How is the Lajoie vs Mays score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Lajoie: 93.0, Mays: 93.8.
What do you think?
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