The most valuable season in baseball history: Tim Raines in 1979

Tim Raines had the most valuable season in baseball history in 1979, his first in the majors, despite appearing in just 6 games. How is this possible?
Well I'm exaggerating quite a bit, of course.

Check out the 20 most productive seasons by a player getting no more than 2 plate appearances. These are highest WPA for as far back as we have data (1950):

Rk	Player	WPA	PA	Year	Age	Tm	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	Pos
1	Tim Raines	0.319	0	1979	19	MON	6	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
2	Matt Alexander	0.291	0	1978	31	PIT	7	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
3	Rodney McCray	0.289	1	1992	28	NYM	18	1	3	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	*9/87
4	Bob Roselli	0.241	2	1956	24	MLN	4	2	1	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	/*2
5	Bob Thorpe	0.222	2	1951	24	BSN	2	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
6	Joe Nossek	0.204	1	1964	23	MIN	7	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	/87
7	Chad Meyers	0.203	1	2003	27	SEA	9	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	/*D7
8	Darren Ford	0.188	0	2010	24	SFG	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	/8
9	Charlton Jimerson	0.160	2	2007	27	SEA	11	2	5	2	1	1	0	0	2	0	/D98
10	Chris Bando	0.151	2	1989	33	OAK	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	/*2
11	Jeff Stone	0.145	2	1990	29	BOS	10	2	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	/D
12	Alberto Lois	0.144	0	1979	23	PIT	11	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
13	Onix Concepcion	0.121	1	1987	29	PIT	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	Herb Washington	0.121	0	1974	22	OAK	92	0	29	0	0	0	0	0	29	16	D
15	Randy Milligan	0.120	2	1987	25	NYM	3	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0
16	John Stearns	0.104	2	1974	22	PHI	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	/*2
17	Razor Shines	0.096	2	1983	26	MON	3	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	/7
18	Paul Noce	0.094	1	1990	30	CIN	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Juan Bernhardt	0.094	1	1979	25	SEA	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Tony Scott	0.092	1	1973	21	MON	11	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	/879

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/22/2011.

Raines generated more than 0.3 WPA without a single plate appearance, thanks almost entirely to two stolen bases.

If you're over the age of 40, there's a good chance you remember Herb Washington's season as a designated pinch-runner. (Night Owl, you gotta put up a post to your Cardboard Appreciation post of his 1975 card.)

I researched this after watching an MLB Network retrospective on the 1990 season, in which Dan Shaughnessy noted Jeff Stone's important performance in a late-season game for the Red Sox.

Raines is the only guy since 1950 to generate at least .3 WPA in a season in which he didn't have any plate appearances:

Rk	Player	PA	WPA	Year	Age	Tm	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	Pos
1	Tim Raines	0	0.319	1979	19	MON	6	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
2	Dave Sells	1	0.365	1975	28	LAD	5	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	/*1
3	Jim Archer	1	0.304	1962	30	KCA	18	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	*1
4	Darren Dreifort	2	0.362	1994	22	LAD	28	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	*1
5	Jim Geddes	2	0.345	1972	23	CHW	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	/*1
6	Richie Lewis	3	0.365	1993	27	FLA	57	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	*1
7	Matt Alexander	3	0.473	1980	33	PIT	37	3	13	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	3	/874
8	Bill Virdon	3	0.308	1968	37	PIT	6	3	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	/*97
9	Joe Ginsberg	3	0.534	1954	27	CLE	3	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	/2
10	Paul Hoover	4	0.417	2009	33	PHI	3	4	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	/*2
11	Esteban German	4	0.396	2005	27	TEX	5	4	3	3	1	0	0	1	0	1	2	0	/4D5
12	Mike Stanton	4	0.369	1994	27	ATL	49	3	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	*1
13	Jamie Quirk	4	0.404	1984	29	TOT	4	3	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	/25
14	Jeff Stone	4	0.646	1983	22	PHI	9	4	2	3	0	2	0	3	0	1	4	0	/8
15	Doug Clarey	4	0.396	1976	22	STL	9	4	2	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	0	/*4
16	Larry Lintz	4	0.751	1976	26	OAK	68	1	21	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	31	11	D/497
17	John Hale	4	0.304	1974	20	LAD	4	4	2	4	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	/*9
18	John Hairston	4	0.400	1969	24	CHC	3	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	/72

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/22/2011.

In fact, Raines' 1979 makes the list of most efficient seasons in history. Those are all the guys to have at least 0.05 WPA per game played, minimum 5 games. Be sure to scroll all the way down to see some of the historic full-time seasons, including Jose Bautista in 2011 and three guys in 2006: Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, and Ryan Howard.

Monster seasons.