Created by averaging a player's career WAR with their 7-year peak WAR, its "stated goal is to improve the Hall of Fame's standards, or at least to maintain them rather than erode them, by admitting players who are at least as good as the average Hall of Famer at the position, using a means via which longevity isn't the sole determinant of worthiness.
[4] In November 2012, Baseball-Reference.com added JAWS values to every player page after Jaffe left Baseball-Reference competitor Baseball Prospectus for Sports Illustrated.
[5] In 2014, Will Leitch called JAWS "the definitive statistical measure" in evaluating Hall of Fame cases.
"[7] Critics of the stat point out that it does not account for postseason performance or awards in measuring players' Hall of Fame worthiness.
[10] As of 2023[update], Barry Bonds has the best JAWS score of any eligible position player not in the Hall of Fame.