List of Major League Baseball career batting average leaders

Ty Cobb, the all-time leader in career batting average.

In baseball, the batting average (BA) is defined by the number of hits divided by at bats. It is usually reported to three decimal places and pronounced as if it were multiplied by 1,000: a player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three-hundred." A point (or percentage point) is understood to be .001 . If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken to more than three decimal places.

Outfielder Ty Cobb, whose career ended in 1928, has the highest batting average in Major League Baseball (MLB) history.[1] He batted .366 over 24 seasons, mostly with the Detroit Tigers. In addition, he won a record 11 batting titles for leading the American League in BA over the course of an entire season. He batted over .360 in 11 consecutive seasons from 1909 to 1919.[2] Rogers Hornsby has the second highest BA of all-time, at .358.[1] He won seven batting titles in the National League (NL) and has the highest NL average in a single season since 1900, when he batted .424 in 1924. He batted over .370 in six consecutive seasons.[3]

Shoeless Joe Jackson is the only other player to finish his career with a batting average over .350.[1] He batted .356 over 13 seasons before he was permanently suspended from organized baseball in 1921 for his role in the Black Sox Scandal.[4] Lefty O'Doul first came to the major leagues as a pitcher, but after developing a sore arm, he converted to an outfielder and won two batting titles.[5] The fifth player on the list, and the last with at least a .345 BA, is Ed Delahanty. Delahanty's career was cut short when he fell into the Niagara Falls and died during the 1903 season.[6]

The last player to bat .400 in a season, Ted Williams,[7] ranks tied for seventh on the all-time career BA list. Babe Ruth hit for a career .342 average and is tenth on the list. A player must have a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances in order to qualify for the list.[1]

Key

RankRank amongst leaders in career batting average. A blank field indicates a tie.
PlayerName of the player.
BATotal career batting average.
* Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bold Denotes active player.[note 1]

List

  • Stats updated as of the 2018 season.
Rank Player BA
1 Ty Cobb * .3664
2 Rogers Hornsby * .3585
3 Shoeless Joe Jackson .3558
4 Lefty O'Doul .3493
5 Ed Delahanty * .3458
6 Tris Speaker * .3447
7 Billy Hamilton * .3444
Ted Williams * .3444
9 Dan Brouthers * .3424
10 Babe Ruth * .3421
11 Dave Orr .3420
12 Harry Heilmann * .3416
13 Pete Browning .3415
14 Willie Keeler * .3413
15 Bill Terry * .3412
16 Lou Gehrig * .3401
George Sisler * .3401
18 Jesse Burkett * .3382
Tony Gwynn * .3382
Nap Lajoie * .3382
21 Jake Stenzel .3378
22 Riggs Stephenson .3361
23 Al Simmons * .3342
24 Cap Anson * .3341
25 John McGraw * .3336
26 Eddie Collins * .3332
Paul Waner * .3332
28 Mike Donlin .3326
29 Sam Thompson * .3314
30 Stan Musial * .3308
31 Bill Lange .3298
Heinie Manush * .3298
33 Wade Boggs * .3279
34 Rod Carew * .3278
35 Honus Wagner * .3276
36 Tip O'Neill .3260
37 Hugh Duffy * .3255
Bob Fothergill .3255
39 Jimmie Foxx * .3253
40 Earle Combs * .3247
41 Joe DiMaggio * .3246
42 Babe Herman .3245
43 Joe Medwick * .3236
44 Edd Roush * .3227
45 Sam Rice * .3223
46 Ross Youngs * .3222
47 Kiki Cuyler * .3210
48 Charlie Gehringer * .3204
49 Chuck Klein * .3201
50 Mickey Cochrane * .3196
Rank Player BA
Pie Traynor * .3196
52 Ken Williams .3192
53 Kirby Puckett * .3181
54 Earl Averill * .3178
55 Vladimir Guerrero* .3176
Arky Vaughan * .3176
57 Bill Everitt .3174
58 Roberto Clemente * .3173
Joe Harris .3173
60 Chick Hafey * .3170
61 Joe Kelley * .3169
62 Zack Wheat * .3167
63 Miguel Cabrera .3165
64 José Altuve .3164
Roger Connor * .3164
Todd Helton .3164
Lloyd Waner * .3164
68 George Van Haltren .3163
69 Frankie Frisch * .3161
Goose Goslin * .3160
71 Lew Fonseca .3158
72 Bibb Falk .3145
73 Cecil Travis .3142
74 Hank Greenberg * .3135
75 Jack Fournier .3132
76 Elmer Flick * .3130
77 Ed Morgan .3128
78 Nomar Garciaparra .3127
Larry Walker .3127
80 Bill Dickey * .3125
81 Dale Mitchell .3122
Manny Ramírez .3122
83 Johnny Mize * .3121
Joe Sewell * .3121
85 Fred Clarke * .3120
Deacon White * .3120
87 Bug Holliday .3119
88 Barney McCosky .3118
89 Hughie Jennings * .3117
90 Edgar Martínez .3115
91 Johnny Hodapp .3114
Freddie Lindstrom * .3114
93 Bing Miller .3113
Jackie Robinson * .3113
95 Baby Doll Jacobson .3112
Taffy Wright .3112
97 Ichiro Suzuki .3111
98 Rip Radcliff .3110
99 Ginger Beaumont .3108
Joey Votto .3108

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season.

Sources

  • "Career Leaders & Records for Batting Average". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  1. 1 2 3 4 "Career Leaders & Records for Batting Average". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Ty Cobb Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Rogers Hornsby Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  4. ↑ "SportsCenter Flashback: The Chicago Black Sox banned from baseball". ESPN Classic. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  5. ↑ McKenna, Brian. "Lefty O'Doul". SABR.org. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  6. ↑ "The Ballplayers – Ed Delahanty". BaseballLibrary.com. The Idea Logical Company, Inc. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
  7. ↑ Goldstein, Richard (July 6, 2002). "Ted Williams, Red Sox Slugger And Last to Hit .400, Dies at 83". The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
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