List of Major League Baseball career at-bat leaders
In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during his turn at bat. A batter is only credited with an at bat if that plate appearance does not have one of the results enumerated below:
- He receives a base on balls (BB).[note 1]
- He is hit by a pitch (HBP).
- He hits a sacrifice fly or a sacrifice bunt (also known as sacrifice hit).
- He is awarded first base due to interference or obstruction, usually by the catcher.
- He is replaced by another hitter before his at bat is completed, in which case the plate appearance and any related statistics go to the pinch hitter (unless he is replaced with two strikes and his replacement completes a strikeout, in which case the at bat and strikeout are still charged to the first batter).
While at bats are used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, a player can only qualify for the season-ending rankings in these categories if he accumulates 502 plate appearances during the season.[1]
Pete Rose is the all-time leader in at bats with 14,053. Rose is also the only player in MLB history with more than 13,000 or 14,000 at bats. There are only 29 players in MLB history that have reached 10,000 career at bats, with Albert Pujols being the only one active.
Key
Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career at-bats. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player (2019 ABs) | Number of at-bats hit during the 2019 Major League Baseball season |
AB | Total career at-bats |
* | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
---|---|
Bold | Denotes active player.[note 2] |
List
- Stats updated as of 2019 season.
Rank | Player (2019 ABs) | AB |
---|---|---|
1 | Pete Rose | 14,053 |
2 | Hank Aaron * | 12,364 |
3 | Carl Yastrzemski * | 11,988 |
4 | Cal Ripken, Jr. * | 11,551 |
5 | Ty Cobb * | 11,434 |
6 | Eddie Murray * | 11,336 |
7 | Derek Jeter * | 11,195 |
8 | Adrián Beltré | 11,068 |
9 | Robin Yount * | 11,008 |
10 | Dave Winfield * | 11,003 |
11 | Stan Musial * | 10,972 |
12 | Rickey Henderson * | 10,961 |
13 | Willie Mays * | 10,881 |
14 | Craig Biggio * | 10,876 |
15 | Paul Molitor * | 10,835 |
16 | Albert Pujols (491) | 10,687 |
17 | Brooks Robinson * | 10,654 |
18 | Omar Vizquel | 10,586 |
19 | Alex Rodriguez | 10,566 |
20 | Rafael Palmeiro | 10,472 |
21 | Honus Wagner * | 10,439 |
22 | George Brett * | 10,349 |
23 | Lou Brock * | 10,332 |
24 | Cap Anson * | 10,281 |
25 | Luis Aparicio * | 10,231 |
26 | Tris Speaker | 10,195 |
27 | Al Kaline * | 10,116 |
28 | Rabbit Maranville * | 10,078 |
29 | Frank Robinson * | 10,006 |
30 | Eddie Collins * | 9,949 |
31 | Ichiro Suzuki | 9,934 |
32 | Andre Dawson * | 9,927 |
33 | Harold Baines * | 9,908 |
34 | Reggie Jackson * | 9,864 |
35 | Barry Bonds | 9,847 |
36 | Ken Griffey Jr. * | 9,801 |
37 | Tony Pérez * | 9,778 |
38 | Carlos Beltrán | 9,768 |
39 | Johnny Damon | 9,736 |
40 | Rusty Staub | 9,720 |
41 | Vada Pinson | 9,645 |
42 | Iván Rodríguez * | 9,592 |
43 | Nap Lajoie * | 9,589 |
44 | Sam Crawford * | 9,570 |
45 | Jake Beckley * | 9,551 |
46 | Paul Waner * | 9,459 |
47 | Mel Ott * | 9,456 |
48 | Roberto Clemente * | 9,454 |
49 | Ernie Banks * | 9,421 |
50 | Bill Buckner | 9,397 |
Rank | Player (2019 ABs) | AB |
---|---|---|
Steve Finley | 9,397 | |
52 | Ozzie Smith * | 9,396 |
53 | Max Carey * | 9,363 |
54 | Dave Parker | 9,358 |
55 | Billy Williams * | 9,350 |
56 | Rod Carew * | 9,315 |
57 | Jimmy Rollins | 9,294 |
58 | Tony Gwynn * | 9,288 |
59 | Joe Morgan * | 9,277 |
60 | Sam Rice * | 9,269 |
61 | Nellie Fox * | 9,232 |
62 | Gary Sheffield | 9,217 |
63 | Wade Boggs * | 9,180 |
64 | Willie Davis | 9,174 |
65 | Luis Gonzalez | 9,157 |
66 | Doc Cramer | 9,140 |
67 | Frankie Frisch * | 9,112 |
68 | Zach Wheat * | 9,106 |
69 | Lave Cross | 9,084 |
70 | Roberto Alomar * | 9,073 |
71 | Al Oliver | 9,049 |
72 | George Davis * | 9,045 |
73 | Bill Dahlen | 9,036 |
74 | Dwight Evans | 8,996 |
75 | Buddy Bell | 8,995 |
76 | Graig Nettles | 8,986 |
77 | Chipper Jones * | 8,984 |
78 | Darrell Evans | 8,973 |
79 | Gary Gaetti | 8,951 |
80 | Miguel Cabrera (493) | 8,949 |
81 | Tim Raines * | 8,872 |
82 | Charlie Gehringer * | 8,860 |
83 | Torii Hunter | 8,857 |
84 | Luke Appling * | 8,856 |
85 | Steve Garvey | 8,835 |
86 | Tommy Corcoran | 8,824 |
87 | Sammy Sosa | 8,813 |
88 | Harry Hooper * | 8,785 |
89 | Al Simmons * | 8,759 |
90 | Fred McGriff | 8,757 |
91 | Carlton Fisk * | 8,756 |
92 | Mickey Vernon | 8,731 |
93 | Dave Concepcion | 8,723 |
94 | Bert Campaneris | 8,684 |
95 | Ted Simmons * | 8,680 |
96 | Julio Franco | 8,677 |
97 | Chili Davis | 8,673 |
98 | Goose Goslin * | 8,656 |
99 | Garret Anderson | 8,640 |
David Ortiz | 8,640 |
Notes
- In 1887, Major League Baseball counted bases on balls as hits. The result was high batting averages, including some near .500, and the experiment was abandoned the following season.
- A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season.
References
- Baseball Explained by Phillip Mahony, McFarland Books, 2014. See www.baseballexplained.com Archived 2014-08-13 at the Wayback Machine