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List of Major League Baseball career batting average leaders

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Josh Gibson has the highest career batting average (.371) in major-league history.

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.

Catcher Josh Gibson, whose career ended in 1946, has the highest batting average in major-league history.[1][a] He batted .371 over 14 seasons, mostly with the Homestead Grays. In addition, he also holds the single-season record for highest batting average in major league history at .466 in 1943. Gibson never recorded a batting average of under .316 in any qualifying season. Ty Cobb is second all-time with a career batting average of .367.[1] He won a record 11 batting titles in the American League from 1907–1909, 1911–1915, and 1917–1919. Oscar Charleston is third with a career batting average of .363.[1] He is the only player to have won consecutive Triple Crowns, having done so in 1924 and 1925.

Key

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Rank Rank among leaders in career batting average
Player Name of the player
BA Major-league career batting average
* Denotes a player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Bold Denotes an active player[b]

List

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Different sources of baseball records present somewhat differing lists of career batting average leaders.[1][2][3][4][c] Until the incorporation of statistics from Negro league baseball into major-league records in 2024, Ty Cobb was the consensus leader; subsequently, he was supplanted by Josh Gibson.[5] The below table presents the 100 players with the highest qualified batting averages for their major-league careers, as published on MLB.com. A player must have a minimum of 5,000 at-bats to qualify for the list.[6] For Negro League players, the minimum is set at 1,800 at-bats, or 5,000 at-bats combining their Negro league, National League, and American League statistics.[6]

As of 15 April 2025, no active player appears in the below list; the active player ranking highest is Jose Altuve in 149th with a .3060 career batting average.

Ty Cobb: .366
Oscar Charleston: .363
Rogers Hornsby: .358
Jud Wilson: .350
Turkey Stearnes: .348
Ed Delahanty: .346
Buck Leonard: .345
Rank Player BA
1 Josh Gibson* .371
2 Ty Cobb* .367
3 Oscar Charleston* .363
4 Rogers Hornsby* .358
5 Jud Wilson* .351
6 Turkey Stearnes* .349
7 Ed Delahanty* .346
8 Tris Speaker* .345
9 Ted Williams* .344
10 Billy Hamilton* .344
11 Buck Leonard* .344
12 Dan Brouthers* .342
13 Babe Ruth* .342
14 Harry Heilmann* .342
15 Willie Keeler* .341
16 Bill Terry* .341
17 Lou Gehrig* .340
18 George Sisler* .340
19 Mule Suttles* .340
20 Nap Lajoie* .339
21 Jesse Burkett* .338
22 Tony Gwynn* .338
23 Bullet Rogan* .337
24 Cristóbal Torriente* .335
25 Ben Taylor* .335
Rank Player BA
26 Al Simmons* .334
27 Paul Waner* .333
28 Fats Jenkins .333
29 Eddie Collins* .333
30 Dick Lundy .332
31 Cap Anson* .331
32 Stan Musial* .331
33 Sam Thompson* .331
34 Heinie Manush* .330
34 Red Parnell .330
36 Honus Wagner* .329
37 Willie Wells* .328
38 Wade Boggs* .328
39 Rod Carew* .328
40 Hugh Duffy* .325
41 Biz Mackey* .325
42 Jimmie Foxx* .325
43 Cool Papa Bell* .325
44 Earle Combs* .325
45 Joe DiMaggio* .325
46 Babe Herman .324
47 Joe Medwick* .324
48 Hurley McNair .323
49 George Scales .323
50 Edd Roush* .323
Rank Player BA
51 Sam Rice* .322
52 Chaney White .322
53 Clarence Smith .321
54 Kiki Cuyler* .321
55 Charlie Gehringer* .320
56 Chuck Klein* .320
57 Pie Traynor* .320
58 Mickey Cochrane* .320
59 Kirby Puckett* .318
60 Earl Averill* .318
61 Vladimir Guerrero* .318
62 Arky Vaughan* .318
63 Roberto Clemente* .317
64 Joe Kelley* .317
65 Zack Wheat* .317
66 George Van Haltren .317
67 Roger Connor* .317
68 Lloyd Waner* .316
69 Todd Helton* .316
70 George Carr .316
71 Frankie Frisch* .316
72 Goose Goslin* .316
73 Hank Greenberg* .313
74 Jackie Robinson* .313
75 Jack Fournier .313
Rank Player BA
76 Elmer Flick* .313
77 Nomar Garciaparra .313
78 Larry Walker* .313
79 Bill Dickey* .313
80 Manny Ramirez .312
81 Johnny Mize* .312
82 Joe Sewell* .312
83 Fred Clarke* .312
84 Edgar Martínez* .312
85 Freddie Lindstrom* .311
86 Bing Miller .311
87 Baby Doll Jacobson .311
88 Ichiro Suzuki* .311
89 Ginger Beaumont .311
90 Mike Tiernan .311
91 Luke Appling* .310
92 Bobby Veach .310
93 Jim O'Rourke* .310
94 Jim Bottomley* .310
95 Derek Jeter* .310
96 Sam Crawford* .309
97 Bob Meusel .309
98 Magglio Ordóñez .309
99 Jack Tobin .309
100 Branch Russell .308

Source:[1]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The list presented includes players and statistics from defunct leagues considered "major" by Major League Baseball, not only the National League and American League.
  2. ^ A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played professionally for a full season.
  3. ^ For example, Baseball Reference requires a player to have had at least 3000 plate appearances in their major-league career to qualify,[2] while Baseball Almanac requires 1,000 career games played and 1,000 career at-bats;[3] both exclude Josh Gibson, who had 2526 plate appearances in 602 games.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Statistics". MLB.com. Retrieved March 5, 2025. All-Time Totals, sorted by AVG
  2. ^ a b "Career Leaders & Records for Batting Average". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Career Leaders for Batting Average". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  4. ^ "MLB Career Batting Leaders". ESPN. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
  5. ^ Castrovince, Anthony (29 May 2024). "What to know about Negro Leagues stats entering MLB record". MLB.com. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Rate Stats Qualifiers". MLB.com. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
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