Career Leaders for Batting Average

Ted Williams once commented about those that fail 'only' seven times out of ten attempts will be the greatest in the game. He was right, and the list below reflects those great career hitters.

Important notes: 1,000 career games played & at-bats are needed to make this list, raw averages are presented to further clarify the one-hundred greatest career batting averages of all-time, and a bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season.
"I don't like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped up to the plate with a bat in my hands, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the pitcher." - Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby (2nd Overall Batting Average Leader)
Batting Average
All Time Leaders

'Top 100'
Ty Cobb .366 (.36636) 1
Rogers Hornsby .358 (.35850) 2
Joe Jackson .356 (.35575) 3
Pete Browning .349 (.34892) 4
Ed Delahanty .346 (.34590) 5
Tris Speaker .345 (.34468) 6
Ted Williams .344 (.34441) 7
Billy Hamilton .344 (.34429) 8
Dan Brouthers .342 (.34213) 9
Babe Ruth .342 (.34207) 10
Harry Heilmann .342 (.34159) 11
Willie Keeler .341 (.34129) 12
Bill Terry .341 (.34116) 13
George Sisler .340 (.34015) 14
Lou Gehrig .340 (.34008) 15
Jesse Burkett .338 (.33844) 16
Tony Gwynn .338 (.33818) 17
Nap Lajoie .338 (.33810) 18
Riggs Stephenson .336 (.33607) 19
Al Simmons .334 (.33417) 20
John McGraw .334 (.33359) 21
Tip O'Neill .334 (.33357) 22
Ichiro Suzuki .333 (.33347) 23
Paul Waner .333 (.33323) 24
Eddie Collins .333 (.33320) 25
Mike Donlin .333 (.33264) 26
Todd Helton .332 (.33163) 27
Albert Pujols .332 (.33152) 28
Stan Musial .331 (.33084) 29
Sam Thompson .331 (.33072) 30
Heinie Manush .330 (.32976) 31
Cap Anson .329 (.32909) 32
Wade Boggs .328 (.32789) 33
Rod Carew .328 (.32775) 34
Honus Wagner .327 (.32742) 35
Bob Fothergill .325 (.32548) 36
Jimmie Foxx .325 (.32530) 37
Earle Combs .325 (.32475) 38
Joe DiMaggio .325 (.32459) 39
Vladimir Guerrero .325 (.32456) 40
Babe Herman .324 (.32447) 41
Hugh Duffy .324 (.32406) 42
Joe Medwick .324 (.32364) 43
Edd Roush .323 (.32269) 44
Sam Rice .322 (.32226) 45
Ross Youngs .322 (.32224) 46
Kiki Cuyler .321 (.32105) 47
Charlie Gehringer .320 (.32043) 48
Chuck Klein .320 (.32007) 49
Pie Traynor .320 (.31962) 50
Mickey Cochrane .320 (.31960) 51
Ken Williams .319 (.31921) 52
Kirby Puckett .318 (.31806) 53
Denny Lyons .318 (.31790) 54
Earl Averill .318 (.31780) 55
Arky Vaughan .318 (.31758) 56
Roberto Clemente .317 (.31733) 57
Derek Jeter .317 (.31714) 58
Chick Hafey .317 (.31697) 59
Joe Kelley .317 (.31687) 60
Zack Wheat .317 (.31671) 61
Roger Connor .317 (.31653) 62
Lloyd Waner .316 (.31639) 63
Frankie Frisch .316 (.31607) 64
Goose Goslin .316 (.31597) 65
George Van Haltren .316 (.31567) 66
Nomar Garciaparra .315 (.31522) 67
Bibb Falk .314 (.31449) 68
Cecil Travis .314 (.31420) 69
Hank Greenberg .313 (.31350) 70
Jack Fournier .313 (.31317) 71
Elmer Flick .313 (.31303) 72
Manny Ramirez .313 (.31298) 73
Larry Walker .313 (.31273) 74
Bill Dickey .313 (.31254) 75
Dale Mitchell .312 (.31225) 76
Johnny Mize .312 (.31212) 77
Joe Sewell .312 (.31211) 78
Elmer Smith .312 (.31203) 79
Fred Clarke .312 (.31186) 80
Barney McCosky .312 (.31184) 81
Magglio Ordonez .312 (.31170) 82
Edgar Martinez .312 (.31152) 83
Hughie Jennings .311 (.31138) 84
Freddie Lindstrom .311 (.31135) 85
Bing Miller .311 (.31133) 86
Jackie Robinson .311 (.31126) 87
Baby Doll Jacobson .311 (.31124) 88
Taffy Wright .311 (.31119) 89
Rip Radcliff .311 (.31100) 90
Ginger Beaumont .311 (.31078) 91
Mike Tiernan .311 (.31053) 92
Luke Appling .310 (.31041) 93
Irish Meusel .310 (.31041)  
Bobby Veach .310 (.30995) 95
Henry Larkin .310 (.30990) 96
Jim O'Rourke .310 (.30989) 97
Jim Bottomley .310 (.30960) 98
John Stone .310 (.30952) 99
Sam Crawford .309 (.30940) 100
Current Through 2007 Season


Who's not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame from the top twenty? Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pete Browning, Tony Gwynn, Todd Helton and Riggs Stephenson. Do they all belong? Share your opinion on our baseball message boards today.

Do you remember who hit the highest batting average during a single season? How about from the year you were born (click either link to find out)?

Modern superstars are making the list as they meet the one-thousand minimum games played threshold: In 2001 Jeff Cirillo & Manny Ramirez met the requirements and joined the top one-hundred. In 2002 Cirillo slipped off the chart and Jason Giambi made it while Chipper Jones & Alex Rodriguez missed the cutoff by less than 2/1000 of a point. In 2003 Jason Giambi slipped off the chart, Chipper Jones just missed it once again (his career average is .30870), and Vladimir Guerrero vaulted onto the list at forty-first — higher than any other active player, that is until 2004 when Todd Helton launched into the top 20 all-time.
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