Single Season Leaders for On Base Plus Slugging in the American League

The on base percentage statistic was originally created by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth in the 1950's as a means to measure the percentage of times a player reaches any base. It did not originally include the sacrifice fly denomination but when it was officially adapted in 1984 it appeared using the formula written above. Slugging Average was developed later and the two were combined to create On Base Plus Slugging.

Note: One-hundred single season games played are needed to make this list of the one-hundred (100) greatest on base plus slugging American League leaders, raw averages are presented in parenthesis to further distinguish the top one-hundred, and a bold faced entry denotes that the player was active during the previous Major League season.
"Never content to be the best hitter, (Ted) Williams liked the All-Star Game because it was a chance to do more research on the genre of humans he hated most: major league pitchers. The All-Star Game was one-stop shopping for Williams — a chance to see all the best hurlers in one place on one day." - Sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy in The Boston Globe (Easily, he was the brightest star, 07/05/2002)
On Base Plus Slugging
Single Season American League Leaders

'Top 100'
Babe Ruth 1.379 (1.37908) 1920 New York Yankees AL 1
Babe Ruth 1.359 (1.35863) 1921 New York Yankees AL 2
Babe Ruth 1.309 (1.30891) 1923 New York Yankees AL 3
Ted Williams 1.287 (1.28745) 1941 Boston Red Sox AL 4
Babe Ruth 1.258 (1.25819) 1927 New York Yankees AL 5
Ted Williams 1.257 (1.25659) 1957 Boston Red Sox AL 6
Babe Ruth 1.253 (1.25295) 1926 New York Yankees AL 7
Babe Ruth 1.252 (1.25172) 1924 New York Yankees AL 8
Lou Gehrig 1.240 (1.23955) 1927 New York Yankees AL 9
Babe Ruth 1.225 (1.22479) 1930 New York Yankees AL 10
Jimmie Foxx 1.218 (1.21805) 1932 Philadelphia Athletics AL 11
Frank Thomas 1.217 (1.21675) 1994 Chicago White Sox AL 12
Mark McGwire 1.198 (1.19765) 1996 Oakland Athletics AL 13
Babe Ruth 1.195 (1.19510) 1931 New York Yankees AL 14
Lou Gehrig 1.194 (1.19416) 1930 New York Yankees AL 15
Mickey Mantle 1.177 (1.17660) 1957 New York Yankees AL 16
Lou Gehrig 1.174 (1.17368) 1936 New York Yankees AL 17
Babe Ruth 1.172 (1.17197) 1928 New York Yankees AL 18
Lou Gehrig 1.172 (1.17161) 1934 New York Yankees AL 19
Mickey Mantle 1.169 (1.16934) 1956 New York Yankees AL 20
Jimmie Foxx 1.166 (1.16641) 1938 Boston Red Sox AL 21
Ted Williams 1.164 (1.16434) 1946 Boston Red Sox AL 22
Jimmie Foxx 1.158 (1.15795) 1939 Boston Red Sox AL 23
Manny Ramirez 1.154 (1.15381) 2000 Cleveland Indians AL 24
Jimmie Foxx 1.153 (1.15257) 1933 Philadelphia Athletics AL 25
Albert Belle 1.152 (1.15201) 1994 Cleveland Indians AL 26
Babe Ruth 1.150 (1.14980) 1932 New York Yankees AL 27
Norm Cash 1.148 (1.14825) 1961 Detroit Tigers AL 28
Ted Williams 1.148 (1.14802) 1954 Boston Red Sox AL 29
Ted Williams 1.147 (1.14676) 1942 Boston Red Sox AL 30
Ted Williams 1.141 (1.14059) 1949 Boston Red Sox AL 31
Jason Giambi 1.137 (1.13652) 2001 Oakland Athletics AL 32
Mickey Mantle 1.135 (1.13483) 1961 New York Yankees AL 33
Carlos Delgado 1.134 (1.13408) 2000 Toronto Blue Jays AL 34
Ted Williams 1.133 (1.13302) 1947 Boston Red Sox AL 35
Al Simmons 1.130 (1.13014) 1930 Philadelphia Athletics AL 36
Babe Ruth 1.128 (1.12771) 1929 New York Yankees AL 37
Mark McGwire 1.125 (1.12530) 1995 Oakland Athletics AL 38
Jason Giambi 1.123 (1.12296) 2000 Oakland Athletics AL 39
Jim Thome 1.122 (1.12243) 2002 Cleveland Indians AL 40
Hank Greenberg 1.122 (1.12151) 1938 Detroit Tigers AL 41
Joe DiMaggio 1.119 (1.11887) 1939 New York Yankees AL 42
George Brett 1.118 (1.11807) 1980 Kansas City Royals AL 43
Lou Gehrig 1.116 (1.11609) 1937 New York Yankees AL 44
Lou Gehrig 1.115 (1.11516) 1928 New York Yankees AL 45
Babe Ruth 1.114 (1.11381) 1919 Boston Red Sox AL 46
Harry Heilmann 1.113 (1.11261) 1923 Detroit Tigers AL 47
Ted Williams 1.112 (1.11180) 1948 Boston Red Sox AL 48
Lou Gehrig 1.108 (1.10801) 1931 New York Yankees AL 49
Edgar Martinez 1.107 (1.10705) 1995 Seattle Mariners AL 50
Nap Lajoie 1.106 (1.10638) 1901 Philadelphia Athletics AL 51
Babe Ruth 1.106 (1.10622) 1922 New York Yankees AL 52
Manny Ramirez 1.105 (1.10502) 1999 Cleveland Indians AL 53
Hank Greenberg 1.105 (1.10469) 1937 Detroit Tigers AL 54
Hank Greenberg 1.103 (1.10344) 1940 Detroit Tigers AL 55
Jimmie Foxx 1.102 (1.10160) 1934 Philadelphia Athletics AL 56
Travis Hafner 1.097 (1.09731) 2006 Cleveland Indians AL 57
Manny Ramirez 1.097 (1.09660) 2002 Boston Red Sox AL 58
Ted Williams 1.096 (1.09644) 1960 Boston Red Sox AL 59
Jimmie Foxx 1.096 (1.09622) 1935 Philadelphia Athletics AL 60
Albert Belle 1.091 (1.09111) 1995 Cleveland Indians AL 61
Mickey Mantle 1.091 (1.09083) 1962 New York Yankees AL 62
Harry Heilmann 1.091 (1.09080) 1927 Detroit Tigers AL 63
Jimmie Foxx 1.088 (1.08778) 1929 Philadelphia Athletics AL 64
Ty Cobb 1.088 (1.08754) 1911 Detroit Tigers AL 65
Al Simmons 1.085 (1.08538) 1931 Philadelphia Athletics AL 66
Frank Thomas 1.085 (1.08535) 1996 Chicago White Sox AL 67
Joe DiMaggio 1.085 (1.08470) 1937 New York Yankees AL 68
Ted Williams 1.084 (1.08413) 1956 Boston Red Sox AL 69
Joe DiMaggio 1.083 (1.08287) 1941 New York Yankees AL 70
George Sisler 1.082 (1.08152) 1920 St. Louis Browns AL 71
Al Simmons 1.081 (1.08139) 1927 Philadelphia Athletics AL 72
Tris Speaker 1.080 (1.07984) 1922 Cleveland Indians AL 73
Tris Speaker 1.079 (1.07920) 1923 Cleveland Indians AL 74
Ken Griffey, Jr. 1.076 (1.07599) 1994 Seattle Mariners AL 75
Lou Gehrig 1.072 (1.07201) 1932 New York Yankees AL 76
John Olerud 1.072 (1.07167) 1993 Toronto Blue Jays AL 77
Jimmie Foxx 1.071 (1.07071) 1936 Boston Red Sox AL 78
Jim Gentile 1.069 (1.06872) 1961 Baltimore Orioles AL 79
Frank Thomas 1.067 (1.06741) 1997 Chicago White Sox AL 80
Alex Rodriguez 1.067 (1.06726) 2007 New York Yankees AL 81
David Ortiz 1.066 (1.06641) 2007 Boston Red Sox AL 82
Jimmie Foxx 1.066 (1.06602) 1930 Philadelphia Athletics AL 83
Ty Cobb 1.066 (1.06563) 1925 Detroit Tigers AL 84
Earl Averill 1.065 (1.06527) 1936 Cleveland Indians AL 85
Oscar Gamble 1.065 (1.06515) 1979 New York Yankees AL 86
Texas Rangers AL
Paul O'Neill 1.064 (1.06376) 1994 New York Yankees AL 87
Ken Williams 1.062 (1.06210) 1923 St. Louis Browns AL 88
Jim Thome 1.062 (1.06157) 1996 Cleveland Indians AL 89
Frank Thomas 1.061 (1.06107) 2000 Chicago White Sox AL 90
George Sisler 1.061 (1.06094) 1922 St. Louis Browns AL 91
Frank Thomas 1.061 (1.06090) 1995 Chicago White Sox AL 92
Fred Lynn 1.059 (1.05936) 1979 Boston Red Sox AL 93
Edgar Martinez 1.059 (1.05891) 1996 Seattle Mariners AL 94
Manny Ramirez 1.058 (1.05822) 2006 Boston Red Sox AL 95
Joe Jackson 1.058 (1.05791) 1911 Cleveland Naps AL 96
Tris Speaker 1.057 (1.05721) 1925 Cleveland Indians AL 97
Goose Goslin 1.056 (1.05585) 1928 Washington Senators AL 98
Albert Belle 1.055 (1.05461) 1998 Chicago White Sox AL 99
Joe DiMaggio 1.051 (1.05081) 1940 New York Yankees AL 100
Current Through End of 2007 Regular Season


Did you know that in the single season leaders for on base plus slugging in the National League there are only three players in the top twenty-five (25) who were not active during the 2005 season — Willie McCovey, Mark McGwire & Mike Schmidt?

The code to write the single season on base plus slugging league splits was developed in 2005, launched during 2006 and made possible by your support — please continue helping us create these kinds of pages by supporting our site.

The National League single season record for on base plus slugging was set in 2004 by Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants. The American League single season record for on base plus slugging is on this page. Is either the Career Leader for On Base Plus Slugging?
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