On Base Percentage : 1948 American League Top 25

Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested:

"Maybe I missed my routine and my game so much that I was trying to rationalize reasons for getting it back. I wanted those 162 games. I wanted all the suspense of the playoff and home run races. And I honestly didn't believe baseball would bend far enough to allow the possibility of games in November. I was wrong. And baseball was right." - Paul White in USA Today Baseball Weekly (September 14, 2001)
 

1948 On Base Percentage Leaders

Top 25 in the American League

Ted Williams .497 (.49687) Boston Red Sox 1
Lou Boudreau .453 (.45303) Cleveland Indians 2
Elmer Valo .432 (.43162) Philadelphia Athletics 3
Luke Appling .423 (.42301) Chicago White Sox 4
Billy Goodman .414 (.41412) Boston Red Sox 5
Ferris Fain .412 (.41195) Philadelphia Athletics 6
Barney McCosky .405 (.40480) Philadelphia Athletics 7
Joe DiMaggio .396 (.39611) New York Yankees 8
Ken Keltner .395 (.39506) Cleveland Indians 9
Johnny Pesky .394 (.39403) Boston Red Sox 10
Eddie Joost .393 (.39269) Philadelphia Athletics 11
Jerry Priddy .391 (.39104) St. Louis Browns 12
Tommy Henrich .391 (.39072) New York Yankees 13
Al Zarilla .389 (.38898) St. Louis Browns 14
Bobby Doerr .386 (.38599) Boston Red Sox 15
Pat Mullin .385 (.38502) Detroit Tigers 16
Bob Dillinger .385 (.38451) St. Louis Browns 17
Johnny Lipon .384 (.38447) Detroit Tigers 18
Larry Doby .384 (.38353) Cleveland Indians 19
Dom DiMaggio .383 (.38349) Boston Red Sox 20
Dale Mitchell .383 (.38321) Cleveland Indians 21
Hoot Evers .378 (.37774) Detroit Tigers 22
Joe Gordon .371 (.37143) Cleveland Indians 23
Birdie Tebbetts .371 (.37059) Boston Red Sox 24
Hank Majeski .368 (.36801) Philadelphia Athletics 25



Did you know that more than forty players have worn the number twenty-five for the Boston Red Sox — including Jack Clark, Denny Galehouse, Dizzy Trout and Tony Conigliaro.

Future Hall of Famer Sammy Sosa is best known for wearing number twenty-one; however, when the young slugger played for the Chicago White Sox (1989-1991) he only wore number twenty-five.

Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number.