Do Babe Ruth and Derek Jeter Rank Among Baseball's Top 5 Hitters?

Derek Jeter is the biggest fan favorite in the biggest baseball market, New York. But, Jeter doesn't make my list.

Babe Ruth is the most well known baseball player of all time and by most measures, from runs created to home runs to OPS, the most productive hitter ever. However, this list is for the pure hitter, the guy who could knock a single at whim with a beautiful stroke. Not the sluggers like Ruth or Barry Bonds, but the kings of the small ball. You won't see the modern day sluggers like Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, or David Ortiz here.

Long, long ago, or "back in the day," there was something known as batting average. If you wipe off the dust of 35 years of indoctrination by baseball analyst Bill James, you will remember a time before the on base and slugging percentage became king and begat the OPS, or on base plus slugging percentage. In those days of yore, a batter was rated by the percentage of times he was able to reach first base with a hit.

In honor of those by-gone days before elaborate statistical systems such as runs created or win shares, I would like to define the best hitters in baseball history as the best pure hitters in terms of reaching first base with a base hit. I will completely disregard the ability to walk, or hit doubles, triples or even majestic home runs. Here are the five best pure hitters in baseball history:

#1 Best hitter Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics

Cobb played hard scrabble ball the old fashioned way, nasty and mean. He played in 3,035 games and knocked out 4,189 hits, a record that stood until Pete Rose passed him. The ill-tempered outfielder had a lifetime average of .366, best in baseball history. If you care to get fancy, his era and park adjusted average is 138. In the very accurate baseball simulation Imagine Sports Historical Fantasy Baseball, where players throughout history play a level playing field, Cobb rates best in batting average with a .357 simulated average. Cobb led the American League in batting 11 times, and had over 200 hits in a season nine times.

#2 Best hitter Shoeless Joe Jackson, Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox

Shoeless Joe Jackson, sadly banned from baseball after his minor involvement in the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, was a tremendous left handed batter. His career average of .356 over 13 seasons, ranks third all-time. Adjusted for park and era, he comes out just a shade behind Cobb at 136.

Where did the nickname come from? He picked up the moniker playing in an industrial league in South Carolina. His baseball cleats gave him a blister and caused him to take off his shoes when batting. Jackson finished with 1772 hits because he was forced out of the game at age 30. The illiterate Jackson was likely duped into any role in throwing the 1919 series, but with his lifetime ban, he can not enter the Hall of Fame.

#3 Best hitter Wee Willie Keeler, New York Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Brooklyn Superbas, New York Highlanders

Wee Willie Keeler weighed 140 pounds. He was well known for the saying "Hit 'em where they ain't." Apparently he was quite proficient with that strategy as he laced over 200 hits in 8 straight seasons from 1894 through 1901. Keeler led the National League in batting with the old Baltimore Orioles franchise in 1897 and 1898, hitting .424 and .385. He did not have any power, of course, but for pure hitting, he was incredible. Over 19 seasons, he amassed 2,932 hits, which seems low until you realize the teams were playing 130 game seasons in the 1890's.

#4 Best hitter Tony Gwynn, San Diego Padres

Gwynn checks in on the all-time batting leaders list at a very unassuming 20th with a .338 batting average. But, wait, sprinkle a little Bill James magic era adjustment dust, and, bingo: Gwynn shows up as #5 behind Cobb, Jackson and 19th century stars, Dave Orr and Pete Browning. I was lucky enough to see Tony Gwynn play and, he was amazing in his ability to spray the ball all over the field. He was very hard to strike out. Gwynn led the National League in hitting 8 times, including the 1994 season where he made a bid for a .400 season. He finished with a .394 average when the season was shut down on August 11 due to a strike. Gwynn finished his career with 3,141 hits.

#5 Best hitter Rod Carew, Minnesota Twins, California Angels

Rod Carew was exciting to watch. I remember how he hit using a bit of a crouch and how he would just slash at the ball like swatting a fly. He had such incredible bat control and could hit line drives to all fields. Carew won seven batting titles with the Twins and finished up with 3,053 hits. His simulated average in Imagine Sports is .319, equal to that of Jackson and Gwynn and just a hair higher than Keeler. Carew's adjusted batting average is 128.

In my book, Cobb, Jackson, Keeler, Gwynn, and Carew are the best pure singles hitters in major league history. Sure, they don't slug like Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, or Barry Bonds, but with a runner on second and a tie game in the tenth inning, I'd want want of these guys up there to slap a single and win the ballgame.

Sources:

"Career Leaders and Records for Batting Average," Baseballreference.com

"Imagine Sports Diamond Mind Fantasy Computer Baseball Game," Imaginesports.com.