MLB's Top 50 Batting Averages: The Lost Importance of the Batting Average

Baseball is a sport driven by statistics and numbers of all sorts. It is, unquestionably, the one sport in which numbers drive the fandom. The batting average, while not immune from the forces of change, remains the one consistently understood aspects of the game: how many times on average will a hitter hit safely. It is the essence of the game and an essence we have moved away from with time.

This is a look at one of baseball's most commonly cited numbers and the men who hold the highest of them: the batting average. This article discusses the position on the Top 50 highest batting averages in professional baseball history of the men who qualify - over 5000 at bats.

The "dead ball era" of baseball lasted from the beginnings of the game until about 1920. In that time, the game relied more on the strategy aspect of the game: stolen bases and hit and run situations. Homeruns were indeed a rarity, with one homer for about every 300-at bats. Base hits, though, were not.

Of the all time leaders in batting average, you have to look down the list to #21 before you find an active player: The Colorado Rockies' Todd Helton at .332.

The all time leader, Ty Cobb, played the game from 1905-1928. Over that 24 year career, he hit an astounding .367. He even had a 3.6 ERA as a starting pitcher - of course he only pitched three games, 2 of which were in 1918 wherein he had a 4.5 era. He is also the leader in at bats with 11,429 - a simply astounding number

Rogers Hornsby played for 23 years between 1915 and 1937. He's number 2 on the all time list with a .358.

The highest ranking "modern" player is Ted "Teddy Ballgame" Williams, with a lifetime average of .344. He is tied with Billy Hamilton at #5 all time. Hamilton played between 1888 and 1901. Williams played between 1939 and 1960, and had about 1500 more at bats than Hamilton.

A somewhat surprising member of this elite list shows up at #14 all time - Tony Gwynn. He played between 1982 and 2001 for the San Diego Padres and in that time he pulled down a .338 batting average in 9288 at bats. Yet, in all of those at bats and for all of his 3141 hits, he had only 135 home runs - hitting the plurality of those in the late 1990's at the tail end of his career; in 1997 he hit 17, 1998 he hit 16, and in 1999 he hit 10. He was much more the old school player.

Tied with Tony in the ranking - Jesse Burkett who played 15 years between 1890 and 1905; and Nap Lajoie who played between 1896 and 1916.

In baseball's Top 20 batting averages, only Williams and Gwynn played beyond the 1930's.

After the Top 20, we begin to see more familiar named: Stan Musial at #22 with a .331; Wade Boggs and Rod Carew at #25 .328; Joe DiMaggio, Jimmy Foxx, and the next highest active player, Vladimir Guerrero at #28 and .325. The only other active player in the Top 50 - Derek Jeter at .317 and #45, and honor he shares with 4-other players, including Roberto Clemente Walker.

Baseball, unlike the other major sports in the US, is a treasure trove of statistics - not simply because the game is so fundamentally based on them, but also because of the longevity of the record keeping: many of these men played in the 1880s. This makes the review of baseball records that much more interesting. These records are not easily compared over the decades, but they remain a part of our collective history.

When the game was about strategy, a batsman had to get himself on base, and thus the best players were those with the highest batting average. The old time players faced pitchers who were not throwing over hand, they were playing in what would be considered "oversized" parks and playing a much more physical game - hitting it out of the park was not an option. Besides these factors, the ball became more uniform, so the old time players were hitting at inconsistently made balls, making their achievement that much more remarkable.

When looking at different statistics - at bats, for instance - the numbers favor the modern player. A longer season, more at bats a game due to more potent offenses created by rules favoring offense, create some stunning numbers for at bats, home runs, and hits, but not batting average. The batting average is a pure part of the game - placing bat to pitched ball - and that's why these men are special. They did it better than anyone else, more frequently than anyone else.

The 2007 National League Batting Champion, Matt Holliday hit .340. If he could do that consistently over his career, he would be #12 on the Top 50 list with Lou Gerhig - of course he'd need another 3000 or so at bats to be considered . The American League Champion, Magglio Ordóñez, hit .363, which would have him at the top of the list at #2 - and while he's got the 5000 at bats, his lifetime average is .312; he was just batting out of his mind in 2007.

It is no wonder, then, that as we have come away from batting average as the most important statistic for baseball success, that the players who consistently performed at a high level with batting averages are those who played a long time ago. We concentrate on that which is important to us. Sadly, we have moved away from the importance of the batting average and more toward home runs, and RBI, among others. And while the object of the game has always been to score more runs than the other guy, the way we have done it has changed.