List of Major League Baseball players with a .325 batting average

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

player's batting average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

(BA) statistic is calculated by dividing the number of hits

Hit (baseball)

In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....

by the number of at bat

At bat

In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...

s. In Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

, a .330 career batting average is relatively rare, as only 25 players in MLB history have batted .330 for their careers, with a minimum of 5,000 plate appearance

Plate appearance

In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance each time he completes a turn batting. A player completes a turn batting when: He strikes out or is declared out before reaching first base; or He reaches first base safely or is awarded first base ; or He hits a fair ball which...

s. All but three finished their careers before 1946. Therefore, baseball historians have considered .330 to be a "high" lifetime batting average.

The only fielding positions represented on the list are outfielder

Outfielder

Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

s, first basemen, and second basemen; there are no catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

s, shortstop

Shortstop

Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...

s, or third basemen with a .330 BA. Outfielder Ty Cobb

Ty Cobb

Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...

, whose career ended in 1928, has the highest batting average in MLB history. He batted .366 over 24 seasons, mostly with the Detroit Tigers

Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

. In addition, he won a record 11 batting titles for leading the American League

American League

The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

in BA over the course of an entire season. He batted over .360 in 11 consecutive seasons from 1909 to 1919. Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby

Rogers Hornsby, Sr. , nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball . He played for the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Giants , Boston Braves , Chicago Cubs , and St. Louis Browns...

has the second highest BA of all-time, at .358. He won seven batting titles in the National League and has the highest NL average in a single season since 1900, when he batted .424 in 1924. He batted over .370 six straight times.

Shoeless Joe Jackson

Shoeless Joe Jackson

Joseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century...

is the only other player to finish his career with a .350 batting average. He batted .356 over 13 seasons before he was permanently suspended from organized baseball in 1921. The fourth player on the list, and the last with at least a .345 BA, is Ed Delahanty

Ed Delahanty

Edward James Delahanty , nicknamed "Big Ed", was a Major League Baseball player from 1888 to 1903 for the Philadelphia Quakers, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Infants and Washington Senators, and was known as one of the early great power hitters in the game.He was elected to the Baseball Hall of...

. Delahanty also had his career cut short when he fell into the Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...

and died during the 1903 season.

The last player to bat .400 in a season, Ted Williams

Ted Williams

Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...

, ranks sixth on the all-time career BA list. Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth

George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...

is widely considered to be the greatest player in baseball history, and he hit for a career .342 average and is ninth on the list. There are no active MLB players with a .330 career BA. Albert Pujols

Albert Pujols

José Alberto Pujols Alcántara , better known as Albert Pujols , is a Dominican-American professional baseball player, who is currently a free agent...

holds the highest career batting average among active players, having batted .328 over 11 seasons.

Of the 25 players who have batted .330, 22 have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...

. Eligibility requires that a player has "been retired five seasons" or deceased for at least six months. Additionally, players who are "on (Major League) Baseball's ineligible list"—i.e., banned from Major League Baseball—are ineligible for induction. Jackson has been on the ineligible list since 1921, when he was banned along with seven other members of the Chicago White Sox

1919 Chicago White Sox season

The Chicago White Sox season was their 19th season in the American League. They won 88 games to advance to the World Series but lost to the Cincinnati Reds. More significantly, some of the players were found to have taken money from gamblers in return for throwing the series...

for involvement in the Black Sox Scandal

Black Sox Scandal

The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...

. Pete Browning

Pete Browning

Louis Rogers "Pete" Browning was an American center and left fielder in Major League Baseball from 1882 to 1894 who played primarily for the Louisville Eclipse/Colonels, becoming one of the sport's most accomplished batters of the 1880s...

and Riggs Stephenson

Riggs Stephenson

Jackson Riggs Stephenson was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball. Nicknamed Old Hoss, Stephenson played for the Cleveland Indians from to and the rest of his career from to with the Chicago Cubs...

are the only players eligible for induction who have not yet received the honor.

There are a total of three players who have batted .330 over an exceptionally long career – at least 12,000 plate appearances: Cobb, Eddie Collins

Eddie Collins

Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. , nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive...

, and Stan Musial

Stan Musial

Stanley Frank "Stan" Musial is a retired professional baseball player who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals . Nicknamed "Stan the Man", Musial was a record 24-time All-Star selection , and is widely considered to be one of the greatest hitters in baseball...

Keys

Player	Name of the player
BA	Career batting average Batting average Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
PA	Career plate appearances
Position Baseball positions There are 9 fielding positions in baseball. Each position conventionally has an associated number which is used to score putouts...	Position that player played in the field
Years active	The seasons this player played in the major leagues
League leads	Number of times the player led their league in BA
†	Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
*	Denotes player who is still active

Position
Baseball positions
There are 9 fielding positions in baseball. Each position conventionally has an associated number which is used to score putouts...
C	Catcher Catcher Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...	1B	First baseman First baseman First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
2B	Second baseman Second baseman Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...	3B	Third baseman Third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
SS	Shortstop Shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...	OF	Outfielder Outfielder Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...
P	Pitcher Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...	DH	Designated hitter Designated hitter In baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, an official position adopted by the American League in 1973 that allows teams to designate a player, known as the designated hitter , to bat in place of the pitcher each time he would otherwise come to...

List

Statistics updated through the 2011 season. Minimum of 5,000 plate appearance
Plate appearance
In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance each time he completes a turn batting. A player completes a turn batting when: He strikes out or is declared out before reaching first base; or He reaches first base safely or is awarded first base ; or He hits a fair ball which...

s.

Rank	Player	BA	PA	Position	Years active	League leads
1	^†	.3664	13,608	OF	1905–1928	11
2	^†	.3585	9,475	2B	1915–1937	7
3		.3558	5,690	OF	1908–1920	0
4	^†	.3458	8,400	OF	1888–1903	1
5	^†	.3447	11,988	OF	1907–1928	1
6	^†	.3444	7,608	OF	1888–1901	2
7	^†	.3444	9,791	OF	1939–1942, 1946-1960	6
8	^†	.3421	7,676	1B	1879–1904	5
9	^†	.3421	10,617	OF	1914–1935	1
10	^†	.3416	8,960	OF	1914–1932	4
11		.3415	5,315	OF	1882–1894	3
12	^†	.3413	9,610	OF	1892–1910	2
13	^†	.3412	7,111	1B	1923–1936	1
14	^†	.3402	9,013	1B	1915–1930	2
15	^†	.3401	9,660	1B	1923–1939	1
16	^†	.3382	9,620	OF	1890–1905	3
17	^†	.3382	10,232	OF	1982–2001	8
18	^†	.3381	10,460	2B	1896–1916	5
19		.3361	5,134	OF	1921–1934	0
20	^†	.3342	9,515	OF	1924–1941, 1943-1944	2
21	^†	.3341	11,331	1B	1871–1897	2
22	^†	.3332	10,762	OF	1926–1945	3
23	^†	.3332	12,037	2B	1906–1930	0
24	^†	.3314	6,525	OF	1906–1922	1
25	^†	.3308	12,712	OF	1941–1944, 1946-1963	7

Keys

List

See also