List of Major League Baseball career batting average leaders

In baseball, the batting average (BA) is defined by the number of hits divided by at bats. It is usually reported to three decimal places and pronounced as if it were multiplied by 1,000: a player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three hundred." A point (or percentage point) is understood to be .001. If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken to more than three decimal places.

Catcher Josh Gibson, whose career ended in 1946, has the highest batting average in major-league history. He batted .371 over 14 seasons, mostly with the Homestead Grays. In addition, he also holds the single-season record for highest batting average in major league history at .466 in 1943. Gibson never recorded a batting average of under .316 in any qualifying season. Ty Cobb is second all-time with a career batting average of .367. He won a record 11 batting titles in the American League from 1907–1909, 1911–1915, and 1917–1919. Oscar Charleston is third with a career batting average of .363. Charleston and Gibson are the only players to have won consecutive Triple Crowns, having done so in 1924 and 1925 and 1936 and 1937, respectively.

Career batting average leaders Different sources of baseball records present somewhat differing lists of career batting average leaders. Until the incorporation of statistics from Negro league baseball into major-league records in 2024, Ty Cobb was the consensus leader; subsequently, he was supplanted by Josh Gibson. The below table presents the 100 players with the highest qualified batting averages for their major-league careers, as published on MLB.com. A player must have a minimum of 5,000 at bats to qualify for the list. For Negro League players, the minimum is set at 1,800 at bats, or 5,000 at bats combining their Negro league, National League, and American League statistics.

As of September 20, 2026, no active player appears in the list below; the active player ranking highest is Jose Altuve, 171st with a .300 career batting average.

Key Rank Rank among leaders in career batting averagePlayerName of the playerBAMajor-league career batting average*Denotes a player elected to the National Baseball Hall of FameBoldDenotes an active player

List RankPlayer BA1Josh Gibson*.3712Ty Cobb*.3673Oscar Charleston*.3634Rogers Hornsby*.3585Jud Wilson*.3516Turkey Stearnes*.3497Ed Delahanty*.3468Tris Speaker*.3459Ted Williams*.34410Billy Hamilton*.34411Buck Leonard*.34412Dan Brouthers*.34213Babe Ruth*.34214Harry Heilmann*.34215Willie Keeler*.34116Bill Terry*.34117Lou Gehrig*.34018George Sisler*.34019Mule Suttles*.34020Nap Lajoie*.33921Jesse Burkett*.33822Tony Gwynn*.33823Bullet Rogan*.33724Cristóbal Torriente*.33525Ben Taylor*.335 RankPlayerBA26Al Simmons*.33427Paul Waner*.33328Fats Jenkins.33329Eddie Collins*.33330Dick Lundy.33231Cap Anson*.33132Stan Musial*.33133Sam Thompson*.33134Heinie Manush*.33034Red Parnell.33036Honus Wagner*.32937Willie Wells*.32838Wade Boggs*.32839Rod Carew*.32840Hugh Duffy*.32541Biz Mackey*.32542Jimmie Foxx*.32543Cool Papa Bell*.32544Earle Combs*.32545Joe DiMaggio*.32546Babe Herman.32447Joe Medwick*.32448Hurley McNair.32349George Scales.32350Edd Roush*.323 RankPlayerBA51Sam Rice*.32252Chaney White.32253Clarence Smith .32154Kiki Cuyler*.32155Charlie Gehringer*.32056Chuck Klein*.32057Pie Traynor*.32058Mickey Cochrane*.32059Kirby Puckett*.31860Earl Averill*.31861Vladimir Guerrero*.31862Arky Vaughan*.31863Roberto Clemente*.31764Joe Kelley*.31765Zack Wheat*.31766George Van Haltren.31767Roger Connor*.31768Lloyd Waner*.31669Todd Helton*.31670George Carr.31671Frankie Frisch*.31672Goose Goslin*.31673Hank Greenberg*.31374Jackie Robinson*.31375Jack Fournier.313 RankPlayerBA76Elmer Flick*.31377Nomar Garciaparra.31378Larry Walker*.31379Bill Dickey*.31380Manny Ramirez.31281Johnny Mize*.31282Joe Sewell*.31283Fred Clarke*.31284Edgar Martínez*.31285Freddie Lindstrom*.31186Bing Miller.31187Baby Doll Jacobson .31188Ichiro Suzuki*.31189Ginger Beaumont .31190Mike Tiernan .31191Luke Appling* .31092Bobby Veach .31093Jim O'Rourke*.31094Jim Bottomley*.31095Derek Jeter*.31096Sam Crawford*.30997Bob Meusel.30998 Magglio Ordóñez*.30999Jack Tobin.309100Branch Russell.308

Gallery

Top ten rankings per different sources Different sources of baseball records present somewhat differing lists of career batting average leaders, primarily due to differences in minimums needed to qualify (number of games played or plate appearances), or differences in early baseball records. Baseball Reference includes the Negro League teams considered major leagues by Major League Baseball, while such players do not appear in the lists presented by Baseball Almanac or ESPN. The criteria used by Baseball Reference—a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances—results in Josh Gibson being omitted. In sources where Gibson is omitted, Ty Cobb leads this category.

None of the players listed below are still living; each is an inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame, except for Lefty O'Doul, Pete Browning, and Shoeless Joe Jackson (who was ineligible due to his alleged role in the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 until his eligibility was reinstated in 2025).

Baseball Reference Baseball Almanac ESPN MLB.com Rank Player Average Rank Player Average Rank Player Average Rank Player Average 1 Ty Cobb .3662 1 Ty Cobb .36636 1 Ty Cobb .366 1 Josh Gibson .371 2 Oscar Charleston .3648 2 Rogers Hornsby .35850 2 Rogers Hornsby .358 2 Ty Cobb .367 3 Rogers Hornsby .3585 3 Shoeless Joe Jackson .35575 3 Shoeless Joe Jackson .356 3 Oscar Charleston .363 4 Shoeless Joe Jackson .3558 4 Ed Delahanty .34590 4 Ed Delahanty .346 4 Rogers Hornsby .358 5 Jud Wilson .3504 5 Tris Speaker .34468 5 Tris Speaker .345 5 Jud Wilson .351 6 Lefty O'Doul .3493 6 Ted Williams .344416 Billy Hamilton .344 6 Turkey Stearnes .349 7 Turkey Stearnes .3483 7 Billy Hamilton .34429 Ted Williams .344 7 Ed Delahanty .346 8 Ed Delahanty .3458 8 Babe Ruth .342068 Dan Brouthers .342 8 Buck Leonard .345 9 Tris Speaker .3447 9 Harry Heilmann .34159 Harry Heilmann .3429 Ted Williams .34410 Billy Hamilton .3444 10 Pete Browning .34149 Babe Ruth .342 Billy Hamilton .344 Ted Williams .3444 Buck Leonard .344

List of Major League Baseball career batting average leaders

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