Let’s have our Friday Fun this week with batting average. Depending on who you ask, the highest lifetime batting average for any major leaguer ever is either Josh Gibson at .373 or Ty Cobb at .366.1 Now, you can say what you want about the competition or the state of the game at the time for both, but those two are the top dogs statistically from both the modern and historic era (pre- and post- 1901).
Baseball Reference Top 1000 Hitters
One of the problems with the record books though is that it is heavily skewed towards the much, MUCH older players. You have to go down 10 spots on the list before you get to someone born in the 1900s. There you will find the best hitter of all time, Ted Williams at .3444. Of course, it wasn’t until 9 years after Teddy Ballgame started his career that Jackie Robinson made his debut and began the process of integration creating a much more complete talent pool. Who is the first name that comes up that played in a completely integrated league (or was born after 1905)? That would be Tony Gwynn.
For my lifetime, Tony Gwynn is in a class all his own in terms of hitting. From all the interviews and books that I’ve read, Gwynn and Williams thought about hitting on a plane that was far above everyone else, like it was a spiritual thing almost. Looking at the statistics for both is mesmerizing. Sadly, in going to the stats, I remembered that Tony Gwynn passed away in 2014 at 54 years old. That got me to thinking, who is the best living hitter?
I’ll tell you who it isn’t, anyone playing today. Batting averages have dropped precipitously over the last few years with the exception of basically one man, Luis Arraez. As of the minute I hit publish, his career average sits at .317. Do you know where that places him all time? All the way down at #71. In fact, there are only two active players with enough plate appearances with career averages over .300: Arraez and Jose Altuve at .302. There was a 3rd member of the club to start the season, but Freddie Freeman dropped from .300 even down to .2992.2
So again, who is the best hitter alive? As we keep going down the list, it is more and more guys born before 1905. Stan Musial is the first Ted Williams contemporary to join him on the list down at #34 at .331. Musial passed away 13 years ago though. Finally, down at #39 we have…a tie???
With lifetime averages of .327 we have both Wade Boggs and Rod Carew! Boggs played the majority of his career in Boston before moving to their enemies in New York to win a World Series (before finishing in Tampa). Carew didn’t take any cheap nonsense from Twins ownership and took his talents from Minnesota to the California Angels halfway through his career. Both had over 3000 hits and 12 batting titles between them (7 for Carew and 5 for Boggs). While Boggs batted over .360 four times, to Carew’s 3, Carew had his incredible 1977 season where he hit .388 and won MVP.3
Of course, unless their stats are identical or reducible, there can be no tie in numbers. Going out to the 10,000 place, Boggs takes the title of Greatest Hitter Alive at .3279 to Carew’s .3278. That’s the difference between a hit being scored an error, a close 3rd strike not being called a walk, or maybe a bad foul call before replay either way. Crazy.
Boggs is only 67, but he is not exactly the epitome of health. He recently recovered from cancer but is also well known in college drinking circles as the man who drank 73 beers on a cross-country flight (then 34 more that night). Needless to say, I’m not optimistic about his longevity in this space. Carew is now 80 years old, but went through a massive heart attack about 10 years ago and eventually had a heart transplant. Though it is a bit morbid, this begs the question of who is next up on the list? Sadly, it is not the .3181 career average of Kirby Puckett who died in 2006 at age 45. Instead, it is 51-year-old Vlad Guerrero Sr. and his .3176.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though and for this Friday Fun, let’s appreciate the two best hitters alive, Wade Boggs and Rod Carew.
The List: Baseball Reference
- The discrepancy doesn’t come from where you’d think. The problem is plate appearances. Gibson’s records are so sparse that despite playing for 14 years, Baseball Reference only has him down for 2500 PAs, 500 below the 3000 career PA minimum ↩︎
- In his 17th season, Freeman has a .277 average. It will be fascinating to see where he ends up. I wonder if he is aware of this? ↩︎
- If you are wondering, and if you are reading this you probably are, Carew was last over .400 on July 10th but was down to .374 on August 26th. He picked things up down the stretch. ↩︎
Friday Fun: The Never Nothing Club
There are 13 teams in the 4 major American sports that have not only never won a championship, but never been to one either. Who has gone the longest without a title?
Friday Fun (late): MLB Without Relocation AL Edition
Only 4 American League teams have never moved and never changed their names
Friday Fun (early): MLB Without Relocation NL Edition
Ever wonder where all the National League teams came from? Of course you did!
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Philly Front Office 
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