A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls , and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, [1] and further detail is given in 6.08(a). [2]
The following table lists the top 100 career base on balls leaders in Major League Baseball history. Since 2007, Barry Bonds [3] [4] holds the record for most career walks drawn with 2,558. Rickey Henderson [5] (2,190), Babe Ruth [6] (2,062), and Ted Williams [7] (2,021) are the only other players to draw more than 2,000 walks in their careers. The active leader in walks is Carlos Santana with 1,278. [8]
Rank | Rank among players in career walks. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player (2025 BB) | Name (walks in 2025) |
BB | Career walks |
* | Elected to Hall of Fame |
---|---|
Bold | Active player [lower-alpha 1] |
On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player both to get on base and to hit for power, two important offensive skills, are represented. An OPS of .800 or higher in Major League Baseball puts the player in the upper echelon of hitters. Typically, the league leader in OPS will score near, and sometimes above, the 1.000 mark.
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 2007. He is considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
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"Career Leaders & Records for Bases on Balls". Baseball-Reference.com.