List of Major League Baseball career on-base percentage leaders

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Ted Williams has the highest career on-base percentage in MLB history, led the American League in 12 seasons (also a record), and held the single-season on-base percentage record for 61 years. Ted Williams BBall Digest May 1949 raw.jpg
Ted Williams has the highest career on-base percentage in MLB history, led the American League in 12 seasons (also a record), and held the single-season on-base percentage record for 61 years.

In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) is a measure of how often a batter reaches base for any reason other than a fielding error, fielder's choice, dropped or uncaught third strike, fielder's obstruction, or catcher's interference. OBP is calculated in Major League Baseball (MLB) by dividing the sum of hits, walks, and times hit by a pitch by the sum of at-bats, walks, times hit by pitch and sacrifice flies. [1] A hitter with a .400 on-base percentage is considered to be great [2] and rare; [3] only 61 players in MLB history with at least 3,000 career plate appearances (PA) have maintained such an OBP. Left fielder Ted Williams, who played 19 seasons for the Boston Red Sox, has the highest career on-base percentage, .4817, in MLB history. [4] Williams led the American League (AL) in on-base percentage in twelve seasons, the most such seasons for any player in the major leagues. [4] [5] Barry Bonds led the National League (NL) in ten seasons, a NL record. [5] [6] Williams also posted the then-highest single-season on-base percentage of .5528 in 1941, a record that stood for 61 years until Bonds broke it with a .5817 OBP in 2002. [7] Bonds broke his own record in 2004, setting the current single-season mark of .6094. [7]

Contents

Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have played at least 10 major league seasons, have been either retired for five seasons or deceased for six months, and have not been banned from MLB. [8] These requirements leave 6 living players ineligible who have played in the past 5 seasons; 5 players (Bill Joyce, Ferris Fain, Jake Stenzel, Bill Lange, and George Selkirk) who did not play 10 seasons in MLB; and Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned for his role in the Black Sox Scandal. [9]

Key

RankRank amongst leaders in career on-base percentage. A blank field indicates a tie.
PlayerName of the player.
OBPTotal career on-base percentage.
*Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame.
BoldDenotes active player. [note 1]

List

Juan Soto, the active leader and 19th all-time in career on-base percentage. Juan Soto 9.22.22.jpg
Juan Soto, the active leader and 19th all-time in career on-base percentage.
RankPlayerOBP
1 Ted Williams*.4817
2 Babe Ruth*.4739
3 John McGraw*.4657
4 Billy Hamilton*.4552
5 Oscar Charleston*.4487
6 Lou Gehrig*.4474
7 Barry Bonds .4443
8 Jud Wilson*.4351
9 Bill Joyce .4349
10 Rogers Hornsby*.4337
11 Ty Cobb*.4330
12 Jimmie Foxx*.4283
13 Tris Speaker*.4279
14 Eddie Collins*.4244
15 Ferris Fain .4241
16 Dan Brouthers*.4234
17 Max Bishop .4230
18 Shoeless Joe Jackson .4227
19 Juan Soto .4216
20 Mickey Mantle*.4205
21 Mickey Cochrane*.4192
22 Frank Thomas*.4192
23 Edgar Martínez*.4178
24 Turkey Stearnes*.4174
25 Stan Musial*.4167
26 Cupid Childs .4157
27 Wade Boggs*.4150
28 Jesse Burkett*.4149
29 Todd Helton*.4140
Mel Ott*.4140
31 Roy Thomas .4135
32 Lefty O'Doul .4133
33 Hank Greenberg*.4118
34 Ed Delahanty*.4113
35 Manny Ramirez .4106
Mike Trout .4106
37 Mule Suttles*.4100
38 Charlie Keller .4099
39 Jackie Robinson*.4098
Eddie Stanky .4098
41 Harry Heilmann*.4095
42 Joey Votto .4094
43 Roy Cullenbine .4082
45 Jake Stenzel .4078
46 Jeff Bagwell*.4076
46 Denny Lyons .4074
Willie Wells*.4074
48 Riggs Stephenson .4065
49 Lance Berkman .4060
50 Arky Vaughan*.4058
RankPlayerOBP
51 Joe Harris .4044
52 Paul Waner*.4043
53 Charlie Gehringer*.4036
54 Joe Cunningham .4035
55 Pete Browning .4028
56 Lu Blue .4022
57 Jim Thome*.4019
58 Joe Kelley*.4017
59 Rickey Henderson*.4012
60 Chipper Jones*.4011
61 Larry Walker*.4002
62 Bill Lange .4001
63 Brian Giles .3998
George Selkirk .3998
65 Luke Appling*.3994
66 Jason Giambi .3993
67 Nick Johnson .3989
68 Ross Youngs*.3985
69 Joe DiMaggio*.3983
Elmer Valo .3983
71 Ralph Kiner*.3980
John Olerud .3980
73 Mike Smith .3977
74 Ed Morgan .3975
75 Johnny Mize*.3971
76 Earle Combs*.3969
Roger Connor*.3969
78 John Kruk .3966
79 Richie Ashburn*.3964
80 Mike Hargrove .3958
81 Hack Wilson*.3951
82 Bobby Abreu .3950
83 Hurley McNair .3948
84 Earl Averill*.3947
85 Johnny Pesky .3943
86 Mark McGwire .3941
87 Cap Anson*.3940
Cool Papa Bell*.3940
Frank Chance*.3940
Stan Hack .3940
Aaron Judge .3940
Eddie Yost .3940
93 Ken Williams .3933
94 Wally Schang .3931
95 Rod Carew*.3930
Gary Sheffield .3930
97 Bob Johnson .3928
98 Bill Terry*.3927
99 George Grantham .3924
Tip O'Neill .3924


See also

Notes

  1. A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season.

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References

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  6. "Barry Bonds Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
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