List of Major League Baseball career on-base percentage leaders

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A smiling man in a white baseball uniform with a black long-sleeved shirt underneath sits with his arms around his right leg.
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 55 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]

Joey Votto is the current active MLB leader in OBP, with a career mark of .4191.[8] Mickey Cochrane is the only catcher and Arky Vaughan is the only shortstop with a career mark of at least .400.[9][10] Of the 43 players eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame with a career on-base percentage of .400 or higher, 27 have been elected. 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.[11] 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.[12]

Keys

Players

A man in full baseball attire wears a pinstriped jersey and a hat with overlapping white "N" and "Y". Looking to the left of the camera, he is holding a baseball bat upward.
Babe Ruth had the second-highest career on-base percentage and is the only player above .400 to have spent significant time as a pitcher.
A gray haired man in a dark three-piece suit.
Despite posting the third-highest on-base percentage in MLB history John McGraw led the league in OBP in only 3 seasons.
Baseball card picturing a man in a white baseball uniform which reads "KANSAS CITY" on the chest". Below him the card reads "HAMILTON, LF, Kansas Citys".
Billy Hamilton played left field, one of the most common positions amongst players with a .400 OBP, along with first base.
An African American man in a white baseball uniform with "GIANTS" on the chest takes a left-handed baseball swing as a catcher kneels behind him to receive the pitch.
In addition to his sixth-highest career OBP in MLB history Barry Bonds set the single-season OBP record in 2004, one of ten seasons in which he led the National League in that category.
A man in a red baseball cap with a white C on it and a red baseball jersey holds a black baseball glove (worn on his left hand) in front of his chest.
Joey Votto is the active MLB leader in on-base percentage.
Statistics updated through the end of the 2015 Major League Baseball season. Minimum of 3,000 plate appearances.
Player OBP PA Position Years active League leads Ref
Ted Williams .4817 9,791 LF 1939–1942
1946–1960
12 [4]
Babe Ruth .4739 10,620 RF/P 1914–1935 10 [13]
John McGraw .4657 4,926 3B/SS 1891–1906 3 [14]
Billy Hamilton .4552 7,584 CF 1888–1901 5 [15]
Lou Gehrig .4474 9,660 1B 1923–1939 5 [16]
Barry Bonds .4443 12,606 LF 1986–2007 10 [6]
Bill Joyce .4349 4,149 3B/1B 1890–1892
1894–1898
0 [17]
Rogers Hornsby .4337 9,475 2B 1915–1937 9 [18]
Ty Cobb .4330 13,072 CF 1905–1928 7 [19]
Jimmie Foxx .4283 9,670 1B 1925–1942
1944–1945
3 [20]
Tris Speaker .4279 11,991 CF 1907–1928 4 [21]
Eddie Collins .4244 12,037 2B 1906–1930 0 [22]
Ferris Fain .4241 4,904 1B 1947–1955 1 [23]
Joey Votto* .4234 4,757 1B 2007– 4 [8]
Dan Brouthers .4233 7,658 1B 1879–1896
1904
5 [24]
Max Bishop .4230 5,789 2B 1924–1935 0 [25]
Shoeless Joe Jackson .4227 5,690 LF 1908–1920 1 [26]
Mickey Mantle .4205 9,909 CF 1951–1968 3 [27]
Mickey Cochrane .4192 6,206 C 1925–1937 1 [9]
Frank Thomas .4191 10,074 DH/1B 1990–2008 4 [28]
Edgar Martínez .4178 8,672 DH/3B 1987–2004 3 [29]
Stan Musial .4167 12,712 LF/1B 1941–1944
1946–1963
6 [30]
Cupid Childs .4157 6,766 2B 1888
1890–1901
1 [31]
Wade Boggs .4150 10,740 3B 1982–1999 6 [32]
Jesse Burkett .4149 9,620 LF 1890–1905 1 [33]
Todd Helton .4140 9,453 1B 1997–2013 2 [34]
Mel Ott .4140 11,337 RF 1926–1947 4 [35]
Roy Thomas .4135 6,575 CF 1899–1911 2 [36]
Lefty O'Doul .4133 3,659 LF 1919–1920
1922–1923
1928–1934
1 [37]
Hank Greenberg .4118 6,096 1B 1930
1933–1941
1945–1947
0 [38]
Ed Delahanty .4112 8,400 LF 1888–1903 2 [39]
Manny Ramirez .4106 9,774 LF 1993–2011 3 [40]
Charlie Keller .4099 4,604 LF 1939–1943
1945–1952
0 [41]
Eddie Stanky .4098 5,435 2B 1943–1953 2 [42]
Harry Heilmann .4095 8,960 RF 1914
1916–1930
1932
0 [43]
Jackie Robinson .4089 5,802 2B 1947–1956 1 [44]
Roy Cullenbine .4082 4,787 RF 1938–1947 0 [45]
Jake Stenzel .4078 3,425 CF 1890
1892–1899
0 [46]
Jeff Bagwell .4076 9,431 1B 1991–2005 0 [47]
Denny Lyons .4074 5,010 3B 1885–1897 1 [48]
Riggs Stephenson .4065 5,134 LF 1921–1934 0 [49]
Lance Berkman .4060 7,814 LF/1B/RF 1999–2013 0 [50]
Arky Vaughan .4058 7,721 SS 1932–1943
1947–1948
3 [10]
Joe Harris .4044 3,574 1B 1914
1917
1919
1922–1928
0 [51]
Paul Waner .4043 10,762 RF 1926–1945 0 [52]
Charlie Gehringer .4036 10,237 2B 1924–1942 0 [53]
Joe Cunningham .4035 4,061 1B/RF 1954
1956–1966
1 [54]
Pete Browning .4028 5,315 CF/LF 1882–1894 2 [55]
Lu Blue .4022 7,207 1B 1921–1933 0 [56]
Jim Thome .4019 10,313 1B/DH/3B 1991–2012 0 [57]
Joe Kelley .4017 8,120 LF 1891–1906
1908
0 [58]
Rickey Henderson .4012 13,346 LF 1979–2003 1 [59]
Chipper Jones .4011 10,614 3B 1993
1995–2012
1 [60]
Larry Walker .4002 8,030 RF 1989–2005 2 [61]
Bill Lange .4001 3,609 CF 1893–1899 0 [62]

See also

References

General
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