List of major League baseball career batting average leaders - wikipedia List of major League baseball career batting average leaders Ty Cobb, the all - time leader in career batting average. 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. Outfielder Ty Cobb, whose career ended in 1928, has the highest batting average in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) history. He batted. 366 over 24 seasons, mostly with the Detroit Tigers. In addition, he won a record 11 batting titles for leading the American League in BA over the course of an entire season. He batted over. 360 in 11 consecutive seasons from 1909 to 1919. Rogers Hornsby has the second highest BA of all - time, at. 358. He won seven batting titles in the National League ( NL ) and has the highest NL average in a single season since 1900, when he batted. 424 in 1924. He batted over. 370 in six consecutive seasons. Shoeless Joe Jackson is the only other player to finish his career with a batting average over. 350. He batted. 356 over 13 seasons before he was permanently suspended from organized baseball in 1921 for his role in the Black Sox Scandal. Lefty O'Doul first came to the major leagues as a pitcher, but after developing a sore arm, he converted to an outfielder and won two batting titles. The fifth player on the list, and the last with at least a. 345 BA, is Ed Delahanty. Delahanty 's career was cut short when he fell into the Niagara Falls and died during the 1903 season. The last player to bat. 400 in a season, Ted Williams, ranks tied for seventh on the all - time career BA list. Babe Ruth hit for a career. 342 average and is tenth on the list. A player must have a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances in order to qualify for the list. Contents 1 Key 2 List 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Sources Key Rank Rank amongst leaders in career batting average. A blank field indicates a tie. Player Name of the player. BA Total career batting average. * Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bold Denotes active player. List Stats updated as of August 10, 2018. Rank Player BA Ty Cobb *. 3664 Rogers Hornsby *. 3585 Shoeless Joe Jackson. 3558 Lefty O'Doul. 3493 5 Ed Delahanty *. 3458 6 Tris Speaker *. 3447 7 Billy Hamilton *. 3444 Ted Williams *. 3444 9 Dan Brouthers *. 3424 10 Babe Ruth *. 3421 11 Dave Orr. 3420 12 Harry Heilmann *. 3416 13 Pete Browning. 3415 14 Willie Keeler *. 3413 15 Bill Terry *. 3412 16 Lou Gehrig *. 3401 George Sisler *. 3401 18 Jesse Burkett *. 3382 Tony Gwynn *. 3382 Nap Lajoie *. 3382 21 Jake Stenzel. 3378 22 Riggs Stephenson. 3361 23 Al Simmons *. 3342 24 Cap Anson *. 3341 25 John McGraw *. 3336 26 Eddie Collins *. 3332 Paul Waner *. 3332 28 Mike Donlin. 3326 29 Sam Thompson *. 3314 30 Stan Musial *. 3308 31 Bill Lange. 3298 Heinie Manush *. 3298 33 Wade Boggs *. 3279 34 Rod Carew *. 3278 35 Honus Wagner *. 3276 36 Tip O'Neill. 3260 37 Hugh Duffy *. 3255 Bob Fothergill. 3255 39 Jimmie Foxx *. 3253 40 Earle Combs *. 3247 41 Joe DiMaggio *. 3246 42 Babe Herman. 3245 43 Joe Medwick *. 3236 44 Edd Roush *. 3227 45 Sam Rice *. 3223 46 Ross Youngs *. 3222 47 Kiki Cuyler *. 3210 48 Charlie Gehringer *. 3204 49 Chuck Klein *. 3201 50 Mickey Cochrane *. 3196 Rank Player BA Pie Traynor *. 3196 52 Ken Williams. 3192 53 Kirby Puckett *. 3181 54 Earl Averill *. 3178 55 José Altuve. 3176 Vladimir Guerrero *. 3176 Arky Vaughan *. 3176 58 Bill Everitt. 3174 59 Roberto Clemente *. 3173 Joe Harris. 3173 61 Chick Hafey *. 3170 62 Joe Kelley *. 3169 63 Zack Wheat *. 3167 64 Miguel Cabrera. 3165 65 Roger Connor *. 3164 Todd Helton. 3164 Lloyd Waner *. 3164 68 George Van Haltren. 3163 69 Frankie Frisch *. 3161 Goose Goslin *. 3160 71 Lew Fonseca. 3158 72 Bibb Falk. 3145 73 Cecil Travis. 3142 74 Hank Greenberg *. 3135 75 Jack Fournier. 3132 76 Elmer Flick *. 3130 77 Ed Morgan. 3128 78 Nomar Garciaparra. 3127 Larry Walker. 3127 80 Bill Dickey *. 3125 81 Dale Mitchell. 3122 Manny Ramírez. 3122 83 Johnny Mize *. 3121 Joe Sewell *. 3121 85 Fred Clarke *. 3120 Deacon White *. 3120 87 Bug Holliday. 3119 88 Barney McCosky. 3118 89 Hughie Jennings *. 3117 Joey Votto. 3117 91 Edgar Martínez. 3115 92 Johnny Hodapp. 3114 Freddie Lindstrom *. 3114 94 Bing Miller. 3113 Jackie Robinson *. 3113 96 Baby Doll Jacobson. 3112 Taffy Wright. 3112 98 Ichiro Suzuki. 3111 99 Rip Radcliff. 3110 100 Ginger Beaumont. 3108 See also Baseball portal List of Major League Baseball players with a. 400 batting average in a season List of Major League Baseball career on - base percentage leaders List of Major League Baseball career slugging percentage leaders List of Major League Baseball career OPS leaders Notes Jump up ^ A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season. Sources Baseball-Reference.com Major League Baseball records Baseball statistics ( types of records ) General Record holders Single - game records Single - season records Record breakers by season Records considered unbreakable Titles leaders Batting leaders Career Batting average On - base percentage Times on base Slugging percentage OPS Hits 3,000 club Progressive Singles Doubles Triples Home runs 500 club Progressive Extra base hits RBIs Total bases Walks Intentional HBP Strikeouts Games played At - bats Plate appearances Annual Batting average Doubles Triples Home runs RBI Season Batting average Triples Home run Progressive Game Home runs Hitting for the cycle Grand slams RBI Game Inning Hits Misc Consecutive game hitting streak On - base plus slugging Hits Home runs Doubles Triples RBIs Baserunning leaders Career Runs Stolen bases Annual Runs Stolen bases Game Runs Misc Runs Stolen bases Pitching leaders Career Wins 300 club Losses Games started Games finished Innings pitched Strikeouts 3,000 club Saves Complete games Shutouts ERA WHIP Walks Hit batsmen Wild pitches Batters faced Annual Wins Saves Shutouts Strikeouts ERA Game No - hitter Perfect game List of perfect games Strikeouts Game Inning Immaculate innings Misc Wins Fielding leaders Career Putouts 1B 2B SS 3B OF LF CF RF Errors 1B 2B SS 3B OF LF Assists Passed balls Annual Putouts Errors Managing records Wins and winning percentage Multiple stat records Triple Crown 20 -- 20 -- 20 club 30 -- 30 club 40 -- 40 club Other Consecutive games played Longest winning streaks Longest losing streaks Individual streaks Titles streaks ^ Jump up to : `` Career Leaders & Records for Batting Average ''. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 3, 2018. Jump up ^ `` Ty Cobb Statistics and History ''. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Rogers Hornsby Statistics and History ''. Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Jump up ^ `` SportsCenter Flashback : The Chicago Black Sox banned from baseball ''. ESPN Classic. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved January 6, 2013. Jump up ^ McKenna, Brian. `` Lefty O'Doul ''. SABR.org. Retrieved January 2, 2013. Jump up ^ `` The Ballplayers -- Ed Delahanty ''. BaseballLibrary.com. The Idea Logical Company, Inc. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Jump up ^ Goldstein, Richard ( July 6, 2002 ). `` Ted Williams, Red Sox Slugger And Last to Hit. 400, Dies at 83 ''. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_batting_average_leaders&oldid=854532700 '' Categories : Major League Baseball lists Talk Contents About Wikipedia Português 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 12 August 2018, at 01 : 53 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: who had the highest batting average in major league baseball history
Answer: Ty Cobb