# List of Major League Baseball career batting average leaders

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.
Catcher Josh Gibson, whose career ended in 1946, has the highest batting average in major-league history. He batted .371 over 14 seasons, mostly with the Homestead Grays. In addition, he also holds the single-season record for highest batting average in major league history at .466 in 1943. Gibson never recorded a batting average of under .316 in any qualifying season. Ty Cobb is second all-time with a career batting average of .367. He won a record 11 batting titles in the American League from 1907–1909, 1911–1915 and 1917–1919. Oscar Charleston is third with a career batting average of .363. He is the only player to have won consecutive Triple Crowns, having done so in 1924 and 1925.

## Key

| Rank | Rank among leaders in career batting average |
| Player | Name of the player |
| BA | Major-league career batting average |
| * | Denotes a player elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame |
| Bold | Denotes an active player |

## List

Different sources of baseball records present somewhat differing lists of career batting average leaders. Until the incorporation of statistics from Negro league baseball into major-league records in 2024, Ty Cobb was the consensus leader; subsequently, he was supplanted by Josh Gibson. The below table presents the 100 players with the highest qualified batting averages for their major-league careers, as published on MLB.com. A player must have a minimum of 5,000 at-bats to qualify for the list. For Negro League players, the minimum is set at 1,800 at-bats, or 5,000 at-bats combining their Negro league, National League, and American League statistics. No active player currently appears in this list.
| Rank | Player | BA |
| 1 | Josh Gibson* | .371 |
| 2 | Ty Cobb* | .367 |
| 3 | Oscar Charleston* | .363 |
| 4 | Rogers Hornsby* | .358 |
| 5 | Jud Wilson* | .351 |
| 6 | Turkey Stearnes* | .349 |
| 7 | Ed Delahanty* | .346 |
| 8 | Tris Speaker* | .345 |
| 9 | Ted Williams* | .344 |
| 10 | Billy Hamilton* | .344 |
| 11 | Buck Leonard* | .344 |
| 12 | Dan Brouthers* | .342 |
| 13 | Babe Ruth* | .342 |
| 14 | Harry Heilmann* | .342 |
| 15 | Willie Keeler* | .341 |
| 16 | Bill Terry* | .341 |
| 17 | Lou Gehrig* | .340 |
| 18 | George Sisler* | .340 |
| 19 | Mule Suttles* | .340 |
| 20 | Nap Lajoie* | .339 |
| 21 | Jesse Burkett* | .338 |
| 22 | Tony Gwynn* | .338 |
| 23 | Bullet Rogan* | .337 |
| 24 | Cristóbal Torriente* | .335 |
| 25 | Ben Taylor* | .335 |
| Rank | Player | BA |
| 26 | Al Simmons* | .334 |
| 27 | Paul Waner* | .333 |
| 28 | Fats Jenkins | .333 |
| 29 | Eddie Collins* | .333 |
| 30 | Dick Lundy | .332 |
| 31 | Cap Anson* | .331 |
| 32 | Stan Musial* | .331 |
| 33 | Sam Thompson* | .331 |
| 34 | Heinie Manush* | .330 |
| 34 | Red Parnell | .330 |
| 36 | Honus Wagner* | .329 |
| 37 | Willie Wells* | .328 |
| 38 | Wade Boggs* | .328 |
| 39 | Rod Carew* | .328 |
| 40 | Hugh Duffy* | .325 |
| 41 | Biz Mackey* | .325 |
| 42 | Jimmie Foxx* | .325 |
| 43 | Cool Papa Bell* | .325 |
| 44 | Earle Combs* | .325 |
| 45 | Joe DiMaggio* | .325 |
| 46 | Babe Herman | .324 |
| 47 | Joe Medwick* | .324 |
| 48 | Hurley McNair | .323 |
| 49 | George Scales | .323 |
| 50 | Edd Roush* | .323 |
| Rank | Player | BA |
| 51 | Sam Rice* | .322 |
| 52 | Chaney White | .322 |
| 53 | Clarence Smith | .321 |
| 54 | Kiki Cuyler* | .321 |
| 55 | Charlie Gehringer* | .320 |
| 56 | Chuck Klein* | .320 |
| 57 | Pie Traynor* | .320 |
| 58 | Mickey Cochrane* | .320 |
| 59 | Kirby Puckett* | .318 |
| 60 | Earl Averill* | .318 |
| 61 | Vladimir Guerrero* | .318 |
| 62 | Arky Vaughan* | .318 |
| 63 | Roberto Clemente* | .317 |
| 64 | Joe Kelley* | .317 |
| 65 | Zack Wheat* | .317 |
| 66 | George Van Haltren | .317 |
| 67 | Roger Connor* | .317 |
| 68 | Lloyd Waner* | .316 |
| 69 | Todd Helton* | .316 |
| 70 | George Carr | .316 |
| 71 | Frankie Frisch* | .316 |
| 72 | Goose Goslin* | .316 |
| 73 | Hank Greenberg* | .313 |
| 74 | Jackie Robinson* | .313 |
| 75 | Jack Fournier | .313 |
| Rank | Player | BA |
| 76 | Elmer Flick* | .313 |
| 77 | Nomar Garciaparra | .313 |
| 78 | Larry Walker* | .313 |
| 79 | Bill Dickey* | .313 |
| 80 | Manny Ramirez | .312 |
| 81 | Johnny Mize* | .312 |
| 82 | Joe Sewell* | .312 |
| 83 | Fred Clarke* | .312 |
| 84 | Edgar Martínez* | .312 |
| 85 | Freddie Lindstrom* | .311 |
| 86 | Bing Miller | .311 |
| 87 | Baby Doll Jacobson | .311 |
| 88 | Ichiro Suzuki* | .311 |
| 89 | Ginger Beaumont | .311 |
| 90 | Mike Tiernan | .311 |
| 91 | Luke Appling* | .310 |
| 92 | Bobby Veach | .310 |
| 93 | Jim O'Rourke* | .310 |
| 94 | Jim Bottomley* | .310 |
| 95 | Derek Jeter* | .310 |
| 96 | Sam Crawford* | .309 |
| 97 | Bob Meusel | .309 |
| 98 | Magglio Ordóñez | .309 |
| 99 | Jack Tobin | .309 |
| 100 | Branch Russell | .308 |
Source: