The Washington herald., 1910-11-14
THE GREATEST OF ALL BATTERS
AS TOLD BY OFFICIAL RECORDS
BY GEORGE R. DEWITT Editor Who's Who n Baseball"
Copyright by National Weekly


A man who systematically sets out to
study from the records the career of
every man that ever played in major
leagues in the long history of the game
comes IN time To shake Off all the Per-
sonal prejudice. affection, local pride. or
preference for one player over another
that waTps and biases his judgment
when he faces the task of giving an an
swer to this vital question. Such man,
when he is asked to give his opinion as
TO whom he thinks Is entitled to this
honor. soon learns TO come back at his
questioner with what do you mean
by the greatest batter"
Highest Record Ever Made.
II the questoner is satisfied with The
man who made the highest batting rec
ord ever awarded. the answer is easy.
That was James Z. O'Neil known as
Tip" ONeil. who was given a record
Of .492 in 1887. when he played left field
for the ST. Louis American Association,
then in major league ball A Canadian
by birth. and, indeed. now living in Mon
treal Tip" started In as a pitcher, but
his arm gave out, and Comiskey sent
him to the outfield. For six years O'Neil
batted over 800 leading the association
IN 1857 and 1858. and standing fourth IN
1889 with 1897. Although James E. O'Neil
was awarded the proud honor of the
highest batting recOfd that has ever
been given, perfect candOr and fair and
impartial estimate OF the relative merits
or the greatest batters compel one 20
say that O'Nen owes that high position
more 10 the "fooI' rules OF 1887 than he
does TO his batting ability, pure and
simple.
The Freak Batting Year of 1887.
That year. 1881, was the big freak bat
ting year in all the history of baseball
Some one-history does not record whom
conceived the idea OF improving" the
game by erediting every batter taking his
base on balls with a base hit, and MAX
ing four strikes out instead of three. To
get at the right measure or O'Neus bat
ting record for comparison with those Of
batters in other years. il would be neces-
sary TO take of all his bases on balls
and all the hits that he made after the
third strike. That is the only fair basis
for comparison with other years, and
when that is done. II is a matter Of
grave doubt whether O'Neil's 1872 of 1887
stands for better batting than does the
next high record of .453 made by Ross
Barnes in 1873, or even Hughie Duffy s
record of .l3S made in 1S94-the record for
the National League. No one can con-
ceive tho disastrous results upon the bat
ting averages that followed upon the
adoption Of what. doubtless. seemed at
the beginning of the year TO be harm
less and helpful changes. But what hap
pened upon their incorporation into the
rules goes to show how delicately ad-
justed a game of baseball is and justifies
the caution and conservatism that have
been most marked on the part of officials
when any changes in the rules have since
been suggested AS the effects Of these
rules will follow all through the dis
cussiOn. IL is desirable 20 dispose of them
once for all and clear the way for fur
ther consideration.
Times 300 Has Been Batted.
Among the 1900 men who have played
in major leagues since 1871. only $50 OF
them have ever batted over 800, and the
total number of individual times that 800
or better has been batted in major leagues
IN that time is Less. Further Of all this
vast number only % men have ever batted
over 400 To show just what 1887 did, il
is found that l2S men batted over 800 In
that year, and II Of the p over 400 did II
IN 1857. Such condition almost justities
the student OF comparative batting in
ignoring all records of that year They
show the relative standing OF batters for
that season. but are practically worthless
for comparison with the records Of bat
ters in any other years.
Batted Over 300 Oftenest.
To the questioner who viii be satisfied
that the best batter is the man who has
batted over 300 the greatest number of
times in his life, the answer is equally
easy. The honor in that mans eyes be-
longs to Adrian Constantine Arson. who
did 1t for twenty years, and in the two
years in which he did not get there he
was within very few points of IT,
Inasmuch as Arson began his heavy
batting in the earliest days Of the game
and kept it up until 1897, the last year
that he batted more than 800. he stands
out as the one big batter who has faced
all styles OF pitching, both the old and
the new, and his record is often used as
a retaliation of the argument that the old
batters did so we'll because the pitching
was so easy
Next 10 Arson in point of long service
high batting comes Danny Brouthers,
who made that mark for fifteen years,
fourteen Of which were consecutive.
James O'Rourke, James Ryan. Jake
Beckley, Jesse Burkett. Willie Keller.
and Honus Wagner reached 1t for thlr-
teen years EACH Roger ConnOr, George
JOie did IL twelve years each; Hughie
Duffy Ed Delehanty. and Joe Kelly
eleven times each: Pete Browning. p ].
Donovan. and Fred Clarke ten times;
G. s Davis, McGraw, Paul Hines,
George Gore, Buck Ewing. and Sam
Thompson for nine times each.
These are only the major league rec
ords of these players. for men Ike Jim
ORourke and Jesse Burkett have hit il
often in their minor league experience,
as have George Van Haltren and "Old
Eagle Eye Jake Beckley. who may be
expected TO do It again next year with
Topeka.
Highest General Batting Average.
To the questioner who, IN the face OF
all the unevenness Of years. prefers to
let the honor go 10 the highest general
batting average. the records have to say
that the greatest batter was Ed. Dele
hanty. who, in the twelve years that he
played In major leagues, from 1892 until
1903, made the wonderful average of .s6Z
LaJoie's fine record for sixteen years OF
about 1861 comes close 10 this, and would
have been nearer still had he not fallen
below his 300 mark in 1907 and 1908, when
he made .299 and .2S9. respectively, while
performing the arduous work of manager
as Well as player.
II was on this account that he asked
20 Ia rnIi,r-nI % a.. -...... --...-1t L. -.