43. Stats: Batting Average (Career)

 Top 100 Career Leaders in Batting Average (as of 2011)

Required: 1,000 games and 1,000 at-bats.

Players still active are listed in italics.

1. Ty Cobb .366 ... 2. Rogers Hornsby .358 ... 3. Joe Jackson .356 ... 4. Pete Browning .349 ... 5. Ed Delahanty .346 ... 6.Tris Speaker .345 ... 7. Ted Williams .344 ... 8. Billy Hamilton .344 ... 9. Dan Brouthers .342 ... 10. Babe Ruth .342 ... 11. Harry Heilmann .342 ... 12. Willie Keeler .341 ... 13. Bill Terry .341 ... 14. George Sisler .340 ... 15. Lou Gehrig .340 ... 16. Jesse Burkett .338 ... 17. Tony Gwynn .337 ... 18. Nap Lajoie .338 ... 19. Riggs Stephenson .336 ... 20. Al Simmons .334 ... 21. John McGraw .334 ... 22. Tip O'Neill .334 ... 23. Paul Waner .333 ... 24. Eddie Collins .333 ... 25. Mike Donlin .333 ... 26. Cap Anson .331 ... 27. Stan Musial .331 ... 28. Sam Thompson .331 ... 29. Heinie Manush .330 ... 30. Albert Pujols .328 ... 31. Wade Boggs .328 ... 32.. Rod Carew .328 ... 33. Honus Wagner .327 ... 34. Ichiro Suzuki .326 ... 35. Bob Fothergill .325 ... 36. Jimmie Foxx .325 ... 37. Earle Combs .325 ... 38. Joe DiMaggio .325 ... 39. Babe Herman .324 ... 40. Hugh Duffy .325 ... 41. Joe Medwick .324 ... 42. Edd Roush .323 ... 43. Todd Helton .323 ... 44. Sam Rice .322 ... 45. Ross Youngs .322 ... 46. Kiki Cuyler .321 ... 47. Charlie Gehringer .320 ... 48. Chuck Klein .320 ... 96. Pie Traynor .320 ... 50. Mickey Cochrane .320

51. Ken Williams .319 ... 52. Kirby Puckett .318 ... 53. Denny Lyons .318 ... 54. Earl Averill .318 ... 55. Vladimir Guerrero .318 ... 56. Arky Vaughan .318 ... 57. Roberto Clemente ,317 ... 58. Chick Haley .317 ... 59. Joe Kelley .317 ...60. Miguel Cabrera .317 ... 61. Zach Wheat .317 ... 62. Roger Connor .317 ... 63. Lloyd Waner .316 ... 64. Frankie Frisch .316 ... 65. Goose Goslin .316 ... 66. George Van Haltrin .316 ... 67. Matt Holliday .315 ... 68. Bibb Falk .314 ... 69. Cecil Travis .314 ... 70. Hank Greenberg .313 ... 71. Jack Fournier .313 ... 72. Elmer Flick .313 ... 73. Derek Jeter .313 ... 74. Nomar Garciaparra .313 ... 75. Larry Walker .313 ... 76. Bill Dickey .313 ... 77. Dale Mitchell .312 ... 78. Manny Ramirez .312 ... 79. Johnny Mize .312 ... 80. Joe Sewell .312 ... 81. Elmer Smith .312 ... 82. Fred Clarke .312 ... 83. Barney McClosky .312 ... 84. Edgar Martinez .312 ... 85. Hughie Jennings .311 ... 86. Frankie Lindstrom .311 ... 87. Bing Miller .311 ... 88. Jackie Robinson .311 ... 89. Baby Doll Jacobson .311 ... 90. Taffy Wright .311 ... 91.Rip Radcliff .311 ... 92. Ginger Beaumont .311 ... 93. Mike Tiernan .311 ... 94. Luke Appling .310 ... 95. Irish Meusel .310 ... 96. Bobby Veach .310 ... 97. Henry Larkin .310 ... 98. Jim O'Rourke .310 ... 99. Jim Bottomley .310 ... 100. John Stone .310

Currently active players who have BA over .300...

Magglio Ordonez .309 (103)

Robinson Cano .308 (109)

Chipper Jones .304 (135)

Michael Young .304 (139)

Victor Martinez .303 (144)

Alex Rodriguez .302 (165)

Placido Polanco .301 (171)

David Wright .300 (178)

 

IMAGE: Ty Cobb and Joe Jackson

42. Cable TV Fills Baseball's Coffers

Two seismic transactions this winter from baseball's upper-middle-class -- the Los Angeles Angels' 10-year, $240 million contract with slugger Albert Pujols, and the Texas Rangers' $111 million-plus commitment to acquire Japanese pitching star Yu Darvish -- are indications the sport's revenue structure has been forever altered by a massive infusion of money from cable television deals.

New multibillion-dollar contracts from Fox Sports regional networks enabled the Rangers to break the Red Sox's record for money spent on a Japanese import and the Angels to make Pujols baseball's second-highest-paid player, behind the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez.

And with local television rights gaining value in an increasingly competitive media landscape, they are likely just the beginning of a wave of deals that will enrich many franchises but further isolate those at the bottom of the revenue spectrum.

"The local TV money has changed the entire landscape," says Ed Goren, vice chairman of Fox Sports media group. "There are a lot of other teams that can play with the big boys now and write big checks."

The Rangers were the first to hit pay dirt in August 2010. Their deal with Fox Sports Southwest. which includes equity in the network, escalator clauses and profit participation, is for 20 years and valued at $3 billion ....

The Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals could be the next to cash in, with deals that expire or have reopener clauses by 2015.

Even the San Diego Padres, playing in the 26th-largest market in baseball -- are poised to sign a deal with Fox Sports, pending MLB approval, that will guarantee them $75 million a year for 20 years.

Angels owner Arte Moreno, with the ink barely dry on his ballclub's new television deal, wasted no time signing Pujols and starting pitcher C. J. Wilson to deals totaling $317.5 million, eight years after Moreno paid $183.5 million for the franchise.

The Rangers, in bankruptcy 18 months ago, will have a franchise-record payroll of about $125 million this year, thanks to their Fox Sports Southwest deal.

Meanwhile, up the Santa Ana Freeway from the Angels, the Dodgers' franchise value has skyrocketed because of the team's anticipated TV deal.

Yet there's a fear that the new TV deals could create even greater separation between large- and small-market clubs. The Yankees had an average of 318,000 households watching their games on the YES network last year, according to the Nielsen ratings, while the Kansas City Royals averaged 32,000 households.

"It does have the potential to hurt competitive balance," said Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

The Dodgers might soon put the competitive-balance theory to the test with a deal that should dwarf their National League West competition. The Dodgers are expected to be sold by April 30 for the largest amount paid for a North American sports franchise -- at least 11 groups have submitted bids in excess of $1 billion -- largely because of a future TV deal that figures to exceed the franchise purchase price.

"Whatever you're going to pay for the Dodgers, you're going to get 2-1/2 times for those cable rights," Orange County-based agent Scott Boras said. "You can spend $1.5 billion now to get the team, but a month later you're to get $4 billion or $5 billion or more for the regional sports network. If you have the cash to get into this, the cherry on top is the major league team. The regional sports network is the sundae."

Long gone are the days when teams envied the Yankees receiving $50 million a year from Madison Square Garden Network. The Yankees now own about 30% of the YES Network, and the Red Sox own 80% of New England Sports Network -- two lucrative networks that are more valuable than the baseball franchises.

The trouble, MLB executives and club officials say, is trying to determine the actual value of the equity rights owned by teams. The Yankees say their TV rights are worth about $85 million to $90 million a year from YES, while the Red Sox insist their TV rights from NESN are worth less. The less money declared by the two giants, the less that goes into the revenue-sharing pool, which was about $400 million last year, Selig said.

Pittsburgh Pirates President Frank Connelly, former MLB senior vice president and general counsel: "If the significant increase in rights fees is not going into the revenue-sharing system, the system breaks down and these uneven TV deals have the potential to hurt the game."

It's not hard to imagine what direction those numbers will be trending. While there's great value in rights to sporting events, baseball might be king of them all, with a 162-game schedule filling the airwaves for at least three hours a day for six months, excluding pregame and postgame shows, at a time of year when original programming is at a premium.

an excerpt from...
"MLB Teams Cash In With Cable"
Bob Nightingale
USA Today Sports Weekly
February 22-28, 2012

41. Baseball Dictionary (American Baseball Congress - away)

American Baseball Congress

Headquartered in Battle Creek, MI, the ABC was founded in 1935 to support amateur baseball in the U.S. (It now has foreign affiliates.) It's seven divisions are named for major league players.

American Baseball Guild

A players' union organized by Boston attorney Robert Murphy in 1946 which gained some concessions -- including payment of spring training expenses, known as "Murphy money" -- before a failed strike that same year led to its dissolution. 
American League

One of the two current major leagues, the AL was founded in 1901 by former sportswriter Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson and initially consisted of teams in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Washington DC. As it has not been in existence as long as the National League, it is sometimes referred to as the "junior circuit." There are several differences between the two leagues; the best known current difference is the existence of a designated hitter (adopted in 1973) in the AL. The AL presently consists of fourteen teams in three divisions: The East (Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Toronto Blue Jays), the Central (Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins), and the West (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland A's, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers).

American Legion Baseball

Founded in 1926, this American Legion-sponsored program for 15-18 year-olds concludes with an annual eight-team World Series tournament.

antitrust exemption

The 1922 Supreme Court decision that exempted baseball from the antitrust laws -- an exemption not enjoyed by other professional sports. The Curt Flood Act (1998) revoked portions of the exemption pertaining particularly to labor relations.

ant killer

A grounder hit so hard that it would kill insects in its path. First used: Chicago Inter-Ocean, July 7, 1874.

Aparicio double

A walk and a stolen base. A sequence of events that seemed relatively common when shortstop Aparicio came up to bat. First used: New York Times, Sept. 27, 1959.

APBA

Popular baseball board game created in 1931 by J. Richard Seitz that is now available as a computer game. The name is derived from the original American Professional Baseball Association.

appeal

(1) When the catcher or pitcher request that the home plate umpire consult the first-base or third-base umpire to determine whether the batter swung (or "offered") at a pitch, in which case a strike would be registered; (2) when a player for has been subjected to disciplinary action asks to plead his case to the commissioner's office.

appeal play

A play that must be made in conjunction with an appeal, and prior to the delivery of the next pitch. "If a baserunner neglects to touch a base when running, it is the responsibility of the defensive team, not the umpire, to claim the violation. Tio make an appeal play in a dead-ball situation, the pitcher must first put the ball back in play by stepping on the pitching rubber, then stepping off the rubber and throwing the ball to a teammate who tags the base in question. At this point the umpire decides if the runner is safe and out." -- Dickson Baseball Dictionary. The same process takes effect if the defensive team believes a baserunner left a base too early.

appearance

To take part in a baseball game.

appearance clause

A clause in a pitcher's contract that awards him a bonus if he appears in a certain number of games.

arbitration

A procedure in place since 1974, in which a player can request the intervention of an independent labor arbitrator if he and his team cannot reach agreement on a new contract. The arbitrator determines whether that player is being fairly paid and, if not, can set a salary based on comparability to other players. The judgment is binding and final. The player making the request must have less than six years seniority and more than two years (as of 1986). Free agents are ineligible for arbitration.

Arby's RBI Award

An award given every year since 1986 to the hitter in each league with the most RBIs. For each run batted in, $1000 is donated to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. The award given to the player is called the Hank Aaron Trophy. The prize is coproduced by the Arby's fast-food chain and MLB.

Arizona Fall League

An instructional league that plays during the autumn months.

arm

(1) A player's throwing or pitching ability. (2) A term used for a pitcher, or for a fielder who has the ability to throw long and accurately. First used: New York Sunday Mercury, 1963.

arms

A team's pitching staff.

around the horn

(1) A double play that goes from third base to second to first. (2) Throwing the ball around the infield for practice or show before a game or between innings. According to Casey Stengel, infielders were throwing 'round the horn as early as 1912.

arson squad

A bullpen notorious for routinely allowing the opposition to score. In contrast to a bullpen of "firemen" who can be counted on to put out the other team's offensive "fire."

ash

Baseball bat. Most bats used in the MLB are made of northern white ask (Fraxinus americana), which is found in Pennsylvania, Canada, and New York's Adirondack Mountains. First used: Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, July 17, 1872.

aspirin

A pitch thrown so fast that the ball appears to be smaller than it really is.

assist

A throw from one fielder to another that puts out a batter or baserunner.

Association of Professional Baseball Players of America

Non-profit organization that lends a helping hand to ill, handicapped or impoverished former players.

at-bat

Any time the batter gets a hit, makes an out, or reaches base on an error or fielder's choice. A batter makes a plate appearance but is not credited with an at-bat if he is walked, hit by a pitch, completes a sacrifice, or reaches base on a catcher's interference. First used: New York Sunday Mercury, August 10, 1861.

attack point

A point given for every total base and steal by a team in the Japanese Central League. The final tally is used to determine the victor if the game ends in a tie.

attempt

The act of trying to steal a base.

authority

To swing the bat/hit the ball with power and purpose.

automatic out

A batter who rarely hits or walks. Some pitchers are considered automatic outs.

average

A class of baseball statistics that includes batting average, earned run average and slugging average.

away

(1) Used to describe a game played in another team's ballpark (as opposed to a "home" game). A visiting team is, therefore, the "away" team. (2) A pitch thrown out of the strike zone on the side of the plate opposite where the batter stands.