Relative Batting Averages

This article was selected for inclusion in SABR 50 at 50: The Society for American Baseball Research’s Fifty Most Essential Contributions to the Game.

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Who has the highest single season batting average in major league history? The modem fan would probably say that Rogers Hornsby’s .424 in 1924 is the highest. Old timers would point out that Hugh Duffy hit .438 in 1894. But the correct answer is Ty Cobb with .385 in 1910.

How can .385 be higher than .438? The answer is when it is compared to the average of the entire league for the year in question. This is the only way performances from different seasons and leagues can be compared. Thus a hitter’s relative batting average, which is the true measure of his ability to hit safely, is computed as follows:

As a further refinement (since it is unfair to compare a player to himself) the player’s own hits and ABs can be subtracted from the league totals, thus giving an average relative to the remainder of the league.

As an example, compare Bill Terry’s National League leading .401 in 1930 to Carl Yastrzemski’s American League leading .301 in 1968. At first glance the 100-point difference would make it appear that Yastrzemski’s average should not be mentioned in the same breath as Terry’s. But look at the calculations of relative averages:

 

 

The relative averages are almost identical, meaning that had the two performances occurred in the same season, the batting averages would have been within a few points of each other. The big difference, of course, is that in 1930 the National League had a combined average of .303, the highest of any major league in this century (and two points higher than Yastrzemski’s 1968 average), whereas in 1968 the American League had a combined average of .230, the lowest for any major league ever. (A relative average of 1.30 indicates that a player’s batting average was 30% higher than the remainder of his league.)

The following two graphs show league averages since 1900. It can be seen that the 1 920s and 30s, following the introduction of the lively ball, were fat times for hitters. Both leagues reached their recent lows in 1968, the “Year of the Pitcher.” Note that for the last three seasons the American League’s Designated Hitter rule has artificially raised the league’s average and thus lowered individual relative averages.

 

 

The table below shows the highest single season relative averages since 1900. The list is clearly dominated by Ty Cobb, who has 10 of the top 19 averages, including the highest of all: 1.594 in 1910. Interestingly, the second highest relative average is Nap Lajoie’s 1.592, also in 1910. That epic batting race, enlivened by the offer of a new car to the winner, resulted in a major scandal, the awarding of two automobiles, and incidentally the two highest relative averages of all time. Rogers Hornsby’s .424 produced the highest National League mark of 1.51, but this ranks only 14th on the list. (Duffy’s .438 reduces to a relative average of about 1 .42.) Note that five of this century’s .400 averages do not qualify for this list.

 

Single Season Relative Average Greater Than 1.45

							Lea.	Rel.
Rank	Player	Year	League	AB	Hits	Avg.	Avg.	Avg.
1	Ty Cobb	1910	Amer.	509	196	0.385	0.242	1.594
2	Nap Lajoie	1910	Amer.	591	227	0.384	0.241	1.592
3	Nap Lajoie	1904	Amer.	554	211	0.381	0.243	1.570
4	Tris Speaker	1916	Amer.	546	211	0.386	0.247	1.570
5	Ty Cobb	1912	Amer.	553	227	0.410	0.263	1.560
6	Ty Cobb	1909	Amer.	573	216	0.377	0.242	1.560
7	Ty Cobb	1917	Amer.	588	225	0.383	0.246	1.560
8	Ty Cobb	1911	Amer.	591	248	0.420	0.271	1.550
9	Nap Lajoie	1901	Amer.	543	229	0.422	0.275	1.530
10	Ty Cobb	1913	Amer.	428	167	0.390	0.254	1.530
11	Ted Williams	1941	Amer.	456	185	0.406	0.265	1.530
12	Ted Williams	1957	Amer.	420	163	0.388	0.254	1.530
13	Ty Cobb	1918	Amer.	421	161	0.382	0.252	1.520
14	Rogers Hornsby	1924	Nat.	536	227	0.424	0.281	1.510
15	Joe Jackson	1911	Amer.	571	233	0.408	0.271	1.510
16	Joe Jackson	1912	Amer.	572	226	0.395	0.263	1.500
17	Ty Cobb	1916	Amer.	542	201	0.371	0.247	1.500
18	Ty Cobb	1915	Amer.	563	208	0.369	0.247	1.500
19	Ty Cobb	1914	Amer.	345	127	0.368	0.246	1.490
20	Honus Wagner	1908	Nat.	568	201	0.354	0.237	1.490
21	Cy Seymour	1905	Nat.	581	219	0.377	0.253	1.490
22	George Sisler	1922	Amer.	586	246	0.420	0.283	1.490
23	Joe Jackson	1913	Amer.	528	197	0.373	0.254	1.470
24	Tris Speaker	1912	Amer.	580	222	0.383	0.263	1.450
25	Stan Musial	1948	Nat.	611	230	0.376	0.259	1.450
26	George Stone	1906	Amer.	581	208	0.358	0.247	1.450
27	Joe Torre	1971	Nat.	634	230	0.363	0.251	1.450
28	George Sisler	1920	Amer.	631	257	0.407	0.282	1.450
29	Honus Wagner	1907	Nat.	515	180	0.350	0.242	1.450

 

With the modem preoccupation with home runs, high relative averages (not to mention high absolute averages) have become rare. The only relative average over 1.45 in recent years is Joe Torre’s 1971 mark. For a look at other recent high marks, the next table shows the highest relative averages of the last 20 years. It is interesting to note that Rod Carew’s 1974 and 1975 marks would probably be well over 1.45 except for the Designated Hitter rule in the American League.

The final table shows the all-time leaders in career relative average. Not surprisingly, Ty Cobb tops the list with an average that is just a few hits short of 1 .40. Close behind Cobb is Shoeless Joe Jackson, though the closeness of their averages is deceptive. Jackson’s career was abruptly terminated while he was still a star performer, and therefore he did not have the usual declining years at the end of his career that would have lowered his average. During the years that Jackson averaged 1.38, Cobb was averaging a fantastic 1.50.

It can be seen that despite the preponderance of pre-1920 hitters in the single season leaders, the career list contains players from all periods since 1900, including four who are active. Rod Carew, who in 1975 moved past Ted Williams into third place, seems destined to be one of the all-time leaders in relative average. Whether all four active players will finish their careers among the leaders is an open question, but at least they show that hitting for high average is not altogether a lost art.

 

Highest Single Season Relative Averages During Last 20 Years (1956-1975) 

							Lea.	Rel.
Rank	Player	Year	League	AB	Hits	Avg.	Avg.	Avg.
1	Ted Williams	1957	Amer.	420	163	.3S8	0.254	1.530
2	Joe Torre	1971	Nat.	634	230	0.363	0.251	1.450
3	Roberto Clemente	1967	Nat.	585	209	0.357	0.248	1.440
4	Mickey Mantle	1957	Amer.	474	173	0.365	0.254	1.440
5	Rico Carty	1970	Nat.	478	175	0.366	0.257	1.420
6	Norm Cash	1961	Amer.	535	193	0.361	0.255	1.420
7	Rod Carew	1974	Amer.	599	218	0.364	.257*	1.410
8	Harvey Kuenn	1959	Amer.	561	198	0.353	0.252	1.400
9	Rod Carew	1975	Amer.	535	192	0.359	.257*	1.400
10	Pete Rose	1969	Nat.	627	218	0.348	0.249	1.390
11	Carl Yastrzemski	1967	Amer.	579	189	0.326	0.235	1.390
12	Ralph Garr	1974	Nat.	606	214	0.353	0.254	1.390
13	Pete Rose	1968	Nat.	626	210	0.335	0.242	1.390
14	Roberto Clemente	1969	Nat.	507	175	0.345	0.250	1.380
15	Bill Madlock	1975	Nat.	514	182	0.354	0.256	1.380
16	Hank Aaron	1959	Nat.	629	223	0.355	0.259	1.370
17	Matty Alou	1968	Nat.	558	185	0.332	0.242	1.370
18	Tony Oliva	1971	Amer.	487	164	0.337	0.246	1.370
19	Roberto Clemente	1970	Nat.	412	145	0.352	0.257	1.370
20	Ralph Garr	1971	Nat.	639	219	0.343	0.251	1.370

*Designated Hitter rule in effect

 

Lifetime Relative Average Greater Than 1.20 (Over 4000 ABs)

						Lea.	Rel.
Rank	Player	Years	AB	Hits	Avg.	Avg.	Avg.
1	Ty Cobb	1905-1928	11429	4191	0.367	0.263	1.390
2	Joe Jackson	1908-1920	4981	1774	0.356	0.258	1.380
3	Rod Carew	1967-1975*	4450	1458	0.328	0.247	1.330
4	Ted Williams	1939-1960	7706	2654	0.344	0.261	1.320
5	Nap Lajoie	1896-1916	9589	3251	0.339	0.258	1.310
6	Rogers Hornsby	1915-1937	8173	2930	0.358	0.275	1.300
7	Tris Speaker	1907-1928	10208	3515	0.344	0.266	1.290
8	Stan Musial	1941-1963	10972	3630	0.331	0.258	1.280
9	Honus Wagner	1897-1917	10427	3430	0.329	0.258	1.280
10	Eddie Collins	1906-1930	9949	3311	0.333	0.265	1.260
11	Rob.Clemente	1955-1972	9454	3000	0.317	0.254	1.250
12	Tony Oliva	1962-1975*	6178	1891	0.306	0.246	1.240
13	Pete Rose	1963-1975*	8221	2547	0.310	0.251	1.230
14	Harry Heilmann	1914-1932	7787	2660	0.342	0.278	1.230
15	Sam Crawford	1899-1917	9579	2964	0.309	0.252	1.230
16	George Sisler	1915-1930	8267	2812	0.340	0.278	1.230
17	Babe Ruth	1914-1935	8399	2873	0.342	0.279	1.230
18	Matty Alou	1960- 1974	5789	1777	0.307	0.252	1.220
19	Joe Medwick	1932-1948	7635	2471	0.324	0.266	1.210
20	Paul Waner	1926- 1944	9459	3152	0.333	0.275	1.210
21	Lou Gehrig	1923-1939	8001	2721	0.340	0.281	1.210
22	Bill Terry	1923-1936	6428	2193	0.341	0.282	1.210
23	Joe DiMaggio	1936-1951	6821	2214	0.325	0.269	1.210
24	Hank Aaron	1954-1975*	12093	3709	0.307	0.254	1.210
25	Jackie Robinson	1947- 1956	4877	1518	0.311	0.260	1.200

*Active player