1971 Batting Average Leaders Top 25 in the American League
Name	Batting Average	Team	Rank
Tony Oliva	.337 (.33676)	Minnesota Twins	1
Bobby Murcer	.331 (.33081)	New York Yankees	2
Merv Rettenmund	.318 (.31772)	Baltimore Orioles	3
Cesar Tovar	.311 (.31050)	Minnesota Twins	4
Rod Carew	.307 (.30676)	Minnesota Twins	5
Amos Otis	.301 (.30090)	Kansas City Royals	6
Carlos May	.294 (.29400)	Chicago White Sox	7
Al Kaline	.294 (.29383)	Detroit Tigers	8
Roy White	.292 (.29198)	New York Yankees	9
Don Buford	.290 (.28953)	Baltimore Orioles	10
Willie Horton	.289 (.28889)	Detroit Tigers	11
Ted Uhlaender	.288 (.28800)	Cleveland Indians	12
Felipe Alou	.288 (.28785)	Oakland Athletics	13
		New York Yankees
Norm Cash	.283 (.28319)	Detroit Tigers	14
Reggie Smith	.283 (.28317)	Boston Red Sox	15
Davey Johnson	.282 (.28235)	Baltimore Orioles	16
Frank Robinson	.281 (.28132)	Baltimore Orioles	17
Don Mincher	.280 (.27952)	Oakland Athletics	18
		Washington Senators
Frank Howard	.279 (.27869)	Washington Senators	19
Rick Reichardt	.278 (.27823)	Chicago White Sox	20
Dave May	.277 (.27745)	Milwaukee Brewers	21
Bill Freehan	.277 (.27713)	Detroit Tigers	22
Reggie Jackson	.277 (.27690)	Oakland Athletics	23
Ray Fosse	.276 (.27572)	Cleveland Indians	24
Paul Schaal	.274 (.27372)	Kansas City Royals	25
Name	Batting Average	Team	Rank

	Jim Thome wore number twenty-five since he first came up with the Cleveland Indians making him the franchise record holder for that particular number (Mike Garcia is second). Future Hall of Famer Sammy Sosa is best known for wearing number twenty-one; however, when the young slugger played for the Chicago White Sox (1989-1991) he only wore number twenty-five. Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number.