Batting Average : 1998 American League Top 25

Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested:

"What people don't understand is, one day off for Cal Ripken would not recharge his batteries. One day would not do it. He's not playing 2,130 games in a row. Cal is ONLY playing 162 games a year." - Frank Robinson in The Sporting News (September 11, 1995)
 

1998 Batting Average Leaders

Top 25 in the American League

Bernie Williams .339 (.33868) New York Yankees 1
Mo Vaughn .337 (.33662) Boston Red Sox 2
Albert Belle .328 (.32841) Chicago White Sox 3
Eric Davis .327 (.32743) Baltimore Orioles 4
Derek Jeter .324 (.32428) New York Yankees 5
Nomar Garciaparra .323 (.32285) Boston Red Sox 6
Edgar Martinez .322 (.32194) Seattle Mariners 7
Ivan Rodriguez .321 (.32124) Texas Rangers 8
Tony Fernandez .321 (.32099) Toronto Blue Jays 9
Juan Gonzalez .318 (.31848) Texas Rangers 10
Paul O'Neill .317 (.31728) New York Yankees 11
Todd Walker .316 (.31629) Minnesota Twins 12
Jose Offerman .315 (.31466) Kansas City Royals 13
Alex Rodriguez .311 (.31050) Seattle Mariners 14
Hal Morris .309 (.30932) Kansas City Royals 15
Jim Edmonds .307 (.30718) Anaheim Angels 16
Rusty Greer .306 (.30602) Texas Rangers 17
Mike Caruso .306 (.30593) Chicago White Sox 18
Will Clark .305 (.30505) Texas Rangers 19
David Segui .305 (.30460) Seattle Mariners 20
Tim Salmon .300 (.30022) Anaheim Angels 21
Scott Brosius .300 (.30000) New York Yankees 22
Otis Nixon .297 (.29688) Minnesota Twins 23
Darin Erstad .296 (.29609) Anaheim Angels 24
Rafael Palmeiro .296 (.29564) Baltimore Orioles 25



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.

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).

Did you know that more than forty players have worn the number twenty-five for the Boston Red Sox — including Jack Clark, Denny Galehouse, Dizzy Trout and Tony Conigliaro.