Batting Average : 2002 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:

"The baseball season - six months & 2,106 games - is flat out long, and it's a rare one of those games that doesn't ramble or sputter or digress or somehow violate the rules of dramatic narrative. Baseball takes its own sweet time reaching its conclusions." - Dwight Allen in Reds, Yanks and O's (1989)
 

2002 Batting Average Leaders

Top 25 in the American League

Manny Ramirez .349 (.34862) Boston Red Sox 1
Mike Sweeney .340 (.33970) Kansas City Royals 2
Bernie Williams .333 (.33333) New York Yankees 3
Ichiro Suzuki .321 (.32148) Seattle Mariners 4
Magglio Ordonez .320 (.32034) Chicago White Sox 5
Jason Giambi .314 (.31429) New York Yankees 6
Adam Kennedy .312 (.31224) Anaheim Angels 7
Nomar Garciaparra .310 (.31024) Boston Red Sox 8
Miguel Tejada .308 (.30816) Oakland Athletics 9
Garret Anderson .306 (.30564) Anaheim Angels 10
Jim Thome .304 (.30417) Cleveland Indians 11
Paul Konerko .304 (.30351) Chicago White Sox 12
Shannon Stewart .303 (.30329) Toronto Blue Jays 13
Ellis Burks .301 (.30116) Cleveland Indians 14
Randall Simon .301 (.30083) Detroit Tigers 15
Alfonso Soriano .300 (.30029) New York Yankees 16
John Olerud .300 (.30018) Seattle Mariners 17
Jacque Jones .300 (.29983) Minnesota Twins 18
Alex Rodriguez .300 (.29968) Texas Rangers 19
Randy Winn .298 (.29819) Tampa Bay Devil Rays 20
Derek Jeter .297 (.29658) New York Yankees 21
Raul Ibanez .294 (.29376) Kansas City Royals 22
Shea Hillenbrand .293 (.29338) Boston Red Sox 23
David Eckstein .293 (.29276) Anaheim Angels 24
Ray Durham .289 (.28901) Chicago White Sox 25
Oakland Athletics  



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.

The most recognizable Detroit Tiger to wear the number twenty-five was probably Norm Cash (who wore it from 1960 through 1974), but did you know that Hall of Famer Larry Doby also wore it during his single season with Detroit?

The first player from the Angels franchise (they were the California Angels at the time) to wear the number twenty-five was Bob Perry.