Batting Average : 1998 National 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 guys who made up this schedule must have been in a room with a bottle of Wild Turkey and 40 straws." - Dave Bergman
 

1998 Batting Average Leaders

Top 25 in the National League

Larry Walker .363 (.36344) Colorado Rockies 1
John Olerud .354 (.35368) New York Mets 2
Dante Bichette .331 (.33082) Colorado Rockies 3
Mike Piazza .328 (.32799) Los Angeles Dodgers 4
Florida Marlins  
New York Mets  
Jason Kendall .327 (.32710) Pittsburgh Pirates 5
Craig Biggio .325 (.32508) Houston Astros 6
Vladimir Guerrero .324 (.32424) Montreal Expos 7
Jeff Cirillo .321 (.32119) Milwaukee Brewers 8
Tony Gwynn .321 (.32104) San Diego Padres 9
Vinny Castilla .319 (.31938) Colorado Rockies 10
Brian Jordan .316 (.31560) St. Louis Cardinals 11
Todd Helton .315 (.31509) Colorado Rockies 12
Derek Bell .314 (.31429) Houston Astros 13
Chipper Jones .313 (.31281) Atlanta Braves 14
Bobby Abreu .312 (.31187) Philadelphia Phillies 15
Moises Alou .312 (.31164) Houston Astros 16
Fernando Vina .311 (.31083) Milwaukee Brewers 17
Dmitri Young .310 (.30970) Cincinnati Reds 18
Mark Grace .309 (.30924) Chicago Cubs 19
Barry Larkin .309 (.30855) Cincinnati Reds 20
Darryl Hamilton .308 (.30838) San Francisco Giants 21
Colorado Rockies  
Sammy Sosa .308 (.30793) Chicago Cubs 22
Andres Galarraga .305 (.30450) Atlanta Braves 23
Jeff Bagwell .304 (.30370) Houston Astros 24
Barry Bonds .303 (.30254) San Francisco Giants 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).

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?