Bases on Balls : 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 Bases on Balls Leaders

Top 25 in the American League

Rickey Henderson 118 Oakland Athletics 1
Frank Thomas 110 Chicago White Sox 2
Edgar Martinez 106 Seattle Mariners 3
Tim Salmon 90 Anaheim Angels 4
Mark McLemore 89 Texas Rangers 5
Jose Offerman 89 Kansas City Royals  
Jim Thome 89 Cleveland Indians  
Kenny Lofton 87 Cleveland Indians 8
Matt Lawton 86 Minnesota Twins 9
Ben Grieve 85 Oakland Athletics 10
Mike Stanley 82 Toronto Blue Jays 11
Boston Red Sox  
Albert Belle 81 Chicago White Sox 12
Jason Giambi 81 Oakland Athletics  
Rusty Greer 80 Texas Rangers 14
Fred McGriff 79 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 15
Rafael Palmeiro 79 Baltimore Orioles  
Robin Ventura 79 Chicago White Sox  
John Valentin 77 Boston Red Sox 18
Ken Griffey, Jr. 76 Seattle Mariners 19
David Justice 76 Cleveland Indians  
Chuck Knoblauch 76 New York Yankees  
Manny Ramirez 76 Cleveland Indians  
Brady Anderson 75 Baltimore Orioles 23
Chad Curtis 75 New York Yankees  
Bernie Williams 74 New York Yankees 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.

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.

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).