On Base Percentage : 1974 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:

"Maybe I missed my routine and my game so much that I was trying to rationalize reasons for getting it back. I wanted those 162 games. I wanted all the suspense of the playoff and home run races. And I honestly didn't believe baseball would bend far enough to allow the possibility of games in November. I was wrong. And baseball was right." - Paul White in USA Today Baseball Weekly (September 14, 2001)
 

1974 On Base Percentage Leaders

Top 25 in the National League

Joe Morgan .427 (.42656) Cincinnati Reds 1
Willie Stargell .407 (.40661) Pittsburgh Pirates 2
Bob Bailey .396 (.39641) Montreal Expos 3
Mike Schmidt .395 (.39531) Philadelphia Phillies 4
Greg Gross .393 (.39280) Houston Astros 5
Reggie Smith .389 (.38861) St. Louis Cardinals 6
Jimmy Wynn .387 (.38685) Los Angeles Dodgers 7
Richie Zisk .386 (.38576) Pittsburgh Pirates 8
Pete Rose .385 (.38492) Cincinnati Reds 9
Ken Singleton .385 (.38487) Montreal Expos 10
Ralph Garr .383 (.38305) Atlanta Braves 11
Darrell Evans .381 (.38102) Atlanta Braves 12
Willie Crawford .376 (.37616) Los Angeles Dodgers 13
Rick Monday .375 (.37520) Chicago Cubs 14
Bill Madlock .374 (.37352) Chicago Cubs 15
Ron Hunt .372 (.37200) Montreal Expos 16
St. Louis Cardinals  
Joe Torre .371 (.37110) St. Louis Cardinals 17
Bob Watson .370 (.36993) Houston Astros 18
Bake McBride .369 (.36935) St. Louis Cardinals 19
Gary Matthews .368 (.36792) San Francisco Giants 20
Lou Brock .368 (.36767) St. Louis Cardinals 21
Bobby Bonds .364 (.36418) San Francisco Giants 22
Johnny Bench .363 (.36299) Cincinnati Reds 23
Richie Hebner .363 (.36276) Pittsburgh Pirates 24
Jose Cardenal .359 (.35880) Chicago Cubs 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.

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?

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).