Babe Ruth Modelled His Swing After Shoeless Joe Jackson

Babe Ruth didn’t just knock home runs, he hit for average too you know.

In fact, Babe Ruth has the highest lifetime average of any Yankee ever.  He finished his career in pinstripes at a hot .349.

Today’s list checks out all 30 baseball franchises’ greatest hitters, in terms of highest lifetime average.

Now, some of these names will throw you for a loop.  For example, Bill Madlock is the Cubs‘ all time average leader (not Cap Anson); Jose Offerman tops all Royals (what? not George Brett?); and Jake Stenzel is the Pirates‘ all-time leader, not Paul Waner.

That’s due to the minimum statistical requirements… just 1,500 plate appearances. So, officially, these are the guys.

I’ve provided at-bats in the final column, because that is that stat used when calculating batting average (hits/at-bats).

You can see both the all-time franchise leader and current team leader for those teams who have different leaders for each. These cases are represented by the ellipsis (“…”).

Tomorrow: Home Runs.

Follow me on Twitter @VinGetz.

Photo: realclearsports.com