MLB: Babe Ruth and the 20 Greatest Sluggers of All Time

So, what exactly is slugging average or percentage? It’s a hitter’s total bases (1 for a single + 2 for a double + 3 for a triple + 4 for a home run) divided by his at-bats. The calculation is similar to the one used for batting average (Hits/AB). Neither include walks, hit by pitches, reached on errors, fielder’s choices, sacrifices, or any other collateral way you can think of to reach base.

But slugging takes into account the type of hit, and does provide a satisfactory measure of a true “slugger” – mostly a batter who hits a higher proportion of doubles and homers. Triples are rarer in the game, and the hitters who hit the most often aren’t the big home run hitters, so it all balances out.

And it’s the legend himself, bigger than the myth, Babe Ruth, who owns the highest career slugging percentage of all time.

This is a list of monsters. Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig rank one, two, three. Jimmie Foxx, Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds and Hank Greenberg join them as the only players to slug a lifetime over .600.

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