List of Major League Baseball players with a .400 on-base percentage
Encyclopedia
In baseball statistics
Baseball statistics
Statistics play an important role in summarizing baseball performance and evaluating players in the sport.Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and statistics...

, on-base percentage (OBP) is a measure of how often a batter
Batting (baseball)
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher...

 reaches base for any reason other than a fielding error
Error (baseball)
In baseball statistics, an error is the act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance would have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.The term ...

, fielder's choice
Fielder's choice
In baseball, fielder's choice is a term used to refer to a variety of plays involving an offensive player reaching a base due to the defense's attempt to put out another baserunner, or the defensive team's indifference to his advance...

, dropped or uncaught third strike, fielder's obstruction
Obstruction (baseball)
In baseball, when a fielder illegally hinders a baserunner, the fielder is guilty of obstruction.Baserunners are generally permitted the free privilege to run from base to base without being physically blocked or hindered by a fielder...

, or catcher's interference. OBP is calculated in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 (MLB) by dividing the sum of hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....

, walks
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...

, and times hit by a pitch
Hit by pitch
In baseball, hit by pitch , or hit batsman , is a batter or his equipment being hit in some part of his body by a pitch from the pitcher.-Official rule:...

 by the sum of at-bats, walks, times hit by pitch and sacrifice flies
Sacrifice fly
In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:* There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.* The ball is hit to the outfield....

. A hitter with a .400 on-base percentage is considered to be great and rare; only 61 players in MLB history with at least 3,000 career plate appearances (PA) have maintained such an OBP. Left fielder Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...

, who played 19 seasons for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

, has the highest career on-base percentage, .4817, in MLB history. Williams led the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...

 (AL) in on-base percentage in twelve seasons, the most such seasons for any player in the major leagues. Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds
Barry Lamar Bonds is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Bonds played from 1986 to 2007, for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants. He is the son of former major league All-Star Bobby Bonds...

 led the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...

 (NL) in ten seasons, a NL record. Williams also posted the then-highest single-season on-base percentage of .5528 in 1941, a record that stood for 61 years until Bonds broke it with a .5817 OBP in 2002. Bonds broke his own record in 2004, setting the current single-season mark of .6094.

Todd Helton
Todd Helton
Todd Lynn Helton is a Major League Baseball first baseman for the Colorado Rockies. He is a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, four-time National League Player of the Month, and three-time Gold Glove winner....

 and Albert Pujols
Albert Pujols
José Alberto Pujols Alcántara , better known as Albert Pujols , is a Dominican-American professional baseball player, who is currently a free agent...

 are the current active MLB leaders in OBP, with career marks of .4213 and .4205 respectively. Mickey Cochrane
Mickey Cochrane
Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane was a professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detroit Tigers...

 and Joe Mauer
Joe Mauer
Joseph Patrick Mauer is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Minnesota Twins. He is the only catcher in Major League history to win three batting titles...

 are the only catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

s and Arky Vaughan
Arky Vaughan
Joseph Floyd "Arky" Vaughan was a professional baseball player. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1932 and 1948 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers, primarily a shortstop...

 is the only shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...

 to reach this mark. Of the 42 players eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame with a career on-base percentage of .400 or higher, 26 have been elected. Players are eligible for the Hall of Fame if they have played at least 10 major league seasons, have been either retired for five seasons or deceased for six months, and have not been banned from MLB. These requirements leave 13 living players ineligible who have played in the past 5 seasons; 5 players (Bill Joyce
Bill Joyce
Bill Joyce was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward.Joyce started his career at Greenock Morton before moving to England and Bolton Wanderers in 1894, where he suffered a broken leg in 1896....

, Ferris Fain
Ferris Fain
Ferris Roy Fain was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball who played for nine seasons in the American League with the Philadelphia Athletics, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians...

, George Selkirk
George Selkirk
George Alexander Selkirk was a Canadian outfielder and front office executive in Major League Baseball. In 1935, Selkirk succeeded the legendary Babe Ruth as the right fielder of the New York Yankees...

, Jake Stenzel
Jake Stenzel
Jacob Charles Stenzel was a center fielder in Major League Baseball from 1890 to 1899. He played for the Chicago Colts, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, St. Louis Browns/Perfectos, and Cincinnati Reds. Stenzel was tall and weighed .-Early career:Stenzel was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1867...

, and Bill Lange
Bill Lange
William Alexander "Bill" Lange , also known as "Little Eva", was an American Major League Baseball center fielder, who played his entire seven year career for the Chicago Colts and Orphans from to...

) who did not play 10 seasons in MLB; and Shoeless Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Joseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century...

, who was banned for his role in the Black Sox scandal
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...

.

Keys

Player Name of the player
OBP Career on-base percentage
PA Career plate appearances
Position
Baseball positions
There are 9 fielding positions in baseball. Each position conventionally has an associated number which is used to score putouts...

Position that player played in the field
Years active The seasons this player played in the major leagues
League leads Number of times the player led their league in OBP
Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...

* Denotes player who is still active

Position
Baseball positions
There are 9 fielding positions in baseball. Each position conventionally has an associated number which is used to score putouts...

C Catcher
Catcher
Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

1B First baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...

2B Second baseman
Second baseman
Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...

3B Third baseman
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...

SS Shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...

LF Left fielder
Left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...

CF Center fielder
Center fielder
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field...

RF Right fielder
Right fielder
A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...

P Pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...

DH Designated hitter
Designated hitter
In baseball, the designated hitter rule is the common name for Major League Baseball Rule 6.10, an official position adopted by the American League in 1973 that allows teams to designate a player, known as the designated hitter , to bat in place of the pitcher each time he would otherwise come to...


Players

Statistics updated through September 28, 2011. Minimum of 3,000 plate appearances.
Player OBP PA Position Years active League leads Ref
.4817 9,791 LF 1939–1942
1946–1960
12
.4740 10,616 RF/P 1914-1935 10
.4657 4,926 3B/SS 1891–1906 3
.4552 7,584 CF 1888–1901 5
.4474 9,660 1B 1923–1939 5
.4443 12,606 LF 1986–2007 10
.4349 4,149 3B/1B 1890–1892
1894–1898
0
.4337 9475 2B 1915–1937 9
.4330 13,072 CF 1905–1928 7
.4283 9,670 1B 1925–1942
1944–1945
3
.4280 11,988 CF 1907–1928 4
.4244 12,037 2B 1906–1930 0
.4241 4,904 1B 1947–1955 1
.4233 7,658 1B 1879–1896
1904
5
.4227 5,776 2B 1924–1935 0
.4227 5,690 LF 1908–1920 1
* .4213 8,725 1B 1997– 2
.4205 9,909 CF 1951–1968 3
* .4205 7,433 1B 2001– 1
.4192 6,206 C 1925–1937 1
.4191 10,074 DH/1B 1990–2008 4
.4178 8,672 DH/3B 1987–2004 3
.4167 12,712 LF/1B 1941–1944
1946–1963
6
.4158 6,758 2B 1888
1890–1901
1
.4151 9,605 LF 1890–1905 1
.4150 10,740 3B 1982–1999 6
.4140 11,337 RF 1926–1947 4
.4135 6,575 CF 1899–1911 2
.4133 3,659 LF 1919–1920
1922–1923
1928–1934
1
.4118 6,096 1B 1930
1933–1941
1945–1947
0
.4114 8,389 LF 1888–1903 2
.4106 9,757 LF 1993–2011 3
.4099 4,604 LF 1939–1943
1945–1952
0
.4098 5,435 2B 1943–1953 2
.4095 8,960 RF 1914
1916–1930
1932
0
* .4090 7,422 LF/1B/RF 1999– 0
.4089 5,802 2B 1947–1956 1
.4085 3,412 CF 1890
1892–1899
0
.4082 4,787 RF 1938–1947 0
.4076 9,431 1B 1991–2005 0
.4074 5,010 3B 1885–1897 1
.4065 5,134 LF 1921–1934 0
.4058 7,721 SS 1932–1943
1947–1948
3
.4044 3,574 1B 1914
1917
1919
1922–1928
0
.4043 10,762 RF 1926–1945 0
* .4038 8,509 1B/DH 1995– 3
.4036 10,237 2B 1924–1942 0
.4035 4,061 1B/RF 1954
1956–1966
1
* .4033 3,911 C 2004- 1
* .4029 10,127 1B/DH/3B 1991– 0
.4028 5,315 CF/LF 1882–1894 2
.4022 7,207 1B 1921–1933 0
* .4021 10,166 3B 1993
1995–
1
.4017 8,120 LF 1891–1906
1908
0
.4012 13,346 LF 1979–2003 1
* .4012 3,214 1B 2001–2006
2008–
0
.4002 8,030 RF 1989–2005 2
.4001 3,609 CF 1893–1899 0
.3998 7,835 RF/LF/CF 1995–2009 0
.3998 3,322 RF 1934–1942 0

See also

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