The Top 10 MLB Career Batting Leaders of All Time as compiled by ESPN:
1. Ty Cobb -Ty Cobb was an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers from 1905 through 1926 in the Philadelphia Athletics from 1927 through 1928. Depending on the source his highest career batting average was .366 or .367. He had 4,191 hits 117 home runs and 1,939 RBIs (runs batted in). Ty Cobb is credited with holding 90 major league baseball records throughout his career and the most career batting titles of 11 or 12, again depending on the source.
2. Rogers Hornsby – Rogers Hornsby was a second baseman who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1915 through 1926 and in 1933, the New York Giants in 1927, the Boston Braves in 1928, Chicago Cubs from 1929 through 1932, and the St. Louis Browns from 1933 through 1937. His career batting average was .358 and was named the National League Most Valuable Player twice. Hornsby had 2,930 hits, 301 home runs and 1,584 runs batted in.
3. Joe Jackson – Joe Jackson was an outfielder for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1908 through 1909, the Cleveland Naps / Indians from 1910 through 1915 and the Chicago White Sox from 1915 through 1920. Jackson’s career batting average was .356 and he hit for hot .408 average in 1911 season. To this day, this is still the six highest single-season batting average since 1901. He is credited with 54 home runs, 1772 hits in 785 RBIs.
4. Ed Delahanty – Ed Delahanty was a left fielder for the Philadelphia Quakers from 1888 through 1889, the Cleveland Infants in 1890, the Philadelphia Phillies from 1891 through 1901 in the Washington Senators 1902 to 1903. His career batting average was .346 and led the league in batting average in 1889 at .410 and in 1902 at .376. Delahanty had 101 home runs and led the league in home runs in 1893 with 19 and in 1896 with 13. He is credited with 1,464 runs batted in and led the league in RBIs in 1893 with 146, in 1896 with 126 and in 1899 with 137.
5. Tris Speaker – Tris Speaker was a center fielder for the Boston Americans / Red Sox from 1907 through 1915, the Cleveland Indians from 1916 through 1926, the Washington Senators in 1927 in the Philadelphia Athletics in 1928. Speaker’s career batting average was .345 and has the most career doubles at 792. He is credited with 3,514 hits and 1,529 RBIs. Tris Speaker was a member of the World Series Champions in 1912, 1915 and 1920.
6. Billy Hamilton – Billy Hamilton was an outfielder for the Kansas City Cowboys in 1988 through 1989, the Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1895 in the Boston Beaneaters from 1896 through 1901. Hamilton’s career batting average was .344 and was the two-time National League batting champion in 1891 and 1893. He is credited with 1690 RBIs and was a four-time National League runs scored leader. He holds the Phillies single-season record for on-base percentage at .523 in 1894.
7. Ted Williams – Ted Williams played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 through 1942 and from 1946 through 1960. Williams career batting average was .344, was voted an All-Star 19 times and was the winner the American Leagues’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) two-times. He is credited with 521 home runs, 2,654 hits and 1,839 runs batted in and reached base an incredible 48% of the time. Ted Williams was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
8. Dan Brouthers – Dan Brouthers was a first baseman for the Troy Trojans (1879 – 1880), Buffalo Bisons (1881 – 1885), Detroit Wolverines (1886 – 1888), Boston Beaneaters (1889), Boston Red Sox(1890 – 1991), Brooklyn Grooms (1892 – 1893), Baltimore Orioles (1894 – 1895), Louisville Colonels (1895), Philadelphia Phillies (1896) and the New York Giants (1904). His batting average was .342 with 106 home runs. Brouthers had 1,296 runs batted in and is credited with 2,296 hits. Dan Brouthers was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.
9. Harry Heilmann – Harry Heilmann was an outfielder and first baseman for the Detroit Tigers in 1914 and from 1916 through 1929, and the Cincinnati Reds in 1930 and 1932. Heilmann’s batting average was .342 and he was the American League batting champion four times with 200 hit seasons. He had 183 home runs, 1,539 RBIs and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1952.
10. Babe Ruth – Babe Ruth was an outfielder and pitcher for the Boston Red Sox from 1914 through 1919, the New York Yankees from 1920 through 1934 and the Boston Braves in 1935. Ruth’s career batting average was .342 and he had 714 home runs in his career. He was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one season back in 1927, a record which was not broken until 1961 by Roger Maris. He is credited with 2,873 hits and 2,217 runs batted in. Babe Ruth was an All-Star two times, a World Series champion seven times and was the first of five players to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
