1938 American League Batting Leaders | Baseball-Reference.com

American League Batting Leaders

Wins Above Replacement--all

Wins Above Replacement A single number that presents the number of wins the player added to the team above what a replacement player (think AAA or AAAA) would add. Scale for a single-season: 8+ MVP Quality, 5+ All-Star Quality, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Reserve, < 0 Replacement Level Developed by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com

1. Foxx • BOS 7.4

2. Greenberg • DET 6.5

3. Clift • SLB 6.3

4. Cronin • BOS 6.1

5. Ruffing • NYY 6.0

6. Lee • CHW 5.9

7. DiMaggio • NYY 5.6

8. Averill • CLE 5.4

9. Myer • WSH 5.2

Travis • WSH 5.2

WAR Position Players

Wins Above Replacement for position players A single number that presents the number of wins the player added to the team above what a replacement player (think AAA or AAAA) would add. Scale: 8+ MVP Quality, 5+ All-Star Quality, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Reserve, < 0 Replacement Level Developed by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com

1. Foxx • BOS 7.4

2. Greenberg • DET 6.5

3. Clift • SLB 6.3

4. Cronin • BOS 6.1

5. DiMaggio • NYY 5.6

6. Averill • CLE 5.4

7. Myer • WSH 5.2

Travis • WSH 5.2

9. Dickey • NYY 5.0

Gehringer • DET 5.0

Offensive WAR

Offensive Wins Above Replacement (everything but Fielding) The same statistic as Wins Above Replacement for Position Players (WAR), but with the fielding value excluded. oWAR + dWAR does not equal WAR. Adding would count positions twice. Contains the factor for batting stats, baserunning, a positional adjustment, and the replacement player adjustment. Factors developed by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com

1. Foxx • BOS 7.9

2. Greenberg • DET 6.4

3. Clift • SLB 6.1

4. Cronin • BOS 5.6

5. DiMaggio • NYY 5.4

6. Gehringer • DET 5.3

7. Averill • CLE 5.2

8. Myer • WSH 5.0

9. Travis • WSH 4.9

10. Gehrig • NYY 4.7

Defensive WAR

Defensive Wins Above Replacement for position players A defensive measure of wins above replacement, but given only the defensive stats of the player and his position adjustment. For this calculation, we use a replacement level on defense is the league average. Based on Baseball Info Solutions defensive runs saved from 2003 on and total zone rating developed by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com previously

1. Crosetti • NYY 1.8

2. Cronin • BOS 1.4

3. Gordon • NYY 1.3

4. Travis • WSH 1.3

5. Rogell • DET 1.3

6. Desautels • BOS 1.0

7. Appling • CHW 1.0

8. Lary • CLE 0.7

9. Dickey • NYY 0.7

10. Myer • WSH 0.7

Batting Average

Hits/At Bats For recent years, leaders need 3.1 PA per team game played Bold indicates either highest BA using current stats or awarded title at end of year.

1. Foxx • BOS .349

2. Heath • CLE .343

3. Chapman • BOS .340

4. Myer • WSH .336

5. Travis • WSH .335

6. Trosky • CLE .334

7. Steinbacher • CHW .331

8. Radcliff • CHW .330

9. Averill • CLE .330

10. Cronin • BOS .325

On-Base%

(H + BB + HBP)/(At Bats + BB + HBP + SF) For recent years, leaders need 3.1 PA per team game played

1. Foxx • BOS .462

2. Myer • WSH .454

3. Greenberg • DET .438

4. Averill • CLE .429

5. Cronin • BOS .428

6. Gehringer • DET .425

7. Clift • SLB .423

8. Chapman • BOS .418

9. York • DET .417

10. Dickey • NYY .412

Slugging %

Total Bases/At Bats or
(1B + 2*2B + 3*3B + 4*HR)/AB
For recent years, leaders need 3.1 PA
per team game played

1. Foxx • BOS .704

2. Greenberg • DET .683

3. Heath • CLE .602

4. DiMaggio • NYY .581

5. York • DET .579

6. Dickey • NYY .568

7. Clift • SLB .554

8. Johnson • PHA .552

9. Trosky • CLE .542

10. Cronin • BOS .536

On-Base Plus Slugging

On-Base + Slugging Percentages For recent years, leaders need 3.1 PA per team game played

1. Foxx • BOS 1.166

2. Greenberg • DET 1.122

3. York • DET .995

4. Heath • CLE .985

5. Dickey • NYY .981

6. Clift • SLB .977

7. DiMaggio • NYY .967

8. Averill • CLE .965

9. Cronin • BOS .964

10. Johnson • PHA .959

Games Played

Games Played or Pitched

1. Crosetti • NYY 157

Gehrig • NYY 157

3. Fox • DET 155

Greenberg • DET 155

5. Gehringer • DET 152

Johnson • PHA 152

7. Rolfe • NYY 151

Lewis • WSH 151

9. Trosky • CLE 150

Kress • SLB 150

At Bats

1. Cramer • BOS 658

2. Lewis • WSH 656

3. Fox • DET 634

4. Almada • 2TM 633

5. Crosetti • NYY 631

Rolfe • NYY 631

7. Vosmik • BOS 621

8. McQuinn • SLB 602

9. DiMaggio • NYY 599

10. Moses • PHA 589

Plate Appearances

Plate Appearances When available, we use actual plate appearances from play-by-play game accounts Otherwise estimated using AB + BB + HBP + SF + SH, which excludes catcher interferences. When this color click for a summary of each PA.

1. Crosetti • NYY 757

2. Lewis • WSH 724

3. Cramer • BOS 717

4. Rolfe • NYY 715

5. Vosmik • BOS 690

6. Gehringer • DET 689

Gehrig • NYY 689

Almada • 2TM 689

9. Foxx • BOS 685

10. Greenberg • DET 681

Runs Scored

Runs Scored/Allowed

1. Greenberg • DET 143

2. Foxx • BOS 139

3. Gehringer • DET 133

4. Rolfe • NYY 132

5. DiMaggio • NYY 129

6. Lewis • WSH 122

7. Vosmik • BOS 121

8. Clift • SLB 119

9. Cramer • BOS 116

10. Gehrig • NYY 115

Hits

Hits/Hits Allowed

1. Vosmik • BOS 201

2. Cramer • BOS 198

3. Foxx • BOS 197

Almada • 2TM 197

5. Rolfe • NYY 196

6. McQuinn • SLB 195

7. DiMaggio • NYY 194

Lewis • WSH 194

9. Travis • WSH 190

10. Fox • DET 186

Total Bases

Total Bases Singles + 2 x Doubles + 3 x Triples + 4 x Home Runs.

1. Foxx • BOS 398

2. Greenberg • DET 380

3. DiMaggio • NYY 348

4. Johnson • PHA 311

5. Heath • CLE 302

6. Gehrig • NYY 301

7. Trosky • CLE 300

8. Clift • SLB 296

9. McQuinn • SLB 287

10. Keltner • CLE 286

Doubles

Doubles Hit/Allowed

1. Cronin • BOS 51

2. McQuinn • SLB 42

3. Chapman • BOS 40

Trosky • CLE 40

5. Vosmik • BOS 37

6. Cramer • BOS 36

Lary • CLE 36

Rolfe • NYY 36

9. Fox • DET 35

Crosetti • NYY 35

Bell • SLB 35

Lewis • WSH 35

Triples

Triples Hit/Allowed

1. Heath • CLE 18

2. Averill • CLE 15

3. DiMaggio • NYY 13

4. Kreevich • CHW 12

Campbell • CLE 12

Finney • PHA 12

7. Fox • DET 10

Wright • WSH 10

9. Foxx • BOS 9

Keltner • CLE 9

Trosky • CLE 9

Johnson • PHA 9

Lewis • WSH 9

Home Runs

Home Runs Hit/Allowed

1. Greenberg • DET 58

2. Foxx • BOS 50

3. Clift • SLB 34

4. York • DET 33

5. DiMaggio • NYY 32

6. Johnson • PHA 30

7. Gehrig • NYY 29

8. Dickey • NYY 27

9. Keltner • CLE 26

10. Gordon • NYY 25

Runs Batted In

1. Foxx • BOS 175

2. Greenberg • DET 147

3. DiMaggio • NYY 140

4. York • DET 126

5. Clift • SLB 118

6. Dickey • NYY 115

7. Gehrig • NYY 114

Bonura • WSH 114

9. Keltner • CLE 113

Johnson • PHA 113

Bases on Balls

Bases on Balls/Walks

1. Foxx • BOS 119

Greenberg • DET 119

3. Clift • SLB 118

4. Gehringer • DET 113

5. Gehrig • NYY 107

6. Crosetti • NYY 106

7. Werber • PHA 93

Myer • WSH 93

9. York • DET 92

Henrich • NYY 92

Strikeouts

1. Crosetti • NYY 97

2. Chapman • PHA 94

3. Greenberg • DET 92

4. Berger • CHW 80

5. Foxx • BOS 76

6. Keltner • CLE 75

Gehrig • NYY 75

8. York • DET 74

9. Johnson • PHA 73

10. Gordon • NYY 72

Stolen Bases

1. Crosetti • NYY 27

2. Lary • CLE 23

3. Werber • PHA 19

4. Lewis • WSH 17

5. Fox • DET 16

6. Moses • PHA 15

7. Gehringer • DET 14

8. Chapman • BOS 13

Kreevich • CHW 13

Rolfe • NYY 13

Almada • 2TM 13

Singles

Singles Hit/Allowed

1. Almada • 2TM 158

2. Cramer • BOS 154

3. Travis • WSH 150

4. Vosmik • BOS 149

5. Rolfe • NYY 142

6. Lewis • WSH 138

7. Moses • PHA 136

8. Fox • DET 134

McQuinn • SLB 134

10. Radcliff • CHW 132

Adjusted OPS+

OPS+ 100*[OBP/lg OBP + SLG/lg SLG - 1] Adjusted to the player’s ballpark(s)

1. Foxx • BOS 183

2. Greenberg • DET 169

3. Heath • CLE 145

4. Clift • SLB 144

5. Dickey • NYY 143

6. Averill • CLE 142

7. Johnson • PHA 142

8. York • DET 140

9. DiMaggio • NYY 139

10. Myer • WSH 139

Runs Created

Runs Created A set of formulas developed by Bill James and others that estimates a player’s total contributions to a team’s runs total. This is computed with the "technical" formula when possible. If SB or CS data is missing, the "basic" formula is used. If HBP, IBB, SH, SF, or GIDP data is missing, the "stolen base" version of the formula is used. Team Runs Created is the sum of player Runs Created.

1. Foxx • BOS 183

2. Greenberg • DET 164

3. DiMaggio • NYY 135

4. Johnson • PHA 124

Clift • SLB 124

6. Gehrig • NYY 123

7. Trosky • CLE 122

8. Cronin • BOS 120

9. Gehringer • DET 119

10. Heath • CLE 116

Adj. Batting Runs

Adjusted Batting Runs A set of formulas developed by Gary Gillette, Pete Palmer and others that estimates a player’s total contributions to a team’s runs total via linear weights. 0.0 is an avg performance, <0 is worse than avg and >0 is better than avg

1. Foxx • BOS 75

2. Greenberg • DET 61

3. Clift • SLB 40

4. Johnson • PHA 37

5. Averill • CLE 33

6. Cronin • BOS 33

7. Myer • WSH 33

8. DiMaggio • NYY 32

9. Trosky • CLE 32

10. Dickey • NYY 31

Adj. Batting Wins

Adjusted Batting Wins A set of formulas developed by Gary Gillette, Pete Palmer and others that estimates a player’s total contributions to a team’s wins with his bat. 0.0 is an avg performance, <0 is worse than avg and >0 is better than avg

1. Foxx • BOS 6.7

2. Greenberg • DET 5.5

3. Clift • SLB 3.6

4. Johnson • PHA 3.3

5. Averill • CLE 3.0

6. Cronin • BOS 3.0

7. Myer • WSH 3.0

8. Trosky • CLE 2.9

DiMaggio • NYY 2.9

10. Dickey • NYY 2.8

Extra Base Hits

Extra Base Hits Doubles + Triples + Home Runs

1. Foxx • BOS 92

2. Greenberg • DET 85

3. DiMaggio • NYY 77

4. Cronin • BOS 73

5. Heath • CLE 70

6. Trosky • CLE 68

7. Gehrig • NYY 67

8. Keltner • CLE 66

Johnson • PHA 66

Clift • SLB 66

Times On Base

Times on Base Hits + Bases on Balls + Hit By Pitch Does not include Reached on Error or Catcher Interference.

1. Foxx • BOS 316

2. Greenberg • DET 297

3. Gehringer • DET 291

4. Crosetti • NYY 287

5. Gehrig • NYY 282

6. Clift • SLB 278

7. Rolfe • NYY 273

8. Cronin • BOS 268

9. Johnson • PHA 265

10. Vosmik • BOS 262

Offensive Win %

Offensive Winning Percentage The percentage of games a team with nine of this player batting would win. Assumes average pitching and defense. This uses the Pythagorean win pct formula with the player's RC/G for runs scored and the league's R/9 as runs allowed.

1. Foxx • BOS .837

2. Greenberg • DET .796

3. Heath • CLE .732

4. Dickey • NYY .727

5. Averill • CLE .722

6. York • DET .720

7. DiMaggio • NYY .716

8. Trosky • CLE .709

9. Clift • SLB .704

10. Cronin • BOS .703

Hit By Pitch

Times Hit by a Pitch.

1. Crosetti • NYY 15

2. Lodigiani • PHA 7

3. Cronin • BOS 5

Rogell • DET 5

Gehrig • NYY 5

Clift • SLB 5

7. Wright • WSH 4

Gehringer • DET 4

Pytlak • CLE 4

Chapman • PHA 4

Owen • CHW 4

Heffner • SLB 4

Almada • 2TM 4

Travis • WSH 4

Sacrifice Hits

Sacrifice Hits (Sacrifice Bunts)

1. Doerr • BOS 22

2. Hale • CLE 18

3. Newsom • SLB 14

4. McQuinn • SLB 13

Travis • WSH 13

6. Heffner • SLB 12

7. Cronin • BOS 11

Desautels • BOS 11

Ambler • PHA 11

West • 2TM 11

Intentional Bases on Balls

Intentional Bases on Balls First tracked in 1955.

1. Greenberg • DET 15

2. Foxx • BOS 12

3. DiMaggio • NYY 11

Dickey • NYY 11

5. Johnson • PHA 10

6. Trosky • CLE 9

7. Bell • SLB 8

8. Heffner • SLB 7

Pytlak • CLE 7

Gordon • NYY 7

Caught Stealing

1. Werber • PHA 15

2. Crosetti • NYY 12

3. Doerr • BOS 10

4. Cramer • BOS 9

Lewis • WSH 9

Higgins • BOS 9

7. Mills • SLB 8

Johnson • PHA 8

Finney • PHA 8

10. Fox • DET 7

Kuhel • CHW 7

Campbell • CLE 7

Radcliff • CHW 7

Power-Speed #

Power/Speed Number 2 x (Home Runs x Stolen Bases)/(Stolen Bases + Home Runs) The harmonic mean of HR and SB. To do well you need a lot of both. Developed by Bill James.

1. Gehringer • DET 16.5

2. Clift • SLB 15.5

3. Gordon • NYY 15.3

4. Lewis • WSH 14.1

5. Werber • PHA 13.9

6. Johnson • PHA 13.8

7. Crosetti • NYY 13.5

8. Greenberg • DET 12.5

9. Walker • CHW 11.5

10. Campbell • CLE 11.5

AB per SO

At Bats Per Strikeout For career marks this only includes AB’s for seasons where SO’s were tracked.

1. Sullivan • SLB 37.5

2. Cramer • BOS 34.6

3. Radcliff • CHW 29.6

4. DiMaggio • NYY 28.5

5. Gehringer • DET 27.0

6. Travis • WSH 25.8

7. Pytlak • CLE 24.3

8. Ferrell • WSH 24.2

9. Vosmik • BOS 23.9

10. Kreevich • CHW 21.3

AB per HR

At Bats Per Home Run

1. Greenberg • DET 9.6

2. Foxx • BOS 11.3

3. York • DET 14.0

4. Clift • SLB 15.7

5. Dickey • NYY 16.8

6. Gordon • NYY 18.3

7. DiMaggio • NYY 18.7

8. Johnson • PHA 18.8

9. Gehrig • NYY 19.9

10. Henrich • NYY 21.4

Outs Made

Outs Made (At Bats - Hits) + Double Plays Grounded Into + Sac. Flies + Sac. Hits + Caught Stealing.

1. Crosetti • NYY 482

2. Lewis • WSH 480

3. Cramer • BOS 474

4. Fox • DET 463

5. Almada • 2TM 448

6. Rolfe • NYY 442

7. Vosmik • BOS 430

8. Keltner • CLE 427

Lary • CLE 427

10. McQuinn • SLB 425

Base-Out Runs Added (RE24)

Base-Out Runs Added Given the bases occupied/out situation, how many runs did the batter or baserunner add in the resulting play. Compared to average, so 0 is average, and above 0 is better than average

1. Foxx • BOS 90.48

2. Averill • CLE 59.47

3. York • DET 55.79

4. Greenberg • DET 52.12

5. DiMaggio • NYY 46.12

6. Dickey • NYY 45.54

7. Heath • CLE 43.26

8. Trosky • CLE 43.18

9. Gehrig • NYY 41.58

10. Clift • SLB 38.66

Win Probability Added (WPA)

Win Probability Added for Offensive Player Given average teams, this is the change in probability caused by this batter during the game. See <a href='https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/wpa.shtml'>Win Expectancy explainer</a> for details.

1. Foxx • BOS 6.9

2. Averill • CLE 5.0

3. Heath • CLE 5.0

4. York • DET 4.9

5. DiMaggio • NYY 4.7

6. Clift • SLB 4.2

7. Greenberg • DET 4.1

8. Trosky • CLE 3.7

9. Cronin • BOS 3.6

10. Dickey • NYY 2.8

Situ. Wins Added (WPA/LI)

Situational Wins (WPA/LI) It is the sum of WPA divided by the leverage index for each play. WPA depends greatly on the context of the at bats. This stat does not.

1. Foxx • BOS 7.2

2. Greenberg • DET 5.4

3. Gehrig • NYY 4.5

4. DiMaggio • NYY 4.4

5. Averill • CLE 4.0

6. Clift • SLB 4.0

7. Heath • CLE 3.5

8. Johnson • PHA 3.5

9. Dickey • NYY 3.4

10. York • DET 3.4

Championship WPA (cWPA)

Championship Win Probability Added for Offensive Player Given average teams, this is the change in probability of winning the World Series, displayed in percentage points. See <a href='https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/wpa.shtml'>Win Expectancy explainer</a> for details.

1. Averill • CLE 14.3

2. Heath • CLE 10.5

3. DiMaggio • NYY 8.5

4. Trosky • CLE 7.8

5. Foxx • BOS 7.8

6. Cronin • BOS 6.3

7. Gehrig • NYY 5.7

8. York • DET 3.7

9. Hale • CLE 3.5

10. Gordon • NYY 3.4

Base-Out Wins Added (REW)

Base-Out Wins Added (REW) This is the number of wins above average the player was worth by their performance measured by the 24 base-out situations across every play in the game.

1. Foxx • BOS 7.8

2. Averill • CLE 5.4

3. York • DET 4.8

4. Greenberg • DET 4.5

5. DiMaggio • NYY 4.1

6. Dickey • NYY 4.1

7. Trosky • CLE 3.9

8. Heath • CLE 3.9

9. Gehrig • NYY 3.7

10. Clift • SLB 3.5

rOBA

rOBA
A measure of a player's offensive contributions, weighted in proportion to each event's actual run value

1. Foxx • BOS .496

2. Greenberg • DET .473

3. York • DET .435

4. Averill • CLE .434

5. Dickey • NYY .434

6. Clift • SLB .434

7. Cronin • BOS .432

8. Heath • CLE .430

9. Myer • WSH .427

10. DiMaggio • NYY .426

Rbat+

Rbat+
Batting runs as computed for WAR, but indexed to the environment the player played in, where 100 is league average.

1. Foxx • BOS 188

2. Greenberg • DET 171

3. Myer • WSH 156

4. Averill • CLE 152

5. Clift • SLB 152

6. Dickey • NYY 150

7. Heath • CLE 150

8. Johnson • PHA 147

9. Cronin • BOS 146

10. York • DET 146

A ** by the stat's value indicates the player had fewer than the required number of at bats or plate appearances for the BA, OBP, SLG or OPS title that year. In order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to the player's season total. The value printed here is their actual value and not the value used to rank them, therefore some numbers may appear out of order.

For rate stats, generally a minimum of 3.1 Plate Appearances/Team Game (batting), 1.0 IP/Team Game (pitching), 0.67 Gm and Chances/Team Game (fielding), 0.2 SB att/Team Game (catchers), 0.1 SB att/Team Game (baserunners only since 1951), and 0.1 decision/Team Game (W-L%) is needed for single-season leaderboards. For pitcher fielding the minimums are reduced by a third. For LF, CF, RF fielding stats, we only have reliable data since 1898, so all leaders are since 1898. Explanation of min. requirements