1942 Major League Baseball Batting Leaders

Rankings of Negro League players should consider that Negro League data is not complete. Research is still ongoing and we’ll continue to publish updates as more information becomes available. Negro Leagues Data: Frequently Asked Questions

Major 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. Williams • BOS 10.4

2. Cooper • STL 8.3

3. Gordon • NYY 7.7

4. Ott • NYG 7.1

5. Slaughter • STL 6.7

6. Keller • NYY 6.7

7. DiMaggio • NYY 6.4

Mize • NYG 6.4

9. Hughson • BOS 6.3

10. Pesky • BOS 6.1

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. Williams • BOS 10.4

2. Gordon • NYY 7.7

3. Ott • NYG 7.1

4. Slaughter • STL 6.7

5. Keller • NYY 6.7

6. DiMaggio • NYY 6.4

Mize • NYG 6.4

8. Pesky • BOS 6.1

9. Reese • BRO 6.1

10. Nicholson • CHC 6.0

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. Williams • BOS 9.8

2. Ott • NYG 7.4

3. Slaughter • STL 6.6

4. Keller • NYY 6.3

5. Mize • NYG 6.1

6. DiMaggio • NYY 5.9

Gordon • NYY 5.9

8. Nicholson • CHC 5.8

9. Hack • CHC 5.8

10. Reiser • BRO 5.7

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. Reese • BRO 3.6

2. Rizzuto • NYY 3.4

3. Marion • STL 2.8

4. Gordon • NYY 2.5

5. Pesky • BOS 2.2

6. Frey • CIN 2.2

7. Miller • BSN 2.1

8. Jurges • NYG 2.0

9. Doerr • BOS 1.8

10. Boudreau • CLE 1.7

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. Brown • KCM .379

2. Williams • BOS .356

3. Strong • KCM .347

4. Wells • NE .342

5. Gibson • HG .340

6. Serrell • KCM .335

7. Jethroe • CCB .335

8. Pearson • 2TM .335

9. Sampson • BBB .333

10. Pesky • BOS .331

On-Base%

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

1. Williams • BOS .499

2. Gibson • HG .472

3. Strong • KCM .437

4. Brown • KCM .429

5. Bell • CAG .423

6. Keller • NYY .417

7. Fletcher • PIT .417

8. Ott • NYG .415

9. Judnich • SLB .413

10. Fleming • CLE .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. Williams • BOS .648

2. Gibson • HG .618

3. Pearson • 2TM .593

4. Robinson • MRS .589

5. Brown • KCM .566

6. Strong • KCM .559

7. Clarkson • 3TM .558

8. Greene • KCM .534

9. Serrell • KCM .529

10. Mize • NYG .521

On-Base Plus Slugging

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

1. Williams • BOS 1.147

2. Gibson • HG 1.090

3. Strong • KCM .995

4. Brown • KCM .995

5. Pearson • 2TM .992

6. Robinson • MRS .968

7. Clarkson • 3TM .966

8. Keller • NYY .930

9. Serrell • KCM .927

10. Judnich • SLB .912

Games Played

Games Played or Pitched

1. Fleming • CLE 156

2. Herman • BRO 155

3. Haas • CIN 154

McCosky • DET 154

DiMaggio • NYY 154

6. York • DET 153

Siebert • PHA 153

8. Nicholson • CHC 152

Keltner • CLE 152

Ott • NYG 152

Keller • NYY 152

Slaughter • STL 152

At Bats

1. Cramer • DET 630

2. Spence • WSH 629

3. Keltner • CLE 624

4. DiMaggio • BOS 622

5. Vernon • WSH 621

6. Pesky • BOS 620

7. Gutteridge • SLB 616

8. Siebert • PHA 612

9. DiMaggio • NYY 610

10. Brown • STL 606

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. DiMaggio • BOS 702

2. Spence • WSH 696

3. Gutteridge • SLB 689

4. Slaughter • STL 687

5. Pesky • BOS 686

6. Vernon • WSH 685

7. Cramer • DET 682

8. McCosky • DET 681

9. DiMaggio • NYY 680

10. Nicholson • CHC 673

Runs Scored

Runs Scored/Allowed

1. Williams • BOS 141

2. DiMaggio • NYY 123

3. Ott • NYG 118

4. DiMaggio • BOS 110

5. Clift • SLB 108

6. Keller • NYY 106

7. Pesky • BOS 105

8. Case • WSH 101

9. Slaughter • STL 100

10. Mize • NYG 97

Hits

Hits/Hits Allowed

1. Pesky • BOS 205

2. Spence • WSH 203

3. Slaughter • STL 188

4. Williams • BOS 186

DiMaggio • NYY 186

6. Keltner • CLE 179

7. DiMaggio • BOS 178

8. McCosky • DET 176

9. Nicholson • CHC 173

Gordon • NYY 173

Total Bases

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

1. Williams • BOS 338

2. DiMaggio • NYY 304

3. Slaughter • STL 292

4. Mize • NYG 282

5. Nicholson • CHC 280

6. Keller • NYY 279

7. Ott • NYG 273

8. DiMaggio • BOS 272

Spence • WSH 272

10. Gordon • NYY 264

Doubles

Doubles Hit/Allowed

1. Kolloway • CHW 40

2. Clift • SLB 39

3. Marion • STL 38

4. Medwick • BRO 37

Heath • CLE 37

6. DiMaggio • BOS 36

Hack • CHC 36

8. Doerr • BOS 35

Johnson • PHA 35

10. Williams • BOS 34

Herman • BRO 34

Keltner • CLE 34

Higgins • DET 34

Vernon • WSH 34

Triples

Triples Hit/Allowed

1. Slaughter • STL 17

2. Spence • WSH 15

3. Heath • CLE 13

DiMaggio • NYY 13

5. McQuillen • SLB 12

6. Nicholson • CHC 11

McCosky • DET 11

Gutteridge • SLB 11

9. Boudreau • CLE 10

Harris • DET 10

Valo • PHA 10

Musial • STL 10

Home Runs

Home Runs Hit/Allowed

1. Williams • BOS 36

2. Ott • NYG 30

3. Laabs • SLB 27

4. Camilli • BRO 26

Mize • NYG 26

Keller • NYY 26

7. Nicholson • CHC 21

York • DET 21

DiMaggio • NYY 21

10. Gordon • NYY 18

Runs Batted In

1. Williams • BOS 137

2. DiMaggio • NYY 114

3. Mize • NYG 110

4. Camilli • BRO 109

5. Keller • NYY 108

6. Gordon • NYY 103

7. Doerr • BOS 102

8. Laabs • SLB 99

9. Slaughter • STL 98

10. Medwick • BRO 96

Bases on Balls

Bases on Balls/Walks

1. Williams • BOS 145

2. Keller • NYY 114

3. Ott • NYG 109

4. Fleming • CLE 106

Clift • SLB 106

6. Fletcher • PIT 105

7. Camilli • BRO 97

8. Hack • CHC 94

9. Cullenbine • 3TM 92

10. Laabs • SLB 88

Slaughter • STL 88

Strikeouts

1. Gordon • NYY 95

2. Laabs • SLB 88

3. DiMaggio • PIT 87

4. Camilli • BRO 85

5. Nicholson • CHC 80

6. McQuinn • SLB 77

7. York • DET 71

8. Foxx • 2TM 70

9. Heath • CLE 66

10. Bloodworth • DET 63

Vernon • WSH 63

Stolen Bases

1. Case • WSH 44

2. Vernon • WSH 25

3. Kuhel • CHW 22

Rizzuto • NYY 22

5. Reiser • BRO 20

6. Appling • CHW 17

Hoag • CHW 17

8. DiMaggio • BOS 16

Kolloway • CHW 16

Moses • CHW 16

Gutteridge • SLB 16

Singles

Singles Hit/Allowed

1. Pesky • BOS 165

2. Spence • WSH 157

3. Cramer • DET 136

4. Keltner • CLE 135

5. Case • WSH 131

6. McCosky • DET 130

7. Slaughter • STL 127

8. Hassett • NYY 126

9. Siebert • PHA 125

10. Elliott • PIT 124

Adjusted OPS+

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

1. Williams • BOS 216

2. Gibson • HG 210

3. Strong • KCM 195

4. Brown • KCM 194

5. Robinson • MRS 185

6. Pearson • 2TM 181

7. Clarkson • 3TM 174

8. Serrell • KCM 174

9. Ott • NYG 165

10. Greene • KCM 163

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. Williams • BOS 168

2. Keller • NYY 118

Slaughter • STL 118

4. DiMaggio • NYY 114

5. Ott • NYG 113

6. Gordon • NYY 108

7. Nicholson • CHC 107

8. Mize • NYG 106

9. Spence • WSH 105

10. DiMaggio • BOS 97

Laabs • SLB 97

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. Williams • BOS 93

2. Ott • NYG 50

3. Keller • NYY 49

4. Slaughter • STL 45

5. Gordon • NYY 41

6. Mize • NYG 40

7. Nicholson • CHC 40

8. Fleming • CLE 38

9. DiMaggio • NYY 36

10. Judnich • SLB 35

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. Williams • BOS 9.3

2. Ott • NYG 5.3

3. Keller • NYY 5.0

4. Slaughter • STL 4.8

5. Nicholson • CHC 4.3

Mize • NYG 4.3

7. Gordon • NYY 4.2

8. Fleming • CLE 3.9

9. Hack • CHC 3.7

10. DiMaggio • NYY 3.7

Extra Base Hits

Extra Base Hits Doubles + Triples + Home Runs

1. Williams • BOS 75

2. DiMaggio • NYY 63

3. Slaughter • STL 61

4. Heath • CLE 60

5. Keller • NYY 59

6. DiMaggio • BOS 58

Mize • NYG 58

8. Camilli • BRO 56

9. Doerr • BOS 55

Johnson • PHA 55

Laabs • SLB 55

Times On Base

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

1. Williams • BOS 335

2. Slaughter • STL 282

3. Keller • NYY 275

4. Ott • NYG 274

5. Fleming • CLE 272

6. Spence • WSH 266

7. Hack • CHC 260

8. Nicholson • CHC 257

Fletcher • PIT 257

10. DiMaggio • NYY 256

Clift • SLB 256

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. Williams • BOS .890

2. Gibson • HG .866

3. Brown • KCM .844

4. Strong • KCM .827

5. Pearson • 2TM .814

6. Robinson • MRS .805

7. Clarkson • 3TM .802

8. Slaughter • STL .783

9. Ott • NYG .781

10. Keller • NYY .774

Hit By Pitch

Times Hit by a Pitch.

1. Crosetti • NYY 9

2. Nicholson • CHC 8

Bartell • NYG 8

4. Litwhiler • PHI 7

5. DiMaggio • BOS 6

Fleming • CLE 6

Rizzuto • NYY 6

Fletcher • PIT 6

Kurowski • STL 6

Slaughter • STL 6

Sacrifice Hits

Sacrifice Hits (Sacrifice Bunts)

1. Pesky • BOS 22

Merullo • CHC 22

3. Murtaugh • PHI 21

4. Marion • STL 20

5. Boudreau • CLE 19

6. Owen • BRO 18

7. Keltner • CLE 16

McQuinn • SLB 16

9. Witek • NYG 14

Gutteridge • SLB 14

Crespi • STL 14

Intentional Bases on Balls

Intentional Bases on Balls First tracked in 1955.

1. Fleming • CLE 23

2. Camilli • BRO 22

3. Williams • BOS 20

4. Wright • CHW 13

5. Nicholson • CHC 12

Musial • STL 12

7. Mize • NYG 11

Livingston • PHI 11

Cooper • STL 11

10. Heath • CLE 10

DiMaggio • NYY 10

Double Plays Grounded Into

Double Plays Grounded Into Only includes standard 6-4-3, 4-3, etc. double plays. First tracked in 1933. For gamelogs only in seasons we have play-by-play, we include triple plays as well. All official seasonal totals do not include GITP's.

1. Witek • NYG 23

2. Gordon • NYY 22

3. Higgins • DET 21

McQuillen • SLB 21

5. Jurges • NYG 20

Suder • PHA 20

7. Estalella • WSH 19

8. Cooper • STL 18

9. Lombardi • BSN 17

10. Owen • BRO 16

Fernandez • BSN 16

Miller • BSN 16

Keltner • CLE 16

York • DET 16

Johnson • PHA 16

Litwhiler • PHI 16

Caught Stealing

1. Boudreau • CLE 16

2. Kolloway • CHW 14

3. Tabor • BOS 13

Weatherly • CLE 13

Gutteridge • SLB 13

6. Lupien • BOS 12

Hockett • CLE 12

8. DiMaggio • BOS 10

Reese • BRO 10

Moses • CHW 10

Murtaugh • PHI 10

Coscarart • PIT 10

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. Keller • NYY 18.2

2. DiMaggio • BOS 14.9

3. Camilli • BRO 14.4

4. Gordon • NYY 14.4

5. Reiser • BRO 13.3

6. Vernon • WSH 13.2

7. DiMaggio • PIT 12.0

8. Nicholson • CHC 11.6

9. Slaughter • STL 10.6

10. Ott • NYG 10.0

AB per SO

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

1. Holmes • BSN 55.8

2. Brown • STL 55.1

3. Waner • PHI 47.8

4. Spence • WSH 39.3

5. Finney • BOS 36.1

6. Siebert • PHA 36.0

7. Cramer • DET 35.0

8. Hassett • NYY 33.6

9. McCormick • CIN 31.3

10. Vaughan • BRO 29.1

AB per HR

At Bats Per Home Run

1. Williams • BOS 14.5

2. Gibson • HG 15.1

3. Ott • NYG 18.3

4. Pearson • 2TM 19.0

5. Laabs • SLB 19.3

6. Greene • KCM 19.7

7. Camilli • BRO 20.2

8. Mize • NYG 20.8

9. Keller • NYY 20.9

10. Strong • KCM 24.3

Outs Made

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

1. Gutteridge • SLB 494

2. Cramer • DET 489

3. Keltner • CLE 480

4. Hockett • CLE 478

5. Kolloway • CHW 474

Brown • STL 474

7. Haas • CIN 469

Siebert • PHA 469

Vernon • WSH 469

10. DiMaggio • BOS 467

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. Williams • BOS 92.88

2. Mize • NYG 63.92

3. Keller • NYY 61.18

4. Ott • NYG 58.73

5. Camilli • BRO 52.51

6. Reiser • BRO 47.40

7. DiMaggio • NYY 46.33

8. Slaughter • STL 45.88

9. Gordon • NYY 43.26

10. Nicholson • CHC 39.11

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. Williams • BOS 9.8

2. Keller • NYY 6.7

3. Mize • NYG 6.4

4. Camilli • BRO 5.9

5. Ott • NYG 5.2

6. Nicholson • CHC 4.8

7. Slaughter • STL 4.5

8. Fleming • CLE 4.5

9. Reiser • BRO 4.0

10. Musial • STL 3.9

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. Williams • BOS 8.3

2. Mize • NYG 5.9

3. Ott • NYG 5.6

4. Keller • NYY 5.3

5. Slaughter • STL 5.0

6. Nicholson • CHC 4.0

7. Camilli • BRO 3.9

8. Hack • CHC 3.4

9. Reiser • BRO 3.1

10. DiMaggio • NYY 3.1

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. Slaughter • STL 12.0

2. Reiser • BRO 11.0

3. Camilli • BRO 11.0

4. Williams • BOS 10.7

5. Keller • NYY 9.7

6. Henrich • NYY 8.6

7. Musial • STL 7.8

8. Gordon • NYY 7.2

9. Fleming • CLE 6.3

10. Vaughan • BRO 5.4

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. Williams • BOS 9.2

2. Mize • NYG 6.7

3. Keller • NYY 6.3

4. Ott • NYG 6.2

5. Camilli • BRO 5.5

6. Reiser • BRO 5.0

7. DiMaggio • NYY 4.8

8. Slaughter • STL 4.7

9. Gordon • NYY 4.5

10. Nicholson • CHC 4.3

rOBA

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

1. Williams • BOS .514

2. Gibson • HG .497

3. Brown • KCM .457

4. Strong • KCM .457

5. Pearson • 2TM .453

6. Clarkson • 3TM .445

7. Robinson • MRS .436

8. Keller • NYY .434

9. Ott • NYG .428

10. Judnich • SLB .426

Rbat+

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

1. Williams • BOS 227

2. Gibson • HG 202

3. Strong • KCM 183

4. Brown • KCM 183

5. Ott • NYG 179

6. Pearson • 2TM 176

7. Lombardi • BSN 173

8. Keller • NYY 172

9. Mize • NYG 171

10. Robinson • MRS 171

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

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1942 Major League Season