The 300-home run .300 career average club
210 players have played Major League Baseball finishing their careers with a .300 career batting average in 3,000 Plate Appearances and 500 games played. This list does not include all the new Negro League player statistics since those are still being researched in greater detail. It does include Oscar Charleston, Mule Suttles, and Turkey Stearnes, among other Negro League players.
Considering that more than 23,000 players have played MLB, it seems too low a number that less than .001% percent of all who played averaged .300 for their entire career. There are fewer of these players than there are actual players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The list includes statistics through the 2023 season and already so far in 2024 things have changed a little.
Even more special
300 or more home runs AND a .300 or better career batting average. There’s really no need for a minimum since cracking 300 home runs removes the need for minimum at-bats. In MLB history of there are only 22.0 players that have made that illustrious mark in the annals. Exactly 10% of those that hit 300 home runs, also finished with a career batting average of .300 or better.
The list of 22 includes:
14 Hall-of-Famers
1 soon-to-be inducted Hall of Famer — Todd Helton
1 sure-fire Hall-of-Famer to be — Miguel Cabrera
2 still active very likely Hall-of-Famers — Mike Trout & Freddie Freeman
1 player excluded from the HOF for links to PEDs — Manny Ramirez
1 player unlikely to be elected for links to PEDs — Robinson Cano
That’s 21. There’s another player you might not expect to see on a list with those other players:
Moises Alou
Wait what’s he doing on this list? Not only is Moises Alou not in the Hall-of-Fame, but in 2014, his first year of HOF eligibility, he received six votes (1.1%) and was dropped from subsequent ballots.
The list of 22
NOTE: A sharp-eyed reader noted that Lou Gehrig is somehow missing from this list below. He’s 2nd behind Ted Williams with a .340 career average and 493 home runs.
It’s an awesome list of many of the best and biggest stars baseball has ever seen. All were at least one-time MVPs except for Mize, (he finished 2nd twice), Helton (robbed in 2000 somehow finishing 5th), Ramirez (received votes in 11 seasons finishing third twice, Alou (more on him later), and Cano who received MVP votes in eight seasons finishing third once.
Matt Holliday (Jackson’s dad), hit .299 for his career with 316 career homers and falls just short. HOFers Mel Ott and Jim Rice both hit more than 300 homers, but both missed the list finishing with matching .298 career batting averages.
Both Freddie Freeman and Mike Trout are right on the .300 batting average line. Trout who is out of action perhaps for the remainder of the 2024 season, has already slipped to a .299 career batting average. Freeman has held the line through this season, continuing to bat .301 for his career as of this writing. It won’t be easy to stay above .300 for Freeman, and Trout is in big trouble since a player increasing batting average late-career is very unusual.
Unless your name is Moises Alou.
Son of Felipe, nephew of Matty and Jesus, Moises Alou was a fearsome hitter — more fearsome than most baseball fans know. He batted .341 for the Mets in 2007 as a 40-year-old. He batted more than .300 his final four seasons although in 2008 he only had 54 at-bats. That pushed his career average to .303 to go along with his 332 career homers. Did you really think that Moises Alou had more than 300 homers?
It’s Alou’s less-than-great defense that’s primary reason he’s not in the Hall of Fame. Alou lost two complete seasons of his career to injury along with a bunch of games within seasons in which he was injured. A six-time All-Star, Alou received MVP votes in seven of his 17 MLB seasons. It’s sad that sometimes Alou is better remembered for being the victim of Bartman in 2003. With a 128+ career OPS and more than 2,100 hits and 1,110 RBI’s, Alou should have had more respect from HOF voters than being a one and done guy.
Every field position except for shortstop is represented on this list with Robinson Cano being the only middle infielder. If you’re wondering about Mookie Betts, you should be since he has 261 career home runs with a career batting of .295. Betts is batting well over .300 this season so there’s the chance he can push that career average over .300, and he looks a cinch to total 300 home runs or more. Betts is the only player in the prime of his career that has a shot to reach the 300/.300 club. Juan Soto has a career batting average of .287 to go along with his less than 200 career homers. Soto is only 25 and is very likely to reach 300 homers but pushing his career average back up above .300 will be a huge challenge.
The question is, after the inductions of Helton and Cabrera, the hope that Freeman can hold the line and Trout can battle back above it, there might not be another member of the club for a very long time if ever again.
Here’s what I wrote about the Mets last week for
https://mlbreport.com/2024/06/how-long-do-you-keep-those-young-mets-on-the-farm/
https://mlbreport.com/2024/06/pete-alonsos-london-muse/
https://mlbreport.com/2024/06/for-a-mets-turnaround-to-happen-they-need-to-be-better-at-citi-field/
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.
