27 MLB records that will never be broken
No one got on base more than Pete Rose, who did it 5,929 times in a Major League record 3,562 games, but no one was more efficient than Ted Williams. And with a career on-base percentage of .482, chances are no one ever will be.
Ted Williams had two of the top eight single-season OBP years in big league history: .5528 as a 22-year-old in 1941, which is third behind Barry Bonds’ unbelievable (and likely unbreakable) .6094 in 2004 and .5817 in 2002. Williams’ second-best individual season occurred 16 years later when he recorded a .5256 OBP in 1957, which ranks eighth all-time (right behind Bonds’ 2003 campaign). Williams also holds the 20th, 21st, 23rd, 24th, and 29th spots among those with the greatest single-season on-base percentage. Impressive to say the least.
Despite missing three seasons in the middle of his prime due to military service, Williams ranks 13th in Major League history in times on base (4,714). Known for his keen eye, he also ranks fourth on the all-time walks list (2,021), which helped boost his OBP record ahead of Babe Ruth’s .474 mark.
With the aforementioned 2002-04 seasons among the best all-time, Bonds is the most recent challenger to Williams’ career record, but the home run king ranks sixth with a .444 mark. The active leader in OBP (with a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances) is Joey Votto at .4164.
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