Top 25 MLB batting seasons of all time

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Apr 24, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; A general view of the statue of former Detroit Tigers player Ty Cobb prior to the game between the Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /

20. Ty Cobb, 1911

The Numbers: .420/.467/.621, 248 hits, 147 runs, 47 doubles, 24 triples, 83 steals

Few players in MLB history have played baseball like the great Ty Cobb, who viewed baseball as an all-out war on his competition. There is perhaps no single season in his career that better illustrates that than his 1911 season.

At the end of the 1910 season, Cobb was locked in a fierce race for the batting title with Nap Lajoie. Cobb was leading by a few percentage points and decided to sit out a few games at the end of the year. Lajoie picked up six bunt hits in a double header to pass Cobb. After it was revealed that Lajoie’s opponent had intentionally allowed him to reach over hatred of Cobb, the title was given back to Cobb.

Suffice to say, Cobb entered 1911 with even more of a bloodlust. He would go on to record the highest batting average of his career and set a new 20th Century record. Cobb battled for the batting title with Shoeless Joe Jackson, and employed his own devious plot to break his competitor. Cobb and Jackson were friends off the diamond as they both hailed from the rural south, but Cobb froze Jackson out for an entire series. He believed this ultimately caused Jackson to fall apart.

Cobb set 90 MLB records during his career and is still the all-time leader with a .366 batting average. He also stole home 54 times, another record of his that has not and will never be broken.

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