I posted this list in the comments to an earlier thread, but it really seems to deserve its own post.
Here are the players since 1901 who scored the highest percentage of time once reaching base (including reaching on error) with a minimum of 4000 career plate appearances.
1 Red Rolfe 48.8% 2 Jack Smith 47.2% 3 Pepper Martin 46.9% 4 Earle Combs 46.5% 5 Tommy Leach 45.3% 6 Joe DiMaggio 45.2% 7 C Granderson 45.2% 8 Ian Kinsler 44.4% 9 Lou Gehrig 44.2% 10 Hughie Critz 44.0% 11 Ray Chapman 44.0% 12 Tom Goodwin 43.7% 13 Babe Ruth 43.7% 14 Tommy Henrich 43.7% 15 C Gehringer 43.5% 16 Chuck Klein 43.4% 17 Kenny Lofton 43.3% 18 Earl Averill 43.3% 19 Alex Rodriguez 43.0% 20 Fred Clarke 42.9% 21 Donie Bush 42.8% 22 Vince Coleman 42.7% 23 F Lindstrom 42.7% 24 Kiki Cuyler 42.6% 25 Bobby Bonds 42.6% 26 Bill Cissell 42.6% 27 Jimmie Foxx 42.6% 28 Pete Fox 42.5% 29 Jimmy Rollins 42.5% 30 Ron Gant 42.5%
This is quite an eclectic group, huh?
The research was sparked by reader kds noticing that Kenny Lofton had a very high percentage, and indeed he clocks in at #17. Some other leadoff-type speedsters make it too, with Bobby Bonds, Vince Coleman, Tom Goodwin(!), Jimmy Rollins, and others. Then there are other guys with a lot of home runs–obviously that’s an automatic 1-for-1 in terms of scoring when reaching base–Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, Jimmy Foxx, etc.
I’m sure there’s a lot more we can glean from this…have at it.
