List of Major League Baseball career assists as a center fielder leaders
In
Center fielders are most commonly credited with an assist when they throw the ball to an infielder who
The list of career leaders is dominated by players from the 1890s through 1920s, including the dead-ball era, due to that period's emphasis on more aggressive baserunning. The top six players were all active throughout the years from 1913 to 1921; only 11 of the top 37 players were active after 1953, and only six of them after 1984. Only six of the top 73 single-season totals were recorded after 1925, and only one after 1945; only nine of the top 163 have been recorded since 1955. Because game accounts and box scores often did not distinguish between the outfield positions, there has been some difficulty in determining precise defensive statistics before 1901; because of this, and because of the similarity in their roles, defensive statistics for the three positions are frequently combined. Although efforts to distinguish between the three positions regarding games played during this period and reconstruct the separate totals have been largely successful, separate assist totals are unavailable; players whose totals are missing the figures for pre-1901 games are notated in the table below. Tris Speaker is the all-time leader in career assists as a center fielder with 448,[1][2][3] 173 more than any other player, and nearly two and a half times as many as any player active after 1931. Speaker also holds the single-season record of 35, which he accomplished twice; no player since 1955 has had more than 20, likely putting both of his marks among Major League Baseball's most unbreakable records. Andrew McCutchen, who had 63 assists through the 2022 season to place him tied for 105th all-time, is the leader among active players.
Key
Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career assists. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player | Name of player |
MLB | Total career assists as a center fielder in Major League Baseball |
* | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame |
---|---|
† | Denotes total is missing figures for pre-1901 games |
List
Rank | Player (2023 As) | Assists as a center fielder | Other leagues, notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
MLB | American League | National League | |||
1 | Tris Speaker* | 448 | 448 | 0 | Holds the modern single-season record of 35 (set in 1909 & 1912) |
2 | Ty Cobb* | 275 | 275 | 0 | |
3 | Clyde Milan | 244 | 244 | 0 | |
4 | Max Carey* | 215 | 0 | 215 | |
5 | Edd Roush* | 207 | 0 | 187 | Includes 20 in Federal League |
6 | Dode Paskert | 206 | 0 | 206 | Held modern National League record, 1917-1927 |
7 | Willie Mays* | 188 | 0 | 188 | |
8 | Doc Cramer | 155 | 155 | 0 | |
9 | Richie Ashburn* | 154 | 0 | 154 | |
10 | Cy Williams | 151 | 0 | 151 | |
11 | Cy Seymour † | 149 | 0 | 149 | Held modern major league record, 1909-1913; held modern National League record, 1909-1917 |
12 | Hi Myers | 148 | 0 | 148 | |
13 | Dom DiMaggio | 143 | 143 | 0 | |
14 | Ken Griffey Jr.* | 141 | 108 | 33 | |
15 | Sam West | 139 | 139 | 0 | |
16 | Kenny Lofton | 138 | 110 | 28 | |
17 | Ginger Beaumont † | 136 | 0 | 136 | Held modern NL single-season record, 1907-1911 |
18 | Roy Thomas † | 135 | 0 | 135 | Held modern major league record, 1906-1909; held modern National League record, 1902-1909; held modern NL single-season record, 1902-1907 |
Lloyd Waner* | 135 | 0 | 135 | ||
20 | Willie Davis | 134 | 1 | 133 | |
21 | Joe DiMaggio* | 133 | 133 | 0 | |
22 | Fielder Jones † | 129 | 129 | 0 | Held American League record, 1907-1913 |
23 | Steve Finley | 127 | 6 | 121 | |
24 | Vince DiMaggio | 123 | 0 | 123 | |
25 | Tommy Leach † | 122 | 0 | 122 | |
26 | Happy Felsch | 119 | 119 | 0 | |
27 | Amos Otis | 118 | 115 | 3 | |
28 | Joe Birmingham | 117 | 117 | 0 | |
29 | Jim Edmonds | 116 | 37 | 79 | |
Rebel Oakes | 116 | 0 | 81 | Includes 35 in Federal League | |
31 | Amos Strunk | 115 | 115 | 0 | |
32 | Vada Pinson | 114 | 13 | 101 | |
33 | Kirby Puckett* | 110 | 110 | 0 | |
34 | Benny Kauff | 109 | 0 | 66 | Includes 43 in Federal League |
35 | Earl Averill* | 108 | 106 | 2 | |
Carlos Beltrán | 108 | 61 | 47 | ||
Fred Snodgrass | 108 | 0 | 108 | Holds the modern NL single-season record of 31 (set in 1911) | |
38 | Brett Butler | 106 | 40 | 66 | |
Curt Flood | 106 | 0 | 106 | ||
40 | Paul Blair | 104 | 103 | 1 | |
Mickey Mantle* | 104 | 104 | 0 | ||
42 | Jimmy Barrett † | 101 | 101 | 0 | Held modern major league record, 1901-1906; held American League record, 1901-1907; held the AL single-season record, 1901-1909 |
Andruw Jones | 101 | 0 | 101 | ||
44 | Ray Powell | 100 | 0 | 100 | |
45 | Terry Moore | 99 | 0 | 99 | |
Duke Snider* | 99 | 0 | 99 | ||
Tilly Walker | 99 | 99 | 0 | ||
48 | Bill Bruton | 98 | 19 | 79 | |
49 | Adam Jones | 96 | 96 | 0 | |
Fred Lynn | 96 | 96 | 0 | ||
Bill Virdon | 96 | 0 | 96 | ||
52 | Nemo Leibold | 92 | 92 | 0 | |
Bill Tuttle | 92 | 92 | 0 | ||
54 | Sam Chapman | 91 | 91 | 0 | |
Ira Flagstead | 91 | 89 | 2 | ||
Garry Maddox | 91 | 0 | 91 | ||
57 | Del Unser | 90 | 44 | 46 | |
58 | Johnny Bates | 89 | 0 | 85 | Includes 4 in Federal League |
Marquis Grissom | 89 | 7 | 82 | ||
60 | Mickey Rivers | 88 | 88 | 0 | |
61 | César Cedeño | 87 | 0 | 87 | |
Johnny Mostil | 87 | 87 | 0 | ||
63 | Mike Kreevich | 86 | 85 | 1 | |
Willie McGee | 86 | 6 | 80 | ||
65 | Chet Lemon | 85 | 85 | 0 | |
66 | Solly Hofman | 84 | 2 | 74 | Includes 8 in Federal League |
67 | Danny Hoffman | 83 | 83 | 0 | |
68 | Burt Shotton | 82 | 81 | 1 | |
Devon White | 82 | 63 | 19 | ||
70 | Omar Moreno | 81 | 11 | 70 | |
Jigger Statz | 81 | 0 | 81 | ||
72 | Ping Bodie | 79 | 79 | 0 | |
Torii Hunter | 79 | 79 | 0 | ||
Homer Smoot | 79 | 0 | 79 | ||
75 | Chick Stahl † | 78 | 78 | 0 | |
Jimmy Wynn | 78 | 0 | 78 | ||
77 | Dave Henderson | 77 | 76 | 1 | |
Bobby Thomson | 77 | 1 | 76 | ||
79 | Larry Doby* | 76 | 76 | 0 | Negro League totals unavailable |
Dwayne Murphy | 76 | 75 | 1 | ||
Sam Rice* | 76 | 76 | 0 | ||
Stan Spence | 76 | 76 | 0 | ||
83 | Johnny Groth | 75 | 75 | 0 | |
Andy Van Slyke | 75 | 2 | 73 | ||
85 | Baby Doll Jacobson | 74 | 74 | 0 | |
Andy Pafko | 74 | 0 | 74 | ||
Fred Schulte | 74 | 73 | 1 | ||
88 | Rick Monday | 73 | 34 | 39 | |
89 | Ethan Allen | 72 | 7 | 65 | |
Mike Cameron | 72 | 35 | 37 | ||
Emmet Heidrick † | 72 | 57 | 15 | ||
92 | B. J. Upton | 71 | 52 | 19 | |
93 | Andre Dawson* | 70 | 0 | 70 | |
Lance Johnson | 70 | 45 | 25 | ||
95 | Oscar Charleston* | 69 | 0 | 0 | Includes 45 in Negro National League (first), 17 in Eastern Colored League, 7 in American Negro League (incomplete) |
Hack Wilson* | 69 | 0 | 69 | ||
97 | Mark Kotsay | 68 | 29 | 39 | |
Jack Smith | 68 | 0 | 68 | ||
99 | Ron LeFlore | 66 | 66 | 0 | |
100 | Earle Combs* | 65 | 65 | 0 | |
Carlos Gómez | 65 | 27 | 38 | ||
Rick Manning | 65 | 65 | 0 |
Other Hall of Famers
Player | Assists as a center fielder | Other leagues, notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
MLB | American League | National League | ||
Turkey Stearnes* | 59 | 0 | 0 | Includes 41 in Negro National League (first), 14 in Negro National League (second), 4 in Negro American League (incomplete) |
Cool Papa Bell* | 57 | 0 | 0 | Includes 37 in Negro National League (first), 13 in Negro National League (second), 7 in East–West League (incomplete) |
Robin Yount* | 52 | 52 | 0 | |
Al Simmons* | 48 | 48 | 0 | |
Kiki Cuyler* | 44 | 0 | 44 | |
Roger Bresnahan* † | 37 | 3 | 34 | |
Sam Crawford* † | 37 | 37 | 0 | |
Cristóbal Torriente* | 32 | 0 | 0 | Includes 32 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete) |
Casey Stengel* | 30 | 0 | 30 | |
Freddie Lindstrom* | 28 | 0 | 28 | |
Al Kaline* | 22 | 22 | 0 | |
Willard Brown* | 21 | 0 | 0 | Includes 21 in Negro American League (incomplete) |
Chick Hafey* | 21 | 0 | 21 | |
Heinie Manush* | 21 | 21 | 0 | |
Billy Southworth* | 16 | 5 | 11 | |
Craig Biggio* | 15 | 0 | 15 | |
Rickey Henderson* | 15 | 14 | 1 | |
Carl Yastrzemski* | 15 | 15 | 0 | |
Mel Ott* | 14 | 0 | 14 | |
Elmer Flick* † | 13 | 13 | 0 | |
Stan Musial* | 13 | 0 | 13 | |
Hank Aaron* | 12 | 0 | 12 | |
Pete Hill* | 11 | 0 | 0 | Includes 11 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete) |
Joe Kelley* † | 11 | 6 | 5 | |
Harry Heilmann* | 9 | 9 | 0 | |
Dave Winfield* | 9 | 1 | 8 | |
Tim Raines* | 8 | 0 | 8 | |
Tony Gwynn* | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
Billy Hamilton* † | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
Reggie Jackson* | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
Lou Brock* | 6 | 0 | 6 | |
Martín Dihigo* | 6 | 0 | 0 | Includes 3 in Negro National League (second), 3 in Eastern Colored League (incomplete) |
Hugh Duffy* † | 6 | 5 | 1 | |
Ralph Kiner* | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
Honus Wagner* † | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
Paul Molitor* | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
Larry Walker* | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
Joe Medwick* | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
Monte Irvin* | 1 | 0 | 0 | Includes 1 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete) |
George Davis* † | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Ed Delahanty* † | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Ned Hanlon* † | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Jim O'Rourke* † | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
John Montgomery Ward* † | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Harry Wright* † | 0 | 0 | 0 |
References
- ^ "Tris Speaker Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ Jensen, Don. "Tris Speaker Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ "Tris Speaker Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
External links
- "Career Leaders & Records for Assists as CF (s.1901)". Baseball-Reference.com.