Babe Ruth vs Ted Williams

7of 9 lines

2of 9 lines

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams compared on their MLB careers: Babe Ruth played 22 seasons, 1914 to 1935, Ted Williams 19 seasons, 1939 to 1960. Babe Ruth has .342 batting average to Ted Williams's .344. Babe Ruth won 7 titles.

Who has the better career numbers?

Babe Ruth leads in 7 of the 9 lines, Ted Williams in 2. Bold marks the better figure; playing time — games, minutes, at-bats, innings — is not scored.

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams career totals

2,503	GP	2,292
8,399	AB	7,706
2,174, better	R	1,798
2,873, better	H	2,654
714, better	HR	521
1,983, better	RBI	1,839
123, better	SB	24
0.3	AVG	0.3, better
0.5	OBP	0.5, better
0.7, better	SLG	0.6
1.2, better	OPS	1.1

How do they compare in the postseason?

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams postseason

41	GP	7
129	AB	25
37, better	R	2
42, better	H	5
15, better	HR	0
30, better	RBI	1
4, better	SB	0
0.3, better	AVG	0.2
0.5, better	OBP	0.3
0.7, better	SLG	0.2
1.2, better	OPS	0.5

Where each stands all time

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams all-time places

3rd (714), better	Home runs	20th (521)
45th (2,873), better	Hits	76th (2,654)
6th (1,983), better	RBI	14th (1,839)

Among the MLB players with a career line on file, regular season, counting stats only — the same lists the records pages run on.

Titles and awards

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams titles and awards

7, better	Championships	—
—	AL MVP	2, better

Awards come from the league’s published winner lists; a championship counts a season played for the club that won it.

Season by season

Lined up by career year, not by calendar: each row is the players’ nth season.

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams season by season

1st	1914	.200	0	0	1939	.327, better	31, better	145, better
2nd	1915	.315	4	0	1940	.344, better	23, better	113, better
3rd	1916	.272	3	0	1941	.406, better	37, better	120, better
4th	1917	.325	2	0	1942	.356, better	36, better	137, better
5th	1918	.300	11	0	1946	.342, better	38, better	123, better
6th	1919	.322	29	0	1947	.343, better	32, better	114, better
7th	1920	.376, better	54, better	137, better	1948	.369	25	127
8th	1921	.378, better	59, better	171, better	1949	.343	43	159
9th	1922	.315	35, better	99, better	1950	.317, better	28	97
10th	1923	.393, better	41, better	131, better	1951	.318	30	126
11th	1924	.378	46, better	121, better	1952	.400, better	1	3
12th	1925	.290	25, better	66, better	1953	.407, better	13	34
13th	1926	.372, better	47, better	146, better	1954	.345	29	89
14th	1927	.356	60, better	164, better	1955	.356	28	83
15th	1928	.323	54, better	142, better	1956	.345, better	24	82
16th	1929	.345	46, better	154, better	1957	.388, better	38	87
17th	1930	.359, better	49, better	153, better	1958	.328	26	85
18th	1931	.373, better	46, better	163, better	1959	.254	10	43
19th	1932	.341, better	41, better	137, better	1960	.316	29	72
20th	1933	.301	34	103	—	—	—	—
21st	1934	.288	22	84	—	—	—	—
22nd	1935	.181	6	12	—	—	—	—

What the columns mean: AVG · HR · RBI