Lou Gehrig vs Ted Williams

4of 9 lines

5of 9 lines

Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams compared on their MLB careers: Lou Gehrig played 17 seasons, 1923 to 1939, Ted Williams 19 seasons, 1939 to 1960. Lou Gehrig has .340 batting average to Ted Williams's .344. Lou Gehrig won 8 titles.

Who has the better career numbers?

Ted Williams leads in 5 of the 9 lines, Lou Gehrig in 4. Bold marks the better figure; playing time — games, minutes, at-bats, innings — is not scored.

Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams career totals

2,164	GP	2,292
8,001	AB	7,706
1,888, better	R	1,798
2,721, better	H	2,654
493	HR	521, better
1,995, better	RBI	1,839
102, better	SB	24
0.3	AVG	0.3, better
0.4	OBP	0.5, better
0.6	SLG	0.6, better
1.1	OPS	1.1, better

How do they compare in the postseason?

Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams postseason

34	GP	7
119	AB	25
30, better	R	2
43, better	H	5
10, better	HR	0
35, better	RBI	1
0	SB	0
0.4, 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

Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams all-time places

29th (493)	Home runs	20th (521), better
63rd (2,721), better	Hits	76th (2,654)
5th (1,995), 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

Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams titles and awards

8, better	Championships	—
1	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.

Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams season by season

1st	1923	.423, better	1	9	1939	.327	31, better	145, better
2nd	1924	.500, better	0	5	1940	.344	23, better	113, better
3rd	1925	.295	20	68	1941	.406, better	37, better	120, better
4th	1926	.313	16	112	1942	.356, better	36, better	137, better
5th	1927	.373, better	47, better	175, better	1946	.342	38	123
6th	1928	.374, better	27	142, better	1947	.343	32, better	114
7th	1929	.300	35, better	126	1948	.369, better	25	127, better
8th	1930	.379, better	41	174, better	1949	.343	43, better	159
9th	1931	.341, better	46, better	184, better	1950	.317	28	97
10th	1932	.349, better	34, better	151, better	1951	.318	30	126
11th	1933	.334	32, better	139, better	1952	.400, better	1	3
12th	1934	.363	49, better	165, better	1953	.407, better	13	34
13th	1935	.329	30, better	119, better	1954	.345, better	29	89
14th	1936	.354	49, better	152, better	1955	.356, better	28	83
15th	1937	.351, better	37, better	159, better	1956	.345	24	82
16th	1938	.295	29	114, better	1957	.388, better	38, better	87
17th	1939	.143	0	1	1958	.328, better	26, better	85, better
18th	—	—	—	—	1959	.254	10	43
19th	—	—	—	—	1960	.316	29	72

What the columns mean: AVG · HR · RBI