The 50 batters with the most hits, 1871–2021

Every batter on this list is ranked on one number: hits in the regular season between 1871 and 2021. Nothing else is weighed, and the figures each ranking rests on are in the table.

Hits — the leading 15. Every one of the 50 is in the table below.

#	Player	Seasons	Hits	Games	HR	RBI
1	Pete Rose	1963–1986	4,256	3,562	160	1,314
2	Ty Cobb	1905–1928	4,189	3,035	117	1,944
3	Hank Aaron	1954–1976	3,771	3,298	755	2,297
4	Stan Musial	1941–1963	3,630	3,026	475	1,951
5	Tris Speaker	1907–1928	3,514	2,789	117	1,529
6	Derek Jeter	1995–2014	3,465	2,747	260	1,311
7	Cap Anson	1871–1897	3,435	2,524	97	2,075
8	Honus Wagner	1897–1917	3,420	2,794	101	1,733
9	Carl Yastrzemski	1961–1983	3,419	3,308	452	1,844
10	Paul Molitor	1978–1998	3,319	2,683	234	1,307
11	Eddie Collins	1906–1930	3,315	2,826	47	1,300
12	Albert Pujols	2001–2021	3,301	2,971	679	2,150
13	Willie Mays	1951–1973	3,283	2,992	660	1,903
14	Eddie Murray	1977–1997	3,255	3,026	504	1,917
15	Nap Lajoie	1896–1916	3,243	2,480	82	1,599
16	Cal Ripken	1981–2001	3,184	3,001	431	1,695
17	Adrian Beltre	1998–2018	3,166	2,933	477	1,707
18	George Brett	1973–1993	3,154	2,707	317	1,596
19	Paul Waner	1926–1945	3,152	2,549	113	1,309
20	Robin Yount	1974–1993	3,142	2,856	251	1,406
21	Tony Gwynn	1982–2001	3,141	2,440	135	1,138
22	Alex Rodriguez	1994–2016	3,115	2,784	696	2,086
23	Dave Winfield	1973–1995	3,110	2,973	465	1,833
24	Ichiro Suzuki	2001–2019	3,089	2,653	117	780
25	Craig Biggio	1988–2007	3,060	2,850	291	1,175
26	Rickey Henderson	1979–2003	3,055	3,081	297	1,115
27	Rod Carew	1967–1985	3,053	2,469	92	1,015
28	Lou Brock	1961–1979	3,023	2,616	149	900
29	Rafael Palmeiro	1986–2005	3,020	2,831	569	1,835
30	Wade Boggs	1982–1999	3,010	2,440	118	1,014
31	Al Kaline	1953–1974	3,007	2,834	399	1,583
32	Roberto Clemente	1955–1972	3,000	2,433	240	1,305
33	Sam Rice	1915–1934	2,987	2,404	34	1,078
33	Miguel Cabrera	2003–2021	2,987	2,587	502	1,804
35	Sam Crawford	1899–1917	2,961	2,517	97	1,519
36	Frank Robinson	1956–1976	2,943	2,808	586	1,812
37	Jake Beckley	1888–1907	2,938	2,392	87	1,581
38	Barry Bonds	1986–2007	2,935	2,986	762	1,996
39	Willie Keeler	1892–1910	2,932	2,123	33	810
40	Rogers Hornsby	1915–1937	2,930	2,259	301	1,584
41	Al Simmons	1924–1944	2,927	2,215	307	1,827
42	Zack Wheat	1909–1927	2,884	2,410	132	1,248
43	Frankie Frisch	1919–1937	2,880	2,311	105	1,244
44	Omar Vizquel	1989–2012	2,877	2,968	80	951
45	Mel Ott	1926–1947	2,876	2,730	511	1,860
46	Babe Ruth	1914–1935	2,873	2,503	714	2,217
47	Harold Baines	1980–2001	2,866	2,830	384	1,628
48	Jesse Burkett	1890–1905	2,850	2,067	75	952
49	Brooks Robinson	1955–1977	2,848	2,896	268	1,357
50	Ivan Rodriguez	1991–2011	2,844	2,543	311	1,332

How this list is made

Ranked on hits in the regular season, 1871–2021. Players are ranked on that number alone and on nothing else: there is no judgement here about who was better. Where two are level they share a rank, and the list runs past fifty when fiftieth place is shared, because splitting a tie would mean choosing between them on no stated basis.

The Negro Leagues are not in these figures. Major League Baseball recognised the Negro Leagues as major-league in December 2020 and added their statistics to the official record in May 2024. This database does not carry them: Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Buck Leonard and Cool Papa Bell are absent from it altogether, and Satchel Paige appears only from 1948, his American League seasons. These lists are therefore not the complete official record, and that is a limit of the source rather than a judgement about who belongs on them.

Counting statistics only. A rate — an average, a percentage — needs a minimum number of appearances before it means anything, and no such minimum is published that this site could cite. Inventing one would put a number nobody chose at the centre of a ranking. A total needs no cut-off: most goals is a fact with nothing hidden in it.

Some of these careers were not over. Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera played in 2021, the last season this database covers, so their totals are what they had reached by then. This site has no source for what has happened since.

Career figures from the Lahman Baseball Database via the Chadwick Bureau’s Baseball Databank, CC BY-SA 3.0. Regular season only; the post-season is not counted.

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