Hit to Hit Comparison of Ty Cobb's and Miguel Cabrera's Batting Stats

Ty Cobb

Miguel Cabrera

There have been may great hitters throughout the history of Major League Baseball, but perhaps none better than the great Ty Cobb. From 1905-1928 Cobb dominated the batter's box, leaving pitchers feeling hopeless when he stepped to the plate. To this day Cobb's name is littered throughout Major League Baseball's record book. Cobb's hitting prowess makes it hard to compare anyone's batting skill to his in today's game. The strongest comparison that can be made is between Ty Cobb and Miguel Cabrera. Both Cobb and Cabrera have worn the Detroit Tigers uniform for most of their career and are ranked in the top five Detroit Tiger players on ranker.com. Cobb winning out as being number one. Here are the "hit to hit" stats on Cobb's and Cabrera's hitting career. 

Batting Average

• Ty Cobb has the best career batting average in league history at .366. Cobb lead the league in batting average a total of 11 times.
• Miguel Cabrera is first among current MLB players in career batting average at .316 (63rd all time). Cabrera has lead the league in batter average a total of 5 times.  

Hits

• Cobb is 2nd all time in hits with 4,189. He lead the league 8 times in this category.
• Cabrera is 4th among active players in hits with 2,676. This puts him in 72nd place all time.

Doubles

• Cobb ranks 4th all time for the most doubles with 724.
• Cabrera is 3rd among active players in double with 556. This puts him in 30th all time.

On-base Percentage

Newspaper Article from ISU's Special Collections Unit

regarding Ty Cobb's new world record for most
total bases in one game

• Cobb is 9th all time in on-base percentage at .433. He lead the league 7 times in this category.
• Cabrera ranks 4 among active players in on-base percentage at .395. This ranks 78th all time.

Runs Batted In

• Ty Cobb places 9th all time in RBIs with 1,944.
• Miguel Cabrera is 3rd among active players with 1,635 RBIs. This places him in 33rd all time.

Slugging Percentage

• Cobb ranks 73rd all time in slugging percentage at .512.
• Cabrera is 3rd among active players and ranks 25th all time at .551. 

A few more hitting categories that Cobb ranks among the best include: runs scored (2nd), singles (2nd), triples (2nd), single season batting average (3rd & 5th), and longest hitting streak (6th).

One thing I find unbelievable is that Ty Cobb batted .420 in 1911, .409 in 1912, and .401 in 1922. There are only 20 players who have ever hit .400 or better for a season and only 5 who accomplished this feat more than once.

Click Here For a Full List of Ty Cobb's All Time Batting Stats, Records & Awards

Click Here For a Full List of Miguel Cabrera's All Time Batting Stats, Records & Awards

On the Right: Picture from Braathen's Ty Cobb Biography

"Ty Cobb - The Idol of Baseball Fandom" 

On the Left: Newspaper article from Braathen's research the biography.