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Show FEW BATTERS ABLE TO STICK AT .320 Only 24 Since 1871 Have Hit at That Figure. Just two dozen batsmen out of the more than 5,000 regulars who played professional baseball in the big leagues since the sport was inaugurated in 1871 have maintained a batting average aver-age of .320 or better over a ten-year period. Of these 24 select players, eight, or one-third of the number, are playing ball today. They are: Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, George Sisler, Trls Speaker, Babe Ruth, Harry Heilmann, Eddie Roush and Eddie Collins. The first four named placed their name near the top of the heap. Only one of the ancients, Pete Browning, of the eighties, broke into the snobbish circle of swat. Cobb w'ith a lifetime average of .369 comes first; then Hornsby with .363 ; with Browning batting .353 for his dozen years of play.. The others with their averages are : Sisler, .352; Speaker, .349; James O'Neill, .348; Dan Brouthers, .348; Ed Delehanty, .346; Babe Ruth, .346; Willie Wil-lie Keeler, .345 ; W. R. Hamilton, .344 ; Jess Burkett, .342; Cap Anson, .341; Nap Lajoie, .338 ; Sam Thompson, .337; Harry Heilmann, .330; Rousch, 334 ; John McGraw, .334 ; Mike Donlin, .334 ; Eddie Collins, .333 ; Hugh Duffy, .330; Hans Wagner, .329; Barry, .323; G. Van Haltren, .322. Cobb leads those with, the greatest total of hits, with 3,823, and the others with more than 3,000 are Speaker, Anson, Lajoie, Eddie Collins and Wagner. Wag-ner. Anson played the longest . term of years 27, while Cobb and Lajoie totalled to-talled 21 each. Sisler and O'Neill have the shortest term of years in the register, with the minimum ten each. |