List of Major League Baseball career putouts as a left fielder leaders

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Barry Bonds, the all-time leader in putouts by a left fielder

In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by PO or fly out when appropriate) is given to a defensive player who records an out by tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base, catching a batted or thrown ball and tagging a base to put out a batter or runner (a force out), catching a thrown ball and tagging a base to record an out on an appeal play, catching a third strike (a strikeout), catching a batted ball on the fly (a fly out), or being positioned closest to a runner called out for interference. The left fielder (LF) is one of the three outfielders, the defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing toward the pitcher's mound. The outfielders have to try to catch long fly balls before they hit the ground or to quickly catch or retrieve and return to the infield any other balls entering the outfield. The left fielder must also be adept at navigating the area of left field where the foul line approaches the corner of the playing field and the walls of the seating areas. Being the outfielder closest to third base, the left fielder generally does not have to throw as far as the other outfielders to throw out runners advancing around the bases, so they often do not have the strongest throwing arm, but their throws need to be accurate. The left fielder normally plays behind the third baseman and shortstop, who play in or near the infield; unlike catchers and most infielders (excepting first basemen), who are virtually exclusively right-handed, left fielders can be either right- or left-handed. In the scoring system used to record defensive plays, the left fielder is assigned the number 7.

The overwhelming majority of putouts recorded by left fielders, almost to exclusivity, result from catching fly balls. However, in extraordinary circumstances, an outfielder may record a putout by receiving a throw to force out or tag out a runner while covering a base if one or more infielders are out of position to retrieve an errant throw, or by tagging a runner stranded between bases in a rundown play; however, even in such circumstances, outfielders will more typically act as a backup to infielders than cover a base themselves. Historically, putout totals for outfielders rose after 1920 with the end of the dead-ball era; the same circumstances which had kept home run totals low, such as overused baseballs and legal adulterations including the spitball, had similarly hindered the type of power hitting which lent itself to long fly balls. But as strikeout totals have risen in baseball in recent decades, the frequency of other defensive outs including flyouts has declined; as a result, putout totals for outfielders have likewise declined. Through the 2022 season, 17 of the top 20 single-season left field putout totals were recorded between 1920 and 1992; none of the top 39 have been recorded since 1997.

Because game accounts and box scores often did not distinguish between the outfield positions, there has been some difficulty in determining precise defensive statistics before 1901; because of this, and because of the similarity in their roles, defensive statistics for the three positions are frequently combined. Although efforts to distinguish between the three positions regarding games played during this period and reconstruct the separate totals have been largely successful, separate putout totals are unavailable; players whose totals are missing the figures for pre-1901 games are notated in the table below. Because they are expected to cover more territory in the outfield than their counterparts on either side, often being the fastest player of the three, center fielders typically record the highest putout totals; left fielders usually record slightly more putouts than right fielders due to the ball being more frequently hit to the left side of the field. Barry Bonds is the all-time leader in career putouts as a left fielder with 5,226.[1][2] Rickey Henderson (5,215)[3] is second all-time, and the only other player with over 5,000 career putouts as a left fielder.

As of November 2023, no active players are in the top 100 for career putouts as a left fielder. The active leader is current free agent David Peralta in 106th with 1,511.

Key[edit]

Rank Rank amongst leaders in career putouts. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player (2024 POs) Number of recorded putouts during the 2024 Major League Baseball season
MLB Total career putouts as a left fielder in Major League Baseball
* Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame
Denotes total is missing figures for pre-1901 games
Bold Denotes active player[a]

List[edit]

David Peralta, the active leader and 106th all-time in putouts by a left fielder
Rickey Henderson holds the American League record.
Zack Wheat held the major league record for 79 years.
Goose Goslin held the American League record for 59 years.
Roy White led American League left fielders in putouts a record eight times.
Joe Vosmik's 424 putouts in 1932 remain a major league record.
  • Stats updated as of the end of the 2023 season.
Rank Player (2024 POs) Putouts as a left fielder Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
1 Barry Bonds 5,226 0 5,226 Holds the National League single-season record (366 in 1989)
2 Rickey Henderson* 5,215 4,526 689 Held major league record, 2000-2007
3 Zack Wheat* 4,944 107 4,837 Held modern major league record, 1921-2000; held modern National League record, 1921-2004
4 Luis Gonzalez 4,442 233 4,209
5 Goose Goslin * 3,826 3,826 0 Held American League record, 1936-1995
6 Tim Raines* 3,769 1,472 2,297
7 Lou Brock* 3,710 0 3,710
8 Bobby Veach 3,624 3,624 0 Held American League record, 1921-1936; held the single-season record, 1921-1932
9 Ted Williams* 3,541 3,541 0
10 Carl Yastrzemski* 3,521 3,521 0
11 Joe Medwick* 3,455 0 3,455
12 Jimmy Sheckard 3,402 0 3,402 Held modern major league record, 1903-1921; held modern National League record, 1902-1921; held the single-season record, 1903-1904; held NL single-season record, 1903-1905
13 Sherry Magee 3,283 0 3,283 Held single-season record, 1905-1908
14 Bob Johnson 3,243 3,243 0
15 Carl Crawford 3,182 2,819 363
16 Roy White 3,158 3,158 0
17 Carlos Lee 3,049 1,636 1,413
18 Jim Rice* 3,027 3,027 0
19 Charlie Jamieson 2,983 2,983 0
20 George Foster 2,963 20 2,943
21 Minnie Miñoso* 2,934 2,900 34 Negro League totals unavailable
22 Matt Holliday 2,842 189 2,653
23 Billy Williams* 2,811 0 2,811
24 Fred Clarke* † 2,784 0 2,784 Held single-season record, 1908-1921
25 José Cruz 2,773 4 2,769
26 Al Simmons* 2,772 2,635 137
27 Alex Gordon 2,699 2,699 0
28 Garret Anderson 2,675 2,455 220
29 Joe Vosmik 2,613 2,524 89 Holds the single-season record of 424 (set in 1932)
30 Duffy Lewis 2,577 2,577 0 Held American League record, 1916-1921
31 Ralph Kiner* 2,543 142 2,401
32 Heinie Manush* 2,539 2,539 0
33 Greg Vaughn 2,521 1,743 778
34 Ken Williams 2,515 2,392 123
35 Raúl Ibañez 2,510 1,877 633
36 George Burns 2,506 0 2,506
37 Del Ennis 2,481 29 2,452
38 Gary Matthews 2,440 0 2,440
39 Jack Graney 2,307 2,307 0
40 Bibb Falk 2,306 2,306 0
41 Ben Oglivie 2,296 2,296 0
42 Gene Woodling 2,215 2,171 44
43 Jeff Heath 2,214 1,960 254
44 Joe Rudi 2,208 2,208 0
45 Shannon Stewart 2,192 2,192 0
46 Bob Bescher 2,191 0 2,191
47 Jason Bay 2,183 443 1,740
48 Lonnie Smith 2,173 502 1,671
49 Ryan Braun 2,151 0 2,151
50 Vince Coleman 2,109 344 1,765
51 Ron Gant 2,108 53 2,055
52 Albert Belle 2,107 2,107 0
53 Jo-Jo Moore 2,092 0 2,092
54 George Bell 2,080 1,831 249
55 Gus Zernial 2,070 2,070 0
56 Mike Greenwell 2,031 2,031 0
57 Lou Piniella 2,025 2,025 0
58 Pat Burrell 2,016 0 2,016
59 Irish Meusel 1,981 1 1,980
60 Babe Ruth* 1,978 1,955 23
61 Topsy Hartsel 1,976 1,710 266 Held American League record, 1907-1909
62 Carson Bigbee 1,953 0 1,953
63 Hank Sauer 1,941 0 1,941
64 Moisés Alou 1,938 0 1,938
65 Augie Galan 1,918 11 1,907
66 Kevin McReynolds 1,883 375 1,508
67 Alfonso Soriano 1,881 120 1,761
68 Willie Stargell* 1,863 0 1,863
69 Dusty Baker 1,861 106 1,755
70 Greg Luzinski 1,839 0 1,839
71 Charlie Keller 1,834 1,834 0
72 Justin Upton 1,819 1,139 680
73 Cliff Floyd 1,814 31 1,783
74 Bernard Gilkey 1,798 6 1,792
75 Adam Dunn 1,794 18 1,776
76 Steve Kemp 1,786 1,670 116
77 Gary Ward 1,783 1,783 0
78 Patsy Dougherty 1,777 1,777 0 Held American League record, 1911-1916
79 Matty McIntyre 1,749 1,749 0 Held American League record, 1909-1911; held the single-season record, 1904-1905; held AL single-season record, 1904-1916
80 Brett Gardner 1,747 1,747 0
81 Luis Polonia 1,740 1,730 10
82 Dale Mitchell 1,739 1,736 3
83 Willie Horton 1,735 1,735 0
84 Geoff Jenkins 1,690 0 1,690
85 Dan Gladden 1,662 1,646 16
86 Larry Herndon 1,648 1,311 337
87 Steve Henderson 1,635 349 1,286
88 Tommy Davis 1,632 449 1,183
89 Riggs Stephenson 1,629 0 1,629
90 B. J. Surhoff 1,626 1,376 250
91 Rusty Greer 1,621 1,621 0
92 Manny Ramirez 1,597 1,299 298
93 Melky Cabrera 1,590 1,295 295
94 Charlie Maxwell 1,579 1,579 0
95 Phil Bradley 1,575 1,281 294
96 Stan Musial* 1,571 0 1,571
97 Sid Gordon 1,559 0 1,559
98 Willie Wilson 1,552 1,552 0
99 Jeffrey Leonard 1,543 353 1,190
100 Josh Willingham 1,542 624 918

Other Hall of Famers[edit]

Player Putouts as a left fielder Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
Max Carey* 1,500 0 1,500
Chick Hafey* 1,497 0 1,497
Frank Robinson* 1,479 181 1,298
Jesse Burkett* † 1,379 1,072 307 Held modern major league record, 1901-1903; held American League record,
1903-1904, 1905-1907; held modern National League record, 1901-1902;
held single-season record, 1901-1903; held AL single-season record, 1902-1904
Monte Irvin* 1,106 0 1,034 Includes 72 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete)
Enos Slaughter* 974 188 786
Dave Winfield* 838 635 203
Harmon Killebrew* 705 705 0
Kiki Cuyler* 676 0 676
Hank Aaron* 550 3 547
Chipper Jones* 545 0 545
Joe Kelley* † 531 1 530
Ed Delahanty* † 458 279 179
Chuck Klein* 454 0 454
Hank Greenberg* 383 383 0
Willie McCovey* 372 0 372
Hack Wilson* 349 0 349
Earle Combs* 348 348 0
Orlando Cepeda* 340 0 340
Freddie Lindstrom* 323 0 323
Mule Suttles* 269 0 0 Includes 199 in Negro National League (first),
70 in Negro National League (second) (incomplete)
Lloyd Waner* 267 0 267
Cool Papa Bell* 234 0 0 Includes 233 in Negro National League (second),
1 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Mickey Mantle* 191 191 0
Billy Southworth* 182 15 167
Edd Roush* 162 0 82 Includes 80 in Federal League
Craig Biggio* 147 0 147
Robin Yount* 143 143 0
Harry Hooper* 141 141 0
Joe DiMaggio* 136 136 0
Earl Averill* 122 120 2
Cristóbal Torriente* 113 0 0 Includes 113 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Sam Crawford* † 100 89 11
Willard Brown* 65 0 0 Includes 65 in Negro American League (incomplete)
Mel Ott* 50 0 50
Martín Dihigo* 35 0 0 Includes 21 in Negro National League (second), 11 in Eastern Colored League,
3 in American Negro League (incomplete)
Hugh Duffy* † 20 14 6
Todd Helton* 14 0 14
Pete Hill* 14 0 0 Includes 14 in Negro National League (first) (incomplete)
Cap Anson* † 0 0 0
Billy Hamilton* † 0 0 0
Ned Hanlon* † 0 0 0
Tommy McCarthy* † 0 0 0
Jim O'Rourke* † 0 0 0

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or has not played for a full season.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Barry Bonds Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  2. ^ West, Steve. "Barry Bonds Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
  3. ^ "Rickey Henderson Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved July 28, 2021.

External links[edit]