List of Major League Baseball career double plays as a right fielder leaders

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Harry Hooper, the all-time leader in career double plays by a right fielder

In baseball statistics, a double play (denoted as DP) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. One double play is recorded for every defensive player who participates in the play, regardless of how many of the outs in which they were directly involved, and is counted in addition to whatever putouts and assists might also apply. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs.[1] The center fielder (CF) is one of the three outfielders, the defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. Center field is the area of the outfield directly in front of a person standing at home plate and facing beyond the pitcher's mound. The outfielders' duty is 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. Generally having the most territory to cover, the center fielder is usually the fastest of the three outfielders, although this can also depend on the relative strength of their throwing arms and the configuration of their home field, due to the deepest part of center field being the farthest point from the infield and home plate. The center fielder normally plays behind the shortstop and second baseman, who play in or near the infield; unlike catchers and most infielders (excepting first basemen), who are virtually exclusively right-handed, center fielders can be either right- or left-handed. In the scoring system used to record defensive plays, the center fielder is assigned the number 8.

Right fielders are most commonly credited with a double play when they throw the ball to an infielder who tags a runner attempting to advance on the basepaths, even on a caught fly ball that results in an out (see tag up); of special importance are throws to the catcher if the runner is trying to reach home plate to score a run, perhaps on a sacrifice fly. Left fielders will often record assists by throwing out runners who try to advance farther than the batter, such as going from first to third base on a single, or batter/runners who try to stretch a hit into a longer one. Outfielders also earn double plays on relay throws to infielders after particularly deep fly balls, by throwing to a base to record an out on an appeal play, or in situations where they might deflect a fly ball before another defensive player makes the catch; in extraordinary instances, right fielders have occasionally recorded double plays by throwing out batters at first base after fielding uncaught line drives that reached them quickly. Outfielders record far fewer double plays than other players due to the difficulty of making an accurate throw in time to retire a runner from a great distance; middle infielders routinely record more double plays in a single season than outfielders do in their entire careers. Double plays are an important statistic for outfielders, giving a greater indication of a left fielder's throwing arm than double plays by infielders do. In recent years, some sabermetricians have begun referring to assists by outfielders as baserunner kills.

Harry Hooper is the all-time leader in career double plays as a right fielder with 86;[2][3][4] he is the only right fielder with more than 80 career double plays. Jason Heyward, who had 20 double plays through the 2023 season to place him tied for 82nd all-time, is the leader among active players.

Key[edit]

Rank Rank amongst leaders in career double plays. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player (2024 DPs) Number of recorded double plays during the 2024 Major League Baseball season
MLB Total career double plays as a center 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]

Jason Heyward, the active leader in double plays by a right fielder and tied for 82nd all-time.
Mel Ott holds the National League record.
  • Stats updated as of the end of the 2023 season.
Rank Player (2024 DPs) Double plays as a right fielder Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
1 Harry Hooper* 86 86 0
2 Mel Ott* 59 0 59
3 Sam Rice* 55 55 0
4 Paul Waner* 53 0 53
5 Sam Crawford* † 50 38 12
6 Curt Walker 46 0 46
7 Jesse Barfield 45 45 0
Ross Youngs* 45 0 45
9 Dwight Evans 42 42 0
Chief Wilson 42 0 42
11 Hank Aaron* 40 0 40
Roberto Clemente* 40 0 40
Tommy Griffith 40 0 40
Larry Walker* 40 0 40
15 John Titus 39 0 39
16 Bobby Bonds 38 15 23
Harry Heilmann* 38 33 5
Mike Mitchell 38 0 38
19 Frank Schulte 37 4 33
20 Chuck Klein* 36 0 36
21 Cliff Heathcote 34 0 34
22 George Browne 33 2 31
Kiki Cuyler* 33 0 33
Elmer Flick* † 33 26 7
Wally Moses 33 33 0
Rusty Staub 33 3 30
Casey Stengel* 33 0 33
28 Vladimir Guerrero* 32 10 22
Willie Keeler* † 32 24 8
30 Shano Collins 31 31 0
31 Jermaine Dye 30 29 1
32 Harry Lumley 30 0 30
Jack Tobin 30 25 0 Includes 5 in Federal League
34 Johnny Callison 29 1 28
Enos Slaughter* 29 2 27
36 Tom Brunansky 28 25 3
Ty Cobb* 28 28 0
Steve Evans 28 0 20 Includes 8 in Federal League
Max Flack 28 0 24 Includes 4 in Federal League
Al Kaline* 28 28 0
Bob Meusel 28 27 1
Socks Seybold † 28 28 0
Elmer Smith 28 25 3
44 Bruce Campbell 27 27 0
Tommy Henrich 27 27 0
Dave Parker 27 0 27
Billy Southworth* 27 1 26
Dave Winfield* 27 11 16
49 José Bautista 26 26 0
Jay Buhner 26 26 0
Reggie Jackson* 26 26 0
Danny Moeller 26 26 1
53 Dante Bichette 25 13 12
Gavvy Cravath 25 0 25
Jeff Francoeur 25 7 18
Carl Furillo 25 0 25
Tommy Holmes 25 0 25
Sixto Lezcano 25 14 11
Ron Northey 25 0 25
60 Jack Clark 24 0 24
José Guillén 24 10 14
Tony Gwynn* 24 0 24
Willard Marshall 24 0 24
64 Patsy Donovan † 23 5 18
Shawn Green 23 14 9
Babe Herman 23 0 23
Tim Salmon 23 23 0
Jimmy Sebring 23 0 23
Sammy Sosa 23 1 22
Darryl Strawberry 23 1 22
Dixie Walker 23 1 22
Glenn Wilson 23 4 19
73 Bing Miller 22 22 0
Rubén Sierra 22 22 0
Ichiro Suzuki 22 22 0
76 Bobby Abreu 21 9 12
Rocky Colavito 21 21 0
George Harper 21 2 19
Raúl Mondesí 21 7 14
Danny Murphy † 21 19 0 Includes 2 in Federal League
Bill Nicholson 21 0 21
82 Danny Green † 20 20 0
Jason Heyward (0) 20 0 20
Orlando Merced 20 5 15
Paul O'Neill 20 15 5
Tony Oliva* 20 20 0
Babe Ruth* 20 20 0
Homer Summa 20 20 0
89 Jackie Jensen 19 19 0
Magglio Ordóñez 19 19 0
Braggo Roth 19 19 0
92 Jeromy Burnitz 18 3 15
Rob Deer 18 0 18
Wilbur Good † 18 2 16
Willie Kirkland 18 9 9
Don Mueller 18 1 17
Trot Nixon 18 18 0
Ellis Valentine 18 1 17
Vic Wertz 18 18 0
100 Harold Baines* 17 17 0
Jay Bruce 17 5 12

Other Hall of Famers[edit]

Player Double plays as a right fielder Other leagues, notes
MLB American League National League
Stan Musial* 17 0 17
Frank Robinson* 16 7 9
Andre Dawson* 15 0 15
Lou Brock* 9 0 9
Goose Goslin* 8 8 0
Kirby Puckett* 7 7 0
Max Carey* 6 0 6
Billy Williams* 6 0 6
Hack Wilson* 6 0 6
Todd Helton* 0 0 0
Joe Mauer* 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. ^ "Official Baseball Rules (2022 Edition): Rule 9.11" (PDF). Major League Baseball. Retrieved 23 Dec 2022.
  2. ^ "Harry Hooper Career Stats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  3. ^ Zingg - Reed, Paul - E. A. (Betsy). "Harry Hooper Bio". Society For American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  4. ^ "Harry Hooper Hall of Fame Profile". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 1, 2021.

External links[edit]

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