Jesse Burkett

The .400 batting average remains the domain of only the greatest hitters baseball has known. Jesse Burkett visited that rarified air twice in his career, helping him lay claim to the title as one of baseball’s best hitters. Born Dec. 4, 1868, in Wheeling, W.Va., Burkett made his pro baseball debut in 1888 as a pitcher, winning 27 games for a minor league team in Scranton, Pa. The next season, Burkett went 39-6 for a team in Worcester, Mass., then surfaced in the big leagues in 1890 with the New York Giants.

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Career: 75 HR, .338 BA (18th), 952 RBI, LF, HOF in 1946, Spiders/Browns/... 1890-1905, b:L/t:L, 3x BA Leader, born in WV 1868, died 1953, Crab

Jesse Burkett baseball stats with batting stats, pitching stats and fielding stats, along with uniform numbers, salaries, quotes, career stats and biographical data presented by Baseball Almanac.

A crafty hitter and disputatious competitor, Jesse Burkett won three National League batting titles from 1895 to 1901 before finishing his 16-year-career in the American League with a lifetime .338 batting average. Twice a .400 hitter, Burkett stands larger in the record books than he did in real life. Upon his election to the Hall of Fame in 1946, one writer called the left-handed Burkett a "terrible and fearsome foe," adding, "We've often wondered what he would have done had they used in his day that rabbit ball with which Babe Ruth set his records."

Jesse Cail Burkett (December 4, 1868 – May 27, 1953), nicknamed "Crab", was a left fielder in Major League Baseball from 1890 to 1905. He batted over .400 twice. After his playing career, Burkett managed in the minor leagues. He was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.