List of Major League Baseball career fielding errors as an outfielder leaders

In baseball statistics, an error is an act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to advance one or more bases or allows an at bat to continue after the batter should have been put out. An outfielder (OF) is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter, who are identified as the left fielder (LF), the center fielder (CF), and the right fielder (RF). An outfielder's 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. Outfielders normally play behind the six other members of the defense who play in or near the infield; unlike catchers and most infielders (excepting first basemen), who are virtually exclusively right-handed, outfielders can be either right- or left-handed. In the scoring system used to record defensive plays, the outfielders are assigned the numbers 7 (left field), 8 (center field) and 9 (right field).

The list of career leaders is dominated by players from the 19th century when fielding equipment was very rudimentary; baseball gloves only began to steadily gain acceptance in the 1880s, and were not uniformly worn until the mid-1890s, resulting in a much lower frequency of defensive miscues. The top 13 players in career errors began playing in the 19th century, most of them playing their entire careers before 1900; none of the 13 were active after 1905, and none of the top 29 were active after 1929. Most of the top 78 played entirely in the 19th century, with only four making their major league debut after 1920; only one was active after 1945. The top 42 single-season totals were all recorded before 1896, the top 100 were recorded before 1904, and the top 459 were recorded before 1937. To a large extent, the leaders reflect longevity rather than lower skill. Roberto Clemente, who became the first National League (NL) outfielder in over 40 years to commit 140 errors, won twelve Gold Glove Awards for defensive excellence.

Because game accounts and box scores often did not distinguish between the outfield positions, there has been some difficulty in determining precise defensive statistics prior to 1901; because of this, and because of the similarity in their roles, defensive statistics for the three positions are frequently combined. Tom Brown, who retired in 1898 after setting major league records for career games and assists as an outfielder, is the all-time leader in career errors committed by an outfielder with 492, more than twice as many as any outfielder who began playing after 1910; he is the only outfielder to be charged with more than 400 career errors. Dummy Hoy (394), Paul Hines (385), Jesse Burkett (383), George Gore (368), Jimmy Ryan (366), George Van Haltren (358), and Ned Hanlon (350) are the only other outfielders to commit more than 300 career errors. Justin Upton, who had 89 errors through the 2022 season to place him tied for 222nd all-time, is the leader among active players.

Key

Rank	Rank amongst leaders in career errors committed. A blank field indicates a tie.
Player	Name of player
Main pos.	Primary outfield position played during career (LF, CF or RF)
E as OF	Total career errors committed as an outfielder
*	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame

List

Ty Cobb's 271 errors as an outfielder are the American League record; he also holds the major league record for games as an outfielder.

Rank	Player	Main Pos.	E as OF
1	Tom Brown	CF	492
2	Dummy Hoy	CF	394
3	Paul Hines	CF	385
4	Jesse Burkett *	LF	383
5	George Gore	CF	368
6	Jimmy Ryan	CF	366
7	George Van Haltren	CF	358
8	Ned Hanlon *	CF	350
9	Jim O'Rourke *	LF	297
10	Tom York	LF	291
11	Billy Hamilton *	CF	289
12	Abner Dalrymple	LF	285
13	George Wood	LF	276
14	Ty Cobb *	CF	271
15	Pete Browning	CF	269
16	Tommy McCarthy *	RF	262
17	King Kelly *	RF	259
	Orator Shafer	RF	259
19	Fred Clarke *	LF	256
20	Charley Jones	LF	253
21	Pete Hotaling	CF	246
22	Blondie Purcell	LF	241
23	Max Carey *	CF	235
24	Harry Stovey	LF	230
25	Walt Wilmot	LF	228
26	Tris Speaker *	CF	222
27	Hugh Duffy *	CF	220
28	Clyde Milan	CF	216
29	Kip Selbach	LF	214
30	Goose Goslin *	LF	209
31	Emmett Seery	LF	203
32	Patsy Donovan	RF	201
33	Mike Smith	LF	200
34	Jimmy Sheckard	LF	197
35	Lou Brock *	LF	196
	Jack Manning	RF	196
37	Cliff Carroll	LF	194
38	Dick Johnston	CF	193
39	Ed Swartwood	RF	187
	Mike Tiernan	RF	187
41	Curt Welch	CF	185
42	Sam Rice *	RF	184
	Burt Shotton	CF	184
44	Zack Wheat *	LF	183
45	Paul Radford	RF	179
46	Joe Hornung	LF	178
	Jack Remsen	CF	178
48	Cy Seymour	CF	177
49	Mike Griffin	CF	174
50	Sam Thompson *	RF	172

Rank	Player	Main Pos.	E as OF
51	Tip O'Neill	LF	169
52	John Cassidy	RF	168
53	Tilly Walker	LF	167
	Jimmy Wolf	RF	167
55	Ed Delahanty *	LF	166
56	Chief Roseman	CF	162
57	Jim McTamany	CF	161
58	Ned Cuthbert	LF	160
59	Joe Sommer	LF	157
60	Roy Johnson	LF	156
61	Mike Dorgan	RF	155
	Babe Ruth *	RF	155
63	Jimmy McAleer	CF	154
	Gee Walker	LF	154
65	Eddie Burke	LF	153
66	Harry Hooper *	RF	151
67	Bill Crowley	RF	150
	Jimmy Slagle	CF	150
	Bobby Veach	LF	150
70	Duff Cooley	LF	146
	Dave Eggler	CF	146
	Andy Leonard	LF	146
	Hugh Nicol	RF	146
74	Ed Daily	RF	145
	Elmer Flick	RF	145
	Fred Treacey	LF	145
77	Fielder Jones	CF	144
	Joe Kelley *	LF	144
79	Sam Crawford *	RF	143
	Ducky Holmes	LF	143
	Mike Mansell	LF	143
	Willie Mays *	CF	143
83	Steve Brodie	CF	142
	Patrick Gillespie	LF	142
	Reggie Jackson *	RF	142
	Dave Parker	RF	142
87	Dick Harley	LF	141
	Rickey Henderson *	LF	141
	Bob Johnson	LF	141
90	Roberto Clemente *	RF	140
91	Ginger Beaumont	CF	139
92	Willie Keeler *	RF	138
93	George Browne	RF	137
	John Coleman	RF	137
	Tommy Dowd	RF	137
	Edd Roush *	CF	137
	Ken Williams	LF	137
98	Billy Sunday	RF	136
99	Mike Donlin	CF	135
	Chuck Klein *	RF	135

Other Hall of Famers

Player	Main Pos.	E
Paul Waner *	RF	132
Earl Averill *	CF	126
Vladimir Guerrero *	RF	125
Kiki Cuyler *	RF	121
Hank Aaron *	RF	117
Harry Heilmann *	RF	117
Ross Youngs *	RF	116
Ted Williams *	LF	113
Richie Ashburn *	CF	110
Joe DiMaggio *	CF	105
Hack Wilson *	CF	105
Billy Williams *	LF	101
Mel Ott *	RF	98
Earle Combs *	CF	95
Dave Winfield *	RF	95
Al Simmons *	LF	94
Andre Dawson *	RF	93
Minnie Miñoso *	LF	92 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Billy Southworth *	RF	92
Ken Griffey Jr. *	CF	89
Casey Stengel *	RF	87
Lloyd Waner *	CF	87
Joe Medwick *	LF	84
Willie Stargell *	LF	84
Heinie Manush *	LF	83
Mickey Mantle *	CF	82
Enos Slaughter *	RF	82
Carl Yastrzemski *	LF	82
Chick Hafey *	LF	80
Ralph Kiner *	LF	80
John Montgomery Ward *	CF	78
Al Kaline *	RF	73
Frank Robinson *	RF	68
Jim Rice *	LF	66
Duke Snider *	CF	66
Deacon White *	RF	66
Stan Musial *	LF	64
Larry Doby *	CF	63 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Tony Gwynn *	RF	62
Tony Oliva *	RF	61
Tim Raines *	LF	54
Turkey Stearnes *	CF	54 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Kirby Puckett *	CF	51
Larry Walker *	RF	48
Harry Wright *	CF	48
Harold Baines *	RF	47
George Davis *	CF	47
Cool Papa Bell *	CF	42 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Oscar Charleston *	CF	39 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Robin Yount *	CF	32
Cap Anson *	LF	31
Monte Irvin *	LF	28 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Honus Wagner *	RF	28
Roger Bresnahan *	CF	26
Cristóbal Torriente *	CF	25 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Freddie Lindstrom *	CF	24
Willie McCovey *	LF	23
Willard Brown *	CF	20 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Mule Suttles *	LF	20 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Hank Greenberg *	LF	18
Craig Biggio *	CF	15
Orlando Cepeda *	LF	12
Martín Dihigo *	CF	6 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
Pete Hill *	LF	6 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)

References

Baseball-Reference.com