The best leadoff men in baseball history

By almost any measure, Henderson is the best leadoff man who ever lived. Among batters in the leadoff spot, he tops all comers in games, runs, hits, home runs, stolen bases and walks. He's also fourth in on-base percentage and 17th in OPS.

It was a long wait, but Raines finally made it into the Hall of Fame after a deserving career as a leadoff man. The outfielder hit .294/.385/.425 with 808 steals.

The career stolen base king until Rickey Henderson broke his record, Brock led the league in steals eight times and was a career .293 hitter. He also had some pop, with a career .410 slugging percentage.

A Hall of Famer who played for some of the greatest teams ever with the Yankees in the '20s and '30s, Combs (right) was a machine in the leadoff spot, hitting .325/.397/.462.

Lofton set the table for some of the best hitting teams of the last 25 years in Cleveland. He hit .299/.372/.423 with 622 stolen bases for his career.

Boggs has the third highest on-base percentage in history as a leadoff man at .413, and he also spent a significant part of his career hitting second and third. As a leadoff man, Boggs swiped only nine bases in 931 games but hit .321/.413/.428.

Ichiro is a future Hall of Famer and has made quite a career in the leadoff spot. Batting in the first spot, he's a career .324 hitter with a .367 on-base percentage and .786 OPS. He's added 436 stolen bases.

Soriano can be overlooked as a leadoff hitter because he batted in the middle of the order for much of his career. But he spent more time at leadoff than any other spot. He slashed .288/.338/.538 as a leadoff man, hitting 197 home runs and swiping 161 bases in 771 games.

Biggio spent much of his career as a leadoff man in Houston, hitting .284/.370/.447 with 181 home runs and 238 stolen bases. He had 1,800 of his 3,060 career hits in that spot.

The all-time hits leader spent more time in the leadoff spot than any other in the batting order. He had nearly 3,000 hits from that spot and hit .308/.379/.419 with 125 stolen bases for his career as the leadoff man.

One of the best pure hitters ever, the current Twins manager hit .300/.365/.439 with 370 stolen bases as a leadoff man during his Hall of Fame career.

Barry's father made three All-Star appearances during his career and was quite the power and speed threat. As a leadoff man, he hit .275/.361/.480 with 177 home runs and 260 stolen bases in 915 games.

Butler was an on-base machine for much of his career and a fine leadoff man. He hit .288/.374/.372 with 483 stolen bases batting leadoff over his career.

A Hall of Fame leadoff man, Ashburn made five All-Star teams and won two batting titles. In the leadoff spot, he hit .303/.399/.378 with 166 stolen bases.

Rollins could be a future Hall of Famer and had some impressive seasons as a leadoff man in Philadelphia. Hitting in that spot, he slashed .270/.330/.442 with 181 home runs and 322 stolen bases.

Blackmon has become a star in Colorado with most of his work done in the leadoff spot. Through eight-plus years with the Rockies, he's appeared in 792 games in the leadoff spot, hitting .307/.364/.524 with 148 home runs and 114 stolen bases.

Bishop played 12 seasons between the Philadelphia Athletics and Red Sox from 1924-35 and has the highest career on-base percentage in the leadoff spot at .424. Unfortunately his skill set wasn't appreciated at the time.

Stanky (left) was a three-time All-Star in the late '40s and early '50s, and he was a walk machine in the leadoff spot. He had more than 130 walks three times and hit .271/.417/.359 for his career as a leadoff man.

Downing broke out as a power hitter in his 30s and was also one of the most patient hitters in the game in his prime. He hit .282/.386/.474 as a leadoff man with 104 home runs in 606 games.

Damon retired short of 3,000 hits and probably won't be voted into the Hall of Fame. Still, he's one of the best leadoff men ever, hitting .288/.354/.438 with 307 stolen bases in that spot.

Sizemore was a superstar for the Indians early in his career, but unfortunately, injuries hindered his career. However, Sizemore has the ninth-highest OPS in the leadoff spot at .843. He had 122 home runs and 125 steals in 741 games as a leadoff men during his career.

Anderson was extremely productive for the Orioles during his career, mostly in the leadoff spot. He played 1,311 games as a leadoff man, hitting .260/.367/.437 with 176 home runs and 256 stolen bases.

Morgan actually spent significantly more time as a No. 2 and No. 3 hitter than as the leadoff man during his career. Still, he led off in 469 games and hit a robust .278/.400/.434 with 83 stolen bases.

A Hall of Famer and seven-time batting champ, Carew mostly hit second and third during his career but did play 370 games in the leadoff spot. While setting the table, he hit .319/.386/.408 with 43 stolen bases.

A four-time All-Star with the Cubs in the '30s and '40s, Hack was an on-base machine. The third baseman hit .302/.398/.399 with 115 steals as a leadoff man.