List of Major League Baseball career fielding errors as a center fielder 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. 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.

The list of career leaders is dominated by players from the early 20th century; only three of the top 25 players were active after 1953. Only nine of the top 71 single-season totals were recorded after 1927, only one after 1939; only five of the top 183 totals were recorded after 1964. To a large extent, the leaders reflect longevity rather than lower skill. Tris Speaker, who holds the modern (post-1900) record of 227 errors committed as a center fielder, is often regarded as the greatest outfielder in history, setting records for putouts and assists; Willie Mays, whose 139 errors are the most by a center fielder since 1930, 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. Although efforts to distinguish between the three positions regarding games played during this period and reconstruct the separate totals have been largely successful, separate error totals are unavailable; players whose totals are missing the figures for pre-1901 games are notated in the table below. Tris Speaker is the post-1900 leader in career errors committed as a center fielder with 227; Ty Cobb (208) is second, and is the only other center fielder to commit over 200 career errors. Lorenzo Cain, who had 39 errors through the 2022 season to place him tied for 130th 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
E as CF	Total career errors committed as a center fielder
*	Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame
†	Denotes total is missing figures for pre-1901 games

List

Rank	Player	E as LF
1	Tris Speaker *	227
2	Ty Cobb *	208
3	Clyde Milan	192
4	Max Carey *	179
5	Cy Seymour †	143
6	Willie Mays *	139
7	Edd Roush *	134
8	Earl Averill *	122
9	Willie Davis	121
10	Dode Paskert	111
11	Richie Ashburn *	106
	Doc Cramer	106
13	Cy Williams	102
14	Joe DiMaggio *	100
15	Ginger Beaumont †	99
16	Rebel Oakes	92
	Burt Shotton	92
18	Sam Chapman	91
19	Taylor Douthit	90
20	Dom DiMaggio	89
21	Earle Combs *	88
22	Hi Myers	87
23	Baby Doll Jacobson	86
24	Hack Wilson *	84
25	Sam Rice *	80
26	Kenny Lofton	78
	Willie McGee	78
	Lloyd Waner *	78
29	Bill Bruton	77
	Johnny Mostil	77
	Vada Pinson	77
	Ray Powell	77
33	Ken Griffey Jr. *	76
	Garry Maddox	76
35	Benny Kauff	75
	Tilly Walker	75
37	Sam West	72
38	Wally Berger	71
	Fred Schulte	71
40	Johnny Bates	70
	Ron LeFlore	70
	Bill Virdon	70
43	Mickey Mantle *	67
	Homer Smoot	67
	Roy Thomas †	67
46	Tommy Leach †	66
47	Joe Birmingham	65
	Rick Monday	65
	Devon White	65
50	Mike Cameron	64
	Chick Stahl †	64

Rank	Player	E as LF
52	Steve Finley	63
	Charlie Hemphill †	63
	Danny Hoffman	63
55	Jimmy Barrett †	61
	Emmet Heidrick †	61
57	Carlos Beltrán	60
58	Tommie Agee	59
	Lance Johnson	59
60	Marquis Grissom	58
	Chet Lemon	58
	Jack Smith	58
	Duke Snider *	58
64	Vince DiMaggio	57
	Mike Kreevich	57
	Nemo Leibold	57
	Fred Snodgrass	57
68	Adam Jones	56
	Fielder Jones †	56
	Omar Moreno	56
	Jigger Statz	56
72	Ben Chapman	55
	Mickey Rivers	55
74	César Cedeño	54
	Kiki Cuyler *	54
	Jim Edmonds	54
	Curt Flood	54
	Billy North	54
	Turkey Stearnes *	54 (includes incomplete Negro league totals)
	Jimmy Wynn	54
81	Paul Blair	53
82	John Dobbs	52
83	Vin Campbell	51
	Happy Felsch	51
	Harry Rice	51
86	Ping Bodie	50
	Larry Doby *	50
	Rick Manning	50
	Lloyd Moseby	50
90	Dave Fultz †	49
	Fred Lynn	49
92	Terry Moore	48
	Reggie Smith	48
	Amos Strunk	48
95	Al Simmons *	47
	Jo-Jo White	47
	Bernie Williams	47
98	Andre Dawson *	46
	Ira Flagstead	46
	Cliff Heathcote	46
	Dwayne Murphy	46
	Gee Walker	46

Other Hall of Famers

Player	E			Other leagues, notes
Player	MLB	American League	National League	Other leagues, notes
Kirby Puckett*	42	42	0
Oscar Charleston*	38	0	0	Includes incomplete Negro league totals
Cool Papa Bell*	36	0	0	Includes incomplete Negro league totals
Sam Crawford* †	31	31	0
Billy Southworth*	26	4	22
Robin Yount*	25	25	0
Rickey Henderson*	24	22	2
Casey Stengel*	24	0	24
Chick Hafey*	22	0	22
Heinie Manush*	22	22	0
Willard Brown*	21	0	0	Includes incomplete Negro league totals
Roger Bresnahan* †	20	5	15
Cristóbal Torriente*	16	0	0	Includes incomplete Negro league totals