Batting average
Encyclopedia
Batting average is a statistic
in both cricket
and baseball
that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters
. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.
In cricket, a player's batting average is the total number of runs
he has scored divided by the number of times he has been out
. Since the number of runs a player scores and how often he gets out are primarily measures of his own playing ability, and largely independent of his team mates, batting average is a good metric for an individual player's skill as a batsman. The number is also simple to interpret intuitively, being approximately the average number of runs the batsman scores per innings. Batting average has been used to gauge cricket players' relative skills since the 18th century.
Most players have career batting averages in the range 5 to 50:
Career records for batting average are usually subject to a minimum qualification of 20 innings
played, in order to exclude batsmen who have not played enough games for their skill to be reliably assessed. Under this qualification, the highest Test
batting average belongs to Australia
's Sir Donald Bradman
, with 99.94. Given that a career batting average over 50 is exceptional, and that only four other players have averages over 60 (and only one over 61), this is an outstanding statistic. The fact that Bradman's average is so far above that of any other cricketer has led several statisticians to argue that, statistically at least, he was the greatest sportsman in any sport.
Batting averages in One Day International (ODI) cricket tend to be lower than in Test cricket, because of the need to score runs more quickly and take riskier strokes and the lesser emphasis on building a large innings. It should also be remembered, especially in relation to the ODI histogram above, that there were no ODI competitions when Bradman played.
Batting averages are affected by the number of not-outs (innings in which the batsman has not been dismissed). For example Phil Tufnell
, who was noted for his poor batting, has an apparently respectable ODI average of 15 (from 20 games), despite a highest score of only 5 not out, and an overall run total of 15.
A different, and more recently developed, statistic which is also used to gauge the effectiveness of batsmen is the strike rate
. It measures a different concept however – how quickly the batsman scores (number of runs from 100 balls) – so it does not supplant the role of batting average. It is used particularly in limited overs matches
, where the speed at which a batsman scores is more important than it is in first-class cricket.
Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed. If the qualification is removed, the highest career batting average list is topped by Andy Ganteaume
, who scored 112 in his only Test innings.
For more comprehensive statistics, see List of cricket batting averages.
divided by at bat
s.
Henry Chadwick, an English
statistician raised on cricket, was an influential figure in the early history of baseball. In the late 19th century he adapted the concept behind the cricket batting average to devise a similar statistic for baseball. Rather than simply copy cricket's formulation of runs
scored divided by outs
, he realised that hits
divided by at bat
s would provide a better measure of individual batting ability. This is due to the fact that while in cricket, scoring runs is almost entirely dependent on one's own batting skill, in baseball it is largely dependent on having other good hitters on one's team. Chadwick noted that hits are independent of teammates' skills, so used this as the basis for the baseball batting average. His reason for using at bats rather than outs is less obvious, but it leads to the intuitive idea of the batting average being a percentage reflecting how often a batter gets on base, whereas hits divided by outs is not as simple to interpret in real terms.
In modern times, a season batting average higher than .300 is considered to be excellent, and an average higher than .400 a nearly unachievable goal. The last player to do so, with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting championship, was Ted Williams
of the Boston Red Sox
, who hit .406 in 1941, though the best modern players either threaten to or actually do achieve it occasionally, if only for brief periods of time. There have been numerous attempts to explain the disappearance of the .400 hitter, with one of the more rigorous discussions of this question appearing in Stephen Jay Gould
's 1996 book Full House
.
Ty Cobb
holds the record for highest career batting average with .366, 8 points higher than Rogers Hornsby
who has the second highest average in history at .358. The record for lowest career batting average for a player with more than 2,500 at-bats belongs to Bill Bergen
, a catcher who played from 1901 to 1911 and recorded a .170 average in 3,028 career at-bats. The modern-era record for highest batting average for a season is held by Napoleon Lajoie, who hit .426 in 1901, the first year of play for the American League
. The modern-era record for lowest batting average for a player that qualified for the batting title is held by Rob Deer
, who hit .179 in 1991. While finishing six plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title, Adam Dunn
of the Chicago White Sox
hit .159 for the 2011 season, twenty points (and 11.2%) lower than the record. The highest batting average for a rookie
was .408 in 1911 by Shoeless Joe Jackson
.
For non-pitchers, a batting average below .230 is often considered poor, and one below .200 is completely unacceptable. This latter level is known as "The Mendoza Line
", named for Mario Mendoza
, a stellar defensive shortstop who hit .215 during his Major League career. The league batting average in Major League Baseball for 2004 was just higher than .266, and the all-time league average is between .260 and .275.
Sabermetrics
, the study of baseball statistics, considers batting average a weak measure of performance because it does not correlate as well as other measures to runs scored, and because it has little predictive value. Batting average does not take into account walks or power, whereas other statistics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage have been specifically designed to measure such concepts. Adding these statistics together form a player's On-base plus slugging
or "OPS". This is commonly seen as a much better, though not perfect, indicator of a player's overall batting ability as it is a measure of hitting for average, hitting for power and drawing bases on balls
.
In 1887, Major League Baseball
counted bases on balls
as hits
. The result of this was skyrocketed batting averages, including some near .500, and the experiment was abandoned the following season.
batting average championship (often referred to as "the batting title") is awarded annually to the player in each league who has the highest batting average. Ty Cobb
holds the MLB
(and American League
) record for most batting titles, officially winning 11 in his pro career. The National League
record of 8 batting titles is shared by Honus Wagner
and Tony Gwynn
. Most of Cobb's career and all of Wagner's career took place in what is known as the Dead-Ball Era
, which was characterized by higher batting averages and much less power, whereas Gwynn's career took place in the Live-Ball Era
.
To determine which players are eligible to win the batting title, the following conditions have been used over the sport’s history:
From 1967 to the present, if the player with the highest average in a league fails to meet the minimum plate-appearance requirement, the remaining at-bats until qualification (e.g., 5 ABs, if the player finished the season with 497 plate appearances) are hypothetically considered hitless at-bats; if his recalculated batting average still tops the league, he is awarded the title. (This policy was invoked in 1981, securing Bill Madlock
his third NL batting crown, and in 1996, when NL titlist Tony Gwynn
finished the year with only 498 PAs.)
An example is the Internet Archive
, which uses the term in ranking downloads
. Its "batting average" indicates the correlation
between views of a description page of a downloadable item, and the number of actual downloads of the item. This avoids the effect of popular downloads by volume swamping potentially more focused and useful downloads, producing an arguably more useful ranking.
Statistic
A statistic is a single measure of some attribute of a sample . It is calculated by applying a function to the values of the items comprising the sample which are known together as a set of data.More formally, statistical theory defines a statistic as a function of a sample where the function...
in both cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters
Batting (baseball)
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher...
. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.
Cricket
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
he has scored divided by the number of times he has been out
Dismissal (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a dismissal occurs when the batsman is out . Colloquially, the fielding team is also said to have snared, bagged or captured a wicket. At this point a batsman must discontinue batting and leave the field permanently for the innings...
. Since the number of runs a player scores and how often he gets out are primarily measures of his own playing ability, and largely independent of his team mates, batting average is a good metric for an individual player's skill as a batsman. The number is also simple to interpret intuitively, being approximately the average number of runs the batsman scores per innings. Batting average has been used to gauge cricket players' relative skills since the 18th century.
Most players have career batting averages in the range 5 to 50:
- Between 30 and 50 is typical for specialist batsmen and genuine all-rounderAll-rounderAn all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a few batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are considered specialists...
s. This is also the desirable range for wicket-keeperWicket-keeperThe wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
s, though some fall short and make up for it with keeping skill. Until a substantial increase in scores in the 21st century due to improved bats and smaller grounds among other factors, players who sustained an average above 50 through a career were considered exceptional. - All-rounders who are more prominent bowlers than batsmen typically average something between 20 and 30.
- 15 and under is typical for specialist bowlers.
Career records for batting average are usually subject to a minimum qualification of 20 innings
Innings
An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...
played, in order to exclude batsmen who have not played enough games for their skill to be reliably assessed. Under this qualification, the highest Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
batting average belongs to Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
's Sir Donald Bradman
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time...
, with 99.94. Given that a career batting average over 50 is exceptional, and that only four other players have averages over 60 (and only one over 61), this is an outstanding statistic. The fact that Bradman's average is so far above that of any other cricketer has led several statisticians to argue that, statistically at least, he was the greatest sportsman in any sport.
Batting averages in One Day International (ODI) cricket tend to be lower than in Test cricket, because of the need to score runs more quickly and take riskier strokes and the lesser emphasis on building a large innings. It should also be remembered, especially in relation to the ODI histogram above, that there were no ODI competitions when Bradman played.
Batting averages are affected by the number of not-outs (innings in which the batsman has not been dismissed). For example Phil Tufnell
Phil Tufnell
Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell is a former English cricketer turned television personality. A slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler, "Tuffers" as he was known played 42 Tests and 20 One Day International matches for England, as well as playing for Middlesex from 1986 to 2002...
, who was noted for his poor batting, has an apparently respectable ODI average of 15 (from 20 games), despite a highest score of only 5 not out, and an overall run total of 15.
A different, and more recently developed, statistic which is also used to gauge the effectiveness of batsmen is the strike rate
Strike rate
Strike rate refers to two different statistics in the sport of cricket. Batting strike rate is a measure of how frequently a batsman achieves the primary goal of batting, namely scoring runs. Bowling strike rate is a measure of how frequently a bowler achieves the primary goal of bowling, namely...
. It measures a different concept however – how quickly the batsman scores (number of runs from 100 balls) – so it does not supplant the role of batting average. It is used particularly in limited overs matches
One-day cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket and in a slightly different context as List A cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day, whereas Test and first-class matches can take up to five days to complete...
, where the speed at which a batsman scores is more important than it is in first-class cricket.
Leading Test batting averages ranked in order of average
(Source: Cricinfo Statsguru 22 January 2011)| Rank | Batsman | Tests | Innings | N.O. | Runs | Highest | Ave | Career dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  D.G. BradmanDonald Bradman Sir Donald George Bradman, AC , often referred to as "The Don", was an Australian cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time... |
52 | 80 | 10 | 6996 | 334 | 99.94 | 1928–1948 |
| 2 |  R.G. PollockGraeme Pollock Robert Graeme Pollock, known as Graeme, is a former cricketer. He played in 23 Test matches for South Africa and represented Transvaal and Eastern Province at domestic level.... |
23 | 41 | 4 | 2256 | 274 | 60.97 | 1963–1970 |
| 3 |  G.A. HeadleyGeorge Headley George Alphonso Headley was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in... |
22 | 40 | 4 | 2190 | 270* | 60.83 | 1930–1954 |
| 4 |  H. SutcliffeHerbert Sutcliffe Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars... |
54 | 84 | 9 | 4555 | 194 | 60.73 | 1924–1935 |
| 5 | E. Paynter Eddie Paynter Edward "Eddie" Paynter was an English cricketer: an attacking batsman and excellent fielder. His Test batting average of 59.23 is the fifth highest of all time, and second only to Herbert Sutcliffe amongst Englishmen; against Australia alone Paynter averaged an extraordinary 84.42.Born in... |
20 | 31 | 5 | 1540 | 243 | 59.23 | 1931–1939 |
| 6 | K.F. Barrington Ken Barrington Kenneth Frank Barrington , better known as Ken Barrington, played for the English cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-spin bowler, well known for his jovial good humour and long, defensive innings "batting with bulldog... |
82 | 131 | 15 | 6806 | 256 | 58.67 | 1955–1968 |
| 7 |  E.D. WeekesEverton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE is a leading former West Indian cricketer. Along with Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, he formed what was known as "The Three Ws" of West Indian cricket.-Youth and early career:... |
48 | 81 | 5 | 4455 | 207 | 58.61 | 1948–1958 |
| 8 | W.R. Hammond Wally Hammond Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English Test cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning his career as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England... |
85 | 140 | 16 | 7249 | 336* | 58.45 | 1927–1947 |
| 9 | I.J.L. Trott Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott is a South African-born England Test cricketer. Domestically, he plays for Warwickshire and he has also played in South Africa and New Zealand... |
23 | 28 | 4 | 1965 | 226 | 57.79 | 2009–Present |
| 10 | G.S. Sobers Garfield Sobers Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers AO, OCC is a former cricketer who captained West Indies. His first name of Garfield is variously abbreviated as Gary or Garry. He is widely regarded as one of cricket's greatest ever all-rounders, having excelled at all the essential skills of batting, bowling and... |
93 | 160 | 21 | 8032 | 365* | 57.78 | 1954–1974 |
Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed. If the qualification is removed, the highest career batting average list is topped by Andy Ganteaume
Andy Ganteaume
Andrew Gordon Ganteaume is a West Indian former cricketer who played as an opening batsman and occasional wicketkeeper. He was born in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago...
, who scored 112 in his only Test innings.
- denotes not out.
For more comprehensive statistics, see List of cricket batting averages.
Baseball
In baseball, the batting average (BA) is defined as the quotient of hitsHit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
divided by at bat
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
s.
Henry Chadwick, an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
statistician raised on cricket, was an influential figure in the early history of baseball. In the late 19th century he adapted the concept behind the cricket batting average to devise a similar statistic for baseball. Rather than simply copy cricket's formulation of runs
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
scored divided by outs
Out (baseball)
In baseball, an out occurs when the defensive, or fielding, team effects any of a number of different events, and the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a player is called out, he is said to be retired...
, he realised that hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
divided by at bat
At bat
In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage. It is a more restricted definition of a plate appearance...
s would provide a better measure of individual batting ability. This is due to the fact that while in cricket, scoring runs is almost entirely dependent on one's own batting skill, in baseball it is largely dependent on having other good hitters on one's team. Chadwick noted that hits are independent of teammates' skills, so used this as the basis for the baseball batting average. His reason for using at bats rather than outs is less obvious, but it leads to the intuitive idea of the batting average being a percentage reflecting how often a batter gets on base, whereas hits divided by outs is not as simple to interpret in real terms.
In modern times, a season batting average higher than .300 is considered to be excellent, and an average higher than .400 a nearly unachievable goal. The last player to do so, with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting championship, was Ted Williams
Ted Williams
Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
of the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, who hit .406 in 1941, though the best modern players either threaten to or actually do achieve it occasionally, if only for brief periods of time. There have been numerous attempts to explain the disappearance of the .400 hitter, with one of the more rigorous discussions of this question appearing in Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
's 1996 book Full House
Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin
Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin is a book by evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould, published in 1996. It was released in the UK as Life's Grandeur, with the same subtitle....
.
Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
holds the record for highest career batting average with .366, 8 points higher than Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby
Rogers Hornsby, Sr. , nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball . He played for the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Giants , Boston Braves , Chicago Cubs , and St. Louis Browns...
who has the second highest average in history at .358. The record for lowest career batting average for a player with more than 2,500 at-bats belongs to Bill Bergen
Bill Bergen
William Aloysius "Bill" Bergen was a Major League Baseball catcher in the early 20th century. Bergen was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts on June 13, 1878...
, a catcher who played from 1901 to 1911 and recorded a .170 average in 3,028 career at-bats. The modern-era record for highest batting average for a season is held by Napoleon Lajoie, who hit .426 in 1901, the first year of play for the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
. The modern-era record for lowest batting average for a player that qualified for the batting title is held by Rob Deer
Rob Deer
Robert George Deer is a former American baseball player. He attended Canyon High School in Anaheim and Fresno City College, and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 4th round of the 1978 amateur draft....
, who hit .179 in 1991. While finishing six plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title, Adam Dunn
Adam Dunn
Adam Troy Dunn , nicknamed "Big Donkey", is an American Major League Baseball first baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter for the Chicago White Sox. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed....
of the Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
hit .159 for the 2011 season, twenty points (and 11.2%) lower than the record. The highest batting average for a rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
was .408 in 1911 by Shoeless Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson
Joseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century...
.
For non-pitchers, a batting average below .230 is often considered poor, and one below .200 is completely unacceptable. This latter level is known as "The Mendoza Line
Mendoza Line
The Mendoza Line is an expression in baseball in the United States, deriving from the name of shortstop Mario Mendoza, whose lifetime batting average is taken to define the threshold of incompetent hitting...
", named for Mario Mendoza
Mario Mendoza
Mario Mendoza Aizpuru is a former Major League Baseball infielder. Mendoza, a lifetime 0.215 hitter, is best known as the threshold for batting aptitude, with the "Mendoza Line", meaning a batting average of .200....
, a stellar defensive shortstop who hit .215 during his Major League career. The league batting average in Major League Baseball for 2004 was just higher than .266, and the all-time league average is between .260 and .275.
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics
Sabermetrics is the specialized analysis of baseball through objective, empirical evidence, specifically baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research...
, the study of baseball statistics, considers batting average a weak measure of performance because it does not correlate as well as other measures to runs scored, and because it has little predictive value. Batting average does not take into account walks or power, whereas other statistics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage have been specifically designed to measure such concepts. Adding these statistics together form a player's On-base plus slugging
On-base plus slugging
On-base plus slugging is a sabermetric baseball statistic calculated as the sum of a player's on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The ability of a player to both get on base and to hit for power, two important hitting skills, are represented. An OPS of .900 or higher in Major League...
or "OPS". This is commonly seen as a much better, though not perfect, indicator of a player's overall batting ability as it is a measure of hitting for average, hitting for power and drawing bases on balls
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...
.
In 1887, Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
counted bases on balls
Base on balls
A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...
as hits
Hit (baseball)
In baseball statistics, a hit , also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches first base after hitting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielder's choice....
. The result of this was skyrocketed batting averages, including some near .500, and the experiment was abandoned the following season.
Qualifications for the batting title
The Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
batting average championship (often referred to as "the batting title") is awarded annually to the player in each league who has the highest batting average. Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
holds the MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
(and American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
) record for most batting titles, officially winning 11 in his pro career. The National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
record of 8 batting titles is shared by Honus Wagner
Honus Wagner
-Louisville Colonels:Recognizing his talent, Barrow recommended Wagner to the Louisville Colonels. After some hesitation about his awkward figure, Wagner was signed by the Colonels, where he hit .338 in 61 games....
and Tony Gwynn
Tony Gwynn
Anthony Keith "Tony" Gwynn, Sr. , nicknamed Mr. Padre and Captain Video, is a former Major League Baseball right fielder. He is statistically one of the best and most consistent hitters in baseball history. He played his entire 20-year baseball career for the San Diego Padres...
. Most of Cobb's career and all of Wagner's career took place in what is known as the Dead-Ball Era
Dead-ball era
The dead-ball era is a baseball term used to describe the period between 1900 and the emergence of Babe Ruth as a power hitter in 1919. In 1919, Ruth hit a then league record 29 home runs, a spectacular feat at that time.This era was characterized by low-scoring games and a lack of home runs...
, which was characterized by higher batting averages and much less power, whereas Gwynn's career took place in the Live-Ball Era
Live-ball era
The live-ball era, also referred to as the lively ball era, is the period in Major League Baseball beginning in , following the dead-ball era. During that year offensive statistics rose dramatically in what would be mistakenly attributed to the introduction of a new "lively" ball...
.
To determine which players are eligible to win the batting title, the following conditions have been used over the sport’s history:
- Pre-1920 – A player generally had to appear in 100 or more games when the schedule was 154 games, and 90 games when the schedule was 140 games. An exception was made for Ty CobbTy CobbTyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
in 1914, who appeared in 98 games but had a big lead and was also a favorite of League President Ban JohnsonBan JohnsonByron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson , was an American executive in professional baseball who served as the founder and first president of the American League ....
. - 1920–1949 – A player had to appear in 100 games to qualify in the National League; the AL used 100 games from 1920–1935, and 400 at-bats from 1936–1949. The NL was advised to adopt 400 at-bats for the 1945 season, but League President Ford FrickFord FrickFord Christopher Frick was an American sportswriter and executive who served as president of the National League from to and as the third Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
refused, feeling that 100 games should stand for the benefit of catchers and injured players. (Taffy WrightTaffy WrightTaft Shedron "Taffy" Wright was an outfielder in professional baseball from 1938 to 1949. Wright made a splash in his rookie season, leading the American League in batting with a .350 average...
is often erroneously said to have been cheated out of the 1938 batting title; he batted .350 in exactly 100 games, with 263 ABs. Jimmie FoxxJimmie FoxxJames Emory "Jimmie" Foxx , nicknamed "Double X" and "The Beast", was a right-handed American Major League Baseball first baseman and noted power hitter....
hit .349, in 149 games and 565 AB. But since the AL requirement that year was 400 at-bats, Foxx's batting title is undisputed.) - 1950–1956 – A player needed 2.6 at bats per team game originally scheduled. (With the 154-game schedule of the time, that meant a rounded-off 400 at-bats.) From 1951–1954, if the player with the highest average in a league failed to meet the minimum at-bat requirement, the remaining at-bats until qualification (e.g., 5, if the player finished the season with 395 ABs) were hypothetically considered hitless at-bats; if his recalculated batting average still topped the league, he was awarded the title. This standard applied in the AL from 1936–1956.
- 1957 to the present – A player has needed 3.1 plate appearances per team game originally scheduled; thus, players were no longer penalized for walking so frequently, nor did they benefit from walking so rarely. (In 1954, for example, Ted WilliamsTed WilliamsTheodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...
batted .345 but had only 386 ABs, while topping the AL with 136 walks. Williams thus lost the batting title to Cleveland’s Bobby AvilaBobby AvilaRoberto Francisco Ávila González to Maria Gonzalez and Jorge Avila, was a Major League Baseball second baseman and right-handed batter who played for the Cleveland Indians , Baltimore Orioles , Boston Red Sox , Milwaukee Braves and Tigres del México...
, who hit .341 in 555 ABs.) In the 154-game schedule, the required number of plate appearances was 477, and since the era of the 162-game schedule, the requisite number of PAs has been 502. (Adjustments to this 502 PA figure have been made during strike-shortened seasons, such as 1972, 1981, 1994, and 1995.)
From 1967 to the present, if the player with the highest average in a league fails to meet the minimum plate-appearance requirement, the remaining at-bats until qualification (e.g., 5 ABs, if the player finished the season with 497 plate appearances) are hypothetically considered hitless at-bats; if his recalculated batting average still tops the league, he is awarded the title. (This policy was invoked in 1981, securing Bill Madlock
Bill Madlock
Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock, Jr. is a former Major League Baseball player. From 1973 to 1987, Madlock was a right-handed hitter who won several National League batting titles. His record of four batting titles as a third baseman would be eclipsed in 1988 by Wade Boggs. Since 1970, only Tony Gwynn has...
his third NL batting crown, and in 1996, when NL titlist Tony Gwynn
Tony Gwynn
Anthony Keith "Tony" Gwynn, Sr. , nicknamed Mr. Padre and Captain Video, is a former Major League Baseball right fielder. He is statistically one of the best and most consistent hitters in baseball history. He played his entire 20-year baseball career for the San Diego Padres...
finished the year with only 498 PAs.)
All-time leaders
| # | Player | Avg | Team(s) | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ty Cobb Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia... |
.367 | Detroit Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant... , Philadelphia (AL) Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum.... |
1905–28 |
| 2 | Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby Rogers Hornsby, Sr. , nicknamed "The Rajah", was an American baseball infielder, manager, and coach who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball . He played for the St. Louis Cardinals , New York Giants , Boston Braves , Chicago Cubs , and St. Louis Browns... |
.358 | St. Louis (NL) St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... , New York (NL) San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division.... , Boston (NL) Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997.... , Chicago (NL) Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National... , St. Louis (NL) St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to... , St. Louis (AL) |
1915–37 |
| 3 | Shoeless Joe Jackson Shoeless Joe Jackson Joseph Jefferson Jackson , nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American baseball player who played Major League Baseball in the early part of the 20th century... |
.356 | Philadelphia (AL) Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum.... , Cleveland Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona... , Chicago (AL) Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans... |
1908–1920 |
| 4 | Lefty O'Doul Lefty O'Doul Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul was an American Major League Baseball player who went on to become an extraordinarily successful manager in the minor leagues, and also a vital figure in the establishment of professional baseball in Japan.-Player:Born in San Francisco, California, O'Doul began his... |
.349 | New York (AL) New York Yankees The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division... , Boston (AL) Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"... , New York (NL) San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division.... , Philadelphia (NL) Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League... , Brooklyn Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming... |
1919–23, 1928–34 |
| 5 | Ed Delahanty Ed Delahanty Edward James Delahanty , nicknamed "Big Ed", was a Major League Baseball player from 1888 to 1903 for the Philadelphia Quakers, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Infants and Washington Senators, and was known as one of the early great power hitters in the game.He was elected to the Baseball Hall of... |
.346 | Philadelphia (NL) Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League... , Cleveland (PL) Cleveland Infants The Cleveland Infants were a one-year baseball team in the Players' League. Owned by Al Johnson, the Infants finished , their lone season, with 55 wins and 75 losses... , Philadelphia (NL) Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League... , Washington Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the... |
1888–1903 |
| 6 | Tris Speaker Tris Speaker Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles... |
.345 | Boston (AL) Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"... , Cleveland Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona... , Washington (AL) Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the... , Philadelphia (AL) Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum.... |
1907–28 |
| 7 | Ted Williams Ted Williams Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox... |
.344 | Boston (AL) Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"... |
1939–42, 1946–60 |
| 8 | Billy Hamilton | .344 | Kansas City (AA) Kansas City Cowboys (American Association) The Kansas City Cowboys were a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri for two seasons from to in the American Association. They were the third, and last incarnation of this franchise name, following the Kansas City Cowboys of the Union Association in and the Kansas City... , Philadelphia (NL) Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League... , Boston (NL) Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997.... |
1888–1901 |
| 9 | Dan Brouthers Dan Brouthers Dennis Joseph "Dan" Brouthers was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball whose career spanned the period from to , with a brief return in... |
.342 | Troy, Buffalo Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons are a minor league baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They currently play in the International League and are the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets... , Detroit (NL) Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th century baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant in 1887. The team was disbanded following the 1888 season.-Franchise... , Boston (NL) Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997.... , Boston (PL), Brooklyn (NL) Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming... , Baltimore (NL) Baltimore Orioles (19th century) The Baltimore Orioles were a 19th-century American Association and National League team from 1882 to 1899. The club, which featured numerous future Hall of Famers, finished in first place three consecutive years and won the Temple Cup championship in 1896 and 1897... , Louisville Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that played in the American Association throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891, first as the Louisville Eclipse and later as the Louisville Colonels , the latter name derived from the historic Kentucky colonels... , Philadelphia (NL) Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League... , New York (NL) San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division.... |
1879–96, 1904 |
| 10 | Babe Ruth Babe Ruth George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935... |
.342 | Boston (AL) Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"... , New York (AL) New York Yankees The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division... , Boston (NL) Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997.... |
1914–35 |
Other contexts
Following from usage in cricket and baseball, batting average has come to be used for other statistical measures of performance and in the general usage on how a person did in a wide variety of actions.An example is the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
, which uses the term in ranking downloads
Uploading and downloading
In computer networks, to download means to receive data to a local system from a remote system, or to initiate such a data transfer. Examples of a remote system from which a download might be performed include a webserver, FTP server, email server, or other similar systems...
. Its "batting average" indicates the correlation
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
between views of a description page of a downloadable item, and the number of actual downloads of the item. This avoids the effect of popular downloads by volume swamping potentially more focused and useful downloads, producing an arguably more useful ranking.