In baseball, batting average (AVG) is a measure of a batter's success rate in achieving a hit during an at bat, and is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats. The achievement of a .400 batting average in a season was historically recognized as the coveted "standard of hitting excellence", in light of how batting .300 in a season is already regarded as very good. There have been 50 officially-recognized instances of a player having recorded a batting average of at least .400 in a single Major League Baseball (MLB) season. In 1943, Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays hit .466, the single-season record. In the National League, the last to do so was Bill Terry of the New York Giants in 1930. Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox is the last player to hit .400 in the American League. Four players – Ed Delahanty, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and Oscar Charleston – have accomplished the feat in three different seasons.

In total, 48 players have reached the .400 mark in MLB history; eleven have done so more than once and five have done it three times. Ross Barnes is the only player to do it four times (1871, 1872, 1873, and 1876). Of the 48 players, 25 were right-handed batters, 21 were left-handed, and two were switch hitters, meaning they could bat from either side of the plate.

The Philadelphia Phillies are the only franchise to have three players reach the milestone in the same season (1894): Hall of Fame outfielders Ed Delahanty (.405), Billy Hamilton (.403), and Sam Thompson (.415), as well as outfielder Tuck Turner (.418). That same season, Boston Beaneaters outfielder Hugh Duffy batted .440 to win the batting title; to date, this is the only season in which five players throughout the Major Leagues had a .400 season. The Homestead Grays are the only franchise with four players recording a .400 single-season batting average, albeit in different years: Joe Strong (1932), Josh Gibson (1937, 1943), Buck Leonard (1938), and David Whatley (1939) all hit .400 while playing for the Grays. Three players won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award the same year as their .400 season: Ty Cobb (1911), George Sisler (1922), and Rogers Hornsby (1925). Rap Dixon, Tip O'Neill, Nap Lajoie, Josh Gibson (twice), Willie Wells, Mule Suttles, Oscar Charleston (twice), Heavy Johnson, and Rogers Hornsby (twice) also earned the Triple Crown in their .400 season. Shoeless Joe Jackson of the Cleveland Naps hit .408 in 1911, the highest batting average ever recorded by a rookie in the American League. Joe Strong has the lowest career batting average among players who have batted .400 in a season, with a .266, while Gibson recorded the highest career average in major league history, at .372.

Given the decades that have elapsed since Gibson became the last player to achieve the feat and the integral changes to the way the game of baseball is played since then – such as the increased utilization of specialized relief pitchers – a writer for The Washington Post called the mark "both mystical and unattainable". Consequently, modern-day attempts to reach the hallowed mark by Rod Carew (.388 in 1977), George Brett (.390 in 1980), and Tony Gwynn (.394 in the strike-shortened 1994 season) have generated considerable hype among fans and in the media. Of the thirty-six players who have batted .400 in a season, twenty-one have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, two on the first ballot. Five of the thirty-six are ineligible for not meeting the 10-season threshold for enshrinement. Until he was reinstated in 2025, Shoeless Joe Jackson was ineligible for the Hall of Fame due to his ban for his involvement in the Black Sox Scandal, leaving eight eligible .400 hitters not elected to the Hall of Fame.

Players

+KeyYearThe year of the player's .400 seasonPlayer Name of the player and number of .400 seasons they had at that pointTeamThe player's team for his .400 seasonNLNational LeagueALAmerican LeagueAAAmerican AssociationUAUnion AssociationNN2Negro National LeagueANLAmerican Negro LeagueNALNegro American LeagueECLEastern Colored LeagueEWLEast-West LeagueAVGThe player's batting average in that seasonCareer AVGThe player's batting average in his MLB career§Denotes batting average that was part of a Triple Crown seasonElected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

+MLB players who have batted .400 in a seasonYearPlayerTeamLeagueAVGCareer AVGRefChicago White StockingsNL.429.319St. Louis MaroonsUA.412.292St. Louis BrownsAA.435.326Louisville ColonelsAA.402.341Boston BeaneatersNL.440.326Philadelphia PhilliesNL.415.331Philadelphia PhilliesNL.405.346Philadelphia PhilliesNL.403.344Cleveland SpidersNL.405.338 Philadelphia PhilliesNL.404.346 Cleveland SpidersNL.410.338Baltimore OriolesNL.401.312Baltimore OriolesNL.424.341 Philadelphia PhilliesNL.410.346Philadelphia AthleticsAL.426.338Detroit TigersAL.419.366Cleveland NapsAL.408.356 Detroit TigersAL.409.366St. Louis BrownsAL.407.340St. Louis GiantsNNL.432.326St. Louis StarsNNL.434.363Kansas City MonarchsNNL.406.370 St. Louis BrownsAL.420.340St. Louis CardinalsNL.401.358 Detroit TigersAL.401.366 Kansas City MonarchsNNL.406.370Hilldale ClubECL.423.325Detroit TigersAL.403.342 St. Louis CardinalsNL.424.358 Harrisburg GiantsECL.405.363Baltimore Black SoxECL.404.349 Harrisburg GiantsECL.427.363 St. Louis CardinalsNL.403.358Detroit StarsNNL.404.320 St. Louis StarsNNL.425.339Birmingham Black BaronsNNL.422.331Baltimore Black Sox / New York Lincoln GiantsECL.422.350Baltimore Black SoxECL.401.336 Baltimore Black SoxANL.415.336New York Lincoln GiantsANL.451.398 Baltimore Black SoxANL.404.350St. Louis StarsNNL.413.328New York GiantsNL.401.341Homestead GraysEWL.400.266Homestead GraysNN2.417.372Homestead GraysNN2.420.345Baltimore Elite GiantsNN2.408.325Cleveland Bears / Homestead GraysANL / NN2.407.334Boston Red SoxAL.406.344Homestead GraysNN2.466.372 Chicago American GiantsNAL.400.290 Birmingham Black BaronsNAL.433.366 Kansas City MonarchsNAL.408.351

See also

List of Major League Baseball batting champions List of Major League Baseball career batting average leaders

Notes

References General

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