The .400 Club

Since the National League started in 1876, there have been only 28 seasons in which a batter finished with a batting average of .400 or higher. Wanting to see how different players had achieved the rare feat of batting .400, I used many different sources to compile different “splits” about each and every .400 season. I inputted the game-by-game stats into a database for each player to calculate statistics that I think help compare the .400 hitters, from Ross Barnes to Ted Williams. If nothing else, they provide some interesting facts about each of these fantastic batting seasons, such as the four times that a player reached .400 in the final game of the season, including one batter who did it twice!

A NOTE ABOUT THE STATS

I used the standard interpretation for batting average (H/AB) for all seasons, even those from 1876 and 1887, in which walks were 0-for-1s (1876) or 1-for-1s (1887). Also, I included only those players who qualified for the batting title that season as the cutoff for .400; seasons like Craig Wilson’s .468 average in 1998 (22-for-47) aren’t included. While compiling the splits for these seasons, I found a few errors in official totals, which I have incorporated into these splits. See the section titled “Why Some Numbers Are Different” to see which numbers are different from what most books have and why the change was made.

EXPLANATIONS FOR THE CHARTS

The categories are mostly self-explanatory, but definitions should be given just for clarity. The categories 1+H, 2+H, 3+H, etc., mean “games during the season in which the player had at least 1 hit (or games with at least 2 hits, 3 hits, etc.) with the percentage of games of that variety in parentheses.

The APR, MAY, JUN, etc., categories are the batting averages the player had in that particular calendar month, with the aggregate AB and H totals in parentheses.

The “home” and “away” categories list the batting average the player had at their home park and at away parks during the season, with the aggregate AB and H totals in parentheses.

The G >= .400 is the total number of games in which the cumulative season batting average at the end of a game was at or above .400. This category is like looking in the newspaper the day after each game to see what that player’s batting average was season-to-date; Nap Lajoie, the one player with 100%, started the season at .750 (3-for-4) in the first game and never fell below .400.

Z-Score tells how many deviations away from the mean the batting average was for that year. The z-score formula is

x – μ
____
σ

where x is the statistic of the individual player whose z- score is being calculated, μ is the mean for the entire league, and σ is the standard deviation. Or in this case:

((.400 hitter’s AVG) – (LgAVG))
______________________

Standard deviation of LgAVG

I used data only for players with 200+ AB in the league season, not including the player that was being evaluated. For instance, for Ted Williams’ 1941 season, I used only averages from players with 200+ AB in 1941 American League, not including Williams’ data. I then used the z-score to find the probability of that batting average in that particular season, using the normal density curve (the bell-shaped curve). For normal distributions (and major league batting averages are close to normal data), then 68% of all averages will be within one standard deviation of the mean, 95% within two deviations of the mean, and 99.7% within three deviations of the mean. Using a graphing calculator allows a more precise percentage to be given for z-scores that are not even numbers like one or two. When one is divided by the area under the curve, the probability of that batting average in that season results:

The “2004 Equivalence” is what the .400 batting average would translate into in “2004 average.” The formula is (z-score x Stand. Dev. Of 2004 AVG)+League AVG of 2004. This uses the player’s z-score to give us its 2004 equivalent in terms of deviations above mean. Since Standard Deviation of league averages has been going down, batting .400 is becoming

Table 1. Games in Which the Cumulative Season Batting Average at the End of the Game Was at or above .400

Player	Year	Tm	Lg	AB	H	AVG	G	G>.400(%)*
H. Duffy	1894	BOS	NL	539	237	.4397	125	68(54.4%)
T. O’Neill	1887	STL	AA	517	225	.4352	124	105(84.7%)
R. Barnes	1876	CHI	NL	322	140	.4348	66	43(65.2%)
N. Lajoie	1901	PHI	AL	544	232	.4265	131	131(100.0%)
W. Keeler	1897	BAL	NL	563	239	.4245	129	112(86.8%)
R. Hornsby	1924	STL	NL	536	227	.4235	143	112(78.3%)
T. Cobb	1911	DET	AL	590	248	.4203	146	124(84.9%)
G. Sisler	1922	STL	AL	586	246	.4198	142	140(98.6%)
T. Turner	1894	PHI	NL	347	145	.4179	82	78(95.1%)
S. Thompson	1894	PHI	NL	451	187	.4146	102	101(99.0%)
F. Dunlap	1884	STL	UA	449	185	.4120	101	99(98.0%)
E. Delahanty	1899	PHI	NL	581	238	.4096	146	137(93.8%)
J. Burkett	1896	CLE	NL	586	240	.4096	133	68(51.1%)
T. Cobb	1912	DET	AL	553	226	.4087	140	66(47.1%)
J. Jackson	1911	CLE	AL	571	233	.4081	147	51(34.7%)
G. Sisler	1920	STL	AL	631	257	.4073	154	75(48.7%)
T. Williams	1941	BOS	AL	456	185	.4057	143	112(78.3%)
J. Burkett	1895	CLE	NL	555	225	.4054	132	81(61.4%)
P. Browning	1887	LOU	AA	544	220	.4044	134	72(53.7%)
E. Delahanty	1895	PHI	NL	480	194	.4042	116	50(43.1%)
E. Delahanty	1894	PHI	NL	495	200	.4040	116	108(93.1%)
B. Hamilton	1894	PHI	NL	558	225	.4032	132	36(27.3%)
R. Hornsby	1925	STL	NL	504	203	.4028	138	64(46.4%)
H. Heilmann	1923	DET	AL	524	211	.4027	144	82(56.9%)
R. Hornsby	1922	STL	NL	623	250	.4013	154	21(13.6%)
B. Terry	1930	NYG	NL	633	254	.4013	154	79(51.3%)
H. Jennings	1896	BAL	NL	521	209	.4012	130	65(50.0%)
T. Cobb	1922	DET	AL	526	211	.4011	137	49(35.8%)

*This category is like looking in the newspaper after each game played by the .400 hitter, and tallying how many games they were at or above a .400 average for the season.

 

Highest Percentage of Games Finished At or Above .4000

• 100.0%: Lajoie PHI AL 1901
• 99.0%: Thompson PHI NL 1894

Most Games Finished At or Above .4000

• 140: Sisler STL AL 1922
• 137: Delahanty PHI NL 1899

Lowest Percentage of Games Finished At or Above .4000

• 13.6%: Hornsby STL NL 1922
• 34.7%: Jackson CLE AL 1911

Fewest Games Finished At or Above .4000

• 21: Hornsby STL NL 1922
• 49: Cobb DET ATL 1922

Reaching .400 on the Final Game of the Season

• Ed Delahanty (1895): Entering 09/30/1895, he was at .3979. He went 5-for-5 on 09/30/1895 to finish at .4042.
• Hughie Jennings (1896): Entering 09/26/1896, he was at .3996. He went 2-for-3 on 09/26/1896 to finish at .4012.
• Rogers Hornsby (1922): Entering 10/01/1922, he was at .3997. He went 3-for-5 on 10/01/1922 to finish at .4013.
• Rogers Hornsby (1925): Entering 09/27/1925(2), he was at .3992. He went 3-for-3 on 09/27/1925(2) to finish at .4028.

Note: Ted Williams is not listed because his average entering his last game on 09/28/1941(2) was .4040.

No player has ever had a batting average of .4000 or higher entering the final game of the season, and ended up losing it. However, Hornsby (1921) came close:

• Rogers Hornsby (1921): Entering 10/01/1921, he was at .4024. He went 0-for-4 on 10/01/1921 AND on 10/02/1921 to finish at .3970. (Note: Hornsby’s average entering 10/02/1921, his final game, was .3997, so he just missed qualifying for this list). Players who came very close to batting .400

Players who came very close to batting .400

Player	Year	Team	Lg	AB	H	AVG	How close?
Cap Anson	1881	CHI	NL	343	137	.3994	-1AB(.4006)
Lefty O’Doul	1929	PHI	NL	638	254	.3981	+1H,-1AB(.4003)
H. Heilmann	1927	DET	AL	505	201	.3980	+1H(.4000)
R. Hornsby	1921	STL	NL	592	235	.3970	+2H(.4003)
Ed Delahanty	1896	PHI	NL	499	198	.3968	+2H(.4008)
Jesse Burkett	1899	STL	NL	558	221	.3961	+2H,-1AB(.4004)
Joe Jackson	1912	CLE	AL	572	226	.3951	+3H(.4003)

Players who batted .400 over a 162-game stretch

Player	Start	End	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BA
Tony Gwynn	7-27-93	5-13-95	624	251	53	1	15	.402
Wade Boggs	6-09-85	6-06-86	641	257	50	2	12	.401

 

Table 2. Batting Average at Home and Away Parks

(Click image to enlarge)

 

Interesting Facts

• All players batted at or above .4000 in their home parks.
• Only 11 of 28 players batted at or above .4000 in road parks.
• Four of the five highest home batting averages were in St. Louis ballparks.
• Turner (1894) holds the records for highest road BA (.4429) and the lowest home BA (.4010) in the same season.
• Hornsby (1925) holds the NL records for highest home BA (.4776) and the lowest road BA (.3320) in the same season.
• Sisler (1920) holds the AL records for highest home BA (.4732) and the lowest road BA (.3408) in the same season.

 

(Click image to enlarge)

 

(Click image to enlarge)

(Click image to enlarge)

 

Interesting Facts

• Approximate odds of hitting .400 in 2004: z-score of 4.212 (or 1 in 79000)
• Approximate odds of hitting .400 in 1894: z-score of 1.852 (or 1 in 31.2)
• Batting .400 in 2004 would have been approximately equivalent to batting .505 in 1894. Nap Lajoie in 1901 is the only .400 hitter whose z-score would have resulted in a .400 or greater average in 2004.

 

Games with a certain amount of hits in the season

Player	Year	Team	Lg	AB	H	AVG	G	1+H(%G)	2+H(%G)	3+H(%G)	4+H(%G)	5+H(%G)
Hugh Duffy	1894	BOS	NL	539	237	.4397	125	106 (84.8%)	82 (65.6%)	34 (27.2%)	13 (10.4%)	2 (1.6%)
Tip O’Neill	1887	STL	AA	517	225	.4352	124	103 (83.1%)	70 (56.5%)	34 (27.4%)	14 (11.3%)	4 (3.2%)
Ross Barnes	1876	CHI	NL	322	140	.4348	66	57 (86.4%)	46 (69.7%)	25 (37.9%)	9 (13.6%)	2 (3.0%)
Nap Lajoie	1901	PHI	AL	544	232	.4265	131	114 (87.0%)	76 (58.0%)	33 (25.2%)	8 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)
Willie Keeler	1897	BAL	NL	563	239	.4245	129	117 (90.7%)	82 (63.6%)	27 (20.9%)	11 (8.5%)	2 (1.6%)
Rogers Hornsby	1924	STL	NL	536	227	.4235	143	119 (83.2%)	75 (52.4%)	29 (20.3%)	4 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Ty Cobb	1911	DET	AL	590	248	.4203	146	129 (88.4%)	84 (57.5%)	29 (19.9%)	5 (3.4%)	1 (0.7%)
George Sisler	1922	STL	AL	586	246	.4198	142	126 (88.7%)	72 (50.7%)	36 (25.4%)	12 (8.5%)	0 (0.0%)
Tuck Turner	1894	PHI	NL	347	145	.4179	82	68 (82.9%)	48 (58.5%)	24 (29.3%)	5 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)
Sam Thompson	1894	PHI	NL	451	187	.4146	102	89 (87.3%)	58 (56.9%)	27 (26.5%)	9 (8.8%)	3 (2.9%)
Fred Dunlap	1884	STL	UA	449	185	.4120	101	87 (86.1%)	61 (60.4%)	24 (23.8%)	11 (10.9%)	2 (2.0%)
Ed Delahanty	1899	PHI	NL	581	238	.4096	146	125 (85.6%)	75 (51.4%)	30 (20.5%)	6 (4.1%)	2 (1.4%)
Jesse Burkett	1896	CLE	NL	586	240	.4096	133	115 (86.5%)	75 (56.4%)	34 (25.6%)	13 (9.8%)	3 (2.3%)
Ty Cobb	1912	DET	AL	553	226	.4087	140	119 (85.0%)	76 (54.3%)	25 (17.9%)	5 (3.6%)	1 (0.7%)
Joe Jackson	1911	CLE	AL	571	233	.4081	147	127 (86.4%)	76 (51.7%)	26 (17.7%)	4 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)
George Sisler	1920	STL	AL	631	257	.4073	154	130 (84.4%)	74 (48.1%)	41 (26.6%)	12 (7.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Ted Williams	1941	BOS	AL	456	185	.4057	143	113 (79.0%)	50 (35.0%)	18 (12.6%)	4 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)
Jesse Burkett	1895	CLE	NL	555	225	.4054	132	110 (83.3%)	73 (55.3%)	36 (27.3%)	5 (3.8%)	1 (0.8%)
Pete Browning	1887	LOU	AA	544	220	.4044	134	117 (87.3%)	71 (53.0%)	25 (18.7%)	6 (4.5%)	1 (0.7%)
Ed Delahanty	1895	PHI	NL	480	194	.4042	116	94 (81.0%)	61 (52.6%)	26 (22.4%)	11 (9.5%)	2 (1.7%)
Ed Delahanty	1894	PHI	NL	495	200	.4040	116	92 (79.3%)	64 (55.2%)	31 (26.7%)	10 (8.6%)	2 (1.7%)
B. Hamilton	1894	PHI	NL	558	225	.4032	132	112 (84.8%)	73 (55.3%)	27 (20.5%)	11 (8.3%)	2 (1.5%)
Rogers Hornsby	1925	STL	NL	504	203	.4028	138	111 (80.4%)	65 (47.1%)	22 (15.9%)	5 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)
H. Heilmann	1923	DET	AL	524	211	.4027	144	123 (85.4%)	63 (43.8%)	21 (14.6%)	3 (2.1%)	1 (0.7%)
Rogers Hornsby	1922	STL	NL	623	250	.4013	150	135 (87.7%)	78 (50.6%)	32 (20.8%)	5 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)
Bill Terry	1930	NYG	NL	633	254	.4013	154	129 (83.8%)	80 (51.9%)	32 (20.8%)	11 (7.1%)	2 (1.3%)
H. Jennings	1896	BAL	NL	521	209	.4012	130	106 (81.5%)	67 (51.5%)	29 (22.3%)	6 (4.6%)	1 (0.8%)
Ty Cobb	1922	DET	AL	526	211	.4011	137	111 (81.0%)	67 (48.9%)	21 (15.3%)	8 (5.8%)	4 (2.9%)

 

Leaders, hits per game (HPG)

One or more HPG

• Most often: Keeler had 1 or more hits in 117 of 129 games in 1897 for 90.7%, the only player above 90.0%.
• Most times: Hornsby had the most games with 1 or more hits with 135 in 1922 (out of 150 games for 87.7%).

Two or more HPG

• Most often: Barnes had 2 or more hits in 46 of 66 games in 1876 for 69.7%, one of only 3 players with 2 or more hits in >60.0% of their games.
• Most times: Cobb had the most games with 2 or more hits with 84 in 1911 (out of 146 games for 57.5%).

Three or more HPG

• Most often: Barnes had 3 or more hits in 25 of 66 games in 1876 for 37.9%, the only player above 30.0%.
• Most times: Sisler had the most games with 3 or more hits with 41 in 1920 (out of 154 games for 26.6%).

Four or more HPG

• Most often: Barnes had 4 or more hits in 9 of 66 games in 1876 for 13.6%, one of only 4 players with 4 or more hits in >10.0% of their games.
• Most times: O’Neill had the most games with 4 or more hits with 14 in 1887 (out of 124 games for 11.3%).

Five or more HPG

• Most often: O’Neill had 5 or more hits in 4 of 124 games in 1887 for 3.2%, one of only 5 players with 5 or more hits in >2.0% of their games.
• Most times: O’Neill and Cobb had the most games with 4 or more hits with 4 each O’Neill had 5 or more hits 4 times in 1887 (out of 124 games for 3.2%). Cobb had 5 or more hits 4 times in 1922 (out of 137 games for 2.9%). increasingly difficult.

Hopefully, these splits will provide some insight into how these great seasons were compiled, so enjoy!

 

WHY SOME NUMBERS ARE DIFFERENT

Ross Barnes, 1876

Since no game-by-game logs have ever been made in any form for NL players pre-1891, I had to use newspapers to put together Barnes’s splits. I used the New York Clipper for the majority of games, but also used the Chicago Tribune for about 40% of Barnes’s data. Using newspapers, I came up with two more hits for Barnes than what most encyclopedias list.

Pete Browning, 1887

In 1887, walks were counted as 1-for-1 in box scores. On August 31, 1887, Pete Browning went 4-for-7 by 1887 standards, but 3 of those were walks. Thus, Browning went 1-for-4 by today’s standards. When ICI (Information Concepts, Incorporated) made their game logs, they put Browning down as 1-for-7 with 3 walks. ICI clearly forgot to subtract the 3 walks from his at-bat total, as they did subtract 3 from his hit total. Browning should be listed as 1-for-4 with 3 walks by today’s standards, not 1- for-7 with 3 walks, which ICI used (which incorrectly used the 1887 definition for at-bats, but the current definition for hits). If ICI were correct, then this would mean Browning came up to bat 10 times in a 9-inning game, 2 more times than the known record. While there are probably many errors like this, this one gave Browning 3 more at-bats than he really had, and this error is a pretty obvious one.

Willie Keeler, 1897

The change for Keeler’s 1897 season is one fewer at-bat. I found this one while investigating Keeler’s 5-hit games in 1897. The Sporting News’s Complete Baseball Record Book lists Keeler with four 5-hit games in 1897, but the ICI logs made in 1968 and 1969 have Keeler with only two 5-hit games. One of the games listed by TSN but not ICI was on September 3, 1897. Most newspapers list Keeler as going 6-for-6 with no walks. However, data collected by Pete Palmer shows Keeler as 4-for-5 with a hit- by-pitch:

• PA1) Single,Stolen Base, Run Scored (1st inning)
• PA2) Reached on E6, Stolen Base, Run Scored (2nd inning)
• PA3) Triple, Run Scored (3rd inning)
• PA4) Hit-By-Pitch,Stolen Base, Run Scored (4th inning) PA5) Single (6th inning)
• PA6) Single, Run Scored (8th inning) TOTALS–5 AB, 5 R, 4 H, 1 HBP

Since ICI lists Keeler as going 4-for-6, Keeler clearly should have one fewer at-bat than currently listed with. All sources agree that Keeler was HBP, and, using the number of total team plate appearances, it is impossible Keeler could have batted 7 times (6 AB and 1 HBP). Therefore, I have Keeler with 563 AB instead of his listed 564.

Ty Cobb, 1911

Most encyclopedias list Cobb with 248 hits in 591 at-bats for 1911. While inputting Cobb’s 1911 data from his official AL game logs into a database, I found that Cobb was really credited with 590 AB if the individual game totals were added up. However, the aggregate total listed at the end of Cobb’s sheet was the number used, which was incorrectly put as 591 at-bats. Since the totals were summed by hand, the likelihood of errors made for these early years is high; this mistake in addition means that Cobb should be credited with 1 fewer at-bat for 1911.

Tuck Turner, 1894

Sam Thompson, 1894; Ed Delahanty, 1894; Billy Hamilton, 1894; Jesse Burkett, 1895: These players all played in at least one protested game in the year listed. These games’ stats were counted by the National League office in the 1890s (except for wins and losses), but when ICI recalculated all stats from these years in the late 1960s, they incorrectly omitted the protested games’ stats in their totals. Using box scores, the totals have been updated to what they should have been. Here are dates and stats for each of these protested games; these stats have been added to the formerly listed totals for each of these players (these changes are shown in Total Baseball (8th ed.) and The Baseball Encyclopedia (2004).