Batting Average
From SABR Encyclopedia
Batting Average was among one of the first baseball statistics created. It is the quotient of hits over at bats.
It has been used as one of the pre-eminent batting statistics, as it is easily computed and has been in use for well over a century. It merely is the empirical probability of a player getting a hit in a given at bat. Batting Average is an official statistic. Currently, players qualify for the league batting average championship based on rule 10.22(a) of the 2009 Official Rules http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2008/official_rules/10_the_official_scorer.pdf, retrieved on 2009-10-21.. Batting averages are traditionally expressed rounded to three decimal places.
[edit] Formula
[edit] History
Traditionally, newspapers and other media have ranked batters and team batting statistics by batting average. The league leader in batting average is referred to as the batting champion. A qualification (of 400 ABs) for the batting champion was added to the official rules in 1945 [1]. In 1951, the qualification was expanded to allow a player with less than 400 ABs to win the championship if his hits divided by 400 ABs gives a higher batting average than any other qualifier[1]. In 1955, the 1951 qualification expansion was repealed[1]. In 1957, the qualification was changed from 400 ABs to 3.1 plate appearances (PA) for each scheduled game[1]. In 1967, the qualification was expanded to allow a player with less than the required PA to win the championship if his hits divided by the sum of his ABs and the number of PAs below the qualification his PA total was gives a higher batting average than any other qualifier[1].
[edit] External links
- Career leaders in Batting Average
- Single-season leaders in Batting Average
- Batting Average leaders among active players
- Year-by-year leaders in Batting Average
- Progression of leaders in Batting Average
