MLB
When was the last time an MLB player finished the season batting above .400?
The Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan is taking a run at the holy grail of an MLB season, and with the recent inclusion of Negro Leagues records, we look at when that happened last.
Baseball has changed, almost beyond all recognition some purists would say, but some of the key elements of the game remain staunchly faithful. Despite the post-analytics situation we find ourselves in where players are considered great as long as they hit home runs, despite in many cases a sub-.200 average.
But amongst players themselves, there is only one king of the stat. Average. Always has been and always will be. Can you hit? Then hit.
Good hitters finish the season around .300 while great hitters go a notch above. The .400 season is a crowning achievement that marks a truly great hitter.
In the long history of the game, only 42 players have managed to do this, with nine reaching this incredible milestone more than once.
Among these 42 players, 21 batted right-handed, while 19 hit from the left side. Two were switch hitters, which is even more incredible, showing an elite level of prowess from both sides of the plate.
The Philadelphia Phillies is the sole team with four players who reached this sacred milestone, with Ed Delahanty, Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson, and Tuck Turner all hitting over .400 during the extraordinary 1894 season.
Interestingly, only three managed to be named MVP in the same year they hit .400; Tip O’Neill, Nap Lajoie, and the legendary Josh Gibson.
In a truly exceptional display of talent, several players also managed the Triple Crown in their .400 season, leading their respective leagues in batting average, home runs, and RBIs during the same season. Willie Wells, Mule Suttles, and the legendary Rogers Hornsby, who accomplished this remarkable feat twice, all were Triple Crown winners.
Ray Dandridge left a lasting mark in MLB history with his stunning .432 batting average in 1934, setting a major league record for a rookie that remains unbroken. Although he narrowly missed the Negro National League’s batting title, his extraordinary performance is a testament to his skill and talent.
Ted Williams 1941 season
No offensive season has left a more indelible mark than Ted Williams’s remarkable performance in 1941. The Boston Red Sox legend’s batting prowess during that season is often hailed as the epitome of greatness in the sport. Despite his extraordinary achievements, the prestigious MVP award for that year would ultimately go to another iconic player, Joe DiMaggio.
At the heart of Williams’s sensational campaign was his awe-inspiring .406 batting average. This marked the first of six batting championships he would secure throughout his illustrious career. Notably, this extraordinary feat still stands as the highest single-season batting average in Red Sox history.
Williams’s feat is even more extraordinary in that he maintained such a lofty average while consistently appearing in games, averaging at least 3.1 plate appearances per game, the last time any major league player achieved a batting average over .400 for an entire season under these circumstances.
Williams humorously remarked on his historic accomplishment in 1991, “If I had known hitting .400 was going to be such a big deal, I would have done it again.” His witty comment underscores the sheer magnitude of his achievement and the enduring impact it has had on the sport of baseball.
The best of the rest
Strictly speaking, the absolute last time that the .400 was reached was in 1948, when two players in the Negro Leagues accomplished the feat. Artie Wilson of the Birmingham Black Barons finished the year on .435 while Willard Brown of the Kansas City Monarchs hit .408.
Several players over the years have finished close to the mark, but none have reached it. Tony Gwynn, possibly the most complete hitter since Williams, finished the 1994 season on .394, while George Brett hit .390 in 1980.
The latest to make a stab at it is young Cleveland Guardians’ outfielder Steven Kwan. The caveat is that Kwan has missed a lot of the season with injury and only has 231 plate appearances, short of the limit needed to qualify. But it is still early in the 2024 season, and should Kwan manage to reach the .400 mark he would join an elite group of players. Currently on .385, Kwan has been hot lately, going .407 in the last 30 games and .433 in the last seven. If anything, his chase is getting hotter by the day.