Batting .400.(history)

A Crowning Achievement For A Hitter

Since 1901, it has been more difficult than slamming 50 homers, winning 30 games, pitching a perfect gem or capturing the Triple Crown

MORE DIFFICULT THAN HITTING 50 HOME runs or batting in more than 160 runs in a season. Rarer than pitching a perfect game, or winning more than 30 games in a season. Batting .400 or better may well be the most difficult feat in baseball.

Since both major leagues operated under the foul-strike rule in 1903, only seven different players have achieved a .400 or better average. Those seven did it a total of 12 times, led by Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby, each of whom accomplished it three times. George Sisler did it twice and the last player to do it was Boston

Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, who batted .406 in 1941.

Before the foul-strike rule was adopted, foul balls not caught were not counted as strikes, a decided advantage for the hitters, although not comparable to the rule in effect in 1887 when bases on balls were counted as hits, resulting in 13 players hitting over .400 that year. The foul-strike rule was adopted by the National League in 1901 but the American League waited until 1903.

Second baseman Larry (Nap) Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics batted .422 in 1901 but was aided by the fact that the foul-strike rule was not yet in effect in the A.L.