In the sport ofbaseball,batting average is a measure of abatter's success rate in achieving ahit during anat bat. A batting average is calculated by dividing a player's hits by his at bats. InMajor League Baseball, a player in each league^[L] wins the batting title for having the highest batting average each season.^[1] This article presents a list of players who have been so recognized as "batting champions".

Rod Carew (left) and Tony Gwynn

TheAmerican League (AL) winner is known as the "Rod Carew American League Batting Champion", while theNational League (NL) leader is designated the "Tony Gwynn National League Batting Champion". At the2016 MLB All-Star Game, MLB announced that the AL and NL batting champions would henceforth be named in honor ofRod Carew andTony Gwynn, respectively.^[2] Gwynn won all eight titles in the NL with theSan Diego Padres, while Carew was a seven-time AL batting champion.^[3]

Since 1957,^[4] a player must have 3.1plate appearances (PA) per scheduled game in that league (for a total of 502 over the current 162-game season) to qualify for the batting title inMajor League Baseball (MLB).^[5]

If a player's lead in average (AVG) is sufficiently large that enough hitlessat bats (ABs) can be added to reach this requirement and the player still would have the highest batting average, he wins the title.^[5]Tony Gwynn, for example, had 159 hits in 451 ABs in 1996 (.353 average) but only 498 PAs.^[6] Gwynn's batting average would have dropped to .349 (159 hits in 455 ABs) with four hitless ABs added to reach the 502 PA requirement—as such, Gwynn's average would still have been higher than other eligible players (Ellis Burks finished second, with a .344 average), thus Gwynn was awarded the 1996 batting title for the National League.^[7]

There are several other historical leagues that are also considered to have had "major" status by MLB, and their statistics are recognized as such. Three such leagues operated in the late 19th century: theAmerican Association (1882–1891),Union Association (1884), andPlayers' League (1890). A fourth, theFederal League, operated during 1914 and 1915.

In December 2020, MLB announced that the records ofNegro league baseball from 1920 to 1948 would be designated as major-league status.^[8] From 2020 to 2024, MLB and theElias Sports Bureau completed a comprehensive review of the Seamheads.com database in coordination withRetrosheet. The MLB database combines statistics from the Negro leagues with existing data from the AL, NL, and other historical major leagues.^[9] MLB officially incorporated relevant Negro league statistics into its record book in 2024.^[9]

The first batting average champion in the NL wasRoss Barnes; in the league's inaugural 1876 season, Barnes batted .429 for theChicago White Stockings.^[10] The AL was established in 1901, andHall of Fame second basemanNap Lajoie led that league with a .426 average for thePhiladelphia Athletics.^[11]

Ty Cobb of theDetroit Tigers led the AL in average in 11 (or 12) seasons.^[12]Honus Wagner and Gwynn are tied for the second-most titles, with eight apiece in the NL.^[6][13] It is unclear whether Lajoie or Cobb won the 1910 AL title, with some sources attributing the title to each man.^[1910] If Cobb is credited with the 1910 title, he won 9 consecutive titles from 1907 to 1915 and 12 total titles for his career. Otherwise,Rogers Hornsby won the most consecutive titles, with six from 1920 to 1925. Without the 1910 title, Cobb still led the league in five consecutive seasons from 1911 to 1915. Cobb holds the record for highest average in two and three consecutive seasons (.414 from 1911 to 1912 and .408 from 1911 to 1913), but Hornsby holds the record for four and five consecutive seasons (.404 from 1922 to 1925 and .402 from 1921 to 1925).^[14] Wagner,Rod Carew,Wade Boggs, and Gwynn each won four consecutive titles. Lajoie also had a streak of four league-leading seasons from 1901 to 1904, if he is credited with the contested AL title in 1902.^[1902]

Under the current 3.1 PA qualification, players have posted a .400 batting average for a season 28 times.^[15]Ted Williams' .4057 in 1941 is the most recent such season, one of 13 to occur since 1900.^[15]George Brett in 1980 is the only player to maintain a .400 average into September since 1941.^[16] Additionally, only Brett andJohn Olerud in 1993 maintained such an average into August.^[16] With the modern scarcity of .400 hitters, recent players who have been above .400 early in the season, such asChipper Jones in 2008, have drawn significant attention in the media.^[16][17] Brett's .390 in 1980 and Gwynn's .394 in 1994 are the only seasons in which a player reached .390 since 1941.

Carl Yastrzemski's .301 in the 1968 American League was the lowest batting average ever to lead a league. Only three batting champions accomplished the feat without hitting ahome run:Willie Keeler in 1897,Zack Wheat in 1918, andRod Carew in 1972.^[18][19]Joe Mauer's 2006 title made him the firstcatcher to ever win an AL batting title, and his third title in 2009 surpassedErnie Lombardi's previous record of two titles for a catcher in any league.^{[20][21][22][23]}

The closest finish in a batting race came in 1945 whenSnuffy Stirnweiss batted .309, toppingTony Cuccinello's .308 average for the American League title by .00008.^[24][25]George Kell beat out Williams in 1949 by .00015.^[24] The closest race in the National League came in 2003 whenAlbert Pujols held offTodd Helton on the last day of the season by .00022.^[24][26] The closest National League race before that was in 1931 withChick Hafey edging outBill Terry by .00028.^[24]

Lajoie's .426 average in 1901 was 86 points higher than runner-upMike Donlin's .340, the largest margin of victory for a batting champion.Cap Anson's .399 in 1881 was 71 points higher thanJoe Start in 1881, the widest margin in the National League.

In 2020,D.J. LeMahieu of theNew York Yankees won the AL batting title, thereby becoming the first player to definitively win batting titles in both the American and National Leagues; he had also won the NL batting title in 2016 as a member of theColorado Rockies. However,Ed Delahanty would have that distinction if he is credited with the disputed 1902 American League title, as he was also the 1899 National League champion.

The only other player to win titles in multiple leagues wasPete Browning, who wonAmerican Association titles in 1882 and 1885, along with the lonePlayers' League championship in 1890. Barnes andDeacon White each wonNational Association and National League titles, but the National Association is not regarded as an official league.^[L] In addition,Oscar Charleston won batting championships in theNegro National League andEastern Colored League. In 1921, Charleston posted a career-best batting average of .434 with the St. Louis Giants.^[27]

In 1990,Willie McGee posted a .335 average over 542 at-bats in the NL for theSt. Louis Cardinals before being traded to theOakland Athletics of the AL on August 29.^[28] Although McGee finished the season in the AL, he had enough PA's in the NL to qualify for the NL batting title, which he won narrowly overEddie Murray's .330. However, McGee batted .274 that season in the AL, bringing down his overall average to .324; this allowed Murray to lead the major leagues in batting average, yet he did not win a batting title.^[28][29]

In 2024,Luis Arráez became the first player in major-league history to win a batting title with three different teams, and in three consecutive seasons: Minnesota Twins (AL) in 2022; Miami Marlins (NL) in 2023; and San Diego Padres (NL) in 2024.^[30] Arráez played 33 games with the Miami Marlins and 117 games with the San Diego Padres in 2024, resulting in a .314 average, with a combined 200 hits in 637 at-bats.

In the 28-year major-league history, nine players won a league batting title multiple times:Oscar Charleston (3),Josh Gibson (3),Monte Irvin (3),Heavy Johnson (2),Buck Leonard (2),Jud Wilson (2),Mule Suttles (2),Ted Strong (2) andTurkey Stearnes (2).