TheMendoza Line isbaseball jargon for a .200batting average, the supposed threshold for offensive futility at the Major League level.^[1] It derives from light-hittingshortstopMario Mendoza, who failed to reach .200 five times in his nine big league seasons.^[2] When aposition player's batting average falls below .200, the player is said to be "below the Mendoza Line".

Mendoza was a lightly usedshortstop fromChihuahua, Mexico, who played for three franchises during a nine-seasonMajor League career. While his fielding was highly regarded, his hitting was not. His batting average was between .180 and .199 in five seasons out of nine.

When he had trouble staying above .200 in 1979, teammates began to chide him. "...Tom Paciorek andBruce Bochte used it to make fun of me," Mendoza said in 2010. "Then they were givingGeorge Brett a hard time because he had a slow start that year, so they told him, 'Hey, man, you're going to sink down below the Mendoza Line if you're not careful.' And then Brett mentioned it toChris Berman fromESPN, and eventually it spread and became a part of the game."

Berman deflects credit back to Brett in popularizing the term. "Mario Mendoza — it's all George Brett," Berman said. "We used it all the time in those 1980sSportsCenters. It was just a humorous way to describe how someone was hitting."^[3]

Mendoza ended up finishing 1979 below his own "line", at .198. His hitting improved modestly in 1980 and 1981; he improved enough that, even with another sub-.200 in his final season of 1982, he raised his career batting average to .215.^[4]

However, Mendoza hitexactly .200 in the post-season, going 1-for-5 in 3 games with Pittsburgh in the1974 NLCS.

Mendoza returned to his native land in 1983 and played seven seasons in theMexican League, and achieved a more than respectable .291 career batting average in that league.

The term is also used outside of baseball to convey a similar connotation of unacceptably subpar performance:

• "The U.S. 10-year note yield declined below 2%... before moving back above the Mendoza Line... to 2.09% by early afternoon."^[5]
• "A sub-$2,000 per theater average... is the Mendoza Line of box office numbers..."^[6]
• "Republican pollsterNeil Newhouse... argues that these numbers have crossed below the political 'Mendoza line'..."^[7]
• On an episode ofHow I Met Your Mother,Barney explains the "Vicky Mendoza Diagonal" line, which determines how attractive a girl must be in order for him to date her depending on how "crazy" she is.^[8]
• In an episode ofBeverly Hills, 90210, Brandon and Steve's professor says "And look, if you've done the reading you don't have to worry, you will not fall below the Mendoza Line for a grade of a C." to which a student asks "Umm, the Mendoza Line? Was that in the chapters?"
• Then-Cincinnati Bengals quarterbackAndy Dalton's play was described as defining the "Dalton Line", the minimum level of performance expected of a starting quarterback in theNational Football League.^[9]

• Pepper, Al (2002).Mendoza's Heroes: Fifty Batters Below .200. Pocol Press.ISBN 978-1929763115.
• Dickson, Paul (1999).The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN 978-0151003808.