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| Photo Courtesy: SABR |
The last player to hit 0.400 was Ted Williams in 1941. It hasn't happened since.
Check out his running batting average throughout the season. With the exception of a 9 game stretch in the middle of the season and the first 28 games, his average was above 0.400 consistently.
Let's lower the bar slightly to 0.390+ and check the list at different periods throughout each season since 1950.
50 GAMES INTO SEASON
200+ Plate Appearances
* 28 players
* Rod Carew is on the list 3 times
* Wade Boggs twice
75 GAMES INTO SEASON
300+ Plate Appearances
* Tony Gwynn twice
100 GAMES INTO SEASON
400+ Plate Appearances
125 GAMES INTO SEASON
500+ Plate Appearances
AVERAGE AT/ABOVE 0.390 AND UNDER 0.400 AT END OF SEASON SINCE 1950
Tony Gwynn 1994 0.394
George Brett 1980 0.390
Look at the running averages for Brett and Gwynn. Gwynn had a handful of games in the first month of the season above 0.400 then consistently stayed in the 0.385 range before ending at 0.394. Brett started off very slow then quickly climbed to 0.401 by game 82 and stayed around 0.400 for roughly 20 games before ending at 0.390
