Posted by: andy (apaul12@excite.com) on Sun Jun 12 09:47:32 2005

In MLB, yes, 3.1 plate appearances per game is necessary to qualify for league records. They used to have a minimum at bat requirement, but changed the rule when Ted Williams led the league in hitting but didn't get enough at bats to qualify (the min. was 400 ab's). Of course, because it was Ted Williams, he walked around 150 times in getting 388 official at bats, so he had more plate over 500 plate appearances. So Teedy Ballgame is the reason they go off of plate appearances.


> This is off topic, but does anyone know what the formula is for calculating the minimum total plate appearances at any given point during the season in ranking the leaders in terms of batting average?
> I think it's 3.1 plate appearances (not at bats) times number of games team has played.