The Mendoza Line is baseball jargon for a .200 batting average, the supposed threshold for offensive futility at the Major League level. It derives from light-hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who failed to reach .200 five times in his nine big league seasons. When a position player's batting average falls below .200, the player is said to be "below the Mendoza Line".
Mario Mendoza, who had a career batting average of .215
Batting average (baseball)
In baseball, batting average (BA) is determined by dividing a player's hits by their total at-bats. It is usually rounded to three decimal places and read without the decimal: A player with a batting average of .300 is "batting three-hundred". If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the .001 measurement. In this context, .001 is considered a "point", such that a .235 batter is 5 points higher than a .230 batter.
Reggie Jackson batting at Yankee Stadium in 1979; Jackson batted .297 that season.
Top batting averages for the 1877 season, as published in The Buffalo Sunday Morning News—Deacon White led the league
Ty Cobb has the highest MLB career batting average (.366).