<P> In modern times, a season batting average higher than . 300 is considered to be excellent, and an average higher than . 400 a nearly unachievable goal . The last player to do so, with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting championship, was Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox, who hit . 406 in 1941, though the best modern players either threaten to or actually do achieve it occasionally, if only for brief periods of time . There have been numerous attempts to explain the disappearance of the . 400 hitter, with one of the more rigorous discussions of this question appearing in Stephen Jay Gould's 1996 book Full House . </P> <P> Ty Cobb holds the record for highest career batting average with . 366, 9 points higher than Rogers Hornsby who has the second highest average in history at . 358 . The record for lowest career batting average for a player with more than 2,500 at - bats belongs to Bill Bergen, a catcher who played from 1901 to 1911 and recorded a . 170 average in 3,028 career at - bats . The modern - era record for highest batting average for a season is held by Napoleon Lajoie, who hit . 426 in 1901, the first year of play for the American League . The modern - era record for lowest batting average for a player that qualified for the batting title is held by Rob Deer, who hit . 179 in 1991 . While finishing six plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title, Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox hit . 159 for the 2011 season, twenty points (and 11.2%) lower than the record . The highest batting average for a rookie was . 408 in 1911 by Shoeless Joe Jackson . </P> <P> For non-pitchers, a batting average below . 230 is often considered poor, and one below . 200 is usually unacceptable . This latter level is sometimes referred to as "The Mendoza Line", named for Mario Mendoza (a lifetime . 215 hitter), a stellar defensive shortstop whose defensive capabilities just barely made up for his offensive shortcomings . The league batting average in Major League Baseball for 2016 was . 255, and the all - time league average is between . 260 and . 275 . </P> <P> In rare instances, MLB players have concluded their careers with a perfect batting average of 1.000 . John Paciorek had three hits in all three of his turns at bat . Esteban Yan went two - for - two, including a home run . Hal Deviney's two hits in his only plate appearances included a triple, while Steve Biras, Mike Hopkins, Chet Kehn, Jason Roach and Fred Schemanske also went two - for - two . A few dozen others have hit safely in their one and only career at - bat . </P>

What is the average major league baseball batting average
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