Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Mendoza Line
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007) |
The Mendoza Line is an informal term used in baseball for when a position player's batting average falls below .200 (some say .215). It is supposedly the boundary between extremely poor and merely below-average offensive production. Some consider it to be the offensive threshold below which a player's presence in the Major Leagues cannot be justified despite his defensive abilities. Pitchers are not held to the "Mendoza Line" standard, since their specialized work and infrequent batting justifies less competence in hitting.
Contents |
The term is supposedly named for former shortstop Mario Mendoza, who had a career batting average of .215 and actually hit .198 in the 1979 season. George Brett supposedly coined the phrase when asked about his batting average.[1] When shown his average in a newspaper, Brett was said to have made a remark along of the lines of, "I knew I was off to a bad start when I saw my average listed below the Mendoza line." However, Brett was only behind Mario Mendoza in batting average for one day in the 1979 season, and Bruce Bochte and Tom Paciorek have also been credited as creators of the expression.
One theory for the expression relates to the historical presentation of numerous batting averages in the Sunday newspapers. Not all batting averages were presented. The theory holds that Mario Mendoza was at the bottom of those that were presented, and all individuals with lower batting averages did not appear. They were "below the Mendoza line."
Some claim "that Christobal (Minnie) Mendoza is the actual Mendoza referred to in 'Mendoza line.' Minnie Mendoza, a consistent .300 hitter in the minor leagues during the '60s, finally made it with the Minnesota Twins in 1970. At age 36, Minnie hit .188 in 16 games with the Twins that year." [2]
This term is also now used colloquially in accounting and auditing circles. Under GAAP principles if there is a 504 violation (i.e. the de minimis threshold is breached) it is said to have broken the "Mendoza Line".
The phrase has also appeared in the CBS TV show How I Met Your Mother; a girlfriend whose craziness outweighs her hotness is said to be "below the Mendoza diagonal", with the character explaining this as a reference to a Vicki Mendoza he once dated.
Career:
Bill Bergen -- 1901-1911 -- .170
Mario Mendoza -- 1974-1982 -- .215
Single Season (full-time players):
Bill Bergen -- 1909 -- .139
Davy Force -- 1880 -- .169
Rob Deer -- 1991 -- .179
John Gochnauer -- 1902 and 1903 -- .185 each year
Mario Mendoza -- 1979 -- .198
- ^ http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Mario_Mendoza_1950 Entry for Mario Mendoza at BaseballLibrary
- ^ http://members.tripod.com/~alpepper/mendozaline.html
Mendoza's Heroes: Fifty Batters Below .200, Al Pepper, 2002, Poco Press
The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Paul Dickson, 1999, Harvest Books