Mendoza Line
expression in baseball to define the threshold of incompetent hitting
The Mendoza Line is baseball jargon for a .200 batting average, the supposed threshold for offensive futility in Major League Baseball.
The term derives from light-hitting shortstop Mario Mendoza, who failed to reach .200 five times in his nine major league seasons. When a position player's batting average falls below .200, the player is said to be "below the Mendoza Line.” Some commentators consider this the threshold below which a position player's presence on the roster at a particular level cannot be justified regardless of the player's defensive abilities. Conversely, a qualifying sub-.200 batting average against over the course of a season is considered a significant achievement for a pitcher.
Origin
Mendoza was a lightly used shortstop from Chihuahua, Mexico, who played for three franchises during a nine-season Major League Baseball career. While his fielding was highly regarded, his hitting was not. His batting average was between .180 and .199 in five seasons out of nine.
When he had trouble staying above .200 in 1979, teammates began to chide him. "...Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte used it to make fun of me," Mendoza said in 2010. "Then they were giving George Brett a hard time because he had a slow start that year, so they told him, 'Hey, man, you're going to sink down below the Mendoza Line if you're not careful.' And then Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman from ESPN, and eventually it spread and became a part of the game."
Berman deflects credit back to Brett in popularizing the term.
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