No Yankee has had a .400 Batting Average. Has any come close?

Babe Ruth has the highest Yankee Batting Average (BA) for a full season: .393 in 1923. But how close did Ruth come to finishing the season at .400 and have any Yankees come close?

Between 100 and 23 At Bats, these Yankees had .400 BA for part of a season:

Player	AB	BA	Season	Age	G	PA	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	OPS
Jerry Coleman	42	.405	1952	27	11	47	6	17	0	4	5	4	.468	.500	.968
Frank LaPorte	40	.400	1905	25	11	41	4	16	1	12	1	4	.415	.500	.915
Ernie Johnson	38	.447	1923	35	19	40	6	17	1	8	1	1	.462	.605	1.067
Earle Combs	35	.400	1924	25	24	39	10	14	0	2	4	2	.462	.543	1.004
Lou Gehrig	26	.423	1923	20	13	29	6	11	1	8	2	5	.464	.769	1.234
Slade Heathcott	25	.400	2015	24	17	30	6	10	2	8	2	5	.429	.720	1.149

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 5/5/2025.

Gehrig and Combs played their entire Hall of Fame careers for the Yankees.

Through 2025 Yankee game 34:

Player	AB	BA	Season	Age	G	PA	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
Aaron Judge	130	.423	2025	33	34	153	32	55	11	33	21	31	.510	.777	1.287	263

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 5/5/2025.

Judge is off to a fantastic start with OPS+ 263. Some are thinking that Judge might finish the season with a .400 BA.

But a couple of 0 for 4 would drop Judge to .39855. Of course he could come back.

https://stathead.com/tiny/TH8Sp

For single seasons, Playing for NYY, in the regular season, requiring At Bats >= 400 and Batting Average >= .350, sorted by descending Batting Average.

Rk	Player	BA	AB	Season	Age	G	PA	H	HR	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
1	Babe Ruth	.393	522	1923	28	152	699	205	41	170	93	.545	.764	1.309	239
2	Joe DiMaggio	.381	462	1939	24	120	524	176	30	52	20	.448	.671	1.119	184
3	Lou Gehrig	.379	581	1930	27	154	703	220	41	101	63	.473	.721	1.194	203
4	Babe Ruth	.378	529	1924	29	153	681	200	46	142	81	.513	.739	1.252	220
5	Babe Ruth	.378	540	1921	26	152	693	204	59	145	81	.512	.846	1.359	239
6	Babe Ruth	.376	458	1920	25	142	617	172	54	150	80	.532	.847	1.379	255
7	Lou Gehrig	.374	562	1928	25	154	678	210	27	95	69	.467	.648	1.115	193
8	Lou Gehrig	.373	584	1927	24	155	717	218	47	109	84	.474	.765	1.240	220
9	Babe Ruth	.373	534	1931	36	145	663	199	46	128	51	.495	.700	1.195	218
10	Babe Ruth	.372	495	1926	31	152	652	184	47	144	76	.516	.737	1.253	226
11	Mickey Mantle	.365	474	1957	25	144	623	173	34	146	75	.512	.665	1.177	221
12	Lou Gehrig	.363	579	1934	31	154	690	210	49	109	31	.465	.706	1.172	207
13	Bill Dickey	.362	423	1936	29	112	472	153	22	46	16	.428	.617	1.045	158
14	Babe Ruth	.359	518	1930	35	145	676	186	49	136	61	.493	.732	1.225	211
15	Joe DiMaggio	.357	541	1941	26	139	622	193	30	76	13	.440	.643	1.083	185
16	Earle Combs	.356	648	1927	28	152	726	231	6	62	31	.414	.511	.925	141
17	Babe Ruth	.356	540	1927	32	151	691	192	60	137	89	.486	.772	1.258	225
18	Lou Gehrig	.354	579	1936	33	155	719	205	49	130	46	.478	.696	1.174	190
19	Tony Lazzeri	.354	545	1929	25	147	639	193	18	68	45	.429	.561	.991	160
20	Mickey Mantle	.353	533	1956	24	150	652	188	52	112	99	.464	.705	1.169	210
21	Joe DiMaggio	.352	508	1940	25	132	572	179	31	61	30	.425	.626	1.051	173
22	Don Mattingly	.352	677	1986	25	162	742	238	31	53	35	.394	.573	.967	161
23	Lou Gehrig	.351	569	1937	34	157	700	200	37	127	49	.473	.643	1.116	176

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 5/5/2025.

Let's look anecdotally at some Yankee greats and see how far into a full season they had a .400 BA.

Babe Ruth

1923 .393: game log:

Sept. 1, 1923 Yankee game 121: Ruth went 2 for 4 (single and triple) at Yankee Stadium to bring his BA to .402 The next day in Washington Ruth was 0 for 4 dropping to .398. He was never back to .400 in 1923. Ruth rallied in his final four games in October raising his BA from .387 to .393.

1924 .378: game log: Yankee game 115: 2 for 4: .401.

1921 .378: game log: Yankee game 22: .410

1920 .376: game log: Yankee game 1: 2 for 4 .500; then 0 for 5: .222

Ruth had many high BA but I'll stop here as this checking is done by looking at the game logs, not running a database query.

Lou Gehrig

1930 .379: Yankee game 1: 2 for 4 .500

1934 .363 (triple crown season): Yankee game 26: .406

Joe DiMaggio

1939 .381: game log: Yankee game 133

Joe DiMaggio .400 batting average lost in 1939 due to: eye infection, manager, himself?  Tuesday, October 18, 2016

September 9, 1939 against the Washington Senators Joe DiMaggio had two singles and a double in four at bats (AB) bringing his batting average (BA) to .409. DiMaggio had 159 hits in 389 AB. From 1938-1944 the American League (AL) requirement to qualify for leading the league in BA: 400 AB...

Sept. 9 was Yankee team game 133, including a seven inning tie in the second game of a doubleheader in Boston Sept. 3 in which DiMaggio hit two singles and a home run in 4 AB. The 1939 Yankees played 152 games, including the tie; the full schedule was 154 games...

DiMaggio did not play between April 29, 1939 and May 27, 1939 due to injury. That reduced his plate appearances.

In 1939 DiMaggio struck out 20 times in 463 AB in 120 games, never more than once in any game. On September 10 against Washington DiMaggio struck out in both games of a doubleheader, going 0 for 4 in each game. Sept. 12 DiMaggio was 0 for 5 with another strike out against Cleveland. Zero for 13 dropped his BA to .396. DiMaggio would never reach .400 again in 1939.

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1940 .352 (second consecutive year led AL in BA) game log: Yankee game 18 .400

1941 .457 (56 game hitting streak) game log: Yankee game 11 .413

Mickey Mantle

1956 .353 (.353 triple crown) game log: Yankee game 49 .400; as late as game 40: .430

1957 .365 game log: Yankee game 62: .392 is the closest he got to .400

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BA >= .360 since 1939. Only 23% bat righty.  Monday, May 5, 2025