What are the minimum requirements to lead a Rate Stat?
This is a bit of a dicey proposition as the standards have changed quite a bit throughout time. Here are how I computed them for the website. Thanks to Bill Deane, Gerry Myerson and Total Baseball for clarifying some of these issues. Batting Average, OBP, Slugging Percentage, OPS • Prior to 1920, a player must have appeared in 60% of the team’s games to qualify for a title. This number was rounded to the nearest integer. • From 1920-1937 (unclear, and previously thought to be until 1944), a player must have appeared in 100 games. • From 1938-1944, the AL used 400 at bats and the NL stayed with 100 games as found by Paul Rivard of SABR. • From 1945-1956, a player must have 2.6 at bats per team game. Note however, that from 1951-1954 a player could lead if they still led after the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to their at bat total. • From 1957 to the present, a player must have 3.1 plate appearances per team game. Note however, that from 1967 to the present a player cou
