Success in Batting
Batting is often cited as one of the most difficult feats in sports as it consists of hitting a small round ball with a thin round bat. In fact, if a batter can get a hit in three out of ten at bats, giving him a batting average of .300, pronounced three-hundred, he or she is considered a good hitter. In Major League Baseball, no batter has had over a .400 average at the end of the season since Ted Williams in 1941, and no batter has ever hit over .367 in a lifetime—Ty Cobb hit .3664. In modern times, the statistic On-base plus slugging (OPS) is seen as a more accurate measure of a player's ability as a batter; this stat combines the player's On base percentage, a percentage of their plate appearances where the batter gets on base (by a hit, hit by pitch or base on balls), with the player's slugging percentage, an average of total bases with at-bats. An OPS at or near 1.000 is considered to be the mark of an exceptional hitter. A sustained OPS at or above 1.000 over a career is a feat only a few hitters have ever been able to reach.
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Famous quotes containing the word success:
“We mothers are learning to mark our mothering success by our daughters’ lengthening flight. When they need us, we are fiercely there. But we do not need them to need us—or to become us.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)