Mason Dixon Line

In a Letter to the Editor of Baseball Digest in May 2003, Lee Ashendorf and Brandon Gavett proposed the "Mason Dixon Line" as a standard for poor batting average. The most commonly used slang term for a poor batting average is known as the Mendoza Line, which is generally thought to represent a batting average of .200. However, Mario Mendoza, after whom the Mendoza Line is named, actually had a career batting average of .215. Jim Mason (1971-1979), who was born in Mobile, AL, and Leo Dixon (1925-1929), who was born in Chicago, IL, had career batting averages of .203 and .206, respectively. A weighted average of the two batting averages is .204, which is much closer to the fabled .200 batting average than Mendoza's .215.

Related Sites

• Reproduction of the original Baseball Digest Letter to the Editor
• Commentary on Gavett & Ashendorf's Letter to the Editor