Expert: Jamie Selko - 8/7/2007

Question
What team holds the record for highest season team batting average? More specifically, modern era baseball (I like 1920 - ). Please help solve a debate at work, the guesses thus far are any Colorado Rockies team, the Big Red Machine, or a pre-1950s Yankees team.

Thanks Jamie

Answer
Howdy- The last team to hit .300 was the 1950 Boston Red Sox, .302.
No team has really come close since then.  The first post-1900 teams to hit .300 were the 1920 Indians (.303) and Yankees (.308), although the 1911 Philadelphia Athletics came close with a .296 BA.  The first post-1900 N.L. team to hit .300 was the 1921 Cardinals (.308).  
Four A.L. teams topped .300 in 1921, led by the Tigers .316.  Altogether in the '20's, 28 teams hit over .300 for a season (11 A.L., 17 N.L.).  The Pirates did it five times, the Browns four (twice for the Yankees).  
In 1930, all heck broke loose (it is known as "The Year of the Big Sticks").  Six of the eight N.L. teams hit over .300, and three of those hit over .310 (Cards, .314, Phillies (who finished last, 52-102), Giants, .319).  The league, AS A WHOLE, hit .303.  No N.L. team has hit .300 since then, 77 years ago.
  Three A.L. teams also hit .300 in 1930, and it would be done by Detroit in 1934 and the Tigers, Yanks and Indians in 1936.  That would be the last time until 1950, which is the last time, period.
  Since 1900, Pittsburgh and the Tigers hit over .300 six times, and the Browns, Indians and Yankees have done it four times.
  Before 1900, The Chicago's of the 1876 N.L. hit .337, 70 points higher than the second best hitting club!!  The next .300 hitting team was the 1887 St. Louis Browns of the A.A., which was a major league at the time.  Then, in 1893, the mound was moved to 60'6 from its then 50', and things heated up.  Two teams hit .300 in 1893, whereas the best hitting team in 1892 hit .262.  The league as a whole went from .245 to .280.  In 1894, the league BA went up to .309, highest ever, and eight teams hit over .300, led by Boston at .331, Baltimore at .343, and the Phillies at .349.  In 1895, three teams hit over .300, led by Philadelphia's .330.  Three more teams hit over .300 in '96, led by Baltimore at .328.  Two teams hit .300 in 1897, led again by Baltimore at .325.  In 1898, Baltimore hit over .300, and in 1899 Philadelphia did.
 You may be interested to learn that the 1968 Yankees came within two points of having the lowest team BA since 1900.  their .214 was only bottomed by the Dodgers .213 of 1908 and the White Sox' .212 of 1910).