Baseball trivia to stump ya
 

Here's a question that I'm betting nobody will know the answer to without looking it up.

What batter led the Major Leagues in hitting, but did not win a batting title?

Hint: it was a modern batsman, and future Hall of Famer.

Sorry, one of my favorite questions of all time (and he's already in the hall) Eddie Murray. He led the majors in batting but Willie McGee was traded to the A's near the end of the season from the NL. When he was traded he was hitting higher than Murray wound up at, but his average with the A's lowered him below Murray's figure. He did have enough plate appearances, however, to qualify for the NL title. Murray had a higher average than the AL Batting leader and a higher average than McGee's combined total, so he led the majors in batting but no title.

Didn't Melky Cabrera have the highest average in the NL a few years ago, but because of a suspension, he was not awarded the title (and refused to accept it)? I vaguely remember this, but not the details.

Someone who was traded between leagues in mid season and therefore didn’t have the required plate appearances to qualify for the batting title in either league. I could look it up, but am quite sure the answer is explained by the scenario outlined above.

Uh.... Scott already gave the answer.

Scott was right.

In 2012, Miguel Cabrera led the AL with a .330 average, and Buster Posey led the NL with .336. Posey's teammate Melky Cabrera batted .346, but was two plate appearance shy of qualifying. However, when you add an 0 for 2, he clearly beats both players by a wide margin.

Melky was given a 50 game suspension during the season, and MLB determined that he would not be awarded the batting title. And Melky agreed and said he would not accept it.

But...wouldn't that qualify him as having the highest average in the major leagues without winning the title? I believe there are two answers to this question. And incidentally if Melky won, both leagues would have been led by a Cabrera (unrelated).

Implicit in the question is having enough plate appearances to qualify. Otherwise any guy who went 1 for 2 is also the right answer.

I don't think that's true Peter. In Melky's case, he was two plate appearances short. I believe the rule is if you added an 0 for 2, and he still had the highest average, he would be the batting champ. And I believe that has happened once or twice before. Wasn't George Brett a few appearances short the year he hit .390? I think that's the rule of major league baseball, just not 100% sure.

That is indeed the rule. I think Gwynn won one batting title that way.

Thanks Scott.

1996 he was 4 PA's short but adding an 0 for 4 he still won. They give you credit for the average you actually accrued, but you wouldn't get the title if adding hitless AB's to get you up to 502 plate appearances dropped you below whoever was in 2nd.

Exactly. In Melky's case he still would have been around .343, which would have been the major league high.

Wild.