Mendoza Line Definition & Meaning

American

Etymology

Examples

Mendoza Line American [men-doh-zuh lahyn] / mɛnˈdoʊ zə ˌlaɪn / Or Mendoza line

noun

Baseball.

1. an unimpressive and disappointing batting average of .200.

   If you’re gonna keep hitting below the Mendoza Line, you’d better learn how to pitch or find another career.

Etymology

Origin of Mendoza Line

First recorded in 1975–80; named after Mario Mendoza Aizpuru (born 1950), Mexican baseball shortstop whose batting average was consistently around .200

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Even in stretches when his batting average hovered around the Mendoza Line, or his strikeout total climbed MLB leaderboards, his ability to slug had been the great equalizer.

From Los Angeles Times

The “Mendoza Line” should now be known as the “Mendoza-Uecker Line,” as Mario Mendoza had a career batting average of .215, whereas Bob Uecker’s was exactly .200.

From Los Angeles Times

But for a player stuck around the Mendoza line the past two years, the improvements he has made to this point have nonetheless come as a sigh of relief, and source of auspicious belief.

From Los Angeles Times

“Belly” became the Dodgers’ chief rally killer as he flirted with the Mendoza Line most of his last two years with the team.

From Los Angeles Times

He brushes off the notion that he and Paciorek were the originators of the term “the Mendoza Line” — a theory put forth by former Mariner Mario Mendoza himself.

From Seattle Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.