What year National Baseball League start using batting averages? I no this has been asked b4 but it didnt help

Another question for my project =]





and if you have a website that would be great 2 :)

What year National Baseball League start using batting averages? I no this has been asked b4 but it didnt help
The National League began play in 1876, and they used batting averages from the beginning. Ross Barnes was the first batting champ, with a .429 batting average:





http://www.baseball-reference.com/league...





The thing that makes averages confusing through the years is that the rules changed regarding the number of balls needed for a walk, walks counting as at-bats, etc. If you check the rules timeline, you'll see that those things have changed dramatically over the years:





http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rulechng...
Reply:The National League adopted "batting average" as an official statistic in 1877 and applied it retroactively to 1876. It has been an official statistic ever since but subject to various changes, in the early days, as to what was or was not a base hit.