Has a Yankees player ever hit .400? How Aaron Judge factors in with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and more legends

Aaron Judge is attempting to give MLB's most successful franchise something it has never had.

Judge is chasing a .400 batting average, and it feels like a legitimate pursuit for the New York Yankees captain.

In any era of baseball, it seems like a near-impossibility. It hasn't been done since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941 for the Red Sox and Josh Gibson hit .466 for the Homestead Grays in 1943.

In this era of baseball, with the absurd arms on the mound for every pitch of every game, it seems actually impossible.

But Judge is going for it and might have a real chance.

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Has a Yankees player ever hit .400?

No player in the history of the New York Yankees franchise has ever hit .400.

The list of teams that once had .400 hitters in the bygone days of baseball include the St. Louis Maroons, the Louisville Colonels, the Boston Beaneaters and the Cleveland Spiders, but never the Yankees.

Yankees' single-season batting average record

Fittingly, the New York Yankees' single-season batting average record is held by Babe Ruth.

The Sultan of Swat hit .393 in the 1923 season.

The rest of the Yankees' top-10 is all Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.

DiMaggio hit .381 in 1939.

Gehrig hit .379 in 1930.

Ruth batted .378 in both 1921 and 1924, and .376 in 1920.

Gehrig was at .374 in 1928 and .373 in 1927. 

Ruth matched that .373 average in 1931, and had a .372 in 1926.

Mickey Mantle ranks 11th on the list at .365 in 1957.

In the more recent eras, DJ LeMahieu hit .364 in the shortened 2020 season, and Paul O'Neill batted .359 in the strike-shortened 1994 season.

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What are Aaron Judge's career batting average stats?

Before the 2025 season, Aaron Judge's career-high batting average was the .322 he batted in 2024.

Judge also hit .311 back in 2022.

He's more known for his power, with seasons of 62 and 58 home runs already in his career.

His career batting average entering the 2025 season was .288, and his potent 2025 is raising that closer to .300.