The batting championship is awarded to the Major League Baseball player in each the American League and National League who has the highest batting average in a particular season. Currently, players need to accrue an average of 3.1 plate appearances for each game their team plays in order to qualify for the batting title. An exception to this qualification rule is that, if a player falls short of the 3.1 plate appearances per game but would still have the highest batting average even if enough hitless at bats were added to reach the 3.1 mark, the player still wins the batting championship. The latest example of this exception being employed occurred in 1996 when Tony Gwynn had 159 hits in 451 at bats for a .353 batting average but had only 498 plate appearances, four short of the 502 neces