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15 September 1993 | Volume 119 Issue 6 | Page 541
Mario Mendoza, a Major League infielder from 1974 to 1982, played in 686 games, came to bat 1337 times, and had a career batting average of.215. As team physician for the Atlanta Braves, I learned that Major League players, when reviewing the weekly rankings, would look for the name Mendoza and would strive to keep their batting average above his minimum standard—the origin of the so-called Mendoza Line.
For 5 years, I have tried to establish a Mendoza Line on the internal medicine in-training examination. Of 10 residents who were above the 50th percentile during their third year of training, 9 (90%) passed the internal medicine board examination on the first try. Of 11 residents who fell below the 50th percentile, 9 (82%) failed.
Grossman and colleagues [1], in a more sophisticated manner, compiled data on 109 residents from six community and university internal medicine training programs. The 35th percentile appeared to be their Mendoza Line. Eighty-nine percent of residents above it passed the boards, and 83% of those below it failed.
Until further data are available, I advise our residents to keep their in-training examination scores above the 50th percentile and their batting averages above.215.
1. Grossman RS, Fincher RM, Layne RD, et al. Validity of the in-training examination for predicting American Board of Internal Medicine Certifying Examination Scores. J Gen Intern Med. 1992; 7:63-7. About Letters
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The Mendoza Line and In-Training Examination Scores
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