Which league did Robinson lead with a .349 batting average in 1946?

Robinson led the International League with a .349 batting average in 1946.

That season, Robinson played for the Montreal Royals, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ top farm club. The International League was a high-level minor league, and 1946 was its first season classified as Triple-A. Robinson’s .349 average topped the league’s batting table and helped establish him as ready for the major leagues.

His season was remarkable beyond the batting title. Robinson helped Montreal win 100 regular-season games and then capture the Governors’ Cup. He also led the league in runs with 113 and posted a .985 fielding percentage. The Royals’ success made his integration of professional baseball impossible to dismiss as a publicity experiment.

A common mix-up is confusing the International League with the Negro leagues, where Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945. Another is mistaking his April 1946 game at Roosevelt Stadium for his first Royals appearance: his exhibition debut came earlier, on March 17, at Daytona Beach’s City Island Ballpark. Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers the following April.