Baseball Statistics

I

Introduction

Baseball Statistics numerical information about the performance of baseball players and teams. Some statistics, such as the number of hits or errors a player makes in a season, are simply counted. Others, such as batting average and fielding percentage, are calculated using mathematical formulas. Statistics record and preserve baseball’s history, creating a repository of information that deepens understanding and appreciation of the sport. This information is used by everyone from players and managers to club executives and player agents to fans and fantasy baseball league participants. As statistics become more numerous and complex, computers are increasingly utilized to compile and analyze them.

Baseball statistics focus on the offensive, defensive, and pitching performances of players, making it possible to compare the contributions of players on different teams and to assess their part in the team’s success or failure. Statistics also make it possible to compare the strengths and weaknesses of players and teams of different periods. Most offensive statistics concern a player’s actions while batting or on base. These include getting on base, driving in runs, striking out, executing sacrifices, stealing bases, and scoring runs. Defensive statistics record players’ fielding activities, such as handling a hit ball without error, throwing out base runners, and making putouts. Pitchers and catchers have their own special set of statistics. Pitchers’ statistics include win-loss record, strikeouts, walks allowed, earned run average (ERA), innings pitched, and wild pitches. Catchers’ statistics include runners caught stealing, passed balls, and catcher’s interference.

II

Statistics and Strategy

One of the major uses of baseball statistics is to help teams plan offensive and defensive strategy. In preparation for a game, managers, coaches, and scouts review the statistics of their team and the opposing team. Based on the numbers, the coaching staff will assemble a lineup that gives the team its best chance against that opponent. By spotting statistical trends—such as which players hit well against a certain pitcher or which of their own pitchers do well against the opponent’s best hitters—managers make decisions that can help the team win.

Similarly, players, coaches, and managers make use of statistical information for specific, situational moves during games. For example, during a close game with two outs and runners on base, a pitcher might intentionally walk a batter who hits for a high average with two outs and choose to pitch to the next batter instead. Or a runner may attempt to steal against a particular catcher if the statistics show that the catcher has a below-average arm.

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III

Official Scoring

In major league baseball games, scorekeepers are responsible for keeping official statistics. Appointed by the league presidents, official scorekeepers occupy special seats in stadium press boxes. They watch the game and compile information about each offensive and defensive play. After the game the scorekeeper completes a detailed report about each player’s performance and the cumulative results for both teams. This report becomes the official basis from which box scores and game accounts are constructed.

In some cases, scorekeepers must make judgment calls about hits and errors. For example, on a play where a fielder has a chance to make an out but does not, the scorekeeper must rule whether the runner has reached base on a hit or an error. The scorekeeper’s judgment calls are important because the decision may determine if a pitcher is charged with an earned run or if a batter is credited with a run batted in (RBI). A scorekeeper’s ruling can even affect historic or significant achievements, such as whether a pitcher records a no-hit game or a batter extends a lengthy hitting streak.

Baseball statistics for individual games are recorded in two main forms: the scorecard and the box score. Both formats note the events of a game, but at different levels of detail. A scorecard is used to record the game on a play-by-play, inning-by-inning basis, often using symbols and shorthand (see accompanying graphic, “Baseball Scorecard”). Events such as where the ball was hit, how a player was put out, and what player reached what base in a particular inning can be noted.

The box score, on the other hand, is a game summary. It is compiled at the end of the game and presents totals for individual and team performances in offensive and defensive categories. A typical box score contains many statistics, including the lineup of each team (along with substitutes) and—for each player—the number of official times batted, hits made, runs scored, and runs batted in. The statistics for pitchers include the number of innings pitched, hits allowed, runs (earned and unearned), walks, and strikeouts. Expanded box scores contain even more information, such as each hitter’s walks, strikeouts, and batting average.

IV

History of Baseball Statistics

The beginnings of baseball statistics can be traced to 1845, the year the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York City established a set of rules and practices that became the foundations of modern baseball. The Knickerbockers kept scorebooks in which they recorded the names of players participating in each match and, often, the runs scored and outs made by each player. During the 1850s, other clubs formed and adopted the New York team’s style of record-keeping. Newspapers also began to take notice of baseball and published regular statistical summaries and game accounts.

Henry Chadwick, a British-born journalist who covered cricket matches for New York City newspapers, developed an interest in baseball in the 1850s. Chadwick began reporting the results of baseball matches using scoring methods adapted from cricket. Throughout a long career that stretched into the early 20th century, Chadwick refined and improved baseball’s statistical practices. He is credited with the introduction of the batting average, the slugging percentage, and the concept of total bases (a cumulative number in which a player is credited with one base for a single, two bases for a double, three for a triple, and four for a home run).

Before the 1870s baseball statistics placed nearly equal emphasis on offense and defense, a balance that reflected Chadwick’s preference for the game’s defensive elements. As time passed, however, baseball’s offensive statistics came to dominate fan interest. Batting averages, runs batted in, and home runs were the most popular and well-known statistics with baseball’s fans and media. When New York Yankees slugger Babe Ruth hit his record total of 60 home runs in 1927, the number took on mythic status with everyone who followed the game. Each time a player pursued and broke the single-season home run record the chase attracted widespread excitement, as when Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit 73 home runs in 2001. Similar significance is attached to hitting for a .400 batting average over a season, a feat last achieved by Boston Red Sox star Ted Williams in 1941. That same year, Yankees star Joe DiMaggio set another hallowed baseball record by hitting in 56 consecutive games, a mark that has never been broken.

Baseball’s scoring and statistical practices developed rapidly during the 20th century, and new statistics were introduced over the years as the game evolved. As relief pitching became more specialized and more vital to the game, baseball officially introduced the saves statistic in the late 1960s. Essentially, a reliever is credited with a save when he shuts down the other team at the end of a close game. An offensive statistic that has become more emphasized in recent years is on base percentage, which measures walks and being hit by a pitch in addition to hits. During the 1990s some baseball statisticians began to use a measurement known as OPS (on base plus slugging), which combines on base percentage and slugging percentage. As the game continues to change and evolve, new ways of tracking and comparing performance will no doubt keep pace.

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