Talk:Baseball statistics

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[edit] Moved from Baseball statistics/BA Talk

Moved from Baseball statistics/BA Talk:

I will settle for good :) I actually wrote "good" to start with & then decided to go the superlative.

Just to be a geek, I downloaded the stats and found that 45 out of 151 qualifiers for the BA championship in the majors hit .300 (53/258 with 300 PA, 69/430 with 100 PA). So I agree, "good", at least among regulars. Of course, if you're a bench player hitting .300 you probably won't be a bench player much longer.

Then again, in the American league in 1968, a batting average of .300 was unquestionably excellent. But that was then, and this is definitely an era of offense. User:Dze27

Quite. Yaz won the batting title three times without ever hitting better than 326.
As compared to, say, 1930, when (I think) there was only one regular in the NL who didn't hit .300. The 1890s were another odd period like this. User:RjLesch
See also : Baseball statistics

[edit] OBP

I have redefined nonono OBP to "On-base percentage. (H + BB + HBP) divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SF)." This is the official definition of the statistic. MLB.com defines it as "On-Base Percentage (OBP): Divide the total number of hits plus Bases on Balls plus hits by Pitch BY at Bats plus Bases on Balls plus hit by Pitch plus Sacrifice Flies." I just put it in English, so to speak.--Djramey 14:31, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Individual statistics explanation pages

So many of these pages are stubs, and I don't feel there's too much to say about them. I propose merging them into Batting statistics, Pitching statistics, etc., with redirects. Gemini6Ice 2 July 2005 19:53 (UTC)

  • That sounds like a good plan. I'll go ahead with this unless there are any serious objections. android79 22:33, August 27, 2005 (UTC)

Maybe somebody could include the estimated stats of Negro league players as footnotes to these lists. I think Satchel Paige is though to have won some 2000 games in his lifetime, and that Josh Gibson hit around 800 homeruns.

I am not sure, but I don't believe this is the place to have a listing of specific player stats. That can be done by starting (existing??) page of Baseball Records or by visiting the specific player wiki-sites.--Djramey 18:47, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Explanation of stats

It would be nice if someone who knows could put information about what is good/bad/average for the stats listed.

A good idea. I have added a Good statistics section that describes good and very good for some typical statistics. I am not that good with tables, so please feel free to improve the format as well as add to the information. Truthanado 05:08, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
I checked the MLB.com reference provided for the new "Good statistics" section, and it's just a list of player statistics for league leaders. Thus, it appears that the "analysis of career single season leaders for the modern baseball era" that is referenced is original research, i.e., forbidden under Wikipedia policies. A valid source for this information would be a source that says a .300 batting average or 3.00 ERA is "good." I'm sure there are sources that make those kind of statements, though I'm not sure that they'll all fit into a neat little table. I'm reverting the new section until appropriate references that are not original research can be found. BRMo 18:09, 2 June 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for the input and the discussion. I have created a new "Good statistics" section that does not involve original research. For now, it just has some typical Batting statistics in it. I will wait a week or so to see what comments the Wikipedia community has on this. Then, if all is okay, I will expand it to include pitching statistics. Truthanado 19:32, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sabermetrics article needs review

A bunch of vanity posts wiped out the Major Proponents of Sabermetrics section, adding people who want to sell their stat services and computer games. I reverted the article to its pre-anon-edit state, but it needs review from people who know this material better than I do. I may have accidentally erased encyclopedic content as well as the vanity posts. Some of the anon posters have previously done the same thing on other baseball stat articles, such as Defense Independent Pitching Statistics, and it took real editor intervention there to finally reach any kind of compromise. Please help. OverInsured 06:35, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Catcher's Interference

Can someone explain to me why Catcher's interference does not count toward OBP like an HBP.TonyTheTiger 19:43, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Catcher's interference is officialy considered an error on the catcher (I think). ¿ςפקιДИτς! ☺ ☻ 00:18, 1 December 2006 (UTC)


OBR 10.13"(f) When an umpire awards the batter or any runner or runners one or more bases because of interference or obstruction, charge the fielder who committed the interference or obstruction with one error, no matter how many bases the batter, or runner or runners, may be advanced." So, yes, catcher's interference is charged as an error. Justus R 20:17, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Non-Major Leagues

In the lead, it says,

Many statistics are even available from outside of Major League Baseball from leagues such as the National Association, the Federal League, and there are even some statistics available for the Negro Leagues.

While I realize that the status of the NA as a major league is tenuous at best, every baseball book that I currently possess lists the FL as a major league. ¿ςפקιДИτς! ☺ ☻ 00:18, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I would recommend leaving the Federal League out of the definition of Major League. Just because a view is popular, doesn't mean it's right. More specifically, read the most recent Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract for an extremely compelling argument that the FL was not a major league by any reasonable argument, and that it's level of talent and competition was far below that of the American League, National League or any of the Negro Leagues. ☺

Major League Baseball recognises the Federal League as a Major League, click here and the page has stats for the Federal League which are recognised under MLB. --Borgarde 07:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] external links

I just came to this article hoping to find an external links section and found none. Perhaps a small section with links to two or three of the most useful external websites could be added? SaltyBoatr 17:51, 26 April 2007 (UTC)


[edit] RF

MLB.com lists RF on its players' pages, can anyone tell me what that is? Mglovesfun 08:41, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Quoting the article, "RF - Range factor - ([putouts + assists]*9)/innings played. Used to determine the amount of field that the player can cover" BRMo 04:00, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Games Back?

Can anyone tell me what the statistic GB (Games Back) means? Uniqueuponhim 19:44, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

It means the number of games more that the trailing team needs to win than the leading team wins to give the two teams the same winning percentage. The games back number is always calculated based on the team leading the division. Here's an example -- if the Mariners were 4 games behind the Angels with 20 games to go, the Mariners must win 4 more games than the Angels win to end with the same percentage; i.e. if the Angels won 14 of the last 20, the Mariners would need to win 18 of the last 20 to tie, win 19 to take the division lead.Krisbang 01:21, 4 September 2007 (UTC)