1872.13: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "{{Chronology Entry |Year=1872 |Year Number=13 |Headline="Times at Bat" Evolves as Hitting Stat |Salience=2 |Tags=Statistics, |Country=United States |Coordinates=40.6781784, -73.9441579 |State=NY |City=Brooklyn |Game=Base Ball |Immediacy of Report=Contemporary |Age of Players=Adult |Sources=''Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch'' September 22, 1872 |Submitted by=Richard Hershberger |Submission Note=FB Posting, 9/19/2022 |Reviewed=Yes |Has Supplemental Text=No }}")
 
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|Immediacy of Report=Contemporary
|Immediacy of Report=Contemporary
|Age of Players=Adult
|Age of Players=Adult
|Sources=''Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch'' September 22, 1872
|Text=<p>Richard Hershberger writes, 9/18/2022:</p>
<p>"At Bats are a staple of modern box scores, since you need it to calculate batting average. The conventional batting average in 1872 still used games played as the denominator, borrowed from cricket where it makes much more sense."</p>
|Sources=<p><em>'Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch',&nbsp;</em>September 22, 1872</p>
|Comment=<div class="m8h3af8h l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf n3t5jt4f">
<div dir="auto">&nbsp;</div>
<div dir="auto">Richard Hershberger, <em>150 years ago today in baseball</em> September 2022:</div>
<div dir="auto">&nbsp;</div>
<div dir="auto">"The Athletics in Brooklyn, where they beat the Atlantics 13-4. There is nothing particularly interesting about the game, but look closely at this box score from the <em>Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch</em>. I don't often use this paper for excerpts due to the poor quality of the images, but today I am making an exception. Notice the third column, "T.A.B." This is "Times At Bat." At Bats are a staple of modern box scores, since you need it to calculate batting average. The conventional batting average in 1872 still used games played as the denominator, borrowed from cricket where it makes much more sense. Scorers in 1872 have sensed that this is not great for baseball. This box score shows the transition, tabulating at bats for later use. The column shows what we today call Plate Appearances, as the various exceptions have not yet been carved out from At Bats.</div>
<div dir="auto">&nbsp;</div>
</div>
<div class="l7ghb35v kjdc1dyq kmwttqpk gh25dzvf jikcssrz n3t5jt4f">
<div dir="auto">Our forward-thinking scorer is David Reid, the baseball editor of the <em>Sunday Dispatch</em>. He is not much remembered today, but was important for a brief time. Next year he will be one of the organizers of the new Philadelphia Club. A few years later he will move to Missouri and will work for Von der Ahe as secretary of the Brown Stockings. Then he will die young, hence his being forgotten. We see him here on the cutting edge of advanced baseball analytics. His post-season statistical wrap-up will include the traditional base hits per game, but also a newfangled column, "Average clean hits to times at bat." Dude! Get out of your parents' basement and actually watch a game!"</div>
</div>
|Query=<p>[] Was hits per game commonly calculated in cricket in 1872?</p>
|Source Image=Times at bat stat 1872.jpg
|Submitted by=Richard Hershberger
|Submitted by=Richard Hershberger
|Submission Note=FB Posting, 9/19/2022
|Submission Note=FB Posting, 9/18/2022
|Reviewed=Yes
|Reviewed=Yes
|Has Supplemental Text=No
|Has Supplemental Text=No
}}
}}

Revision as of 10:22, 19 September 2022

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"Times at Bat" Evolves as Hitting Stat

Salience Noteworthy
Tags Statistics
City/State/Country: Brooklyn, NY, United States
Game Base Ball
Immediacy of Report Contemporary
Age of Players Adult
Text

Richard Hershberger writes, 9/18/2022:

"At Bats are a staple of modern box scores, since you need it to calculate batting average. The conventional batting average in 1872 still used games played as the denominator, borrowed from cricket where it makes much more sense."

Sources

'Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch', September 22, 1872

Comment
 
Richard Hershberger, 150 years ago today in baseball September 2022:
 
"The Athletics in Brooklyn, where they beat the Atlantics 13-4. There is nothing particularly interesting about the game, but look closely at this box score from the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch. I don't often use this paper for excerpts due to the poor quality of the images, but today I am making an exception. Notice the third column, "T.A.B." This is "Times At Bat." At Bats are a staple of modern box scores, since you need it to calculate batting average. The conventional batting average in 1872 still used games played as the denominator, borrowed from cricket where it makes much more sense. Scorers in 1872 have sensed that this is not great for baseball. This box score shows the transition, tabulating at bats for later use. The column shows what we today call Plate Appearances, as the various exceptions have not yet been carved out from At Bats.
 
Our forward-thinking scorer is David Reid, the baseball editor of the Sunday Dispatch. He is not much remembered today, but was important for a brief time. Next year he will be one of the organizers of the new Philadelphia Club. A few years later he will move to Missouri and will work for Von der Ahe as secretary of the Brown Stockings. Then he will die young, hence his being forgotten. We see him here on the cutting edge of advanced baseball analytics. His post-season statistical wrap-up will include the traditional base hits per game, but also a newfangled column, "Average clean hits to times at bat." Dude! Get out of your parents' basement and actually watch a game!"
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Query

[] Was hits per game commonly calculated in cricket in 1872?

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Source Image
Times at bat stat 1872.jpg
Submitted by Richard Hershberger
Submission Note FB Posting, 9/18/2022



Comments

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