1872.13
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"Times at Bat" Evolves as Hitting Stat
| Salience | Noteworthy |
|---|---|
| Tags | StatisticsStatistics |
| Location | |
| City/State/Country: | Brooklyn, NY, United States |
| Modern Address | |
| Game | Base BallBase Ball |
| Immediacy of Report | Contemporary |
| Age of Players | AdultAdult |
| Holiday | |
| Notables | |
| 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 |
| Warning | |
| 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? Edit with form to add a query |
| Source Image | |
| External Number | |
| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Submission Note | FB Posting, 9/18/2022 |
| Has Supplemental Text |
1872.13 "Times at Bat" Evolves as Hitting Stat"
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