"They both (statistics and bikinis) show a lot, but not everything." infielder Toby Harrah
Baseball fans LOVE stats. It helps us compare players and determine their relative values. But they do not tell the whole story. I cannot look back at any of the players I have watched and quote for you an exact stat. Sure I can ballpark them, but even that is a stretch for some of the players I loved. Only a select few have a memory good enough to keep all of the numbers in their heads. In the long run, the numbers do not matter (except the obvious record breakers). For example I don't remember Herbie and Kirby's numbers but I do remember their constant smiles and laughter. I remember the pranks and teasing. And I remember that they both gave everything when they played, and cared enough to stop and sign autographs when others wouldn't. They loved the game, the highs and lows, and it showed. And their love was contagious to the rest of the club. Tell me that either one was the consummate athlete... I don't think so. Both packed a few extra pounds during their most productive years. Sure there was talent, but on top of the talent was playing for the love of the game.
That being said, I am as much of a numbers geek as the next baseball fan. (Of course, my being an accountant might explain that too!) So today I went to see what I could find for info on stats. Here are a couple of the sites I found...
http://www.mlb-teams.com/stats/stats_index.php general stats info
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players.shtml ugly site, but lots of links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_statistics comprehensive list of stats and how to calc them for those who want to go beyond just looking at the stats
http://www.baseball-statistics.com/ Awards listing
http://content.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/default.aspx salary info for players and teams 1988 thru 2007. Fun to look and compare the salary histories.
So here is to the most important stat of all, W-L!!!
6 more days till I get a game fix!
Go Twins!!!!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi,
You have nice blog. A lot of people these days don't know whether they're getting appropriate salary for their profession. To be clear one can check online salary comparison websites to know what other corporations provide for the same position. For instance to compare salary of an analyst one can just type analyst salary in a salary comparison website like Whatsalary.com
Post a Comment