Why the System of Batting Averages Should Be Changed
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Cactus Cravath, a tremendous slugger who, according to the present inaccurate system of keeping batting averages, isn't even a three-hundred hitter. Note how Cravath's record appears in its true light in the following sketch Why the System of Batting Averages Should Be Changed Statistics Lie at the Foundation of Baseball Popularity— Batting Records Are the Favorite—And Yet Bat- ting Records Are Unnecessarily Inaccurate BY F. C. LANE UPPOSE you asked a close personal had learned much about the precise state friend how much change he had of his exchequer? S in his pocket and he replied, Would a system that placed nickels, "Twelve coins," would you think you dimes, quarters and fifty cent pieces on 41 42 THE BASEBALL MAGAZINE the same basis be much of a system ited with a batting average of an even whereby to compute a man's financial re- .300. That is to say, he would have hit sources? Anyone who offered such a safely three out of ten times. system would deserve to be examined as This is all right enough, according to to his mental condition. And yet it is first glance, but on second glance it is precisely such a loose, inaccurate system easy to see it is merely the story of the which obtains in baseball and lies at the twelve coins over again. Now the man root of the most popular branch of base- we had in mind had a dollar and twenty- ball statistics. eight cents in his pocket, but some other Fans and figures have a mutual attrac- man who lives beyond the Mississippi tion. The real bugs of the diamond like river where cart wheel currency is in to pour over facts gleaned from the rec- order might have had twelve silver dol- ords, to compare Ty Cobb's batting aver- lars in his pocket and still have had age with Hans Wagner's. Statistics are twelve coins, to say nothing of the fellow the most important part of baseball, the who might have had twelve double eagles. one permanent, indestructible heritage of The batter who makes twelve hits out each passing season. And batting rec- of fifty times at bat is given just as much ords are the particular gem of all credit as any other who makes twelve collections of figures, the one most to be hits out of fifty times at bat. But are desired. twelve hits always of the same denomi- Fielding records are known to be gross- nation any more than quarters and ly inaccurate. Few well informed fans dimes and nickels? pay much attention to them except to find One batter, we may say, made twelve out how many putouts and assists a play- singles, three or four of them of the er is credited with and whether or not scratchiest possible variety. The other he is a good ground coverer. Pitching also made twelve hits, but all of them records are nearer accuracy, and since were good ringing drives, clean cut and Secretary Heydler has inaugurated his decisive, three of them were doubles, one admirable system of earned runs, they a triple, and one a home run. Is the are more accurate than ever. But batting work of the two batters on a parallel? records are the most easily kept and The figures say so. In other words, it is readily interpreted of them all. Which the case of the coins without paying any is fortunate, since batting is the particu- attention to the denomination. lar hobby of nine fans in ten who are I once talked with a player who hap- persistent visitors at the games. pened to have a bad leg and was sitting And yet, with all their value and their in the grandstand watching his team- comparative accuracy, the system which mates battle on the diamond. It was a underlies all batting averages is precisely critical time in the game and a runner that indicated above. It is a system was on second. The batter at the plate where dimes are considered equal to half was the only three hundred hitter on dollars, where the man who has a half the club. Apparently the situation was dollar, a quarter, three dimes, four nick- well primed for action. "Lucky M—— els and three pennies lumps them to- is at bat," I said to the player, who was gether and instead of saying he has $1.28 chewing his lip with subdued excitement. says "Twelve coins." Pretty poor sys- "No, no," he retorted. "Too bad, H—— tem, isn't it, to govern the most popular isn't up. He's a good batter." And the department of the most popular of man he spoke of had an average at least games? twenty points lower than the one who How do batting averages follow this was facing the pitcher. absurd system? Very simply. Batting And yet this was merely an illustra- records as at present conducted give tion of a commonly accepted situation merely the number of safe hits a player among ball players. They know who makes in comparison to the number of are the good batters on the club regard- times he had a chance to make a safe hit. less of what the records may say. They For instance, if he were at bat five hun- know that the figures grossly mislead and dred times during a season and made one that players with a showy average are hundred and fifty hits, he would be cred- often far less formidable with the stick CHANGE THE SYSTEM OF BATTING AVERAGES 43 PRESENT SYSTEM OF BATTING RECORDS GROSSLY MISLEADING The system of keeping batting averages needs a complete overhauling. At present this system merely gives the comparative number of times a player makes a hit without paying any attention to the importance of that hit. Home runs and scratch singles are all bulged together on the same footing, when everybody knows that one is vastly more important than the other. The result is that the records are grossly misleading. than others who perhaps lurk unappre- values of home runs and singles, you ciated in the shade of .270. Why do admit that a system much more accurate players have this usually accepted appre- than the present one might be installed. ciation of batters apart from what the In short, the batting system of the pres- records tell? Because among themselves ent has wound its halting way down the they are not willing to admit that a cent history of baseball because the record is equal to a quarter, that the scratchiest makers tacitly admitted that there was no of singles is worth a ringing two-bagger, way of giving comparative values to the or that the grandstand hitter is equal to various hits, that there was no way to the grim-faced fellow with set teeth who tell a dime from a nickel. battles best in the pinch. In short, play- Now, the BASEBALL MAGAZINE is not ers recognize the loopholes in the sys- willing to admit this. And before we tem of keeping the records and mentally are through we believe our readers will make reservations in sizing up a fellow agree with us. We do not claim that player's strong points and weaknesses. an absolutely accurate system could be Now, the sole purpose of batting aver- devised, but we do believe that one ap- ages is to give a correct idea of the com- proximately correct, certainly far more parative ability of baseball players with nearly correct than the present system, is the stick. If these averages mislead or among the current possibilities. give mistaken ideas of batting ability In the first place, what constitutes the they forfeit their only excuse in being. value of a hit. There is but one logical There is but one exception. Where rec- answer. A hit is valuable in so far as it ords, in spite of errors, are as accurate results in a score. The entire aim of a as possible, they should be accepted as baseball team at bat is to score runs. better than none at all. Fielding records, Hits, stolen bases, taking advantage of with all their inaccuracies, may be as errors—in short, all the departments of nearly correct as circumstances permit. play—are but details in the process of But does the same rule apply to batting? scoring runs. The one aim of every man Is there no way to separate the dimes on the team is to cross the plate with a from the nickels and give each its proper tally or to assist some team mate in so value? Let us see. doing. I took up the matter with Secretary Hits are not made as mere spectacular Heydler, who knows more about statis- displays of batting ability; they are made tics than any other man actively con- for a purpose, namely, to assist in the nected with the game. "I admit," said all-important labor of scoring runs. Mr. Heydler, "that the system of giving Their entire value lies in their value as as much credit to singles as to home runs run producers. Obviously, many hits are is inaccurate to that extent. But it has made that are for all practical purposes never seemed practicable to use any other wasted. Games are not uncommon in system. How, for instance, are you go- which one side failed to register a run ing to give the comparative values of and yet that side may have made several home runs and singles?" good hits.