Did you know that the batting average statistic first appeared in print during the 1874 season? Did you know that during the early 1950s, Allen Roth (a statistician for the Brooklyn Dodgers) and Branch Rickey devised the formular for on-base percentage?
There have been many interesting quotes about baseball statistics throughout baseball history and we are pleased to present a few of our favorites:
"A passion for statistics is the earmark of a literate people." - Sportswriter Paul Fisher in the New York Post
"Baseball isn't statistics. Baseball is (Joe) DiMaggio rounding second." - Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon
"(Nap) Lajoie was perhaps the first player to attract nation-wide attention because of his batting average. Prior to his time the fans were only mildly interested in statistics." - Sportswriter Bob French in the Toledo Blade
"Statistics are about as interesting as first base coaches." - Jim Bouton
"Statistics are the lifeblood of baseball." - Leonard Koppett in A Thinking Man's Guide to Baseball (1967)
"They both (bikinis & statistics) show a lot, but not everything." - Toby Harrah
"Who says there's an unemployment problem in this country? Just take the five percent unemployed and give them a baseball stat to follow." - Andy Van Slyke
Every year a company named Stats, Inc. releases a super series of books dedicated to baseball statistics. Click their name to see the most recent list of titles.
