Baseball Stats 101

Each of the following links will bring you to a list of formulas and statistics that are commonly used and often forgotten during the important calculation time. A review of the formulas prior to attendance at any game can refresh your memory giving you back the ability to adjust the statistics of any player after his last pitch, last hit or stolen base.

Statistics: Numerical facts and data, the lifeblood of baseball. As the most statistical of sports, baseball is awash in both amateur and professional statisticians. All teams and both leagues maintain their own statistical records.

Source: The New Baseball Dictionary by Paul Dickson (1999).

Baseball Almanac Top Quote

"It (baseball) is a haunted game in which every player is measured against the ghosts of all who have gone before."- Ken Burns in Baseball (1989)

Baseball Stats 101

A Baseball Stats 101 Workshop

Abbreviations 101 Defensive Stats
Baseball Stats Calculator Offensive Stats
Quotes About Stats Pitching Stats

Baseball Digital Scorebook ©

by Baseball Almanac / Programming by Les Stewart

Baseball Digital Scorebook Page (With Screenshots!)
A full featured / comprehensive stats 101 scoring solution featuring:
  • Printable ScoreCard
  • Home Stats / Away Stats
  • Team Schedule with Results, Cumulative Records & Scores
  • Hitting, Pitching, Fielding, Base Running & Catching Stats
  • Pitch Counts, Abbreviations & Detailed Instructions
  • Not free, but inexpensive and worth every penny!

Microsoft Excel Baseball Spreadsheets

Free Baseball Stats Resources

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (8 kb)
Hitting & Pitching Sheets
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (15.6 kb)
Little League Individual Player Stats (Simple)
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (192 kb)
Little League Team Stats (Simple)
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (1,647 kb)
Team Stats (Plus) With UPICK Option (Stats vs a Specific Pitcher)
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (7 kb)
Odds of Hitting A Pitch (Baseball or Softball)
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (56 kb)
Team Stats Tool
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (707 kb)
Baseball Team Stats (w/Giants as an example)
Baseball Stats 101 | Share Your Stats Tool
baseball almanac flat baseball

baseball almanac fast facts

Did you know that the batting average statistic first appeared in print during the 1874 season (two years before the National League started)? Too easy? Did you know that during the early 1950s, Allen Roth (a statistician for the Brooklyn Dodgers) and Branch Rickey devised the formula 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:

"Baseball isn't statistics. Baseball is (Joe) DiMaggio rounding second." - Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon

"A passion for statistics is the earmark of a literate people." - Sportswriter Paul Fisher in the New York Post

"(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.