Math and Statistics in Baseball

1
Math and Statistics in Baseball

• Sara Johnson
• Wes Skidmore
• Jessica Hoover
• Meredith Morgan
• Miranda Peters

2
History of Baseball

• Alexander Cartwright
• Rounders, Townball, Base, Baseball
• First recorded baseball game in 1846

3
Objectives of the Game
4
Theory of StatisticsStatistics is a branch of
mathematics concerned with the design of
experiments or sampling procedures, the analysis
of the data and the making of inferences about a
population of measurements contained in a sample
(Mendenhall 5).

• Statistics are used commonly in
• Politics
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Education
• 2 Key Elements affected in Statistics
• Prediction
• Decision making

5
Statistical AnalysisThe objective of
Statistics is to make inferences about a (person)
or population based upon information contained in
a sample (Mendenhall 3).

• 3 Key Elements
• 1) Design of the experiment or sampling
  procedure.
• 2) Collection of and analysis of data.
• 3) Making of inferences about population based
  upon information contained in a sample
  (Mendenhall 4).

6
Statistics and Baseball

• Henry Chadwick
• Father of Baseball
• Sportswriter, Historian and Statistician
• Great influence on the game

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How?

• Introduced the Box score
• Expanded the Box score
• Sabermetrics

Sample Box Score
8
What are the most important and talked about
statistics in the game of baseball?
9
Batting AverageThe Ultimate Statistic

• Batting average is the number of hits divided by
  your number of at bats.
• Easily the most common statistic in baseball and
  the most understood even outside of the game. It
  has been historically used as the benchmark for
  hitters since the late 1800s making it
  historically rich, easy to understand, easy to
  compute and almost everyone knows what a .300
  hitter is (Peter Gammons).

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Why is Batting Average Such an Important
Statistic?

• The higher the batting average the less outs the
  hitter makes in the game
• The higher the average the more times the batter
  reaches base, which gives the team a chance to
  score a run.
• The team with the most runs wins the game
• 90 of the time the team with the most hits wins
  the game (Peter Gammons).

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The Controversy over Batting Average

• Batting average is one of the most confusing
  statistics in baseball. However, the baseball
  sets batting average as a benchmark of how good a
  hitter is considered.
• An example to consider If a batter gets a hit,
  tries for an extra base and gets out, the
  hitters average increases, but when a hitter
  reaches home on an error the hitters batting
  average goes down.

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Some questions to consider

• Is batting average calculated correctly?
• Why does batting average count for so much, yet
  it has the least appeal to the public eye?

13
Different Batting Averages

• Batting averages hold significance for pitchers.
• Batting averages against right or left handed
  hitters.
• Batting averages in counts.
• Batting averages with runners in scoring
  positions.

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Which hitter?

• You are a General Manager for a team and you can
  sign one of the two players, Player A or Player
  B. The player will make over 2 million dollars a
  year so you want to make sure you have the best
  player available that will help your team win.

• Last year Player A had 81 hits in 385 at bats and
  19 home runs
• Last year Player B had 75 hits in 210 at bats and
  7 home runs

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Works Cited

• (1995). Mendenhall, William. Introduction to
  Statistics. Belmont Wadsworth Publishing
  Company.
• (2006). Baseball Statistics. Electronic
  Version. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
• (2002). Henry Chadwick. Electronic Version. The
  Idea Logical Company, Inc.

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Pictures Cited

• www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/sports/baseball/05
• http//webhome.broward.edu/hsorkin/Lib-Arts/Proje
  cts/Spring2000/Mckeon/answer.html
• http//inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbas
  eball.htm