Total Baseball (1994 Edition)

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$Unique_ID{BAS00200} $Pretitle{} $Title{The Player Register: Introduction} $Subtitle{} $Author{} $Subject{Player Register Players Registers batting baserunning fielding statistics Total} $Log{} Total Baseball: Registers, Leaders, and Rosters The Player Register: Introduction The Player Register consists of the central batting, baserunning, and fielding statistics of every man who has batted in major league play since 1871, excepting those men who were primarily pitchers. A pitcher's complete batting record, however, is included for those pitchers who also, over the course of their careers, played in 100 or more games at another position--including pinch hitter--or played in more than half of their total major league games at a position other than pitcher, or played more games at a position other than pitcher in at least one year. (Pitcher batting is also expressed in Batting Wins in the Pitcher Batting column of the Pitcher Register.) The players are listed alphabetically by surname and, when more than one player bears the name, alphabetically by given name--not by "use name," by which we mean the name that may have been applied to him during his playing career. This is the standard method of alphabetizing used in other biographical reference works, and in the case of baseball it makes it easier to find a lesser-known player with a common surname like Smith or Johnson. This method also jibes with that employed in the Team Roster and Annual Record where, for example, Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn is shown not as the puzzling O. Radbourn or H. Radbourn, as some reference books have it, but as C. Radbourn. On the whole, we have been conservative in ascribing nicknames, doing so only when the player was in fact known by that name during his playing days. Each person in the Player Register can be found by finding the Player Register list in the Contents and selecting the title whose names alphabetically surround the surname of the player you desire. An additional finding aid is an asterisk alongside the team for which a player appeared in postseason competition, thus making for easy cross-reference to the earlier section on postseason play. New to this edition are symbols denoting All Star Game selection and/or play; these appear to the right of the team/league column. The record for each man who played in more than one season is given in a line for each season, plus a career total line. If he played for more than one team in a given year, his totals for each team are stated on separate lines. And if the teams for which he played in his "traded year" are in the same league, then his full record is stated in both separate and combined fashion. (In the odd case of a man playing for three or more clubs in one year, with some of these clubs being in the same league, the combined total line will reflect only his play in that one league.) A man who played in only one year will have no additional career total line, since it would be identical to his seasonal listing. Batting records for the National Association are included in The Player Register because the editors, like most baseball historians, regard it as a major league, inasmuch as it was the only professional league of its day and supplied the National League of 1876 with most of its players. In this edition of Total Baseball, we benefit from the SABR research project referred to in the Introduction to the Annual Record--which to date has produced extra-base hits, corrected averages, walks, and some stolen bases, strikeouts, and other data heretofore unavailable; fielding data for the NA may be available for Total Baseball 4. Until Major League Baseball reverses the position it adopted in 1969 and restores the NA to official major-league status, we will reluctantly continue the practice of carrying separate totals lines for the National Association years rather than integrating them into the career marks of those players whose major league tenures began before 1876 and concluded in that year or later. Gaps remain elsewhere in the official record of baseball and in the ongoing process of sabermetric reconstruction. The reader will note occasional blank elements in biographical lines, or in single-season columns; these are not typographical lapses but signs that the information does not exist or has not yet been found. In the totals lines of many players, an underlined figure indicates that the total reflects partial data, such as caught stealing for a man whose career covers the National League of 1918-1930 (during which this data was available only for 1920-1925), or batter strikeouts for a man whose career spanned both sides of the year 1909. For a discussion of which data is missing for particular years, see the general introduction to Part 2. Here is a quick summation of the missing data: Hit batters, 1897-1908 NL/AL; Caught stealing, 1886-1914, 1916 for players with fewer than 20 stolen bases, 1917-1919, 1926-1950 NL; 1886-1891 AA; 1890 PL; 1901-1913, 1916 for players with fewer than 20 stolen bases, 1917-1919 AL (1927 data, missing from the first edition, is now 90 percent complete); 1914-15 FL; Sacrifice hit, 1908-1930, 1939 (in these years fly balls scoring runners counted as sacrifice hits, and in 1927-1930 fly balls advancing runners to any base counted as sacrifices); Sacrifice fly, 1908-1930, 1939 (counted in these years but inseparable from sacrifice hits), 1940-1953 (not counted); Runs batted in, 1882-1887, 1890 AA; 1884 UA; Strikeouts for batters, 1882-1888, 1890 AA; 1884 UA; 1897-1909 NL; 1901-1912 AL. For a key to the team and league abbreviations used in the Player Register, go to the last entry of the Contents. For a guide to the other procedures and abbreviations employed in the Player Register, review the comments on the prodigiously extended playing record below. KID DE LEON Ponce de Leon, Juan "Castilian Kid" (also played in 1874 as Kid Madrid) b: 3/13/1460, Madrid, Spain d: 2/25/1963, St. Augustine, Fl. BR/TR, 5'11", 173 lbs. Deb: 5/21/1674 FMUCH ============================================================================== YEAR TM/L G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OPB ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1874 Bos-n 52 277 73 94 7 4 1 14 2 .339 .342 1875 Wes-n 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 1883 Bal-a 2a 121 12 33 2 1 1 8 .273 .318 1884 Was-U 86 371 75 107 12 5 1 11 .288 .309 KC-U 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Yr 87 375 76 107 12 5 1 11 .287 .308 1890 Cin-P 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1.000 1.000 1908 Pil-N 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- -- Phi-A 9 31 5 9 3 0 0 2 0 .290 .290 1909 Phi-A 148 541 73 165 27 19 4 85 26 .305 .343 1910 Phi-A 146 561 83 159 25 15 2 74 34 .283 .329 1911 Phi-A 148 592 96 198 40 4 11 115 50 .334 .379 1912 Phi-A 149 577 116 200 40 21 10 130 50 .347 .404 1913 Phi-A 149 564 116 190 34 9 12 117 63 31 .337 .413 1914 Phi-A 150 570 84 182 23 10 9 89 53 37 .319 .380 1915 Nwh-F 2 8 5 4 2 1 1 4 0 2 .500 .500 1916 NY-A 100 360 46 97 23 2 10 52 36 30 .269 .344 1917 NY-A 146 553 57 156 24 2 6 71 48 27 .282 .345 1918 NY-A 126 504 65 154 24 5 6 62 38 13 .306 .357 1939 *NY-A^ 141 567 70 166 22 1 10 83 44 18 .293 .346 1941 *NY-A~ 94 330 46 97 16 2 9 71 26 12 .294 .353 1942 *NY-A# 69 234 30 65 12 3 7 36 15 14 .278 .327 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 2 n 54 280 74 95 7 4 1 14 2 .339 .348 Total 17 1694 6489 981 1983 329 100 100 992 502 184 .306 .354 ============================================================================== ============================================================================== YEAR SLG PRO+ BR /A RC 5B CS SBR FA FR POS TPR ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1874 .400 111 7 4 33 *2 0.2 1875 .333 95 0 0 0 /S 0.0 1883 .331 101 1 1 13 .901 0 CO/S 0.0 1884 .356 127 4 5 42 0 .913 0 1OC 0.9 .000 97 -0 0 0 1.000 0 /1 .355 126 -0 -0 42 0 .914 0 1OC 0.0 1890 4.000 700 1 1 2 0 .000 0 /2 0.0 1908 -- O O O O .000 0 /3 0 0 .387 113 1 0 3 0 .899 -1 /3 0.0 1909 .447 146 27 26 88 20 .920 -5 *3 3.0 1910 .392 123 14 13 77 21 .934 3 *3 2.4 1911 .505 157 33 38 121 38 .912 -8 *3 3.3 1912 .541 171 49 50 138 40 .930 9 *3 5.4 1913 .493 171 46 48 130 34 .927 7 *3 6.1 1914 .442 151 31 33 105 19 20 -6 .929 8 *3 4.1 1915 1.38 304 3 3 3 0 .977 1 /3 0.1 1916 .428 130 13 12 59 15 .931 3 3 2.1 1917 .365 109 10 6 76 18 .940 11 *3 2.7 1918 .409 138 17 20 79 8 .943 11 *3 3.4 1939 .388 100 4 -0 82 13 .944 -2 *3 0.9 1941 .436 98 -0 -2 55 8 5 -1 .955 13 3 1.6 1942 .444 98 -1 -2 36 1 3 -2 .940 -8 3 -0.4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total .404 110 7 4 33 *2/S 0.2 Total .446 130 247 246 1109 235 28 .938 41 *3C/SO12 35.6 ============================================================================== Looking at the biographical line for any player, we see first his use name in full capitals, then his given name and nickname (and any other name he may have used or been born with, such as the matronymic of a Latin American player). His date and place of birth follow "b" and his date and place of death follow "d." Years through 1900 are expressed fully, in four digits, and years after 1900 are expressed in their last two digits. Then comes the player's manner of batting and throwing, abbreviated for a lefthanded batter who throws right as BL/TR (a switch-hitter would be shown as BB for "bats both" and a switch thrower as TB for "throws both"). Next, and for most players last, is the player's debut date in the major leagues, if known at this point. While we are able to report most of these thanks to SABR research, for some players we have had to list only the two digits representing their rookie years. Some players continue in major league baseball after their playing days are through, as managers, coaches, or even umpires. A player whose biographical line concludes with an M can be located in the Manager Roster; one whose line bears a C will be listed in the Coach Roster; and one with a U occupies a place in the Umpire Roster. (In the last case we have placed a U on the biographical line only for those players who were employed as umpires by a league, for in the nineteenth century--and especially in the years of the National Association--literally hundreds of players were pressed into service as umpires for a game or two. It would be misleading to accord such players the same code we give to Bob Emslie or Babe Pinelli.) The select few who have been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY, are noted with an H. They are also listed in the Hall of Fame Roster found toward the end of Bill Deane's "Awards and Honors" essay. New to this edition is an F in this line to denote family connection--father-son-grandfather or brother. The explanations for the statistical column heads follow; for more technical information about formulas and calculations, see the Glossary. The vertical rules in the column-header line separate the stats into seven logical groupings: year, team, league; fundamental counting stats for batters; hits and plate appearances broken out into their component counting stats; basic calculated averages; sabermetric figures of more complex calculation; baserunning stats; fielding stats and Total Player Rating. Absent from the Player Register in this edition are some statistics present in the original: production as a raw, unadjusted figure (still available by simply adding OBP plus SLG, as well as in the Annual Record and Leaders sections); Park Factor for batters (still available from the Annual Record); Clutch Hitting Index, newly developed for Total Baseball but which we have judged to be of lesser interest and value than the more established sabermetric measures (like PRO, however, it is still present in the Annual Record and Leaders sections); and Total Average, a popular stat but one that is mirrored by Runs Created and Batting Runs, both of which are more accurate (TA is present in the Annual Record and Leaders sections). By deleting these statistics from the Register we have improved legibility, particularly by adding to the margin in the gutter of the book, and reduced some redundancy. New to this edition are hit-by-pitch data for about 600 batters in the 1897-1908 period, which is reflected in their on base percentages. We have also corrected an error in the individual records for hit batsmen before 1897; although these were included in the individual records, they weren't included in the league averages; this correction will tend to diminish the batting ratings of players in this period by about one tenth of a win. Finally, we have made an upward adjustment to overall league performance in the Federal League of 1914-15 and the Union Association of 1884 (thus lowering individual ratings), because while both leagues are regarded as major leagues, there can be no doubt that their caliber of play was not equivalent to that in the rival leagues of those years. Suffice it to say here that league at bats were reduced to 80 percent for the UA and 90 percent for the FL. A full explanation of the adjustment procedure may be found in the Glossary, under "League Performance." YEAR Year of play (when a space in the column is blank, this indicates that the man has played for two or more clubs in the last year stated in the column; if those clubs were in the same league, then the man will also have a combined total line, beginning with the abbreviation "Yr" placed in the TEAM/L column) * Denotes postseason play, World Series or League Championship Series Yr Year's totals for play with two or more clubs in same league (see comments for YEAR) TM/L Team and League (see comments for YEAR) ~ Named to All Star Game, played ^ Named to All Star Game, did not play # Named to All Star Game, replaced because of injury G Games AB At-bats R Runs H Hits (Bases on balls were counted as hits by scorers in 1887, but in Total Baseball they are not figured as times at bat, nor as hits.) 2B Doubles 3B Triples HR Home Runs RBI Runs Batted In BB Bases on Balls (Bases on balls were counted as outs by scorers in 1876, but in Total Baseball they are not figured as times at bat nor as outs.) SO Strikeouts AVG Batting Average (Figured as hits over at-bats; mathematically meaningless averages created through a division by zero are rendered as dashes; see Kid De Leon's entry for 1908 with Pit-N.) OBP On Base Percentage (See comments for AVG) SLG Slugging Average (See comments for AVG, and note the use of condensed type to express Kid De Leon's maximum SLG in 1890.) PRO+ Production Plus, or Adjusted Production (On Base Percentage plus Slugging Average, normalized to league average and adjusted for home-park factor.) See comments for /A. BR Batting Runs (Linear Weights measure of runs contributed beyond what a league-average batter or team might have contributed, defined as zero. Occasionally the curious figure of -0 will appear in this column, or in the columns of other Linear Weights measures of batting, baserunning, fielding, and the TPR. This "negative zero" figure signifies a run contribution that falls below the league average, but to so small a degree that it cannot be said to have cost the team a run.) /A Adjusted (This signifies that the stat to the immediate left, in this instance Batting Runs, is here normalized to league average and adjusted for home-park factor. A mark of 100 is a league-average performance. Pitcher batting is removed from all league batting statistics before normalization, for a variety of reasons expanded upon in the Glossary. An innovation for this edition is to use three-year averages for batting park factors. If a team moved or the park changed dramatically, then two-year averages are employed; if the park was used for only one year, then of course only that run-scoring data is used.) RC Runs Created (Bill James' formulation for run contribution from a variety of batting and baserunning events; calculated variably to make maximum use of the data available in a given year; see Glossary.) SB Stolen Bases (for 1886 to the present) CS Caught Stealing (Available 1915, 1916 for players with 20 or more stolen bases, 1920-1925, 1951-date NL; 1914-1915, 1916 for players with 20 or more stolen bases, 1920 to date AL with scattered data still missing from 1927.) SBA Stolen Base Average (Stolen bases divided by attempts; availability dependent upon CS as shown above.) SBR Stolen Base Runs (This is a Linear Weights measure of runs contributed beyond what a league-average base stealer might have gained, defined as zero and calculated on the basis of a 66.7 percent success rate, which computer simulations have shown to be the break-even point beyond which stolen bases have positive run value to the team; see the general introduction to Part Two and the Glossary. The presence of a figure in the SBR column in the Player Register is dependent upon the availability of CS as shown above. Lifetime Stolen Base Runs are not totaled where data is incomplete, but seasonal SBRs are reflected in the seasonal Total Player Ratings, which in turn are added to form the lifetime Total Player Rating.) FA Fielding Average, often called Fielding Percentage, as well (putouts plus assists divided by putouts plus assists plus errors, here calculated only for the position at which a man played the most games in a season or career) FR Fielding Runs (The Linear Weights measure of runs saved beyond what a league-average player at that position might have saved, defined as zero; this stat is calculated to take account of the particular demands of the different positions; see Glossary for formulas, which have been refined for this edition to reflect innings played at each position and to more accurately portray the defensive contributions of catchers.) POS Positions played (This is a ranking from left to right by frequency of the positions played in the field or at designated hitter. An asterisk to the left of the position indicates, generally, that in a given year the man played about two-thirds of his team's scheduled games at that position; more precisely, it is figured at 20 games in 1871, 30 in 1872, 35 in 1873, 40 in 1874, and 50 in 1875; two-thirds of the scheduled games in 1876-1900, and 100 or more games since. When a slash separates positions, the man played those positions listed to the left of the slash in 10 or more games and the positions to the right of the slash in fewer than 10 games. If there is no slash, he played all positions listed in 10 or more games. For the POS [positions played] in the lifetime line, the asterisk signifies 1,000 games and the slash marks a dividing point of 100 games. A player's POS column will list him as a pinch runner or pinch hitter in only those years in which he appeared at no other position. The positions and their abbreviations are) 1: First base P: Pitcher 2: Second base D: Designated hitter S: Shortstop R: Runner (pinch) 3: Third base H: Hitter (pinch) O: Outfield M: Manager (playing) C: Catcher TPR Total Player Rating (This is the sum of a player's Adjusted Batting Runs, Fielding Runs, and Base Stealing Runs, minus his positional adjustment, all divided by the Runs Per Win factor for that year--generally around 10, historically in the 9-11 range. For more information on the formula and the Runs Per Win concept, see the general introduction to Part 2 and the Glossary. In the lifetime line, the TPR is the sum of the seasonal TPRs. For men who were primarily pitchers but whose extent of play at other positions warrants a listing in the Player Register as well as the Pitcher Register, the TPR may be listed as 0.0; this signifies that their batting records are summed up in the Total Pitcher Index [TPI] column of the Pitcher Register.) Note that the TPR (and the TPI, Total Pitcher Index) in this third edition will differ from those in earlier volumes, for four reasons which are explained in greater detail in the Glossary. (1) A broader and more sophisticated computation of the positional adjustment to Batting Runs has improved the accuracy and reasonableness of the method, by which the TPR of those who play skill positions like shortstop and second base tend to be boosted and the TPR of the sluggers who customarily play first base and left field are generally diminished. (2) Because games in left, center, and right fields are now available for all outfielders, center fielders no longer need be compared to an average of the regular center fielders and now may be set against all the men who played center, thus tending to elevate their Fielding Runs. (3) Because Hit Batsmen data is now available for the 1903-1908 period, plus considerable data for the years 1897-1902, men like Frank Chance, who was hit over 100 times in his career, increase their Batting Runs perceptibly. (4) And for players who were both batters and pitchers, the method of allocating Wins between TPR and TPI (Total Pitcher Index) was improved. Previously, if a pitcher pitched in over half his games, all his batting was included with his pitcher rating (TPI); if he pitched in less than half his games, his Batting Wins were thrown over to his batter rating (TPR), with his TPI including only his Pitching Wins and Pitcher Defense. The new method prorates batting proportionally with the number of games pitched. In addition, fielding ratings at nonpitching positions for players who pitched in over half their games, previously omitted, are now part of the Total Baseball Ranking. In any case, the TPR values of batter-pitchers should remain about the same. Thus in 1918, Babe Ruth now has a batter rating of 2.6 Wins and a pitcher rating of 2.8 (total 5.4). In previous editions his marks used to be 4.1 and 1.0, respectively, or 5.1 overall, with none of his batting counted in with his pitching record even though he pitched 20 of 95 games. The large jump in his pitcher rating is because now his pitcher batting is compared against average batting for pitchers.) Total For players whose careers include play in the National Association a well as other major leagues, two totals are given, as described above and as illustrated in Kid De Leon's record, where the record of his years in the National Association is shown alongside the notation "Total 2 n," where 2 stands for the number of years totaled and n stands for National Association. For players whose careers began in 1876 or later, the lifetime record is shown alongside the notation "Total x," where x stands for the number of post-1875 years totaled. Note the underlined entries in the record for Kid De Leon, reflecting the partial data for RBI, batter strikeouts, stolen bases, and times caught stealing.