Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.
Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime
Page 273
#19- Errors
Within the confines of the “Great American Pastime,” an
error is an act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a
fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or
baserunner to advance one or more bases or allows an at bat to
continue after the batter should have been put out. Excepting
unusual circumstances the batter is charged with an at bat, and
a pitcher’s ERA is calculated as if the play was properly made.
Though theoretically, in and of itself, today, errors
should not have a huge effect on batting statistics; fielding
averages should be briefly mentioned and discussed. At first
glance one might think that it doesn’t really matter in hitting
statistics, as errors are treated as if the batter made an out
and home runs are not playable anyway. The confusing part is
that that is true as far as it goes. However, the nuance lies in
the definition itself; more specifically the phrases
“misplaying” and “in the judgment of the official scorer.”
Back when the ball was dead and the “Inside Game” was
played by all the smart cookies, it was the object of the hitter
to get on base, no matter the means, including getting on by an
“error.” If the opposing team had an infielder who was shaky,
either through drunkenness or the inability to field a ball,
sometimes due to his refusal to wear a glove or the wearing of a
tiny one, often a batter would try to hit it his general
Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime
Page 274
direction. Therefore the most significant number to the players
was “on base percentage,” (OBP) though confusingly not as it is
officially defined in a seemingly illogical way.
The definition matters less in post 1920 baseball than it
does prior to that as the strategy of hitting the ball toward a
weak fielder became virtually nil with the advent of the power
game and larger fielder’s gloves. OBP is sometimes referred to
as on base average (OBA), as the statistic is rarely presented
as a true percentage. It is defined as a measure of how often a
batter reaches base for any reason other than a fielding
error, dropped-uncaught third strike, fielder's obstruction,
fielder’s choice or catcher's interference. Cather’s
interference is actually scored as a catcher’s error. So, the
main point is that it includes walks but not errors, and there
is no statistic kept for pre-1920 players which reflects their
primary objective; getting on base.
In actuality, though the home run hitters who often get
walked 100 times a year would seem to have an advantage, the
highest OBP’s have been logged by a fairly even mixture of long
ball hitters and players from the “deadball” era. At the end of
this chapter is a list of the highest lifetime and single season
OBP’s on record.
Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime
Page 275
The entire concept of “error” was actually invented by
Henry Chadwick, who also invented the box score, batting average
and ERA concepts still used. Had he not come up with this
“error” concept, early batting averages and ERA’s would have
been higher; though with the use of larger gloves, it probably
wouldn’t matter much today.
In practice “misplaying” a ball entails one physical fact
and one judgement. The physical “fact” centers around the
fielder’s ability to get to the ball, as a ball not gotten to
cannot be misplayed. Therefore if the fielder has a range of two
feet, a ball hit three feet away from him is a clear hit. One
second baseman, who will remain un-named consistently led the
league in positional fielding average for precisely this reason.
On the other side of the coin you have Brooks Robinson.
Nicknamed "The Human Vacuum Cleaner" or "Mr. Hoover", he is
considered one of the greatest defensive third basemen in major
league history. He could actually throw out hitters at first
from deep third when the ball cut the bag and wound up in foul
territory. He won 16 consecutive Gold Glove Awards during his
career, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983,
not as a result of his hitting prowess. During this time he did
not once lead the league in fielding average. Sharing the same
place is the greatest fielding shortstop I’ve ever seen; Ozzie
Smith. He routinely got to balls hit “up the middle” on the
Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime
Page 276
second base side of the bag and threw the batter out. He won
thirteen consecutive Gold Glove Awards. Despite a powerless .262
lifetime average he was inducted into baseball’s Hall of fame at
the first opportunity. Like Brooks, he never won a positional
fielding average crown.
“So, what’s the point?” you reasonably inquire. I sigh and
answer “It seems like there should be a valid measure of OBP,
and that it should be given some credence. The game has not
changed enough to disregard a batter’s OBP. That’s the point.”
The long answer is that if one were to merely accept the
compiled statistics in comparing and contrasting players from
differing eras, this is another area in which there are inherent
deficiencies in the currently accepted, simple, and inadequate
approach. It would seem eminently reasonable to think that a
sharply hit two hopper would be “misplayed” if not handled by a
large gloved fielder, but not considered reasonably playable by
one who is bare handed or less to this quasi-point, short of
range. The result is a reasonable explanation for the high
batting averages recorded in “dead-ball” era, its own topic,
which existed alongside low ERA’s, and a less than reasonably
expected deficiencies in runs scored. It makes some sense.
Consider this. The steady rise in fielding averages from
.935 in 1900 to .983 in 2000 is too large a change to ignore the
dynamics behind them. Players didn’t consistently become more
Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime
Page 277
able to catch ground balls, make accurate throws and securely
capture fly balls. What happened was simply that the gloves got
consistently larger and more capable. In fact you would find it
strange if you witnessed a 1900 big league game and saw that
many of the fielders wore no glove at all. It was considered a
“macho” thing to do, though it couldn’t have been very good for
the team. It was a similar dynamic as not wearing a batting
helmet. At least in the latter case if a hitter wanted to risk
having his brains scrambled that may well be viewed as his
business alone. But to attempt catching a hard hit baseball
barehanded is a detriment to everyone else on the team. Imagine
yourself trying to field a Pujols two hopper barehanded. Ole at
best and a very unhappy pitcher and manager is the likely
result.
Here are those lifetime and single season On Base
Percentage leaders. I suspect there are a few surprises.
# Player Lifetime Years Played
OBP
1 Ted Williams .4817 1939–1942, 1946–1960
3 John McGraw .4657 1891–1906
4 Billy Hamilton .4552 1888–1901
5 Lou Gehrig .4474 1923–1939
6 Barry Bonds .4443 1986–2007
7 Bill Joyce .4349 1890–1898
8 Rogers Hornsby .4337 1915–1937
Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime
Page 278
10 Jimmie Foxx .4283 1925–1942, 1944–1945
11 Tris Speaker .4279 1907–1928
12 Eddie Collins .4244 1906–1930
# Player Season OBP Team Year
1 Barry Bonds .6094 Giants 2004
2 Barry Bonds .5817 Giants 2002
3 Ted Williams .5528 Red Sox 1941
4 John McGraw .5475 Orioles 1899
5 Babe Ruth .5445 Yankees 1923
6 Babe Ruth .5319 Yankees 1920
7 Barry Bonds .5291 Giants 2003
8 Ted Williams .5256 Red Sox 1957
9 Billy Hamilton .5209 Phillies 1894
10 Babe Ruth .5156 Yankees 1926
You might note that Ty Cobb, generally now considered the
best hitter of his time, was exceeded by three others in the
“Deadball” era, and barely exceeded another who played at
virtually the exact same time.