BBTF.org/m/history : Davidoff: Baseball statistics aren’t as pure as you think

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

2013 Results: Bonds, Clemens, Piazza and Biggio are elected to the Hall of Merit!

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posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:14 PM by Joe Dimino to history | 61 comment(s)

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza and Craig Biggio have been elected to the Hall of Merit!

The timing for our first year electing 4 candidates could not have worked out better, since class of 2013 is the strongest in terms of electees that we’ve ever had. The top of the 1934 ballot included Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Pop Lloyd, Smokey Joe Williams and Cristobal Torriente, but only 2 were elected.

Bonds and Clemens were each unanimous at 1 and 2. I believe that’s the first ...

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1. Voros McCracken of Pinkus posted on February 04, 2013 at 02:48 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

You got that right. "Put outs?" I think that speaks for itself.

2. Bob Tufts posted on February 04, 2013 at 02:50 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Ken is an underappreciated sportswriter and deserves more national credit for taking contrarian and (usually) accurate views on the game.

3. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

posted on February 04, 2013 at 02:59 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Fans who understand the full context in which records have been set derive a much deeper enjoyment of the game's history than fans who don't, even if the fans who don't understand that context fail to realize what they're missing. It's also what separates the good sportswriters from the hacks.

4. vivaelpujols posted on February 04, 2013 at 03:22 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Fans who understand the full context in which records have been set derive a much deeper enjoyment of the game's history than fans who don't, even if the fans who don't understand that context fail to realize what they're missing.

Not sure this is always true. I know this guy who stopped watching baseball when he found out about PED's. Some of the simplicity of unadjusted numbers is nice. But really once you older than like 14 it should be obvious that the environment is a huge factor.

5. Shredder posted on February 04, 2013 at 03:45 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

Maybe he was on a word limit, but I felt like he could have explained his point a lot better. He doesn't need to do that for us, obviously, but BTFers aren't really the audience here. He started to do it with the "hitters park" vs. "pitchers park" argument, but that's maybe one of the weakest of the context adjustment arguments.

I'm not from New York, so I don't know the average intelligence of your everyday NY Post reader (though I'd suppose it's not great), but just leaving it "segregation, gambling, etc." probably isn't that helpful.

6. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) posted on February 04, 2013 at 03:51 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

“Statistics help, but sometimes they get in the way of understanding.”

If only we had an opportunity for education and dialogue.

7. villageidiom posted on February 04, 2013 at 04:15 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

derive a much deeper enjoyment of the game's history

This is useless without a rigorous formula to quantify the depth of enjoyment.

8. villageidiom posted on February 04, 2013 at 04:15 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

If anyone has turned their sarcasm detector off, turn it back on and reread #7.

9. Everybody Loves Tyrus Raymond posted on February 04, 2013 at 04:58 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

This is useless without a rigorous formula to quantify the depth of enjoyment.

I experience life at replacement-level enjoyment.

10. depletion posted on February 04, 2013 at 05:01 PM # hit 0 | hit 0

I'm afraid we're both in danger of being designated for assignment, EverybodyLoves.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

2013 Results: Bonds, Clemens, Piazza and Biggio are elected to the Hall of Merit!

Reader Comments and Retorts

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