9 Out of 10 Americans Love Sports Statistics. I always laugh
at that headline but the silliness can’t hide the truth, American sports fans
are obsessed with statistics. Big statistics, little statistics, statistics
about statistics. Basketball, football and baseball are the biggest offenders
with endless data about every possible bit of minutiae.
Baseball probably has the deepest set of stats because people
have been tracking them since the 1880’s; games played, home runs, hits, RBI’s,
strikeouts, errors, walks, steals, fouls, etc, etc., etc. And those are just
the big categories. Baseball has hundreds of stats that span everything from
host cities to player’s kids. You can even find stats on mascots.
It sounds crazy until you think about the nature of the game.
Baseball is probably the most leisurely of all the major sports. You go to the
park, lounge in the sun, watch some of the game, eat a hot dog, drink a beer or
a latte, and window shop while wandering to the bathroom. The other thing
baseball fans do is fill out the scorecard. Yep, tracking stats in real time.
Football and basketball are also stat heavy but you’ll rarely see someone with
a score card.
Baseball actually celebrates stats with a thing called The
Midsummer Classic, or more specifically, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
A fan ballot picks the fielders, managers pick the pitchers, and managers and
players pick the reserves. Guess how they pick? Yeah, player stats. But you
already knew that.
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| Autographed 2013 American League All Star Baseball |
