100th birthday: Earned run average

One hundred years ago today, the lords of baseball decided to adopt a new statistic officially: earned run average.

Of all the traditional stats, this might be the best, or at least the most sabermetrically-friendly. In fact, there is solid evidence for that. In his 1987 Baseball Abstract, Bill James had a section ranking normal statistics by various criteria and determined that ERA was the most effective one out there.

Hitting also has its traditional rate stat, batting average, but it can’t hold a candle to ERA. Batting average looks at one element of what a batter is supposed to do—get hits—but also overlooks many others, such as draw walks, hit for power, or do something on the bases. That said, if you were to condense a pitcher’s job to just one thing, that would be preventing runs. And ERA generally tells us how good a job he does with it.

What’s also interesting about today’s centennial anniversary is how it puts things in perspective. Now, stats like ERA, RBIs, batting average, and even a pitcher’s win-loss record have been around so long it’s impossible to imagine baseball without them. You figured ERA may not be as old as the dinosaurs, but it’s at least as old as mammals.

No. Even the basic stats had to start somewhere. Even the most traditional stats once were revolutionary newcomers. Now, people who don’t like the new-school sabermetric revolution often look back to the days when stats were familiar and traditional. Yet those traditional stats had to start somewhere. I wonder what old-school sorts from 1911 thought of ERA? I wonder what old school sorts in 2111 will think of OPS+ or WAR?

Regardless, ERA turns 100 years old today.

Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversaries or “day-versaries” (which is an event occurring X-thousand days ago). Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to skim it.

Day-versaries

3,000 days since Jesse Orosco plays his last game. It’s actually a memorable way to end his career, as he tosses a walk-off wild pitch in a game of some historic importance. Orosco’s Twins are playing the Detroit Tigers, who enter the game sitting on 119 losses entering the day. Minnesota takes an early 8-0 lead, but the Tigers storm back to avoid tying the 1962 Mets’ mark of 120 losses in a season.

3,000 days since Todd Hundley plays his final big league game.

3,000 days since Ryan Madison makes his big league debut.

6,000 days since Mickey Mantle makes his final public appearance. It’s to increase awareness for organ donation programs.

9,000 days since WPA’s favorite Rickey Henderson game. He goes 2-for-4 with a stolen base, walk, and pair of home runs. He scores three runs and has a WPA of 0.772.

Anniversaries

1864 The National Association of Base Ball Players adopts a new rule. It’s an out only if a ball is caught on the fly, not if it’s caught after one bounce, as had been the case previously).

1873 John Anderson, longtime player whose last at bat will be the final out in Addie Joss’ perfect game in 1908, is born.

1882 The American Association becomes the first league to a hire full-time staff of permanent umpires.

1889 Lefty Tyler is born.

1894 The Cincinnati Reds sign future Hall of Famer Buck Ewing as a free agent.

1901 The NL selects Al Spalding as its president. However, a court decision two days later will void this election, and Spalding will decide to quit rather than fight it.

1917 The Philadelphia A’s trade Bullet Joe Bush, Wally Schang, and Amos Strunk to the Red Sox for $60,000, pitcher Vean Gregg, and two other players.

1925 Toothpick Sam Jones, pitcher, is born.

1927 Washington purchases George Sisler from the Browns for $25,000.

1932 Washington makes a pair of trades on the day. In one, they send Firpo Marberry and another player to the Tigers for starting pitcher Earl Whitehill. They also benefit from a St. Louis Browns fire sale, as Washington sends three players and $20,000 to St. Louis for Hall of Famer Goose Goslin and two other players.

1938 The NL allows the Reds to play their season opener one day before the rest of the other teams to honor the fictional 1939 centennial of baseball.

1944 Jouett Meekin, 1890s pitcher, dies.

1945 Washington trades George Case to the Indians for Jeff Heath.

1948 The Cubs trade Hank Borowy and Eddie Waitkus to the Phillies for Dutch Leonard and Monk Dubiel.

1948 Washington trades a pair of four-decade players—both in the middle of their careers—in one trade. They send Early Wynn and Mickey Vernon to the Indians for three players.

1949 Bill Buckner is born.

1949 The Boston Braves trades Alvin Dark and Eddie Stanky to the Giants for four players.

1949 The Reds trades Harry Walker to the Cardinals.

1954 The Brooklyn Dodgers sign a left-handed fastball pitcher named Sandy Koufax as a bonus baby.

1960 The AL hosts its first expansion draft. Washington claim Bobby Shantz and Dale Long from the Yankees, Johnny Klippstein from the Indians, Tom Sturdivant from the Red Sox, Gene Woodling from the Orioles, and Dick Donovan from the White Sox. The Senators also land future Cy Young Award winner Dean Chance from the Orioles—but trade him to the Angels for Joe Hicks this same day.

As for the Angels, aside from landing ace-to-be Chance, they draft Baltimore’s Albie Pearson, Buck Rogers and Eddie Yost from Detroit, Boston’s Jim Fregosi, Chicago’s Ted Kluszewski, and Ned Garver from the A’s.

1964 The Cardinals trade Roger Craig to Cincinnati for Bob Purkey.

1965 Craig Biggio, member of the 3,000 hit club, is born.

1965 The White Sox hire Eddie Stanky as their manager to replace Hall of Famer Al Lopez.

1969 Scott Hatteberg, pickin’ machine, is born.

1970 Twenty-five-year-old Cardinals outfielder Herman Hill drowns in Caribbean Sea near Valencia, Venezuela.

1971 Seam Forman is born. At Baseball-Reference.com, he’s the founder/owner/operator/custodian.

1973 Los Angeles releases Wes Parker.

1974 Billy Koch is born.

1975 San Diego signs free agents Rollie Fingers and Gene Tenace.

1977 Boston trades Fergie Jenkins to Texas for cash and John Poloni.

1978 The Cubs trade second baseman Rodney Scott to the Expos.

1980 Elston Howard, the first black player in Yankees history, dies.

1982 The Phillies trade Mike Krukow, Mark Davis and a minor leaguer to the Giants for Joe Morgan and another player.

1985 Roger Maris, first player to belt 61 home runs in a season, dies.

1987 The Cubs sign free agent third baseman Vance Law.

1990 LA signs free agent Brett Butler.

1992 Baltimore signs little-regarded, soft-tossing 29-year-old lefty Jamie Moyer, who just spent the entire 1992 season in the minors. He’ll pitch surprisingly well in 1993, beginning his bizarre and lengthy second act of his career.

1994 Lee Smith signs with the Angels as a free agent.

1994 The Chicago White Sox trade Jack McDowell to the Yankees for two players.

1994 The National Labor Relations Board targets owners for withholding a $7.8 million payment to the players’ pension fund.

1995 Al Stump, the sportswriter portrayed by Robert Wuhl in the movie Cobb, dies at age 79. Stump co-wrote Cobb’s autobiography, and his experiences became the basis for that film.

1995 Cleveland signs free agent Jack McDowell.

1995 San Francisco trades Royce Clayton to St. Louis, where he’ll displace Ozzie Smith as shortstop.

1998 The Pirates make a pretty bad trade, sending starting pitcher Jon Lieber to the Cubs for outfielder Brant Brown.

1998 Florida trades Edgar Renteria to the Cardinals for three players, most notably Braden Looper.

1998 Oakland signs free agent Tony Phillips.

1999 Boston trades two minor leaguers, one of whom is shortstop Adam Everett, to Houston for outfielder Carl Everett.

2000 Cubs sign free agent Tom Gordon.

2000 Montreal trades Dustin Hermanson and Steve Kline to the Cardinals for Fernando Tatis and another player.

2000 The Mets sign free agent starting pitcher Steve Trachsel.

2000 The Rangers trade shortstop Royce Clayton to the White Sox.

2001 The A’s trade Mark Guthrie and Tyler Yates to the Mets for David Justice.

2004 California trades Ramon Ortiz.

2004 Florida signs closer Todd Jones as a free agent.

2004 The Washington, D.C. city council votes that half of the funding for the new Nationals stadium must come from the private sector.

2005 Detroit signs Ryan Ludwick as a free agent.

2006 Boston spends a fortune to purchase pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka from the Seibu Lions.

2007 Arizona trades Jose Valverde to the Astros for Chris Burke, Juan Gutierrez, and Chad Qualls.

2007 Oakland trades Dan Haren and another player to Arizona for a half-dozen players, including Carlos Gonzalez, who will lead the NL in hits in 2010 (after the A’s trade him to Colorado).

2009 Boston signs free agents Mike Cameron and John Lackey.

2010 Pittsburgh signs free agent Lyle Overbay.


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bobm
12 years ago

“1971 Seam Forman is born”

Interesting baseball-related typo…

joe yogi
12 years ago

Check out Walter Johnson’s four years of pre-1911 ERA, all under 2.00 w/one being 2.21.  And except for one year, all of Cy Young’s 22 years of ERA listings were before 1911.

were these calculated ex post facto?

thanks

joe

Chris J.
12 years ago

Joe – my hunch is that the stat was around, but just hadn’t been adopted as an official stat by MLB yet.

Christopher Putnam
12 years ago

Just a little anniversary correction: Fingers & Tenace were signed by the Padres in 1976, not ‘75, with both as integral parts of the team that topped .500 the first time a year later, going 84-78 in 1978. Among my first clear baseball memories as a not-quit ten-year-old San Diegan!