Friday, July 30, 2010
Visual Baseball: Introducing the Visual Box Score
Posted by Kevin DameI've always wanted to revolutionize the baseball box score to reveal more information at a glance. Here's a first stab, using an old box score from Game 3 of the 2009 ALDS between the Angels and Red Sox. You'll see a key in the lower right corner that explains everything. I'm still missing a lot of information I'd like to convey (most notably the performance of the pitchers in the game). And there are many aspects to this that I am not sure about. Still, I'm interested in seeing if this is a promising start.
One litmus test is to ask "what information does this convey about what happened in the game?" Here are a few:
For the Angels:
- After a slow start, Vlad Guerrero had a terrific game, getting on base 3 times and driving in 2.
- The Angels came to life in the 9th, putting 5 consecutive hitters on base and scoring 3 times.
- The middle of the Angels order was pretty productive, driving in 6 runs and generally wreaking havoc.
- Until the 9th, the Angels had only strung together consecutive hits once (in the 6th)
- 10 Angels batters stranded runners in scoring position.
- The Angels drove in 5 of their 7 runs without the benefit of an extra base hit
For the Red Sox:
- Lowell was on base 3 times and drove in 1.
- Drew had a mixed day. He drove in 2, but also ended two innings.
- The Red Sox never got a lead off man on base in any inning.
- No Red Sox batter stranded a runner in scoring position.
- The Red Sox scored 5 of their 6 runs in the second time up against Scott Kazmir.
- The Red Sox drove in all 6 of their runs via extra base hits
"The commonality between science and art is in trying to see profoundly - to develop strategies of seeing and showing." - Edward Tufte.
Feel free to send comments, questions, and suggestions to Kevin via email.
I think this should be called Visual Scorecard as it is more representative of a scorecard than a box score. i like it, but think you should distinguish between single and walks and double/triple. maybe a single underline for a single, a ___ ___ underline for doubles and a __ __ __ underline for trilples.
thanks