# Traditional Statistics · Baseball Level 6: Advanced

Baseball · Level 6: Advanced · Insporta Book (https://book.insporta.app/baseball/level-6/traditional-statistics/)

Batting average, home runs and the Triple Crown, pitcher wins, ERA, strikeouts and walks, fielding percentage, stolen base records, the save, the box score, and milestones and records.

## Test 1: Batting average

- Hitting .300 means three hits in every ten at-bats. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Williams hit .406 for Boston in 1941. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A walk and a single are both on base; a homer counts the same as a single. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Cobb finished at about .366. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The batting champion has the best average among qualified hitters. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A player with ten at-bats could otherwise lead with a fluke average. (Source: General baseball reference)
- League batting averages have hovered around .250 in recent years. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Higher averages are better. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Cobb about .366, Williams .344, Jeter .310. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 180 hits divided by 600 at-bats is .300. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 2: Home runs, RBIs and the Triple Crown

- A hitter who leads his league in all three wins the Triple Crown. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Cabrera led the American League in all three categories. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Bonds finished with 762 home runs. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Bonds hit 73 in 2001. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A hitter can only drive in runners who are on base. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Maris broke Ruth's 60 and held the record until 1998. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Judge passed Maris's league record of 61. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 73, 62 and 61. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 762, 755 and 714. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Leading in all three is the Triple Crown. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 3: Pitcher wins and losses

- A starter must go at least five innings and leave with the lead kept. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A pitcher can pitch well and lose if his team does not score. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Cy Young won 511 games. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The best pitcher in each league wins the Cy Young Award. (Source: General baseball reference)
- DeGrom's 1.70 ERA won voters over despite poor run support. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Five-man rotations and bullpens limit each starter's decisions. (Source: General baseball reference)
- If the lead changes after he leaves, he gets no decision. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 511, 417 and 355. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Five innings, a lead, and the bullpen holding it. (Source: General baseball reference)
- With the game tied when he left, he gets neither result. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 4: Earned run average

- Runs that score because of errors are unearned and do not count. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Gibson's season helped lead MLB to lower the mound. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The mound came down from 15 to 10 inches. (Source: General baseball reference)
- League ERAs sit near four in recent seasons. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Poor fielding that is not scored as errors can raise a pitcher's ERA. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 20 times nine divided by 90 is 2.00. (Source: General baseball reference)
- One bad inning moves a small-innings ERA a long way. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Lower ERAs are better. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 1968, 1969 and 1973. (Source: General baseball reference)
- In 1969 MLB lowered the mound to help hitters. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 5: Strikeouts and walks

- Ryan struck out 5,714 batters. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Many strikeouts and few walks mark an effective pitcher. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Harder throwers and all-or-nothing swings pushed strikeouts up. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Kerry Wood, Roger Clemens and Max Scherzer have struck out 20. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Free runners lead to big innings. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Bonds drew 2,558 walks, many intentional. (Source: General baseball reference)
- K% divides strikeouts by batters faced. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Ryan 5,714, Johnson 4,875, then Kershaw. (Source: General baseball reference)
- More strikeouts per walk is better. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Twenty strikeouts in nine innings is the shared record. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 6: Errors and fielding percentage

- It divides successful chances by total chances. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A slow fielder who reaches fewer balls makes fewer errors. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The scorer judges whether ordinary effort would have made the play. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Gold Gloves have been given since 1957. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 'The Wizard' was famed for his acrobatic defence. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Getting to hard chances gives more chances to misplay. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Maddux won the award 18 times. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Higher is better. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The scorer judges the play and posts the error. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Fielding percentage does not reward reaching hard balls. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 7: Stolen base records

- Henderson stole 1,406 bases. (Source: General baseball reference)
- His 130 steals remain the modern record. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Brock had 938 career steals. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Analytics showed that being caught costs more than a base gains. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Below about 70%, outs cost more than the bases gained. (Source: General baseball reference)
- It marks rare power and speed together. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Acuña hit 41 homers and stole 73 bases. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 1,406, 938 and 897. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Each step needs more homers and steals in one season. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Henderson lifted the base after breaking Brock's record. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 8: The save statistic

- The Chicago sportswriter devised it in the 1960s. (Source: General baseball reference)
- It was the first new official stat since RBIs in 1920. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Wins and ERA did not show what relievers did. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Managers began using closers to earn saves. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Holds credit relievers who hold a lead before the closer. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A three-run ninth counts as much as a one-run escape. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Hoffman reached 600 in 2010; Rivera passed him in 2011. (Source: General baseball reference)
- RBIs in 1920, saves in 1969; holds are still not official. (Source: General baseball reference)
- More danger, harder save. (Source: General baseball reference)
- A three-run lead in the ninth is still a save situation. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 9: The box score

- Chadwick, a 19th-century writer, created the box score and many stats. (Source: General baseball reference)
- At-bats exclude walks, hit-by-pitches and sacrifices. (Source: General baseball reference)
- LOB counts runners stranded when an inning ends. (Source: General baseball reference)
- IP shows how long the pitcher worked. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Each out is shown as .1, so 5.1 means five and a third. (Source: General baseball reference)
- In the pitching line, H counts hits the pitcher gave up. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The line score gives runs, hits and errors for each team. (Source: General baseball reference)
- More innings and fewer earned runs make a better start. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Seven, then six and two-thirds, then six and a third. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Six innings is 18 outs, plus two more makes 20. (Source: General baseball reference)

## Test 10: Milestones and records

- Rose collected 4,256 hits. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Fewer than forty players have reached 3,000 hits. (Source: General baseball reference)
- The 500-homer club is a small group of sluggers. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Modern usage makes 300 wins extremely hard. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Ripken passed Lou Gehrig's 2,130 in 1995. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Gehrig played 2,130 straight games. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Ichiro had 1,278 hits in Japan and 3,089 in MLB. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 4,256, about 4,190 and 3,771. (Source: General baseball reference)
- 1939, 1995 and 1998. (Source: General baseball reference)
- Ripken broke Gehrig's consecutive games record. (Source: General baseball reference)

Sources: General baseball references, WBSC and league material, coaching manuals; original questions authored, nothing reproduced. Numbered rules belong to the Rules category.

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