|
Drew's Top 10
 Drew Litton: From parking woes to dropped fly balls to wondering when the Broncos start playing, Drew Litton explains the Rockies' home opener. Click here.
In the money?
 Diamond prices going down: The expectation has become a reality for the Colorado Rockies. The team's Opening Day payroll figures to fall 25 percent from last year. Click here.
A short history
Did Abner Doubleday invent the game?
|
The earliest version of the game, according to the Baseball Hall of Fame, might have been played in the 1820s in New York. While the hall recognizes the years before 1845 as early baseball, rules then were flexible, unclear and changed to meet the needs and wishes of players.
Most baseball enthusiasts are aware that the sport's origins are a bit cloudy. Abner Doubleday, an experienced militarist and Civil War general, is generally credited by the public with creating baseball, but he never mentioned baseball in his diaries or in public speeches.
A panel of baseball experts in the early 1900s credited Doubleday with the sport's invention, but many historians have since said his involvement is mostly myth.
Did you know?
A batter can get to first base seven ways: hit, walk, dropped third strike, catcher's interference, fielder's choice, error and hit by a pitch.
He said it
"Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster."
Joe Adcock
"I believe salaries are at their peak, not just in baseball, but all sports. It's quite possible some owners will trade away, or even drop entirely, players who expect $200,000 salaries. There's a superstar born every year... But still there is no way clubs can continue to increase salaries to the level some players are talking about."
Peter O'Malley, 1971
"I'm not an athlete. I'm a professional baseball player."
John Kruk
"When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team's dugout and they were already in street clothes."
Bob Uecker
Reggie Jackson: Not the best fielder.
|
"The only way I'm going to get a Gold Glove is with a can of spray paint."
Reggie Jackson
"He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious."
Yogi Berra
"You have to have a catcher because if you don't you're likely to have a lot of passed balls."
Casey Stengel
How to calculate certain stats
Note: A plate appearance is any time a player steps up to the plate.
At-bat: Subtract sacrifices, walks, times hit by a pitch from plate appearances
Batting average: Divide hits by at-bats.
Slugging percentage: Divide total bases by at-bats.
Earned run average: Multiply the number of earned runs by 9, then divide by the number of innings pitched.
On base percentage: Add hits, walks, instances of reaching first base on a dropped third strike and times hit by pitcher and divide that sum by the sum of at-bats, walks, times hit by pitcher and sacrifices.
Fielding percentage: Add putouts and assists, then divide the sum by the quantity of putouts plus assists plus errors.
Save percentage: Saves divided by save opportunities.
Save: A pitcher saves a game when he 1) enters the game with his team winning; 2) could be the finishing pitcher (and is not the winning pitcher of record when he enters the game); 3) and meets one of the following criteria: 1) has a lead of no more than three runs and has the opportunity to pitch at least one inning; 2) has pitched at least three innings regardless of score and the scorekeeper decides to credit him with the save; 3) has entered the game with the tying run on base, deck or at-bat.
Abner Doubleday photo courtesy Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
|
HOME 
FAQ 
