"What is the evidence, and what does it mean?" Bill JamesEquivalent Average, R27, Age, On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage for every 1979 Blue Jay (and American League leaders).
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The 1979 Toronto Blue Jays
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Games Played By Position:
First Base: John Mayberry 135, Craig Kusick 20, Bob Robertson 9,
Tim Johnson 7, Otto Velez 6, Tony Solaita 6
Second Base: Danny Ainge 86, Dave McKay 46, Tim Johnson 25,
Luis Gomez 20
Shortstop: Alfredo Griffin 153, Luis Gomez 15
Third Base: Roy Howell 133, Luis Gomez 22, Bob Bailor 9,
Tim Johnson 9, Dave McKay 2
Outfield: Rick Bosetti 162, Al Woods 127, Bob Bailor 118,
Otto Velez 73, Joe Cannon 50, Ted Wilborn 7,
Bobby Brown 4
Catcher: Rick Cerone 136, Bob Davis 32
Starting Pitcher: Tom Underwood 32, Phil Huffman 31, Dave Lemanczyk 20,
Dave Stieb 18, Balor Moore 16, Jim Clancy 11,
Jesse Jefferson 10, Mark Lemongello 10, Butch Edge 9,
Dave Freisleben 2, Jackson Todd 1, Mike Willis 1,
Jerry Garvin 1
Relief Pitcher: Tom Buskey 44, Dave Freisleben 40, Jesse Jefferson 24,
Balor Moore 18, Mike Willis 16, Jackson Todd 11,
Dyar Miller 10, Tom Murphy 10, Mark Lemongello 8,
Jerry Garvin 7, Dave Lemanczyk 2, Jim Clancy 1,
Steve Grilli 1, Craig Kusick 1, Steve Luebber 1,
Tom Underwood 1
Designated Hitter: Rico Carty 129, Tony Solaita 26, Otto Velez 9,
Roy Howell 4, Ted Wilborn 4, Bob Robertson 4,
Pedro Hernandez 2, Craig Kusick 1, Al Woods 2,
Bob Bailor 1, Danny Ainge 1
Manager: Roy Hartsfield
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1979 in Context
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The '79 Jays finished with the worst record in Jays' history, and 13 wins
behind the other expansion team. The Orioles beat the Angels in the ALCS but
lost to the Pirates in the Series. The league average runs per 9 innings
(4.72) was a lot higher than the previous year's (4.24):
Runs Scored Per 9 IP Runs Allowed Per 9 IP Winning Percentage
( 1) California 5.43 | ( 1) Baltimore 3.65 | ( 1) Baltimore 102-57 .642
( 2) Kansas City 5.29 | ( 2) NYYankees 4.22 | ( 2) Milwaukee 95-66 .590
( 3) Boston 5.29 | ( 3) Texas 4.37 | ( 3) Boston 91-69 .569
( 4) Milwaukee 5.04 | ( 4) Boston 4.47 | ( 4) NYYankees 89-71 .556
( 5) Detroit 4.87 | ( 5) Milwaukee 4.51 | ( 5) California 88-74 .543
( 6) Cleveland 4.78 | ( 6) Minnesota 4.52 | ( 6) Detroit 85-76 .528
( 7) Minnesota 4.76 | ( 7) Detroit 4.67 | ( 7) Kansas City 85-77 .525
( 8) Baltimore 4.75 | ( 8) White Sox 4.78 | ( 8) Texas 83-79 .512
( 9) Texas 4.70 | ( 9) California 4.81 | ( 9) Minnesota 82-80 .506
(10) White Sox 4.66 | (10) Cleveland 5.06 | (10) Cleveland 81-80 .503
(11) NYYankees 4.61 | (11) Kansas City 5.07 | (11) White Sox 73-87 .456
(12) Seattle 4.45 | (12) Seattle 5.13 | (12) Seattle 67-95 .414
(13) TORONTO 3.89 | (13) Oakland 5.42 | (13) Oakland 54-108 .333
(14) Oakland 3.61 | (14) TORONTO 5.47 | (14) TORONTO 53-109 .327
Avg 4.72 Avg 4.72 1128-1128
Correcting the above for park factor, the '79 Jays were second-worst in
hitting:
Team Equivalent Average:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
CAL KAN MIL BOS BAL TEX CLE NYY DET CHW MIN SEA TOR OAK
.278 .271 .268 .266 .266 .261 .261 .260 .260 .258 .257 .252 .239 .238
Correcting runs allowed for park factor, the '79 Jays were second-worst:
Opponents' Equivalent Average:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
BAL BOS NYY MIN TEX DET MIL CHW CAL KAN SEA CLE TOR OAK
.239 .249 .251 .252 .254 .256 .256 .261 .265 .266 .266 .267 .274 .280
Exhibition Stadium's park factor was just 1.018, and generally the difference
between the best hitters' and pitchers' parks was only 10 points in 1979:
Park Factors ((PF-1)*100, hitters' parks first):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13 13
BOS MIN DET SEA TOR KAN CHW CLE MIL TEX NYY CAL BAL OAK
5.3 3.8 2.8 2.3 1.8 1.3 .3 .3 -.7 -1.7 -2.7 -3.2 -4.7 -4.7
(derived from park factors in Total Baseball, 5th ed., which are based
on data from 1978-1980 except when the park changed; see Glossary)
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'79 Hitters
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Otto Velez was the first Jay "regular" to have an Equivalent Average of .300,
but I won't count it because the number of plate appearances was too low.
Alfredo Griffin tied for Rookie of the Year and was 2nd only to John Mayberry
on the team with 71 Equivalent Runs:
Age EqA BA OBP SLG R27 EqR R RBI HR SB CS PA
Otto Velez 28 R LF .310 .288 .391 .529 7.13 54 45 48 15 0 1 320
John Mayberry 30 L 1B .288 .274 .368 .461 5.91 77 61 74 21 1 1 533
Al Woods 25 L OF .258 .278 .338 .385 4.48 55 57 36 5 6 4 476
Rico Carty 39 R DH .254 .256 .323 .390 4.33 57 48 55 12 3 1 507
Roy Howell 25 L 3B .248 .247 .304 .405 4.09 61 60 72 15 1 4 553
Alfredo Griffin 21 S SS .247 .287 .330 .364 4.03 71 81 31 2 21 16 664
Rick Cerone 25 R C .232 .239 .294 .358 3.44 48 47 61 7 1 4 506
Rick Bosetti 25 R CF .228 .260 .285 .362 3.32 60 59 65 8 13 12 641
Bob Bailor 27 R RF .212 .229 .291 .287 2.76 35 50 38 1 14 8 450
Danny Ainge 20 R 2B .197 .237 .266 .286 2.29 21 26 19 2 1 0 320
After the season, Tom Underwood, Rick Cerone and OF Ted Wilborn were traded to
the Yanks for 1B Chris Chambliss, LHP Paul Mirabella and 2B Damaso Garcia.
Chambliss was later traded with Luis Gomez to Atlanta for OF Barry Bonnell,
RHP Joey McLaughlin and INF Pat Rockett:
Age EqA BA OBP SLG R27 EqR R RBI HR SB CS PA
Tony Solaita 32 L DH .280 .265 .370 .422 5.53 16 14 13 2 0 0 119
Luis Gomez 27 R 3B .196 .239 .266 .282 2.27 11 11 11 0 1 0 169
Dave McKay 29 S 2B .187 .218 .252 .276 2.01 10 19 12 0 1 1 163
Joe Cannon 25 L OF .174 .211 .217 .254 1.68 7 14 5 1 12 2 143
This was Tim Johnson's last year as a major league player:
Age EqA BA OBP SLG R27 EqR R RBI HR SB CS PA
Craig Kusick 30 R 1B .228 .204 .295 .333 3.32 5 3 7 2 0 0 61
Tim Johnson 29 L 2B .174 .186 .255 .233 1.67 5 6 6 0 0 1 94
Bob Robertson 32 R 1B .131 .103 .188 .207 .83 1 1 1 1 0 0 32
Bob Davis 27 R C .099 .124 .179 .180 .41 1 6 8 1 0 0 95
Pedro Hernandez 20 R PR .000 .000 .000 .000 .00 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Bobby Brown 25 S OF -.132 .000 .167 .000 -.84 0 1 0 0 0 0 12
Ted Wilborn 20 S OF -.180 .000 .077 .000 -1.84 -1 3 0 0 0 1 13
Triples:
Alfredo Griffin 10, Bob Bailor 5, Rick Cerone 4, Roy Howell 4, Al Woods 4,
Rick Bosetti 2, Danny Ainge 1, Joe Cannon 1, Tim Johnson 1,
John Mayberry 1, Tony Solaita 1
Doubles (leaders):
Rick Bosetti 35, Roy Howell 28, Rick Cerone 27, Rico Carty 26, Al Woods 24,
Alfredo Griffin 22, John Mayberry 22, Otto Velez 21, Bob Bailor 11
Times On Base (Hits + Walks) (leaders):
Alfredo Griffin 219, John Mayberry 196, Rick Bosetti 183, Roy Howell 168,
Rico Carty 164, Al Woods 161, Rick Cerone 149, Bob Bailor 131
Outs (AB-H+CS) (leaders):
Rick Bosetti 470, Alfredo Griffin 461, Roy Howell 389, Rick Cerone 361,
Rico Carty 344, John Mayberry 338, Bob Bailor 327, Al Woods 319
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio:
Joe Cannon 34.0, Danny Ainge 4.8, Rick Bosetti 3.2, Luis Gomez 2.8,
Dave McKay 2.7, Bob Davis 2.5, Roy Howell 2.2, Tim Johnson 1.9,
Alfredo Griffin 1.5, Rick Cerone 1.1, Rico Carty 1.0, Otto Velez 1.0,
Tony Solaita .9, John Mayberry .9, Bob Bailor .8, Al Woods .7
Games Played (leaders):
Rick Bosetti 162, Alfredo Griffin 153, Roy Howell 138, John Mayberry 137,
Rick Cerone 136, Rico Carty 132, Al Woods 132, Bob Bailor 130
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'79 Starting Pitchers
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The greatest all-time pitcher in Blue Jays' history was 10-2 in the minors
(5-0 in A-ball and 5-2 in AAA) and then a respectable 8-8 in the majors after
his call-up on June 26/79:
Age W L ERA RA* R27 IP EqA BA OBP SLG HR K/9
Dave Lemanczyk 28 R 8 10 3.71 4.16 4.06 143.0 .244 .258 .316 .384 12 4.0
Tom Underwood 25 L 9 16 3.69 4.14 4.39 227.0 .248 .253 .329 .391 23 5.0
Dave Stieb 21 R 8 8 4.31 4.83 4.77 129.3 .260 .276 .339 .404 11 3.6
Balor Moore 28 L 5 7 4.84 5.42 5.18 139.3 .271 .262 .360 .418 17 3.3
Phil Huffman 21 R 6 18 5.77 6.47 6.22 173.0 .291 .304 .364 .474 25 2.9
Age W L ERA RA* R27 IP EqA BA OBP SLG HR K/9
Jim Clancy 23 R 2 7 5.51 6.18 5.23 63.7 .279 .272 .356 .431 8 4.7
Butch Edge 22 R 3 4 5.23 5.86 5.62 51.7 .280 .283 .356 .431 6 3.3
Mark Lemongello 23 R 1 9 6.29 7.05 6.09 83.0 .295 .299 .366 .492 14 4.3
Games Started:
Tom Underwood 32, Phil Huffman 31, Dave Lemanczyk 20, Dave Stieb 18,
Balor Moore 16, Jim Clancy 11, Jesse Jefferson 10, Mark Lemongello 10,
Butch Edge 9, Dave Freisleben 2, Jackson Todd 1, Mike Willis 1,
Jerry Garvin 1
44 complete games, which I think is still the team record:
Complete Games:
Tom Underwood 12, Dave Lemanczyk 11, Dave Stieb 7, Balor Moore 5,
Jim Clancy 2, Phil Huffman 2, Jesse Jefferson 2, Mark Lemongello 2,
Butch Edge 1
Stieb worked into the 8th inning on average in his first year:
Innings Pitched Per Game (IP/G):
Dave Stieb 7.2, Tom Underwood 6.9, Dave Lemanczyk 6.5, Butch Edge 5.7,
Phil Huffman 5.6, Jim Clancy 5.3, Mark Lemongello 4.6, Balor Moore 4.1
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'79 Relief Pitchers
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Age W L ERA RA* R27 IP EqA BA OBP SLG HR K/9
Tom Buskey 32 R 6 10 3.43 3.84 4.25 78.7 .243 .249 .307 .404 10 5.0
Dave Freisleben 27 R 2 3 4.95 5.55 5.46 91.0 .275 .294 .388 .406 5 3.5
Jackson Todd 27 R 0 1 5.85 6.56 6.10 32.3 .291 .299 .333 .516 7 3.9
Jesse Jefferson 30 R 2 10 5.51 6.18 6.70 116.0 .293 .328 .388 .524 19 3.3
Mike Willis 28 L 0 3 8.44 9.46 6.45 26.7 .318 .333 .421 .442 1 2.7
Age W L ERA RA* R27 IP EqA BA OBP SLG HR K/9
Steve Grilli 30 R 0 0 .00 .00 -.06 2.3-.035 .143 .143 .178 0 3.9
Jerry Garvin 23 L 0 1 2.78 3.12 3.01 22.7 .217 .197 .291 .319 2 5.6
Craig Kusick 30 R 0 0 4.91 5.50 3.69 3.7 .256 .214 .214 .464 1 .0
Tom Murphy 33 R 1 2 5.40 6.05 5.67 18.3 .282 .311 .378 .425 1 2.9
Dyar Miller 33 R 0 0 10.57 11.85 9.07 15.3 .355 .391 .432 .608 3 4.1
Steve Luebber 29 R 0 0 .00 .00 99.99 .0 .999 1.00 1.00 1.24 0 .0
Relief Appearances:
Tom Buskey 44, Dave Freisleben 40, Jesse Jefferson 24, Balor Moore 18,
Mike Willis 16, Jackson Todd 11, Dyar Miller 10, Tom Murphy 10,
Mark Lemongello 8, Jerry Garvin 7, Dave Lemanczyk 2, Jim Clancy 1,
Steve Grilli 1, Craig Kusick 1, Steve Luebber 1, Tom Underwood 1
Saves:
Tom Buskey 7, Dave Freisleben 3, Jesse Jefferson 1
Innings Pitched Per Game (IP/G):
Craig Kusick 3.7, Jesse Jefferson 3.4, Jerry Garvin 2.8, Jackson Todd 2.7,
Steve Grilli 2.3, Dave Freisleben 2.2, Tom Murphy 1.8, Tom Buskey 1.8,
Mike Willis 1.6, Dyar Miller 1.5, Steve Luebber .0
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1979 American League Leaders
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Don Baylor won the MVP award, presumably because of his RBI total, though he
wasn't a bad choice. I'd probably have voted for EqR-leader Ken Singleton
(who was 2nd) or EqA-leader Fred Lynn (who was 4th). George Brett was 3rd
and Jim Rice was 5th:
Top 14 Hitters by EqA (minimum 351 plate appearances):
EqA BA OBP SLG R27 EqR R RBI HR SB CS PA
Fred Lynn BOS OF .339 .333 .423 .637 9.22 122 116 122 39 2 2 613
Sixto Lezcano MIL OF .332 .321 .416 .573 8.27 106 84 101 28 4 3 550
Ken Singleton BAL OF .327 .295 .408 .533 7.63 126 93 111 35 3 1 679
Mike Hargrove CLE OF .322 .325 .431 .500 7.71 69 60 56 10 2 3 401
Jim Rice BOS OF .317 .325 .382 .596 7.80 122 117 130 39 9 4 676
Steve Kemp DET OF .315 .318 .401 .543 7.48 97 88 105 26 5 6 558
Reggie Jackson NYY OF .315 .297 .383 .544 7.07 95 78 89 29 9 8 530
Darrell Porter KAN C .314 .291 .422 .484 7.32 108 101 112 20 3 4 654
George Brett KAN 3B .313 .329 .378 .563 7.27 124 119 107 23 17 10 696
Brian Downing CAL C .312 .326 .415 .462 6.89 96 87 75 12 3 3 586
Bobby Grich CAL 2B .309 .294 .364 .537 6.74 103 78 101 30 1 0 593
Don Baylor CAL OF .308 .296 .368 .530 6.67 122 120 139 36 22 12 699
Willie Aikens CAL 1B .304 .280 .380 .493 6.45 72 59 81 21 1 3 440
Cecil Cooper MIL 1B .303 .308 .368 .508 6.56 106 83 106 24 15 3 646
Dave Lemanczyk is the first Jay to make one of my leaderboards, but I won't
count it because my IP criteria was too lenient. Future Jay Mike Flanagan won
the Cy Young award, presumably because of his 23 wins, though he wasn't a bad
choice. I'd probably have voted for Tommy John, who finished 2nd, because of
his better EqA and higher Innings Pitched:
Top 14 Starting Pitchers by EqA (minimum 139.3 innings pitched):
W L ERA RA* R27 IP EqA BA OBP SLG HR K/9
Ron Guidry NYY 18 8 2.78 3.12 3.50 236.3 .228 .236 .294 .359 20 7.7
Dennis Eckersley BOS 17 10 2.99 3.35 3.97 246.7 .230 .250 .294 .397 29 5.5
Tommy John NYY 21 9 2.96 3.32 3.47 276.3 .231 .260 .304 .348 9 3.6
Jack Morris DET 17 7 3.28 3.68 3.79 197.7 .234 .244 .300 .376 19 5.1
Mike Flanagan BAL 23 9 3.08 3.45 3.67 265.7 .237 .245 .294 .369 23 6.4
Scott McGregor BAL 13 6 3.35 3.75 3.55 174.7 .240 .248 .273 .388 19 4.2
Jim Palmer BAL 10 6 3.30 3.70 3.66 155.7 .240 .246 .298 .364 12 3.9
Nolan Ryan CAL 16 14 3.60 4.04 3.44 222.7 .240 .212 .311 .316 15 9.0
Jerry Koosman MIN 20 13 3.38 3.79 4.24 263.7 .240 .268 .324 .387 19 5.4
Mike Caldwell MIL 16 6 3.29 3.69 4.12 235.0 .242 .278 .308 .402 18 3.4
Ken Kravec CHW 15 13 3.74 4.19 3.78 250.0 .243 .233 .318 .352 20 4.8
Geoff Zahn MIN 13 7 3.57 4.00 4.35 169.0 .244 .279 .322 .403 13 3.1
Dave Lemanczyk TOR 8 10 3.71 4.16 4.06 143.0 .244 .258 .316 .384 12 4.0
Dave Frost CAL 16 10 3.57 4.00 3.85 239.3 .245 .251 .310 .365 17 4.0
Jim Kern was 4th in the Cy Young voting, Mike Marshall was 5th and Aurelio
Lopez was 8th:
Top 7 Relievers by EqA (minimum 50 innings or 10 saves):
W L ERA RA* R27 IP EqA BA OBP SLG HR K/9
Jim Kern TEX 13 5 1.57 1.76 2.65 143.0 .193 .199 .288 .276 5 8.6
Tim Stoddard BAL 3 1 1.71 1.92 2.77 58.0 .201 .212 .278 .304 3 7.3
Ed Farmer CHW 3 7 2.43 2.72 3.03 81.3 .213 .219 .299 .292 2 5.3
Aurelio Lopez DET 10 5 2.41 2.70 3.28 127.0 .215 .210 .290 .335 12 7.5
Sid Monge CLE 12 10 2.40 2.69 3.29 131.0 .217 .209 .306 .315 9 7.4
Tippy Martinez BAL 10 3 2.88 3.23 2.54 78.0 .218 .210 .288 .262 0 7.0
Mike Marshall MIN 10 15 2.65 2.97 3.77 142.7 .224 .254 .317 .359 8 5.1
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Theory Stuff, 1979
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According to the Sports Encyclopedia, Oakland lost a lot of players to free
agency in 1977. By '79, they apparently still hadn't recovered:
Pythagorean WPct Missed Wins
( 1) BAL 98-61 .618 | ( 1) CHW 5
( 2) BOS 92-68 .576 | ( 2) TOR 4
( 3) CAL 90-72 .555 | ( 3) SEA 3
( 4) MIL 89-72 .551 | ( 4) TEX 3
( 5) NYY 86-74 .540 | ( 5) MIN 3
( 6) TEX 86-76 .533 | ( 6) CAL 2
( 7) MIN 85-77 .524 | ( 7) BOS 1
( 8) DET 84-77 .519 | ( 8) KAN -1
( 9) KAN 84-78 .519 | ( 9) DET -1
(10) CHW 78-82 .489 | (10) OAK -2
(11) CLE 76-85 .474 | (11) NYY -3
(12) SEA 70-92 .435 | (12) BAL -4
(13) TOR 57-105 .349 | (13) CLE -5
(14) OAK 52-110 .322 | (14) MIL -6
Note: PythagWPct = RF^1.83 / ( RF^1.83 + RA^1.83 )
where RF=Runs For and RA=Runs Against
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Glossary
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General:
Equivalent Average (EqA): corrects runs per 9 innings for park factor and
rescales so that .260 is average and .300 represents excellence every year:
EqA = ( (( R9 / PF ) / AvgR9) * (.260 ^ (1 / 0.4)) ) ^ 0.4
where R9 = Runs per 9 innings (defined differently in each section below)
PF = Park Factor (see explanation in Team section below)
AvgR9 = Average Runs per 9 innings in Year (see each section below)
^ 0.4 makes distribution much like batting average's
Note: Equivalent Average was invented by Clay Davenport as a 'hitter' stat.
My application of EqA to 'teams' and 'pitchers' may differ from what
he would do, and my formulas and park factors for 'hitters' differ,
but my resulting hitter EqAs are very similar in practice.
Estimated Runs Produced: ERP = 0.16*(3H+2D+4T+6HR+2BB+SB-0.605*(AB-H+CS)),
invented by Paul Johnson, more accurate than Bill James' runs created,
background info available at http://www.stephent.com/jays/erp.html
ERPAdj: ratio of league's Runs to ERP, always close to 1.0, 1.008 in 1979
Age: as of July 1, 1979
Team Stats Glossary:
Runs Scored Per 9 IP: runs scored per 9 innings pitched by the team, not
against the team (the latter would be preferable but is harder to find).
For example, in 1979, the Jays scored 613 runs, allowed 862 runs, and
pitched 1417.0 innings, from which the listed numbers were calculated.
Team Equivalent Average: in EqA formula above, R9 is team's runs scored per
9 IP, and AvgR9 is league average runs per 9 IP (4.72 in 1979)
Opponents' Equivalent Average: R9 is team's runs allowed per 9 IP
Park Factor (PF): divisor which corrects run totals for park effect;
Total Baseball, 5th ed. lists two park factors for each team, one for hitters
and one for pitchers, to correct for the advantage of not facing your own
team's pitching or vice versa, a minor detail. I took the average of the two
park factors for each team and normalized them so that their product was 1.0.
Example, if TB5's park factors were 105 and 106, I would average them to
105.5, which after normalization might be 1.054. To not repeat the 1.0 and
0.9 prefixes excessively, the listed numbers are (PF-1)*100. For example,
the park factor of 1.054 would be listed as 5.4. To get the park factor (PF)
from the listed number, divide it by 100 and add 1. TB5's park factors are
based on data from 1978-1980 except when the park changed.
Hitting Stats Glossary:
Group1: hitters with 9 most plate appearances (more if tie for 9th in PA)
Group2: other hitters with at least 100 PA
Group3: remaining hitters
L/R/S: bats Left, Right, or Switch
EqA: Equivalent Average, in formula above, R9 = R27 * ERPAdj (R27 defined below,
ERPAdj defined above), AvgR9 = 4.72 / 1.04 (estimate of Major League
average from 1979 American League average, 1.04 accounts for DH rule)
BA: Batting Average, (H/AB), inaccurate measure of batting ability (ignores
power, walks, stealing, park factor, league average), use EqA instead
OBP: On-Base Percentage, estimated as (H+BB)/(AB+BB)
SLG: Slugging Average, (H+D+2T+3HR)/AB
R27: estimate of how many runs a lineup of that player would score in a game,
i.e. ERP per 27 outs, in 1979, 25.5*ERP/(AB-H+CS), average roughly 4.72
EqR: Equivalent Runs, park-adjusted Estimated Runs Produced scaled so that
100 represents excellence every year, EqR=(ERPAdj*ERP/PF)*(4.50/AvgR9),
AvgR9 same as in hitter EqA, results similar to Clay Davenport's
R: Runs Scored
RBI: Runs Batted In, inaccurate measure of run production, use EqR instead
D: Doubles, T: Triples, HR: Home Runs, AB: At Bats, BB: Walks
SB: Stolen Bases, CS: Caught Stealing
PA: Plate Appearances (estimated as AB+BB)
Pitching Stats Glossary:
Starting Pitcher = at least one-third of appearances were starts
Group1: starting pitchers with 5 most starts (more if tie for 5th in starts)
Group2: remaining starters
Group3: relief pitchers with 5 most relief appearances
Group4: remaining relievers
W: Wins, L: Losses, L/R: Left-hander or Right-hander
ERA: Earned Run Average (9*ER/IP), ER = Earned Runs allowed
RA: Run Average (9*R/IP), R = total Runs allowed
RA*: RA estimated from ERA because pitcher runs is an astonishingly hard stat
to find for non-recent years; in 1979, estimated as 1.12*ERA
R27: ERP per 27 outs (9*ERP/IP, ERP estimated as below)
IP: Innings Pitched
EqA: Equivalent Average against pitcher, based on ERA, RA* and R27:
in EqA formula, let R9 = (1.12*ERA)/6 + (RA*)/3 + (1.008*R27)/2
and AvgR9 = American League average runs per 9 IP (4.72 in 1979),
not as accurate a stat as hitter EqA, but better than just ERA
BA: Batting Average against pitcher
OBP: On-Base Percentage against pitcher (estimated as (H+BB)/(AB+BB))
SLG: Slugging Average against pitcher (uses below estimates of D and T)
HR: Home Runs allowed, H: Hits allowed, BB: walks
K/9: Strikeouts per 9 innings (9*K/IP)
ERP: Estimated Runs Produced against pitcher, estimated as follows:
AB: At Bats, determined from H/BA, rounded to nearest integer
D: Doubles, estimated as .19*(H-HR) (based on 1979 AL average)
T: Triples, estimated as .16*D in 1979
SB: Stolen Bases, estimated as .068*(H+BB-D-T-HR) in 1979
CS: Caught Stealing, estimated as .56*SB in 1979
ERP = 0.16*(3H+2D+4T+6HR+2BB+SB-0.605(AB-H+CS))
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Sources
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Most raw data from Sean Lahman's Baseball Archive, http://www.baseball1.com
Ages, left vs right vs switch, games by position, from The Sports Encyclopedia:
Baseball 17th ed., 1997, David S. Neft and Richard M. Cohen.
Park factors are based on the ones in Total Baseball, Fifth Edition, 1997,
edited by John Thorn, Pete Palmer, Michael Gershman and David Pietrusza.
Equivalent Average and Equivalent Runs are in the same spirit as described by
Clay Davenport in Baseball Prospectus 1997 Edition, Gary Huckabay, Clay
Davenport, Rany Jazayerli, Chris Kahrl, Joseph S. Sheehan,
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/
Estimated Runs Produced is described by Paul Johnson in the The Bill James
Baseball Abstract 1985.
Jays trades are listed in the Toronto Blue Jays Official Guide 1996.
I cannot guarantee that no errors were made in processing or presenting this
information.
--
Stephen Tomlinson http://www.stephent.com/jays/
mailto:stephent@ottawa.com Ottawa, Ontario
"What is the evidence, and what does it mean?" (Bill James)
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Last Updated: 1998 Feb 2
Comments are welcome at comments@stephent.com.