Baseball

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This may be asking for trouble, but...

I watched match 6 of the World Series on telly last night. I started watching baseball (on channel 5 here in the UK) a few years ago when my ex became ill and I was up most nights with worry. I love it - I find it so full of half-remembered faux-reverberations of Americana that it reminds me of my childhood wish to live in a sunny, autumn-leaf-filled American subburb, with neat lawns and picket fences and other kids playing with me in the street...

Ahem. The point of this thread was to ask about all the things baseball-related which, after having seen dozens of hours of the sport, I still don't understand. What does the .307 (say) number mean? What is an RBI? What do all the other things mean that I can't remember at this point in time?

Pour out your wisdom on me...

― Mark C, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ahem... .307 is a batting average, which is actually a percentage (30.7%) in disguise (don't ask me why). You get it by taking the number of base hits (singles, doubles, triples, home runs) and dividing it by the number of 'at bats' (minus walks). Does that make much sense? The magic number for batting average is .300 - anything above that is very good, with the mid-.300s about as high as you normally get in modern baseball.

RBIs are Runs Batted In, credited to the batter who drives a runner on base home - ie a two run homer equals two RBIs.

ERA is Earned Run Average, which I seem to remember as being the average number of Earned Runs (those which no fielding error contributed to) a pitcher gives up in 9 innings of work. Anything under 3 is excellent here.

Anything else? Anything our stateside friends want to correct me on?

― Mark Morris, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

baseball = rounders with extra shoulder pads.

― katie, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Shoulder pads???

― Mark Morris, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ihave recently become slightly addicted to watching baseball...its very relaxing.

― Mike Hanle y, Sunday, 4 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Baseball is the best of all sportZor because, as Hanle y alludes, you don't really have to pay attention.

Mark M's description of batting average is accurate, but makes it sound more complicated than it is. It's simply the probability that you'll hit safely, based on past performance - a .333 avg means you'll get a hit 1 out of every 3 times up. A .500 avg (which no one ever has) means you'll get a hit every other time you're up. "batting a thousand" - a 1.000 avg - means you get a hit every single time you're at the plate - the stuff of Plato.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 5 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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