July 8, 2009

Bogus Baseball Stats?

Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio has been talking about this all morning. Why do baseball fans hold their stats so near and dear to their hearts when baseball is probably the most skewered major sport in America when it comes to stats.

Think about it, teams play in different parks with different dimensions. Fenway Park is different than Safeco Field, and some hitters are better suited to hit their than others.

With no salary cap, some teams are glorified AAA squads, some teams are loaded with major-league talent. That means that some guys are protected in lineups and actually see pitches while others won't see anything near the strike zone.

Even the American League and National League have different rules, as the designated hitter has become the longest running debate in America since they came out with that evolution theory.

And then you look at the NFL - same field dimensions, salary cap, same rules. What league has the more legitimate numbers?

Now I now baseball purists are sharpening the pitchforks, but the reason I'm making this point is that when writers and old guys start giving me the steroids lecture about how it's ruined the game - they fail to take into account that the game was never "pure" in the first place.

Numbers produced by a player are influenced by a huge amount of variables, ranging from wind currents to that chili dog he had that morning. So please, put the stat book down for a moment.

No comments:

Post a Comment