The Washington times., 1908-09-06
Computing Standing of Pitchers
By Present Childish System
Insult to Intelligence.
No Regard Paid to Support They Receive, anu Good
Man on Weak Club Suffers Rank Injustice
Changes Proposed.
By THOMAS S. RICE.


support in the aoid or being backed by
an array Of heavy hitters In order TO
get at this II may be necessars for
official scorers to keep tab on the num-
Der OF times opposing players gn 20 bat
as well as the number Of theig technical
at-bats, but that is a mere detail.
Washington Mans Criticism.
NJ. G. Lloyd. Pm D.. OF Washington. d.
c. an expert in the Bureau OF Stand
ards. is one OF those who has attentive
ly studied the problem and offered val
liable suggestions Mr. Lloyd starts with
the eminently proper and demOIishinE
criticism that the present system Of
pitchers standings IS really nothing bur
a record OF the ability OF the team with
which he is connected. The mathemati-
clan proves his contention by the very
simple expedient Of showing that the
ten winning pitchers IN the American
ana National Leagues last wear vera
naturally all on the big winning teams.
Nothing else could have been proved.
IoT a nrst-ciass box artist with a ver-z
poor team is going to have his own
great efforts nuillfed by the weaknesses
OF ms mates 50 many times that he
could not possibly get 10 the TOD. while
even mediocre twirler working with q
Dralny defense ike that Of Chicago Or
strong array of sWatters. ike De-
trolL might. and they frequently do
come out on top, although hammered
with much violence.
Mr.. Lloyd then follows The Times
lead on the matter Of apportionine- cred-
II or demerit when a club uses more
tban one pitcher IN the same game. In
concluding his study, which appeared ina
the Minneapolis Journal, he offers the
following valuable suggestions. which
should be carefully digested not only bv
the oihcial rule-makers, but by the nm.
otheial experts who make d business OF
keeping the averages OF baseball
leagues. and by fans who want 10 see
some fair method displace the present
joke:
Here's One Plan.
How should pitchers average be
determined. Let US compare him with
the other players. A heluer's or a bsr-
yer average IS computed enIideIy upon
'he result vt the game. An error. counts
as an error, md a nit counts as 2 mir
Without reference to its effect upon The
score. In batting and in fielding each
man stands upon his own merits.
30 should il be with the pitcher. lie
should be judged solely by the effective
ness Of his own work, regardless. or
whether his team is able to win a game.
The nrst object OF a pitcher is 10 pre-
vent the opposing batsman from making
hits This then may be taken as a cri-
terion OF his ability. Subtract the NUM-
Der OF hits made by the opposing bat
jers from the total times at bat. and
take the ratio OF this number 10 the
times at bat for the pitchers average.
For this purpose. bases on balls and
bases for being hit by a pitched baI
should be counted in, both with the hits
and with the times al bat. Sacrifice
hits, as in computing batters' averages,
might be excluded from consideration.
since they are of some advantage 10
each side
Another Suggestion.
This method with possible nodfnca-
uons) ranks d pitcher entirely upon the
effectiveness Of his pitching, and seems
the most equitable that could be em-
ployed. The average could be expressed
in per cent. and 100 per cent would rep
resent perfection, j. G., no hits or bases
on balls
1T is not, however, the only alter
native. The pitchers average might be
based on the number Of earned runs
made by the opposing teams IN relation
10 the number OF innings pitched, but
innings per earned run would not give
convenient numbers. This. again. would
make him Independent Of errors by his
own team and of the ability Of the
opposing pitcher, but would leave a
little more 10 chance than the former
method.
None Can B5 Perfect
No system Of computing averages
can exactly represent the value of q
player to his team. and this applies
equally to all departments Of the game.
A fielding error which does not result
In a score places a team no further
from the pennant. A good pinch hitter
may win more games than the man
with the fat batting average. And
the pitcher who is effective with men
on bases and keeps the hits well scat
tered may be more valuable than he
who allows fewer hits in the large run,
but goes 10 pieces at a critical stage
of the game
Nevertheless the ratio Of batters re-
tired to total times at bat gives a good
measure OF the effectiveness Of a pitcher
and would be a vast improvement upon
the present crude, unscientific, illogical
and inaccurate system.
-H -oD RR~HkHOHD