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Math project
- 1. The Numbers ofBaseball By: Cooper Bowen
- 2. History of theSport Baseball was invented in the year 1839, making it the oldest American invented sport. However, the MLB wasn’t founded until 1969. The beginning of the sport only saw 8 teams instead of the 30 we see today. Many of the original stars of the game are still remembered and idolized today. Although they seem very different, the games that are played today are very similar to the games that were played over 100 years ago. That is what is so beautiful about baseball, it is very simple, but there is a lot of customization and the game’s tactics have gone through a lot of changes and eras. For example, a 6” person and a 5”4’ person can both play this sport with no advantage to either one. Additionally, you can have whatever stance and
- 3. Rules of theSport Baseball is composed of two teams of nine. The games last 9 two-part innings. Each team bats until the fielding team gets three outs. An out is gotten by striking someone out, catching the ball before it hits the ground, tagging a runner when he isn’t on a base, or getting the ball to the next force base. A run is gotten when someone on the hitting team goes around every base and touches home plate. While hitting, if you see 3 strikes, you are out. If you see 4 balls, then you reach first base. A strike is anything that you can hit easily.
- 4. The Math of BaseballBaseballis a game of numbers, averages, and statistics. Many people overlook this fact, but it plays a very important role in higher level play such as college, minor league, or professional. Three of the most important statistics in baseball are ERA, BA, and OBP. ERA or earned run average is the average number of runs you give up in a game. This stat only applies to pitchers. BA or batting average is the ratio of your hits to at bats in recent games. OBP or on base percentage is the ratio of the amount of times you get on base (hit, walk, hit by pitch) compared to the number of times you have a plate appearance. These stats can help us answer many questions in baseball. For example, if you wanted to know the odds of someone getting a hit in an at bat, you simply just look at their batting average and convert it into a decimal. So if someone had a 0.308 batting average, the would have a 30.8% chance of getting a hit. I got this by moving the decimal point over two spots to the right to convert it into a fraction.
- 5. Statistics BA - BattingAverage Babe Ruth - .342 Mike Trout - .307 Ted Williams - .344 Barry Bonds - .298 Tony Gwynn - .338 ERA - Earned Run Average CY Young - 2.63 Nolan Ryan - 3.19 Sandy Koufax - 2.76 Bob Gibson - 2.91 Randy Johnson - 3.29 OBP - On Base Percentage Babe Ruth - .474 Mike Trout - .416 Ted Williams - .482 Barry Bonds - .444 Tony Gwynn - .388
- 6. Findings I found thatbatting average is lower than on base percentage, probably because you have a better chance to get on base with walks included, and OBP includes hits and walks, while batting average only includes your hits. I also found that with ERA, good ERAs are lower while high ERAs are very bad. I also found that a very good ERA is around 2.50 to 3.
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