BA Problems

Problems

The baseball guides from which I transcribe sometimes contain errors. I notice these in mostly in the averages, either batting or fielding.

In this example (1916 Tri-Copper League, data taken from 1917 Spalding's Official Base Ball Record), there are 52 players listed. 15 of them have a different calculated batting average than is printed (29%). Four of them are within one point, so I consider that a rounding error. It would appear that some are transposition errors (.314 for .341). The AB or H might have been printed wrong.

What is a researcher to do with faulty data from sources such as this? I have been second guessing some of the math, making assumptions and 'correcting' as I see fit. I don't think that is proper. I'll be reformatting the data I've put up on this site, to include the original figures, as well as the 'corrected' figures.

In theory, the thing to do is find the original box scores and re-tabulate all the data. This will be very difficult, if not impossible to do with some leagues. We do the best with what we have.

Dr. George Schweitzer told me, regarding genealogy research, "Write down what you have. Cite your source. Keep looking for more information. It is better than nothing."

Batting Average

Yellow boxes indicate a difference in the calculated figures from the printed figures.

Year	League Name	Last Name	Team	AB	H	Printed BA	Calculated BA
1916	Tri-Copper	Brady	Mines	2	1	.500	.500
1916	Tri-Copper	Garrity	Mill	14	6	.428	.429
1916	Tri-Copper	Arbogast	Mill	68	23	.338	.338
1916	Tri-Copper	Bayless	Mill	48	16	.333	.333
1916	Tri-Copper	McDonnell	Mill	110	35	.318	.318
1916	Tri-Copper	Boeckel	Smelter	41	14	.314	.341
1916	Tri-Copper	Garrity	Mines	56	17	.304	.304
1916	Tri-Copper	Metz	Mines	10	3	.300	.300
1916	Tri-Copper	Davis	Mill	40	12	.300	.300
1916	Tri-Copper	Scanlon	Mines	70	16	.296	.229
1916	Tri-Copper	Delhi	Mines	72	20	.288	.278
1916	Tri-Copper	Carisch	Mill	98	28	.286	.286
1916	Tri-Copper	DeMaggio	Mines	128	31	.284	.242
1916	Tri-Copper	Conley	Mines	14	4	.263	.286
1916	Tri-Copper	Hearn	Mill	78	20	.258	.256
1916	Tri-Copper	Duddy	Smelter	105	27	.257	.257
1916	Tri-Copper	Whaling	Smelter	32	8	.250	.250
1916	Tri-Copper	Rose	Mill	52	13	.250	.250
1916	Tri-Copper	Hosp	Mines	116	29	.247	.250
1916	Tri-Copper	Stadelli	Smelter	126	31	.246	.246
1916	Tri-Copper	Rammage	Mines	61	17	.245	.279
1916	Tri-Copper	Pierce	Smelter	107	26	.243	.243
1916	Tri-Copper	Beaumiller	Mines	96	23	.239	.240
1916	Tri-Copper	Sorey	Mines	46	11	.239	.239
1916	Tri-Copper	Tonneman	Mines	51	13	.237	.255
1916	Tri-Copper	Bender	Smelter	97	23	.237	.237
1916	Tri-Copper	Tobin	Mines	47	11	.234	.234
1916	Tri-Copper	Fentress	Mill	13	3	.231	.231
1916	Tri-Copper	Meusel	Mill	13	3	.231	.231
1916	Tri-Copper	Reiger	Mill	22	5	.227	.227
1916	Tri-Copper	Mitchell	Mines	98	23	.226	.235
1916	Tri-Copper	Wachob	Mines	8	2	.225	.250
1916	Tri-Copper	Flick	Smelter	77	17	.221	.221
1916	Tri-Copper	Callan	Smelter	96	21	.219	.219
1916	Tri-Copper	Schwind	Mill	33	7	.212	.212
1916	Tri-Copper	Schilz	Mill	33	7	.212	.212
1916	Tri-Copper	Galena	Mill	107	22	.206	.206
1916	Tri-Copper	Hester	Mines	31	6	.194	.194
1916	Tri-Copper	MacMurdo	Smelter	102	18	.176	.176
1916	Tri-Copper	Guest	Mill	101	17	.169	.168
1916	Tri-Copper	Hughes	Smelter	49	8	.163	.163
1916	Tri-Copper	Dent	Mill	31	5	.162	.161
1916	Tri-Copper	Carnes	Smelter	57	9	.158	.158
1916	Tri-Copper	Munsell	Smelter	46	7	.152	.152
1916	Tri-Copper	Callan	Smelter	27	4	.148	.148
1916	Tri-Copper	Bromley	Mines	42	6	.143	.143
1916	Tri-Copper	Stoloff	Mill	28	4	.143	.143
1916	Tri-Copper	Downey	Mines	43	5	.116	.116
1916	Tri-Copper	Wachob	Mill	17	2	.108	.118
1916	Tri-Copper	Johnson	Mill	19	2	.105	.105
1916	Tri-Copper	Lush	Mill	29	3	.104	.103
1916	Tri-Copper	Miller	Smelter	4	0	.000	.000

Sources / References

• 1917 Spalding's Official Base Ball Record - pages 230-231 at archive.org