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About The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia
Total Baseball created a revolution of sorts when it debuted in 1989. Produced by John Thorn, Pete Palmer
and others, it supplanted the long-standing baseball encyclopedia, Macmillan's, by demonstrating that its research was superior
and its statistical tools invaluable. In 2005 Total Baseball evolved into The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia, edited
by Palmer and Gary Gillette.
The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia uses formulas to assign a numerical rating to each player each season, now called
Batter-Fielder Wins or, for pitchers, Pitcher Wins (formerly known as the Total Baseball Ranking: Total Pitcher Index for
pitchers and Total Player Rating for position players). The combined BFW/PW number, which factors in pitchers' batting, for
instance, is called the Player Overall Win Rating. At this website, I take those POWRs to the next logical steps, analyzing
Hall of Famers' career ratings, for example, and looking at which players should be enshrined in Cooperstown.
About sabermetrics
Sabermetrics is the study of baseball statistics. The term, coined by Bill James in the 1970s, emanates from
the acronym for the Society for American Baseball Research. SABR's motto is "bringing the history of baseball to life." James
defined the term as "the mathematical and statistical analysis of baseball records" and as "the search for objective knowledge
about baseball."
About the Ted Williams card
The hilarious baseball card above is from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set. The uncredited Wild World Photo depicts
the Splendid Splinter wielding an 8-foot bat presented to him in Bangor, Maine, which honored him as a modern-day Paul Bunyan.
Teddy Ballgame, indeed!
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