Sports Performance Measurement and Analytics: The Science of Assessing Performance, Predicting Future Outcomes, Interpreting Statistical Models, and Evaluating the Market Value of Athletes

7. Home Run Analytics

“During my eighteen years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.”

—MICKEY MANTLE

America’s favorite pastime, baseball, is said to have originated on American soil. For a while baseball historians argued that it originated from a game called rounders in England. Baseball may well be derived from English rounders, cricket, or other bat-and-ball games across the globe, but it was in America that baseball became the fascination of a country. It is Americans who love the words “take me out to the ball game.”

In the 19th century, baseball became ...