How Baseball Hindsight is Organized

Baseball Hindsight consists of major league player profiles for individual seasons that fall into the following categories:

Award winners

MVP Profiles that feature players in the National or American Leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award (1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present) as Most Valuable Player;

Cy Young Profiles that feature pitchers who were recipients of the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to present);

Rookie of the Year Profiles that feature players who were recipients of the Rookie of the Year Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1947 to present).

Highlighted Years Profiles that feature players who led a major league in the following categories: runs scored, hits, batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20), or pitching wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10), or have been selected to the annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category will also include Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years. 

Other leagues beyond the NL and AL that are included are the National Association (1871-75) the American Association (1882-91), the Union Association (1884), the Players League (1890), and the Federal League (1914-15). The Negro Leagues will be included once official statistics are available.

Players are profiled for as often as they meet the listing criteria (and thus some may appear several times). Each profile will be labeled for convenient cross-referencing by player name, team, category, or season.

Player profiles are constructed in the following manner:

Name and primary position

Basic information including age with birthday noted if it falls between April 1 and October 1.

Total of games appeared in, with a breakdown by position except for pitchers, who have positions noted if they appeared as something other than a pitcher.

For non-pitchers -

Batting statistics that include:

Plate Appearances (PA when abbreviated)

At Bats (AB when abbreviated)

Runs scored (R when abbreviated)

Hits (H when abbreviated)

Doubles (2B when abbreviated)

Triples (3B when abbreviated)

Home Runs (HR when abbreviated)

Runs Batted In (RBI when abbreviated)

Bases on Balls (BB when abbreviated)

Intentional Bases on Balls (Int. BB when abbreviated)

Strikeouts (SO when abbreviated)

Stolen Bases (SB when abbreviated)

Caught Stealing (CS when abbreviated)

Batting Average (AVG when abbreviated)

On-Base Percentage (OBP when abbreviated)

Slugging Percentage (PCT when abbreviated)

Total Bases (TB when abbreviated)

Grounded Into Double Plays (GDP when abbreviated)

Hit By Pitches (HBP when abbreviated)

Sacrifice Hits (Sac Hit or SH when abbreviated)
Sacrifice Flies (Sac Flies or SF when abbreviated)

All categories in which the player finished among the Top 20 (as determined by Baseball Reference.com, which is the key statistical resource, are noted in brackets.

For pitchers –

Pitching statistics that include:

Games (G when abbreviated)

Games Started (GS when abbreviated)

Complete Games (CG when abbreviated)

Wins (W when abbreviated)

Losses (L when abbreviated)

Winning Percentage (PCT when abbreviated)

Saves (SV when abbreviated)

Shutouts (SHO when abbreviated)

Innings Pitched (IP when abbreviated)

Hits allowed (H when abbreviated)

Runs allowed (R when abbreviated)

Earned Runs allowed (ER when abbreviated)

Home Runs allowed (HR when abbreviated)

Bases on Balls (BB when abbreviated)

Strikeouts (SO when abbreviated)

Earned Run Average (ERA when abbreviated)

Hit Batters (HB when abbreviated)

Balks (BLK when abbreviated)

Wild Pitches (WP when abbreviated)

In all instances where a player led the league in a statistical category (and was not tied with someone else) the category is listed below the statistical grouping with a note as to how far ahead of the runner-up the player’s total was.

For all players, there is a section that follows with a Midseason Snapshot of major statistics at the All-Star break or an equivalent midpoint. This is followed by notes on particular single-game best performances.

Fielding statistics come next, with all categories spelled out.

Batting statistics are provided for pitchers in shortened form, utilizing the abbreviations previously noted.

Postseason statistics for batting and pitching are also included in shortened form, utilizing abbreviations.

Awards & Honors are listed next, with vote totals shown where available.

There is also a short summary pertaining to the team’s performance during the season.

Text sections are also included that are listed as Prior to and Aftermath, to place the season in context within the player’s overall career and provide a sketch of that career.

Profiles will be posted in rotation by current franchises (starting with the Arizona Diamondbacks) with award winners leading off. Upon reaching Highlighted Year profiles, players from past NL franchises and other leagues will be included in the rotation.

Current franchises included are:

Arizona Diamondbacks (1998 to date)

Atlanta Braves (including Boston Red Stockings 1876-82, Beaneaters  1883-1906, Doves 1907-10, Rustlers 1911, Braves 1912-35 & 1941-52 & Bees 1936-40; Milwaukee Braves, 1953-65; Atlanta Braves, 1966 to date)

Baltimore Orioles (including Milwaukee Brewers, 1901; St. Louis Browns, 1902-53; Baltimore Orioles, 1954 to date)

Boston Red Sox (including Boston Americans, 1901-07; Boston Red Sox, 1908 to date)

Chicago Cubs (including Chicago White Stockings 1876-89, Colts 1890-97, Orphans 1898-1902 & Cubs, 1903 to date)

Chicago White Sox (1901 to date)

Cincinnati Reds (including Cincinnati Red Stockings 1882-89 & Reds, 1890 to date)

Cleveland Indians (including Cleveland Blues 1901, Broncos 1902, Naps 1903-14 & Indians, 1915 to date)

Colorado Rockies (1993 to date)

Detroit Tigers (1901 to date)

Houston Astros (including Houston Colt .45s, 1962-64 & Houston Astros 1965 to date)

Kansas City Royals (1969 to date)

Los Angeles Angels (including California Angels 1965-96, Anaheim Angels 1997-2004 & Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 2005-16 & Los Angeles Angels, 1961-64 & 2017 to date)

Los Angeles Dodgers (including Brooklyn Atlantics 1884, Grays 1885-87, Grooms1891-95, Bridegrooms 1888-98, Superbas 1899-1913, Robins 1914-31 & Dodgers, 1932-57 & Los Angeles Dodgers, 1958 to date)

Miami Marlins (including Florida Marlins, 1993-2011 & Miami Marlins, 2012 to date)

Milwaukee Brewers (including Seattle Pilots, 1969 & Milwaukee Brewers, 1970 to date)

Minnesota Twins (including Washington Senators, 1901-60 & Minnesota Twins, 1961 to date)

New York Mets (1962 to date)

New York Yankees (including New York Highlanders, 1903-12 & New York Yankees, 1913 to date)

Oakland Athletics (including Philadelphia Athletics, 1901-54; Kansas City Athletics, 1955-67 & Oakland Athletics, 1968 to date)

Philadelphia Phillies (including Philadelphia Quakers, 1883-89 & Philadelphia Phillies, 1890 to date)

Pittsburgh Pirates (including Pittsburgh Alleghenys, 1882-90 & Pittsburgh Pirates, 1891 to date)

St. Louis Cardinals (including St. Louis Brown Stockings, 1882; Browns, 1883-98; Perfectos, 1899 & Cardinals, 1900 to date)

San Diego Padres (1969 to date)

San Francisco Giants (including New York Gothams, 1883-84; New York Giants, 1885-1957 & San Francisco Giants, 1958 to date)

Seattle Mariners (1977 to date)

Tampa Bay Rays (including Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 1998-2007 & Tampa Bay Rays, 2008 to date)

Texas Rangers (including Washington Senators, 1961-71 & Texas Rangers, 1972 to date)

Toronto Blue Jays (1977 to date)

Washington Nationals (including Montreal Expos, 1969-2004 & Washington Nationals, 2005 to date)

Changes to presentation of profiles in team rotation moving forward:

One significant change pertains to the fact that teams like the Braves and Athletics show up three times per turn due to having played in three different cities over the years (the pending move of the A's to Las Vegas will be treated initially as an extension of the Oakland location). Feeling that other long-term clubs that have not moved should have an opportunity to fast-forward a bit. Therefore, with the Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, the Yankees, Phillies, Pittsburgh, and the Cardinals I am building in a pivot year which will be 1961 with American League teams and 1962 for National League clubs since these were the first of the expansion seasons. This will give each of those franchises a chance to have three players per rotation - typically two from the early years of the 20th century and one from the pivot year and ensuing seasons moving forward depending if there is an award profile to be added in the modern era. 

The 1961 and '62 expansion teams will be double-posted moving forward and I will double post the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Minnesota Twins (sticking to one sticking at one post per turn for Brooklyn, the New York Giants, the St. Louis Browns, and the 1902-60 Washington Senators - as opposed to the 1961-71 Washington Senators who we know today as the Texas Rangers. As you will see, there will be a handful of exceptions to the pivot year protocol which should appear reasonable.

-Updated 3/10/19, 5/3/20, 3/28/24