Hall of Merit Glossary
Terms and abbreviations you may encounter on this site or in BBTF discussions around the HOM.
BBTF: Baseball Think Factory. The site that hosts HOM voting and discussion threads (and also general baseball news forums).
BBWAA: Baseball Writers' Association of America. The collection of sportswriters who qualify for membership and have the privilege of voting on baseball's most prestigious awards - MVP awards, Cy Young awards, and HOF enshrinement, as well as Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards.
HOF: Hall of Fame. The inspiration for this project - baseball's iconic Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
HOM: Hall of Merit. The idea which underlies this site. A "competitor" to MLB's Hall of Fame which aims to select the most statistically deserving candidates from baseball's history, avoiding political debates about fame, character, the meaning of value, etc. The HOM uses the size of the actual Hall of Fame (circa 2010) as the measure of how many players to induct, aiming to select players based solely on their individual on-field contributions as the measure of merit.
QOL: Quality of League. In the course of baseball history, there have been numerous leagues that have existed at various times and which contained players from specific talent pools, which form the basis of each league's overall quality of play. Quantifying league quality is often a very difficult and inexact science, but is essential to evaluating the HOM cases for many (especially historical) players. Here is one discussion on BBTF specific to QOL for HOM voting.
VC: Veteran's Committee. Special panels of electors which meet every few years to vote on select sets of players who have lost eligibility for HOF induction through the BBWAA ballot. Usually viewed as having done more harm than credit to the reputation of the HOF for its inductees, and as such, a primary source of disagreement in selections between the HOF and HOM.
WAR: Wins Above Replacement. A statistic which strives to encapsulate a player's total contribution to team wins, i.e., his total value. The primary versions of this metric are the ones calculated by Baseball Reference (often abbreviated bWAR, developed by Sean Smith) and Fangraphs (often abbreviated fWAR, strongly influenced by Tom Tango). Most HOM voters use WAR as a fundamental component of evaluating player merit.
WS: Win Shares. A statistic invented by Bill James which attempts to encapsulate a player's contributions to team wins. For years, this metric was considered the gold standard of player-value metrics in sabermetric circles, including much of the time that HOM voting was taking place. The sabermetric community has since come to a general consensus that Wins Above Replacement (WAR) - primarily as calculated by Baseball Reference and Fangraphs - is a superior implementation of the concept of all-encompassing value metrics.
Glossary of Baseball Terms
Terms you may encounter on this site, particularly player plaques, or in BBTF discussions around the HOM, specifically related to baseball and evaluation, which need less explanation for baseball audiences.
1B: When referring to position, first base. When referring to statistics, singles.
2B: When referring to position, second base. When referring to statistics, doubles.
3B: When referring to position, third base. When referring to statistics, triples.
A: Assists. The number of outs that a defender assisted on (by throwing to a teammate who recorded the out).
AA: American Association. A league which existed between 1882-1891.
AB: At-bats = plate appearances - walks - hit by pitches - sacrifice flies - sacrifice bunts - catcher interference.
AL: American League.
BA: Batting average = hits / at-bats.
BB: Base on balls. Often expressed in the form of BB/9, which is walk rate per 9 innings pitched, to more easily compare pitchers of different innings totals on their ability to control walks. BB% is an even better metric for several reasons, but one being that it applies equally to both hitters and pitchers on their ability to control walks.
BF: Batters faced.
BtRuns: Batting Runs. At Baseball-Reference abbreviated Rbat. A statistic designed to estimate how many runs a batter contributed to his team based on his discrete batting events (singles, doubles, outs, etc.) without taking into account the game context of his plate appearances, for example, how many runners were on base at the time or how many outs there were.
BtWins: Batting Wins. Estimates wins added from batting events as described for BtRuns by using a runs-to-wins conversion for each league and season.
C: Catcher.
CF: Center field.
CG: Complete games pitched. The number of times a starting pitcher completed the game for his team.
DH: Designated hitter.
ERA: Earned run average = earned runs allowed * 9 / innings pitched. The fundamental measure of a pitcher's effectiveness at preventing runs from scoring, this metric is often expressed as adjusted ERA (written ERA+) which adjusts a pitcher's ERA for park effects and is scaled so that 100 is league average, greater than 100 is better than league average, less than 100 is worse than league average. This allows for much better comparison among players who play in different parks as well as in different time periods, where scoring may be much higher or lower than other parks or eras.
FA: Fielding average. Sometimes abbreviated as F% or Fielding%.
FIP: Fielding independent pitching. As the name suggests, this metric, which is scaled to look like ERA, is composed of events which do not involve the fielders playing behind the pitcher: strikeouts, walks, and HRs. Its purpose is to suggest whether a pitcher's ERA was particularly lucky or unlucky based on the events over which he has significant control.
FL: Federal League. A league (of very inferior quality) competing with both the NL and AL and which lasted only from 1914-1915. FL seasons should be heavily discounted for the purposes of HOM voters considering a player's achievements, in the form of "quality of league" adjustments.
G: Games played (for position players and relief pitchers).
GF: Games finished (for relief pitchers). The number of times a relief pitcher was the final pitcher of the game for his team.
GG: Gold Glove awards. For most of its history, this award has gone to one player in each league at each position, as voted on by MLB managers.
GS: Games started (for starting pitchers).
H: Hits.
HR: Home runs.
IBB: Intentional base on balls. This is a measure of how often opposing teams walked a batter on purpose rather than risk pitching to him.
IP: Innings pitched.
K: Strikeouts. Usually abbreviated as K for brevity and to disambiguate from SO which can be confused with shutouts. Often expressed in the form of K/9, which is strikeout rate per 9 innings pitched, to more easily compare pitchers of different innings totals on their ability to strike hitters out. K% is an even better metric for several reasons, but one being that it applies equally to both hitters and pitchers on their ability to control strikeouts.
L: Losses. The number of times a pitcher exited the game responsible for allowing the opposing team's winning runs, given that his team does not tie the game or take the lead at a later point.
LF: Left field.
MeL: Mexican League. Mexican League credit will mostly be applicable to players who were denied access to MLB during the time of their Mexican League play. For the most part this encompasses Negro Leaguers, who often played in Latin American leagues as well.
MVP: Most valuable player award. For most of its history, this award has gone to one player in each league, NL and AL.
NA: National Association. A league (of inferior quality) competing primarily with the NL which lasted from 1871-1875. HOM voters are instructed to consider all playing achievements on record for all players, so NA seasons are considered when evaluating careers, but should be penalized for "quality of league" adjustments.
NAA: National Amateur Association. A league that coexisted with the NA in baseball's earliest years - the NA a collection of professional teams, the NAA of amateur teams.
NeL: Negro Leagues (also abbreviated NgL). This was a collection of leagues that existed during baseball's segregated era, officially beginning in 1920 and roughly into the 1950s. NeL players often played in Latin American leagues as well. HOM voters give extensive consideration to NeL players.
NL: National League.
OBP: On-base percentage = times on base safely / plate appearances.
OPS: On-base plus slugging. A shorthand metric for batting quality. This metric is often expressed as adjusted OPS (written OPS+) which adjusts a batter's OPS for park effects and is scaled so that 100 is league average, greater than 100 is better than league average, less than 100 is worse than league average. This allows for much better comparison among players who play in different parks as well as in different time periods, where scoring may be much higher or lower than other parks or eras.
OWP: Offensive Win Percentage. This is a stat based on Win Shares which only includes offensive contributions (i.e., assuming that defense is average), designed to express a player's ability in terms of what a team's winning percentage would be if an entire team performed as well as the player in question.
P: Pitcher.
PA: Plate appearances = all the times a player came to bat regardless of outcome.
PL: Player's League. A league which existed only for one season in 1890.
PO: Putouts. The number of outs that a defender is credited with.
Power/Speed Number: A statistic invented by Bill James to measure a player's "well-roundedness" in batting power and baserunning speed, two traits which are usually inversely related in baseball players. It is simply the harmonic mean of HRs and stolen bases.
R: Runs scored.
RBI: Runs batted in.
RC: Runs created. A statistic invented by Bill James to estimate the run value of a player's discrete batting events, similar to BtRuns described above. The general formula is times on base * bases advanced / opportunities. Improved versions of this metric have been devised since Bill James invented the basic idea. See wRC+.
RF: Right field. Sometimes also Range Factor, which is a measure of defensive ability, usually expressed as RF/9.
ROY: Rookie of the Year award. Awarded to one player who classifies as a rookie in each league, as voted by BBWAA members.
RP: Relief pitcher.
S: Saves. A statistic that measures the number of times that a relief pitcher successfully ended a game by protecting a lead his team had when he entered.
SB: Stolen bases.
SF: Sacrifice flies, often abbreviated on plaques as sac. flies.
SHO: Shutouts (abbreviated ShO to differentiate from strikeouts which are sometimes abbreviated SO).
Credited when a pitcher pitches a complete game without giving up any runs.
SLG: Slugging percentage (or average) = total bases / at-bats.
SP: Starting pitcher.
SS: When referring to position, shortstop. When referring to awards, Silver Slugger.
TOB: Times on base = hits + walks + hit by pitches.
TB: Total Bases = singles*1 + doubles*2 + triples*3 + home runs*4.
W: Wins. The number of times a pitcher was credited with the win, which has a rather arbitrary set of criteria in baseball's rule book.
W-L%: Win-loss percentage = wins / (wins + losses). Sometimes abbreviated W% or Win%.
WHIP: Walks and hits per inning pitched. A shorthand metric for a pitcher's ability to limit baserunners.
wRC+: Weighted Runs Created. A batting metric created by Fangraphs which encapsulates a hitter's value as a rate stat (i.e., not dependent on playing time). It is league and park adjusted such that 100 is league average, greater than 100 is better than league average, less than 100 is worse than league average. Corrects for the simplifications inherent in the use of OPS+. If using only a single stat to evaluate a hitter's effectiveness, use this.
XBH: Extra base hits = doubles + triples + home runs.