I initially created Baseball Graphs to develop new and better ways of presenting baseball statistics. The 2003 season was my first full-season attempt, and it turned out pretty well. I now spend a lot of my time creating and formatting the baseball stats at The Hardball Times.

Along the way, I've also picked up the writing bug. I spend most of my energy writing for THT, but sometimes I like to write about more geeky stuff, baseball research and things like that. That's what this blog is for.

I'm very interested in graphics and other information display, so I'll probably post links to creative stuff like that. I also plan to write historical articles that complement the historical graphs. And I have inexplicably developed an interest in baseball win-related stats, such as Bill James's Win Shares and something called Win Probability Added. So you can expect a few posts about that stuff too.

If you're interested, I've created a complex spreadsheet full of WPA logic, which you can download at ftp.baseballgraphs.com/wpa. If you'd like to read more about Win Shares, try these links:

Win Shares Intro
What They're Good For
Mathematical Details
Archives
December, 2008
April, 2008
March, 2008
January, 2008
January, 2007
December, 2006
November, 2006
October, 2006
September, 2006
August, 2006
July, 2006
June, 2006
May, 2006
April, 2006
March, 2006
February, 2006
January, 2006
October, 2005
September, 2005
July, 2005
May, 2005
April, 2005
March, 2005
February, 2005
January, 2005
December, 2004
November, 2004
October, 2004
September, 2004
August, 2004
July, 2004
June, 2004
May, 2004
March, 2004
February, 2004
January, 2004
December, 2003
November, 2003
October, 2003


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If there is any aspect of WPA, Win Shares or baseball graphics you're interested in, drop me an e-mail and I'll look into it. Syndicate Baseball Graphs:

The first players from Each Country

August 02, 2006

A little reference table

In a recent SABR-L discussion, home run king David Vincent listed the first persons to play major league ball from a specific country of birth.  The list was inspired by the Indians’ Tom Mastny, who was born in Indonesia—the first major leaguer born in that country.

No, I never heard of Dodecanese Island.

USA                05/04/1871   Many players
England            05/05/1871   George Hall, Harry Wright
Ireland            05/05/1871   Andy Leonard
Cuba               05/09/1871   Steve Bellan
Netherlands        05/18/1871   Rynie Wolters
Germany            05/20/1871   George Heubel
France             04/26/1875   Larry Ressler
Canada             09/15/1875   Tom Smith
Scotland           05/20/1878   Jim McCormick
Australia          04/26/1884   Joe Quinn
Austria-Hungary    04/22/1885   Amos Cross
Sweden             09/23/1885   Charlie Hallstrom
Norway             09/08/1894   John Anderson
Wales              07/06/1896   Ted Lewis
Russia             08/20/1897   Jake Gettman
Colombia            4/23/1902   Louis Castro
Switzerland          8/3/1902   Otto Hess
Denmark             8/11/1911   Olaf Henriksen
Spain               5/16/1913   Al Cabrera
Atlantic Ocean      4/17/1914   Ed Porray
China                7/1/1914   Harry Kingman
Finland             8/28/1921   John Michaelson
Poland              9/19/1929   Henry Peploski
Italy               4/18/1932   Lou Polli
Mexico               9/8/1933   Mel Almada
Venezuela           4/23/1939   Alex Carrasquel
Czechoslovakia      9/22/1940   Elmer Valo
Puerto Rico         4/15/1942   Hi Bithorn
Dodecanese Island   9/23/1943   Al Campanis
Austria             4/21/1949   Kurt Krieger
Panama              4/20/1955   Humberto Robinson
Canal Zone          4/19/1956   Pat Scantlebury
Dominican Republi   9/23/1956   Ozzie Virgil
Bahamas             4/16/1957   Andre Rodgers
Virgin Islands      5/26/1959   Joe Christopher
Japan                9/1/1964   Masanori Murakami
American Samoa      9/16/1968   Tony Solaita
West Germany         8/2/1975   Rob Belloir
Nicaragua           9/14/1976   Dennis Martinez
Jamaica             4/10/1981   Chili Davis
Honduras             7/8/1987   Gerald Young
Curacao             8/23/1989   Hensley Meulens
British Honduras     7/5/1991   Chito Martinez
Afghanistan          5/2/1993   Jeff Bronkey
South Korea          4/8/1994   Chan Ho Park
Singapore           4/18/1996   Robin Jennings
Philippines         5/26/1996   Bobby Chouinard
South Vietnam       7/13/1996   Danny Graves
Belgium             8/25/1996   Brian Lesher
Aruba                9/3/1996   Gene Kingsale
Taiwan              9/14/2002   Chin-Feng Chen
Indonesia           7/30/2006   Tom Mastny

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