Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League East division; the Red Sox have won nine World Series championships, tied for the third-most of any MLB team, they have played in 13. Their most recent appearance and win was in 2018. In addition, they won the 1904 American League pennant, but were not able to defend their 1903 World Series championship when the New York Giants refused to participate in the 1904 World Series. Founded in 1901 as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox' home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912; the "Red Sox" name was chosen by the team owner, John I. Taylor, circa 1908, following the lead of previous teams, known as the "Boston Red Stockings", including the forerunner of the Atlanta Braves. Boston was a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918.
However, they went into one of the longest championship droughts in baseball history, dubbed the "Curse of the Bambino" after its alleged inception due to the Red Sox' sale of Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees two years after their world championship in 1918, an 86-year wait before the team's sixth World Championship in 2004. The team's history during that period was punctuated with some of the most memorable moments in World Series history, including Enos Slaughter's "mad dash" in 1946, the "Impossible Dream" of 1967, Carlton Fisk's home run in 1975, Bill Buckner's error in 1986. Following their victory in the 2018 World Series, they became the first team to win four World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018. Red Sox history has been marked by the team's intense rivalry with the Yankees, arguably the fiercest and most historic in North American professional sports; the Boston Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool F.
C. of the Premier League in England. The Red Sox are one of the top MLB teams in average road attendance, while the small capacity of Fenway Park prevents them from leading in overall attendance. From May 15, 2003 to April 10, 2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games for a major professional sports record. Both Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", The Standells's "Dirty Water" have become anthems for the Red Sox; the name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning in 1908. Sox had been adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings, as "Stockings Win!" in large type did not fit in a column. The team name "Red Sox" had been used as early as 1888 by a'colored' team from Norfolk, Virginia; the Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas, a translation of "red socks". The official Spanish site uses the variant "Los Red Sox"; the Red Stockings nickname was first used by a baseball team by the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who were members of the pioneering National Association of Base Ball Players.
Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, a year or two before hiring the first professional team in 1869. When the club folded after the 1870 season, Wright was hired by Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams to organize a new team in Boston, he did, bringing three teammates and the "Red Stockings" nickname along; the Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league. When a new Cincinnati club was formed as a charter member of the National League in 1876, the "Red Stockings" nickname was reserved for them once again, the Boston team was referred to as the "Red Caps". Other names were sometimes used before Boston adopted the nickname "Braves" in 1912. In 1901, the upstart American League established a competing club in Boston. For seven seasons, the AL team had no official nickname, they were "Boston", "Bostonians" or "the Bostons". Their 1901–1907 jerseys, both home, road, just read "Boston", except for 1902 when they sported large letters "B" and "A" denoting "Boston" and "American."
Newspaper writers of the time used other nicknames for the club, including "Somersets", "Plymouth Rocks", "Beaneaters", the "Collinsites"", "Pilgrims." For years many sources have listed "Pilgrims" as the early Boston AL team's official nickname, but researcher Bill Nowlin has demonstrated that the name was used, if at all, during the team's early years. The origin of the nickname appears to be a poem entitled "The Pilgrims At Home" written by Edwin Fitzwilliam, sung at the 1907 home opener; this nickname was used during that season because the team had a new manager and several rookie players. John I. Taylor had said in December 1907 that the Pilgrims "sounded too much like homeless wanderers." The National League club in Boston, though called the "Red Stockings" anymore, still wore red trim. In 1907, the Nat
Bullpen
In baseball, the bullpen is the area where relief pitchers warm-up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is metonymically referred to as "the bullpen"; these pitchers wait in the bullpen if they have not yet played in a game, rather than in the dugout with the rest of the team. The starting pitcher makes his final pregame warm-up throws in the bullpen. Managers can call coaches in the bullpen on an in-house telephone from the dugout to tell a certain pitcher to begin his warm-up tosses; each team has its own bullpen consisting of two pitching rubbers and plates at regulation distance from each other. In most Major League Baseball parks, the bullpens are situated out-of-play behind the outfield fence. There are three MLB parks with bullpens in playable foul territory: Oracle Park, Oakland Coliseum and Tropicana Field; the origin of the term bullpen, as used in baseball, is debated, with no one theory holding unanimous, or substantial, sway. The term first appeared in wide use shortly after the turn of the 20th century and has been used since in its present meaning.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary the earliest recorded use of "bullpen" in baseball is in a 1924 Chicago Tribune article from October 5. The earliest known usage of the term "bull pen" relating to an area of a baseball field is in a The New York Times article from June 24, 1883; the earliest known relief pitching related usage of "bullpen" in The New York Times is in an article dated September 18, 1912. There are numerous examples—some historical, some speculative—about the possible origin of the term bullpen. During the Civil War in the United States, the notorious Andersonville prison camp was referred to, by the inmates, as a bullpen. Though conditions were a vast improvement over Richmond detention centers, problems grew in proportion to the number of inmates. By late summer 1864, the prison population made Andersonville one of the largest cities in the Confederacy. At its peak in August, the "bullpen", built to lodge up to 10,000 enlisted men, held 33,000 grimy, gaunt prisoners, each one crammed into a living area the size of a coffin.
Their only protection from the elements were "shebangs", hand built shelters low to the ground created by driving forked branches into the sandy soil four to eight feet apart and a piece of limb laid in the two forks creating the center pole. Planks or limbs were laid from the center pole to the ground creating what is known as a "lean-to"; the planks or limbs were covered with tent shelter halves, gum sheets, overcoats, or blankets as the owner could afford. If no woven material was available the shelter was covered in broad leaves giving the owner some shade but little protection from the rain; this wartime usage in the United States has occurred as as World War II. Tokio Yamane described conditions in Japanese relocation camps, referring to a "bull pen" within a stockade at Tule Lake, California. Prisoners in the stockade lived in wooden buildings which, although flimsy, still offered some protection from the severe winters of Tule Lake. However, prisoners in the "bull pen" were housed outdoors in tents without heat and with no protection against the bitter cold.
The bunks were placed directly on the cold ground, the prisoners had only one or two blankets and no extra clothing to ward off the winter chill. And, for the first time in our lives, those of us confined to the "bull pen" experienced a life and death struggle for survival, the unbearable pain from our unattended and infected wounds, the penetrating December cold of Tule Lake, a God Forsaken concentration camp lying near the Oregon border, I shall never forget that horrible experience. Temporary holding facilities for rebellious workers trying to organize into unions were referred to as bullpens; these military prisons were sometimes pens used for cattle which were pressed into service by stringing barbed wire, establishing a guarded perimeter, keeping large numbers of men confined in the enclosed space. These "bullpens" have been considered early versions of concentration camps, were used by the national guard during the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903-04, in Idaho in 1892 and 1899 during union miners' uprisings near Coeur d'Alene.
Author Emma Langdon described these as the first use of the bullpen in the West. In his autobiography Bill Haywood described Idaho miners held for...months of imprisonment in the bull-pen, a structure unfit to house cattle, enclosed in a high barbed-wire fence. Penned up in bullpens as a response to violence, many hundreds of union men had been imprisoned without trial. Peter Carlson wrote in his book Roughneck, Haywood traveled to the town of Mullan, where he met a man who had escaped from the bullpen; the makeshift prison was an old grain warehouse that crawled with vermin. Overcrowding was so severe that some two hundred prisoners had been removed from the warehouse and quartered in railroad boxcars. Charlie Siringo described the bull pen as"...a large stockade with a frame building in the center, for them to sleep and eat in." In the 1800s, jails and holding cells were nicknamed "bullpens", in respect of many police officers' bullish features – strength and a short temper. The bullpen symbolically represents the fenced in area of a "bull's pen", where bulls wait before being sent off to the slaughter.
The relief pitchers are the bulls and the bullpen represents their pen. The name may be a reference to rodeo bulls being held in a pen before being released into the main arena. Latecomers to ball games in the late 19th century were cordoned off into standing-room areas in foul territory; because the fans were herded like cattle, this area became known as the "bullpen", a designation, transf
Dublin, Ohio
Dublin is a city in Franklin and Union counties in the U. S. state of Ohio. The population was 41,751 at the 2010 census. Dublin is a suburb of Ohio; each year in late May or early June, the city hosts the Memorial Tournament, a stop on golf's PGA Tour. There are several other golf courses in Dublin; the Riviera Golf Club was home to the American-Italian Golf Association. Tartan Fields Golf Club hosted the LPGA's Wendy's Championship for Children from 2002 through 2006. Dublin has a public golf course financed by the Muirfield association, as well as the Jack Nicklaus-designed The Country Club of Muirfield Village. Other annual events include the July 4 music event and The July 4 Parade, a St. Patrick's Day parade, the Dublin Irish Festival, the largest 3-day Irish festival in the world. Although its earliest settlements date back to 1802, the village that became Dublin did not begin to take shape until the arrival of the Sells family from Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Brothers Peter and Benjamin Sells purchased 400 acres of land on the west bank of the Scioto River as a gift for their brother John.
In 1808, John Sells brought his family to the region, by 1810 he had begun to survey lots for the new village with his partner, an Irish gentleman named John Shields. According to historians, Shields is responsible for naming the town after his birthplace: "If I have the honor conferred upon me to name your village, with the brightness of the morn, the beaming of the sun on the hills and dales surrounding this beautiful valley, it would give me great pleasure to name your new town after my birthplace, Ireland." By 1833, Dublin contained only one store. In 1970, Dublin was still a small town with only 681 residents. However, the construction of Interstate 270 facilitated a population boom, spearheaded by the acquisition of major corporate headquarters such as Ashland Inc and Wendy's International. In addition, the growth of the Muirfield Village Golf Club and its residential subdivision attracted numerous affluent citizens to the growing suburb. Dublin was declared a city in 1987, after reaching a population of 5,000 residents.
As part of this boom Dublin expanded its area, annexing parts of Washington, Perry and Jerome townships. Dublin is located at 40°6′33″N 83°8′25″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.80 square miles, of which 24.44 square miles is land and 0.36 square miles is water. The Scioto River passes through Dublin. In this area the river and its tributaries cut deep gorges through the limestone bedrock, the riverbed is stony; some of these tributaries feature waterfalls. Located on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, Dublin has flat topography. There are numerous ravines surrounding the tributaries of the Scioto River, which make for steep cliffs in some areas. Elevations range from 780 feet above sea level where the Scioto River leaves the city at Hayden Run Road, while the high point is 1000 feet at Glacier Ridge Metro Park. Being a modern American suburb, the city is accessed by car. In addition to Interstate 270, U. S. Highway 33, State Route 161, State Route 745 pass through the city.
There is a 77-mile network of bike trails. Long term plans include expanding the trails further, as well as connecting them to the regional trail system to facilitate travel to downtown Columbus. COTA provides limited service in the southeast part of the city. Routes 56 and 58 provide express service from the commercial areas around Frantz and Rings Roads to Downtown Columbus during rush hour periods. Dublin is home to the headquarters of a number of companies, including Cardinal Health, IGS Energy, Stanley Steemer, Wendy's and Online Computer Library Center. Pacer International, a larger intermodal logistics provider, was headquartered in Dublin until its acquisition by XPO Logistics on March 31, 2014. Other organizations with significant operations include Ashland Inc. Nationwide Insurance and CenturyLink. Dublin Methodist Hospital, part of the OhioHealth system, opened in January 2008. According to the City's 2016 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: According to a 2012 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $114,183, the median income for a family was $138,590.
Males had a median income of $75,279 versus $43,903 for females. The per capita income for the city was $41,122. About 2.1% of families and 2.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 4.0% of those age 65 or over. As of the census of 2010, there were 41,751 people, 14,984 households, 11,656 families residing in the city; the population density was 1,708.3 inhabitants per square mile. There were 15,779 housing units at an average density of 645.6 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 80.5% White, 1.8% African American, 0.1% Native American, 15.3% Asian, 0.5% from other races, 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.8% of the population. As of 2010, the Asian population is: 6.9% Indian, 3.1% Chinese, 2.6% Japanese, 1.3% Korean, 0.2% Vietnamese. There were 14,984 households of which 45.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.5% were married couples living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.4% had a male householder with no wife present, 22.2% were non-families.
18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.21. The median age in
Tony Conigliaro Award
The Tony Conigliaro Award is a national recognition instituted in 1990 by the Boston Red Sox to honor the memory of Tony Conigliaro. It is given annually to a Major League Baseball player who best "overcomes an obstacle and adversity through the attributes of spirit and courage that were trademarks of Conigliaro." Conigliaro debuted with the Red Sox in 1964, was selected to the MLB All-Star Game in the 1967 season. Subsequently, he was hit in the face by a pitch at Fenway Park on August 18, 1967. After missing the rest of the year and all of 1968, he made a comeback in 1969, homering on opening day, he hit 20 home runs in that season, winning The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award. In 1970, he posted career highs in home runs with 36 and RBIs with 116, but vision problems continued to persist. After a final comeback attempt in 1975, Conigliaro retired at age 30. Conigliaro died in 1990, the Red Sox instituted the award in his honor. A panel is composed of the media, representatives of the commissioner, the two leagues' offices.
The selection is made by a panel of voters and the award is presented at the annual dinner of the Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, held in January, by members of the Conigliaro family. Baseball awards "Tony Conigliaro Award". BBWAA Boston Chapter
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the National League Central division; the team plays its home games at Wrigley Field, located on the city's North Side. The Cubs are one of two major league teams in Chicago; the Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, were a founding member of the NL in 1876, becoming the Chicago Cubs in 1903. The Cubs have appeared in a total of eleven World Series; the 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of.763, before losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox by four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, becoming the first major league team to play in three consecutive World Series, the first to win it twice. Most the Cubs won the 2016 National League Championship Series and 2016 World Series, which ended a 71-year National League pennant drought and a 108-year World Series championship drought, both of which are record droughts in Major League Baseball.
The 108-year drought was the longest such occurrence in all major North American sports. Since the start of divisional play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason nine times through the 2017 season; the Cubs are known as "the North Siders", a reference to the location of Wrigley Field within the city of Chicago, in contrast to the White Sox, whose home field is located on the South Side. The Cubs have multiple rivalries. There is a divisional rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals, a newer rivalry with the Milwaukee Brewers and an interleague rivalry with the Chicago White Sox; the Cubs began playing in 1870 as the Chicago White Stockings, joining the National League in 1876 as a charter member. Owner William Hulbert signed multiple star players, such as pitcher Albert Spalding and infielders Ross Barnes, Deacon White, Adrian "Cap" Anson, to join the team prior to the N. L.'s first season. The White Stockings played their home games at West Side Grounds and established themselves as one of the new league's top teams.
Spalding won forty-seven games and Barnes led the league in hitting at.429 as Chicago won the first National League pennant, which at the time was the game's top prize. After back-to-back pennants in 1880 and 1881, Hulbert died, Spalding, who had retired to start Spalding sporting goods, assumed ownership of the club; the White Stockings, with Anson acting as player-manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, Anson established himself as the game's first true superstar. In 1885 and'86, after winning N. L. pennants, the White Stockings met the champions of the short-lived American Association in that era's version of a World Series. Both seasons resulted in matchups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886; this was the genesis of what would become one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In all, the Anson-led Chicago Base Ball Club won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886; as a result, Chicago's club nickname transitioned, by 1890 they had become known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes "Anson's Colts", referring to Cap's influence within the club.
Anson was the first player in history credited with collecting 3,000 career hits. After a disappointing record of 59–73 and a ninth-place finish in 1897, Anson was released by the Cubs as both a player and manager. Due to Anson's absence from the club after 22 years, local newspaper reporters started to refer to the Colts as the "Orphans". After the 1900 season, the American Base-Ball League formed as a rival professional league, incidentally the club's old White Stockings nickname would be adopted by a new American League neighbor to the south. In 1902, who by this time had revamped the roster to boast what would soon be one of the best teams of the early century, sold the club to Jim Hart; the franchise was nicknamed the Cubs by the Chicago Daily News in 1902, although not becoming the Chicago Cubs until the 1907 season. During this period, which has become known as baseball's dead-ball era, Cub infielders Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance were made famous as a double-play combination by Franklin P. Adams' poem Baseball's Sad Lexicon.
The poem first appeared in the July 1910 edition of the New York Evening Mail. Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Jack Taylor, Ed Reulbach, Jack Pfiester, Orval Overall were several key pitchers for the Cubs during this time period. With Chance acting as player-manager from 1905 to 1912, the Cubs won four pennants and two World Series titles over a five-year span. Although they fell to the "Hitless Wonders" White Sox in the 1906 World Series, the Cubs recorded a record 116 victories and the best winning percentage in Major League history. With the same roster, Chicago won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, becoming the first Major League club to play three times in the Fall Classic and the first to win it twice. However, the Cubs would not win another World Series until 2016; the next season, veteran catcher Johnny Kling left the team to become a professional pocket billiards player. Some historians think Kling's absence was significant enough to prevent the Cubs from winning a third straight title in 1909, as they finished 6 games out of first place.
When Kling returned the next year, the Cubs won the pennant again, but lost to the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1910 World Series. In 1914, adver
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Indians compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League Central division. Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field; the team's spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Arizona. Since their establishment as a major league franchise in 1901, the Indians have won two World Series championships: in 1920 and 1948, along with 10 Central Division titles and six American League pennants; the Indians' current World Series championship drought is the longest active drought. The name "Indians" originated from a request by club owner Charles Somers to baseball writers to choose a new name to replace "Cleveland Naps" following the departure of Nap Lajoie after the 1914 season; the name referenced the nickname "Indians", applied to the Cleveland Spiders baseball club during the time when Louis Sockalexis, a Native American, played in Cleveland. Common nicknames for the Indians include the "Tribe" and the "Wahoos", the latter being a reference to their former logo, Chief Wahoo.
The team's mascot is named "Slider." The franchise originated in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1894 as the Grand Rapids Rustlers, a minor league team that competed in the Western League. The team relocated to Cleveland in 1900 and changed its name to the Cleveland Lake Shores; the Western League itself changed its name to the American League while continuing its minor league status. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the major league incarnation of the club was founded in Cleveland in 1901. Called the Cleveland Bluebirds, the team played in League Park until moving permanently to Cleveland Stadium in 1946. At the end of the 2018 season, they had a regular season franchise record of 9,384–8,968. From August 24 to September 14, 2017, the Indians won 22 consecutive games, the longest winning streak in American League history. "In 1857 baseball games were a daily spectacle in Cleveland's Public Squares. City authorities tried to find an ordinance forbidding it, to the joy of the crowd, they were unsuccessful.
– Harold Seymour" 1865–1868 Forest Citys of Cleveland 1869–1872 Forest Citys of Cleveland From 1865 to 1868 Forest Citys was an amateur ball club. During the 1869 season, Cleveland was among several cities which established professional baseball teams following the success of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional team. In the newspapers before and after 1870, the team was called the Forest Citys, in the same generic way that the team from Chicago was sometimes called The Chicagos. In 1871 the Forest Citys joined the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the first professional league. Two of the league's western clubs went out of business during the first season and the Chicago Fire left that city's White Stockings impoverished, unable to field a team again until 1874. Cleveland was thus the year the club folded. Cleveland played their full schedule to July 19 followed by two games versus Boston in mid-August and disbanded at the end of the season. 1879–1881 Cleveland Forest Citys 1882–1884 Cleveland BluesIn 1876, the National League supplanted the NA as the major professional league.
Cleveland were not among its charter members, but by 1879 the league was looking for new entries and the city gained an NL team. The Cleveland Forest Citys baseball team was re-created; the National League required distinct colors for the 1882 season, so the Cleveland Forest Citys became the Cleveland Blues. They had a mediocre record for six seasons and were ruined by a trade war with the Union Association in 1884, when its three best players jumped to the UA after being offered higher salaries. Cleveland Blues merged with the St. Louis Maroons UA team in 1885. 1887–1899 Cleveland Spiders — nickname "Blues"Cleveland went without major league baseball for two seasons until gaining a team in the American Association in 1887. After the AA's Allegheny club jumped to the NL Cleveland followed suit in 1889, as the AA began to crumble; the Cleveland ball club, named the Spiders became a power in the league. The next year the Spiders moved into League Park, which would serve as the home of Cleveland professional baseball for the next 55 years.
Led by native Ohioan Cy Young, the Spiders became a contender in the mid-1890s, when they played in the Temple Cup Series twice, winning it in 1895. The team began to fade after this success, was dealt a severe blow under the ownership of the Robison brothers Prior to the 1899 season, Frank Robison, the Spiders owner, bought the St. Louis Browns, thus owning two clubs at the same time; the Browns were renamed the "Perfectos", restocked with Cleveland talent. Just weeks before the season opener, most of the better Spiders players were transferred to St. Louis, including three future Hall of Famers: Cy Young, Jesse Burkett and Bobby Wallace; the roster maneuvers failed to create a powerhouse Perfectos team, as St. Louis finished fifth in both 1899 and 1900; the Spiders were left with a minor league lineup, began to lose games at a record pace. Drawing no fans at home, they ended up playing most of their season on the road, became known as "The Wanderers." The team ended the season in 12th place, 84 games out of first place, with an all-time worst record of 20-134.
Following the 1899 season, the National League disbanded four teams, including the Cleveland franchise. The disastrous 1899 season would be a step toward a new future for Cleveland fans
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine. Runs resulting from defensive errors are recorded as unearned runs and omitted from ERA calculations. Henry Chadwick is credited with devising the statistic, which caught on as a measure of pitching effectiveness after relief pitching came into vogue in the 1900s. Prior to 1900—and, in fact, for many years afterward—pitchers were expected to pitch a complete game, their win-loss record was considered sufficient in determining their effectiveness. After pitchers like James Otis Crandall and Charley Hall made names for themselves as relief specialists, gauging a pitcher's effectiveness became more difficult using the traditional method of tabulating wins and losses; some criterion was needed to capture the apportionment of earned-run responsibility for a pitcher in games that saw contributions from other pitchers for the same team.
Since pitchers have primary responsibility for putting opposing batters out, they must assume responsibility when a batter they do not retire at the plate moves to base, reaches home, scoring a run. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a batter who reaches base while batting against that pitcher; the National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912, the American League accepted this standard and began compiling ERA statistics. Written baseball encyclopedias display ERAs for earlier years, but these were computed retroactively. Negro League pitchers are rated by RA, or total runs allowed, since the statistics available for Negro League games did not always distinguish between earned and unearned runs; as with batting average, the definition of a good ERA varies from year to year. During the dead-ball era of the 1900s and 1910s, an ERA below 2.00 was considered good. In the late 1920s and through the 1930s, when conditions of the game changed in a way that favored hitters, a good ERA was below 4.00.
In the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned, as other influences such as ballparks with different dimensions were introduced. Today, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good. The all-time single-season record for the lowest ERA is held by Dutch Leonard, who in 1914 had an earned run average of 0.96, pitching 224.2 innings with a win-loss record of 19-5. The all-time record for the lowest single season earned run average by a pitcher pitching 300 or more innings is 1.12, set by Bob Gibson in 1968. The record for the lowest career earned run average is 1.82, held by Ed Walsh, who played from 1904 through 1917. Some researchers dissent from the official Major League Baseball record and claim that the pitcher with the all-time lowest earned run average is Tim Keefe, who had an earned run average of 0.86 in 1880 while appearing in 12 of his team's 83 games and pitching 105 innings. But a purported record based on so few innings pitched is misleading. Over the years, more than a dozen part-time pitchers have pitched 105 or more innings and had an earned run average lower than 0.86.
Major League Baseball recognizes many records from the 19th century—including Will White's 1879 record of 680 innings pitched, Charles Radbourne's 1884 record of 59 wins, Pud Galvin's 1883 record for 75 games started, but does not recognize Keefe as the pitcher having the all-time lowest single season earned run average. Some sources may list players with infinite ERAs; this can happen. Additionally, an undefined ERA occurs at the beginning of a baseball season, it is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest ranking ERA though it is more akin to the highest. At times it can be misleading to judge relief pitchers on ERA, because they are charged only for runs scored by batters who reached base while batting against them. Thus, if a relief pitcher enters the game with his team leading by 1 run, with 2 outs and the bases loaded, gives up a single which scores 2 runs, he is not charged with those runs. If he retires the next batter, his ERA for that game will be 0.00 despite having surrendered the lead.
Starting pitchers operate under the same rules but are not called upon to start pitching with runners on base. In addition, relief pitchers know beforehand that they will only be pitching for a short while, allowing them to exert themselves more for each pitch, unlike starters who need to conserve their energy over the course of a game in case they are asked to pitch 7 or more innings; the reliever's freedom to use their maximum energy for a few innings, or for just a few batters, helps relievers keep their ERAs down. ERA, taken by itself, can be misleading when trying to objectively judge starting pitchers, though not to the extent seen with relief pitchers; the advent of the designated hitter rule in the American League in 1973 made the pitching environment different. Since pitchers spending all or most of their careers in the AL have been at a disadvantage in maintaining low ERAs, compared to National League pitchers who can get an easy
