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Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine. Thus, a lower ERA is better. Runs resulting from passed balls, defensive errors (including pitchers' defensive errors), and runners placed on base at the start of extra innings 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 for many years afterward, pitchers were routinely expected to pitch a complete game, and 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 getting opposing batters out, they must assume responsibility when a batter they do not retire at the plate moves to base, and eventually reaches home, scoring a run. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a batter (or the batter's pinch-runner) who reaches base while batting against that pitcher. The National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912 (the outcome was called "Heydler's statistic" for a while, after then-NL secretary John Heydler), and the American League later accepted this standard and began compiling ERA statistics.
Baseball encyclopedias will often display ERAs for earlier years, but these were computed retroactively. Negro league pitchers are often 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 (two earned runs allowed per nine innings) was considered good. In the late 1920s and through the 1930s, when conditions of the game changed in a way that strongly favored hitters, a good ERA was below 4.00; only the highest caliber pitchers, for example Dazzy Vance or Lefty Grove, would consistently post an ERA under 3.00 during these years. In the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned as other influences, such as ballparks with different dimensions, were introduced. Starting with the 2019 season, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good.
The 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 players may be listed with infinite ERAs. This can happen if a pitcher allows one or more earned runs without retiring a batter. Several players have registered an infinite ERA for their limited pitching careers in MLB, usually a single appearance. Examples include Bill Ford with the Boston Bees in 1936 and Fred Bruckbauer with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Outfielder Vic Davalillo made two pitching appearances with St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 and failed to record an out while facing four batters and allowing one run, leaving him with an infinite ERA as a major-league pitcher. (This comes from attempting to divide any non-zero number by zero).
An undefined ERA occasionally occurs at the beginning of a baseball season when a pitcher has yet to appear in any games. It is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest-ranking ERA.
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Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine. Thus, a lower ERA is better. Runs resulting from passed balls, defensive errors (including pitchers' defensive errors), and runners placed on base at the start of extra innings 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 for many years afterward, pitchers were routinely expected to pitch a complete game, and 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 getting opposing batters out, they must assume responsibility when a batter they do not retire at the plate moves to base, and eventually reaches home, scoring a run. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a batter (or the batter's pinch-runner) who reaches base while batting against that pitcher. The National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912 (the outcome was called "Heydler's statistic" for a while, after then-NL secretary John Heydler), and the American League later accepted this standard and began compiling ERA statistics.
Baseball encyclopedias will often display ERAs for earlier years, but these were computed retroactively. Negro league pitchers are often 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 (two earned runs allowed per nine innings) was considered good. In the late 1920s and through the 1930s, when conditions of the game changed in a way that strongly favored hitters, a good ERA was below 4.00; only the highest caliber pitchers, for example Dazzy Vance or Lefty Grove, would consistently post an ERA under 3.00 during these years. In the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned as other influences, such as ballparks with different dimensions, were introduced. Starting with the 2019 season, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good.
The 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 players may be listed with infinite ERAs. This can happen if a pitcher allows one or more earned runs without retiring a batter. Several players have registered an infinite ERA for their limited pitching careers in MLB, usually a single appearance. Examples include Bill Ford with the Boston Bees in 1936 and Fred Bruckbauer with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Outfielder Vic Davalillo made two pitching appearances with St. Louis Cardinals in 1969 and failed to record an out while facing four batters and allowing one run, leaving him with an infinite ERA as a major-league pitcher. (This comes from attempting to divide any non-zero number by zero).
An undefined ERA occasionally occurs at the beginning of a baseball season when a pitcher has yet to appear in any games. It is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest-ranking ERA.