Sports Reference Blog

What is your favorite kind of baseball play? I imagine a lot of people would go with a classic like the dinger. Or perhaps you prefer the swinging strikeout? I imagine Red Sox fans who were in Fenway for Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS may be partial to the stolen base. No matter what it is, I'm very jealous of you, because your favorite play has an easily understood definition and mine does not:

Baseball is a game that requires great skill that must be honed over years and years of grueling repetition. Things that seem routine to you and I while watching would be next to impossible for us to replicate. So, because I'm an awful person, nothing gives me more joy than seeing it all go pear-shaped. This is the Little League Home Run.

Or is it? Chuck Hildebrandt has finally set about what may well turn out to be the most important research project of the 21st century: finding a real definition for the Little League Home Run. In his initial oral presentation to SABR (reproduced as an article on Fangraphs) and a follow-up piece, Hildebrandt proposed the following definition of the Little League Home Run:

The Definition of the Little League Home Run
Here’s a proposed, simple definition of a Little League home run:

1. Two or more errors on the play; and

2. Batter scores on the play.

However, in a subsequent piece, he pointed out some of the possible shortcomings of this definition. This play, for example, wouldn't qualify as a Little League Home Run under the definition.

But should it? In order to find the answer, Hildebrandt has drawn up a survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LLHR2015

We want to encourage all of you to take the survey for two reasons. First, you will get to see video after video of professional baseball players mishandling the ball in outrageous ways. But, more importantly, you'll also be able to help clarify and define this new stat. Not only can you help add to our knowledge of the game, but I can attest that it's a really fun way to spend your time. So, again, here is the link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LLHR2015

And just remember all of these people are far better at catching and throwing a baseball than you or I will ever be.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2015 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Advanced Stats, Baseball-Reference.com, Polls, Statgeekery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.