BABIP and inside-the-park HR's

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I have a silly question. Do inside-the-park home runs get counted when calculating BABIP? The ball does stay in play on an inside-the-park home run, right? :hyper:

[JDanger]

ITPHR are not separate from other HR in the formula in most calculations. Obviously they should be included, if you wanted to be precise, but the difference is so small it would be inconsequential.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

ITPHR are not separate from other HR in the formula in most calculations. Obviously they should be included, if you wanted to be precise, but the difference is so small it would be inconsequential.

That is certainly true for modern players. How about the Dead Ball Era players? I believe Ty Cobb, for example, had 50+ career inside-the-park home runs. Was that factored in when calculating his career BABIP?

[Ubiquitous]

Cobb had 46 IPHR and 3 bounce HR. Taking just the over the wall homers out of the equation moves his BABIP from .383 to .386. But the thing is that for almost his entire career a SF was counted as a SH and near the end of his career the rules got even more liberal than they are nowadays but still didn't count them as a SF. So the reality is that Cobb's BABIP is actually lower than either of those numbers. He's probably at a .380 to .381 lifetime.

[JDanger]

Cobb had 46 IPHR and 3 bounce HR. Taking just the over the wall homers out of the equation moves his BABIP from .383 to .386. But the thing is that for almost his entire career a SF was counted as a SH and near the end of his career the rules got even more liberal than they are nowadays but still didn't count them as a SF. So the reality is that Cobb's BABIP is actually lower than either of those numbers. He's probably at a .380 to .381 lifetime.

Yeah, like most things in baseball, if you're crossing multiple eras it is best to convert the stat into something that is relative to league-average. Like BABip - lg avg BABip, or BAbip/lg-avg BABip.

[Jackaroo Dave]

That is certainly true for modern players. How about the Dead Ball Era players? I believe Ty Cobb, for example, had 50+ career inside-the-park home runs. Was that factored in when calculating his career BABIP?

I'd think HRIP would be more important to tally for pitchers. I was startled to find out that Matty allowed 88 HR in around 4800 IP while Plank allowed 42 in a little over 4000. Startled because Matty is thought to benefit from a great defense, not as good as the 100k infield, maybe, but still very good, not likely to let balls trickle through to the wall or get lost in the corner. Did he in fact give up a good number of over the fence homers?

[Ubiquitous]

Plank gave up 14 IPHR and 2 bounce HR while Matty gave up 33 IPHR and 5 bounce HR.

Eddie only gave up 3 IPHR at home while Matt gave up 17 at home. So their road amounts are 11 for Plank and 16 for Matty.

[Jackaroo Dave]

Huh! I had no idea there were that many over the fence home runs in the dead ball era. Not too many wall dribblers after all.