A Historical Analysis of the Chicago Cubs’ Use of Statistics to Analyze Baseball Performance

Abstract

A Historical Analysis of the Chicago Cubs’ Use of Statistics to Analyze Baseball Performance Alan S. Kornspan (bio) Recently, the discussion of baseball statistics has become a popularized aspect of today’s culture. For instance, a best-selling book, Moneyball, portrayed general manager Billy Beane’s use of statistical analysis to lead the Oakland Athletics organization.1 While modern best-selling books and films have focused on the use of baseball statistics, there has been a long history of the utilization of statistical analysis within professional baseball.2 For example, one of the first individuals to scrutinize baseball statistics was Henry Chadwick. Throughout the 1860s, Chadwick initiated the recording of home runs, hits, and total bases, which influenced others to devise statistics such as the batting average.3 While statistical analysis has been part of the game for many years, there is some uncertainty over when it was first used to by teams to evaluate players and to make coaching decisions.4 Baseball historians have long recognized Branch Rickey for bringing statistician Alan Roth onto the Dodgers staff in the late 1940s, but Chicago Cubs owner Philip Wrigley had analysts performing sophisticated analysis a decade earlier.5 In fact, Jerome Holtzman believed that Wrigley should receive credit as one of the first individuals to use statistical analysis in professional baseball.6 Also, according to Donald Dewey, until the 1930s, professional baseball teams only utilized data to provide an explanation of what baseball players did on the field of play.7 Dewey suggested that Wrigley was the first to use statistics to analyze how players performed in various situations.8 Although the use of statistics throughout the history of baseball has been documented, few details about Philip K. Wrigley’s employment of individuals in the late 1930s to provide data analysis for the Chicago Cubs organization have been discussed. Since minimal attention has examined Wrigley’s utilization of statistical analysis during the late 1930s, an assumption may be presumed that before the late 1940s, few team statisticians provided professional baseball management and coaches with detailed information to aid in decision [End Page 17] making and performance improvement. Therefore, this manuscript details the work of Coleman R. Griffith, Jack Sterrett, and Chester Lynn Snyder, who were hired by Philip K. Wrigley in the late 1930s to assist with the collection and analysis of baseball data.9 Additionally, this paper provides information about individuals who provided the Chicago Cubs organization with statistical analysis in the 1950s and 1960s, including Cliff Jaffe, Stan West, Don Biebel, and Ed Whitlow. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to detail the initiation of the use of data analysis for player evaluation by Philip K. Wrigley and the Chicago Cubs organization. First, an overview of Coleman R. Griffith’s beliefs about the importance of statistical analysis and athletics are described. Next, Wrigley’s views and applications of science to improve performance are presented. Specifically, a synopsis of the Chicago Cubs Experimental Laboratories will be depicted. This is followed by reasons Wrigley employed individuals to investigate the scientific components of baseball. Following a discussion of these motives, the work that Griffith, Sterrett, and Snyder provided to the Chicago Cubs will be recounted. The growth of the utilization of statistical analysis for player evaluation by the Chicago Cubs throughout the 1940s to the 1970s is delineated. Finally, the Chicago Cubs’ current use of data analysis is presented. coleman griffith, jack sterrett, and the chicago cubs experimental laboratories Dr. Coleman R. Griffith, the director of the Athletic Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois, believed that statistical records could be utilized as a critical tool in helping athletes enhance performance.10 Specifically, in the text Psychology of Coaching, Griffith explained how data analysis could be utilized in various sports. He provided examples of how businesses used statistical analysis that was disseminated in the Babson Reports.11 Likewise, Griffith’s viewpoint was that coaches and athletes could benefit if they utilized data in a comparable manner: There is only one way to be absolutely sure of selecting the right man for the right place and that is to secure all the statistical data about him that can be gotten. Information should...