Baseball Reference

Founder Sean Forman began developing the website while working on his Ph.D. dissertation in applied math and computational science at the University of Iowa. While writing his dissertation, he had also been writing articles on and blogging about sabermetrics. Forman's database was originally built from the Total Baseball series of baseball encyclopedias.{{cite magazine|last1=Weinreb|first1=Michael|title=The Sublime Simplicity of Baseball-Reference.com|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/the-sublime-simplicity-of-baseball-reference-com-20151028|access-date=28 October 2015|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=October 28, 2015|ref=rs}}

The website went online in April 2000, after first being launched in February 2000 as part of the website for the Big Bad Baseball Annual. It was originally built as a web interface to the Lahman Baseball Database, though it now employs a variety of data sources.

In 2004, Forman founded Sports Reference. Sports Reference is a website that came out of the Baseball Reference website. The company was incorporated as Sports Reference, LLC in 2007.{{cite magazine|title=Company Overview of Sports Reference, LLC|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=53311244|url-status=dead|magazine=Bloomberg Businessweek|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131108204017/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=53311244|archive-date=November 8, 2013|access-date=November 8, 2013}} In 2006, Forman left his job as a math professor at Saint Joseph's University to focus on Baseball Reference full-time.

In February 2009, Fantasy Sports Ventures took a minority stake in Sports Reference, for a "low seven-figure sum".{{cite journal | url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2009/02/16/This-Weeks-News/FSV-Buys-Stake-In-Reference-Sites.aspx | title=FSV buys stake in reference sites | author=Fisher, Eric | journal=Sports Business Journal | date=February 16, 2009 | access-date= July 16, 2011}}

At the end of April 2021, the site changed a number of identifying names, "discontinuing the use of nicknames that are racially or ethnically influenced" and "names based upon a player's disability", such as Chief Bender and Dummy Hoy, who are now listed as Charles Bender and Billy Hoy, respectively.{{cite web |last=Foreman |first=Sean |date=April 30, 2021 |title=Changing Player Identification Names from Player Nicknames to Given Names |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2021/04/sports-reference-changing-player-identification-names-from-player-nicknames-to-given-names/ |accessdate=May 10, 2021 |website=Sports Reference}}

The site has season, career, and minor league records (when available, back to {{by|1888}}) for everyone who has played Major League Baseball, year-by-year team pages, all final league standings, all postseason numbers, voting results for all historic awards such as the Cy Young Award and MVP, head-to-head batter vs. pitcher career totals, individual statistical leaders for each season and all-time, managers' career records, the full results of all MLB player drafts, Negro leagues statistics (Baseball Reference added Negro League Statistics to its website in 2021), a baseball encyclopedia (the Bullpen),{{cite web |title=Main Page – BR Bullpen |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Main_Page |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617181542/http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Main_Page |archive-date=June 17, 2009 |access-date=July 16, 2011 |website=Baseball Reference |publisher=Sports Reference}} and box scores and game logs from every MLB game back to {{by|1901}}, among other features.

To compare ballplayers to one-another it offers "Black Ink" and "Gray Ink" tests, which tally a player's dominance and overall productivity against his peers. In 2012, it began to offer Jay Jaffe's Jaffe Wins Above Replacement Score (JAWS) statistic for comparing players of different eras against each other by weighing their performance in the prime as well as their entire career.{{Cite web |title=Jaffe WAR Score system (JAWS) for HOF Evaluations – Baseball-Reference.com |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2012/11/jaffe-war-score-system-jaws-for-hof-evaluations-baseball-reference-com/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Sports Reference}}

Baseball Reference began including its version of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in 2010.{{Cite web |title=Baseball-Reference.com WAR Explained |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained.shtml |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}} Its version determining a player's value differs slightly from other baseball statistics websites, including FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-05 |title=2024 FanGraphs WAR Update |url=https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-fangraphs-war-update/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=FanGraphs Baseball}}{{Cite web |title=WAR Comparison Chart |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained_comparison.shtml |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}

Baseball Reference has its own baseball encyclopedia, a wiki called "Baseball Reference Bullpen", which can be edited by anyone and is modeled after Wikipedia. {{asof|2025|May|post=,}} the Baseball Reference Bullpen contains more than 119,000 articles.

There are a number of what the website calls "Frivolities."{{Cite web |title=Baseball Frivolities and Fun Stuff |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Baseball Reference}} Examples include:

• The Oracle of Baseball, which is no longer active on the website,{{Cite web |last=Foreman |first=Sean |date=May 28, 2024 |title=Baseball Reference is sunsetting the Oracle of Baseball |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2024/05/baseball-reference-is-sunsetting-the-oracle-of-baseball/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241217235047/https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2024/05/baseball-reference-is-sunsetting-the-oracle-of-baseball/ |archive-date=December 17, 2024 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |website=Sports Reference |language=en-US}} linked any two players by common teammates in the way the pop culture website "Oracle of Bacon" does.
• A page devoted to Keith Hernandez's mustache,{{Cite web |title=Keith Hernandez Mustache Statistics and History |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hernake01mustache.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241125133511/https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hernake01mustache.shtml |archive-date=November 25, 2024 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |website=Baseball Reference}} which is the only "fictional" page on Baseball Reference.{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Dayn |date=April 30, 2013 |title=Keith Hernandez's mustache has its own Baseball-Reference page |url=http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/22171252 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20160413033757/http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/22171252 |archive-date=April 13, 2016 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |website=CBSSports.com}}
• The site made "Tungsten Arm O'Doyle", an internet meme associated with Shohei Ohtani, a redirect to Ohtani's page.{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Charles |date=March 31, 2023 |title=Who's Tungsten Arm O'Doyle? The legendary Angels meme involving Shohei Ohtani, explained |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/who-is-tungsten-arm-o-doyle-angels |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240622215021/https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/who-is-tungsten-arm-o-doyle-angels |archive-date=June 22, 2024 |access-date=February 20, 2024 |work=For the Win |publisher=USA Today}}
• Although the standard player page notes a given player's favored batting and throwing arms, Paul O'Neill's page adds his kicking leg and a link to a video of the 1989 game when he kicked the ball from the outfield to first base.{{Cite web |title=Paul O'Neill Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/o'neipa01.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241208134311/https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/o'neipa01.shtml |archive-date=December 8, 2024 |access-date=December 21, 2024 |website=Baseball Reference |language=en-US}}
• The 2021 Seattle Mariners page lists the team's "fun differential" of +90, based on a comment from manager Scott Servais on the team's negative run differential.{{Cite web |title=2021 Seattle Mariners Statistics |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/2021.shtml |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Baseball Reference}}{{Cite news |last=Brock |first=Corey |date=2021-08-25 |title='Fun differential' on the rise, as Mariners finish road swing with a 6-2 record |url=https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2788125/2021/08/24/fun-differential-on-the-rise-as-mariners-finish-road-swing-with-a-6-2-record/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |work=The Athletic}}{{Cite web |last=Bucholtz |first=Andrew |date=2021-08-25 |title=Baseball-Reference actually adds a "fun differential" stat for the Mariners following Scott Servais' comments |url=https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/baseball-reference-adds-a-fun-differential-stat-for-the-mariners.html |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Awful Announcing |language=en-US}}

• Sports Reference
• Pro Football Reference

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website}}

Category:Baseball websites

Category:Works about baseball statistics

Category:Internet properties established in 2000

Category:Sports databases