The home run is the simplest and best stat to determine who the best power hitters in baseball are. It doesn't make sense to add the scrambling mad-dash of an inside-the-park homer to a hitters total of clean blasts into the bleachers. Seperating the two home runs into different categories will guarantee that fans are getting a clear picture when they peruse baseball's home run leaders. Although inside-the-park shots are rare, they can have a big effect on a player's home run numbers. That is, from a stat geek's point of view. In 2007, Brewers star Prince Fielder lugged his 270-pound self around the bases for an inside-the-parker against the Mets. That season, Fielder finished the season with exactly 50 home runs, becoming the youngest player to hit 50 in a season at age 23. Without the inside-the-park-homer, Fielder wouldn't have reached that milestone
Some people would probably be angered if the two home runs were seperated, as it would change the home run totals of their favorite players. But really, seperating the two stats would not affect the way the game was played on the field. These equally wonderful but very different plays deserve to be recognized individually (perhaps as "HR" and "IHR"?) in the morning box scores.
Article comments
1 - jerryman
A really wonderful article. So good that it should be sent to the Commissioner of baseball.