US sport is obsessed with statistics. In baseball, for instance, there are the following just for batting:
1B – Single: hits on which the batter reaches first base safely without the contribution of a fielding error
2B – Double: hits on which the batter reaches second base safely without the contribution of a fielding error
3B – Triple: hits on which the batter reaches third base safely without the contribution of a fielding error
AB – At bat: plate appearances, not including bases on balls, being hit by pitch, sacrifices, interference, or obstruction
AB/HR – At bats per home run: at bats divided by home runs
BA – Batting average (also abbreviated AVG): hits divided by at bats (H/AB)
BB – Base on balls (also called a "walk"): hitter not swinging at four pitches called out of the strike zone and awarded first base.
BABIP – Batting average on balls in play: frequency at which a batter reaches a base after putting the ball in the field of play. Also a pitching category.
BB/K – Walk-to-strikeout ratio: number of bases on balls divided by number of strikeouts
BsR – Base runs: Another run estimator, like runs created
EQA – Equivalent average: a player's batting average absent park and league factors
FC – Fielder's choice: times reaching base safely because a fielder chose to try for an out on another runner
GO/AO – Ground ball fly ball ratio: number of ground ball outs divided by number of fly ball outs
GDP or GIDP – Ground into double play: number of ground balls hit that became double plays
GPA – Gross production average: 1.8 times on-base percentage plus slugging percentage, divided by four
GS – Grand slam: a home run with the bases loaded, resulting in four runs scoring, and four RBIs credited to the batter
H – Hit: reaching base because of a batted, fair ball without error by the defense
HBP – Hit by pitch: times touched by a pitch and awarded first base as a result
HR – Home runs: hits on which the batter successfully touched all four bases, without the contribution of a fielding error
HR/H – Home runs per hit: home runs divided by total hits
ITPHR – Inside-the-park home run: hits on which the batter successfully touched all four bases, without the contribution of a fielding error or the ball going outside the ball park.
IBB – Intentional base on balls: times awarded first base on balls (see BB above) deliberately thrown by the pitcher. Also known as IW (intentional walk).
ISO – Isolated power: a hitter's ability to hit for extra bases, calculated by subtracting batting average from slugging percentage
K – Strike out (also abbreviated SO): number of times that a third strike is taken or swung at and missed, or bunted foul. Catcher must catch the third strike or batter may attempt to run to first base.
LOB – Left on base: number of runners neither out nor scored at the end of an inning
OBP – On-base percentage: times reached base (H + BB + HBP) divided by at bats plus walks plus hit by pitch plus sacrifice flies (AB + BB + HBP + SF)
OPS – On-base plus slugging: on-base percentage plus slugging average
PA – Plate appearance: number of completed batting appearances
PA/SO – Plate appearances per strikeout: number of times a batter strikes out to their plate appearance
R – Runs scored: number of times a player crosses home plate
RC – Runs created: an attempt to measure how many runs a player has contributed to their team
RP – Runs produced: an attempt to measure how many runs a player has contributed
RBI – Run batted in: number of runners who score due to a batter's action, except when the batter grounded into a double play or reached on an error
RISP – Runner in scoring position: a breakdown of a batter's batting average with runners in scoring position, which includes runners at second or third base
SF – Sacrifice fly: fly balls hit to the outfield which, although caught for an out, allow a baserunner to advance
SH – Sacrifice hit: number of sacrifice bunts which allow runners to advance on the basepaths
SLG – Slugging average: total bases achieved on hits divided by at-bats (TB/AB)
TA – Total average: total bases, plus walks, plus hit by pitch, plus steals, minus caught stealing divided by at bats, minus hits, plus caught stealing, plus grounded into double plays [(TB + BB + HBP + SB – CS)/(AB – H + CS + GIDP)]
TB – Total bases: one for each single, two for each double, three for each triple, and four for each home run [H + 2B + (2 × 3B) + (3 × HR)] or [1B + (2 × 2B) + (3 × 3B) + (4 × HR)]
TOB – Times on base: times reaching base as a result of hits, walks, and hit-by-pitches (H + BB + HBP)
XBH – Extra base hits: total hits greater than singles (2B + 3B + HR)
Some of these are traditional, such as batting average, others examples of Sabermetric stats, such as OBS, yet more are weirdly esoteric (EQA) or aggregates of other stats. You'll get different lists from different sources; the above are from Wikipedia.
I hope you're keeping up. In addition to the above for batting, there are stats for pitching, fielding and baserunning. Michael Lewis' book Moneyball is famous for describing how Billy Beane, the General Manager of Oakland Athletics, revolutionised player recruitment by an intense stats-based focus.
You'll be pleased to know, though, that this post is not about baseball [Ed: It's a bit late for that, Nigel]. It's about basketball.
In any game of basketball, a player's contribution can be assessed according to five measures: points scored, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. By recording 10 or more in three of these categories in a game, a player achieves a triple-double. Most commonly it happens in the first three categories. For instance, three days ago Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets scored 47 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists against the Milwaukee Bucks. A triple-double.
Back to Oscar Robertson. In his career, he scored 181 triple-doubles and his record stood for 47 years and was thought of as one those that might never be broken. Until now. On 10 May, Russell Westbrook, playing for the Washington Wizards against the Chicago Hawks, scored 28 points, 13 rebounds and 21 assists to record his 182nd career triple-double. And he's still only 32.
BTW if you are wondering whether basketball is a team sport or an individual one, the Wizards lost the game!
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