Near to my interest in IT and GIS is my love of baseball. It is one of the enduring facets of American culture that provides a common thread between our nation and those that came before us. The game itself has remained largely the same since it was first played professionally in the late 1800s, but the way that we evaluate the game has changed immensely.
There’s now a multi-billion dollar industry surrounding the evaluation and analysis of baseball players. While a team may have had a handful of scouts in the ‘80s, most organizations now have an immense team solely dedicated to analytics.
In the spirit of this data revolution, I have created an interactive map which provides a worldwide look at the game of baseball. Specifically, it provides the following features.
- Birth location of every Major League player from 1871 to 2014.
- A link to the player’s baseball-reference page for additional information.
- Height, weight, birthdate, and other information.
- The precise location of nearly every professionally-used ballpark since the late 1800s.
- Name, capacity, and date opened.
- Historical facts regarding the sport and its emergence in the Caribbean and Asia.
- Historical facts regarding the various styles of ballparks and their evolution through the years.
I’d like you to invite you to catch up on your baseball stats by viewing the map I’ve created here.
I hope that this helps you get in the spirit for opening day.
Play ball!
Chris Rice
GIS Analyst I
CRice@Interdev.com