Baseball-Reference.com-- Baseball's History: 1871-Now

Hit Location and Type Data

GB Ground Ball (will include both bunts and ground balls)

FB Fly Ball (does not include line drives)

LD Line Drives

? Unknown

Thanks to the tremendous work at Retrosheet.org in addition to general play-by-play info such as 4-3. We also have info on where the ball was hit and with what trajectory. We have utilized this info when possible.

Hit location Diagram from Retrosheet

Batted ball types include Line Drive, Fly Ball, Ground Ball, and Pop Ups. Bunts are also noted.

Please note that this data is not 100% complete, and that locations and trajectories have been measured differently in different years. We have attempted to merge different sources whenever possible to have as complete a dataset as possible. Here is the coverage for the 52 years of data that we have on hand. The table shows the percentage of balls in play for which we are missing either the location or the trajectory. Even in cases where the trajectory and location are not exactly known we will still know the fielder and whether a ground ball or fly ball out was recorded.

+-----------+------------------+--------------------+
| year_game | Unknown Location | Unknown Trajectory |
+-----------+------------------+--------------------+
|      2007 | 0.02%            | 0.05%              |
|      2006 | 0.31%            | 0.01%              |
|      2005 | 0.28%            | 0.01%              |
|      2004 | 0.22%            | 0.02%              |
|      2003 | 0.04%            | 0.01%              |
|      2002 | 0.12%            | 3.73%              |
|      2001 | 0.35%            | 4.16%              |
|      2000 | 0.12%            | 4.15%              |
|      1999 | 0.01%            | 0.01%              |
|      1998 | 0.02%            | 0.03%              |
|      1997 | 6.48%            | 2.09%              |
|      1996 | 7.09%            | 0.31%              |
|      1995 | 4.69%            | 0.26%              |
|      1994 | 3.32%            | 0.16%              |
|      1993 | 3.06%            | 0.14%              |
|      1992 | 0.03%            | 0.02%              |
|      1991 | 0.02%            | 0.01%              |
|      1990 | 9.52%            | 0.31%              |
|      1989 | 8.53%            | 0.27%              |
|      1988 | 51.02%           | 1.18%              |

|      1987 | 84.55%           | 17.61%             |
|      1986 | 85.02%           | 17.65%             |
|      1985 | 95.16%           | 29.36%             |
|      1984 | 96.73%           | 29.97%             |
|      1983 | 97.45%           | 29.69%             |
|      1982 | 97.12%           | 29.24%             |
|      1981 | 96.70%           | 25.98%             |
|      1980 | 97.03%           | 29.39%             |
|      1979 | 96.80%           | 28.52%             |
|      1978 | 97.13%           | 26.54%             |
|      1977 | 96.29%           | 27.75%             |
|      1976 | 97.77%           | 25.36%             |
|      1975 | 97.29%           | 26.55%             |
|      1974 | 96.58%           | 26.06%             |
|      1973 | 97.47%           | 27.61%             |
|      1972 | 96.43%           | 25.37%             |
|      1971 | 96.33%           | 26.12%             |
|      1970 | 95.71%           | 27.61%             |
|      1969 | 95.82%           | 26.73%             |
|      1968 | 95.72%           | 26.50%             |
|      1967 | 96.18%           | 28.06%             |
|      1966 | 95.08%           | 27.04%             |
|      1965 | 95.66%           | 26.61%             |
|      1964 | 95.01%           | 23.11%             |
|      1963 | 94.74%           | 24.14%             |
|      1962 | 94.34%           | 24.12%             |
|      1961 | 90.88%           | 25.49%             |
|      1960 | 94.04%           | 24.28%             |
|      1959 | 93.84%           | 24.03%             |
|      1958 | 94.27%           | 24.53%             |
|      1957 | 94.05%           | 24.67%             |
|      1956 | 94.28%           | 26.03%             |

Please let us know if you have questions.

Stats updated through August 20, 2008.

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