Allan Roth

From BR Bullpen

Allan Roth

• Born May 10, 1917 in Montreal, QC Canada
• Died March 3, 1992 in Los Angeles, CA USA

Allan Roth was the first full-time statistician in baseball history. He was hired by Branch Rickey in 1947 after he kept statistics for the minor league Montreal Royals.

With Rickey, Roth promoted the idea that on-base percentage was more important than batting average. He also was the first to give statistical evidence that right handed batters hit better against left handed pitchers than righthanders. With the Dodgers, he also provided in-game statistics for the announcers Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett, who were among the first announcers to pay attention to the pitch count of starting pitchers.

Roth moved to Los Angeles with the Dodgers. He stayed with the club through 1964. He was hired by NBC and ABC to become their baseball statistician. Roth also was editor of "Who's Who in Baseball" for many years.

The Los Angeles chapter of SABR is named for him.