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How Games Start


After loading Retrosheet's data into a database, it can be easy to extract information. As an example, let's take a look at how games started, based on the event files from Retrosheet. This includes information from games starting in 1957 and ending in 2006, excluding 1999.

[mek@olin retrosheet]$ psql retrosheet
Welcome to psql 8.1.4, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type:  \copyright for distribution terms
	  \h for help with SQL commands
	  \? for help with psql commands
	  \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
	  \q to quit

retrosheet=# \dt
	      List of relations
 Schema |    Name    | Type  | Owner 
--------+------------+-------+-------
 public | boxscores  | table | mek
 public | events     | table | mek
 public | eventtypes | table | mek
 public | games      | table | mek
 public | rosters    | table | mek
 public | teams      | table | mek
(6 rows)

We'll need to worry about data from the EventTypeTable and the EventsTable.

start-of-game-events.sql
  SELECT DISTINCT e.eventtype AS event_type,
    et.eventname              AS event_name,
    count(e.eventtype)        AS new_game_events
    FROM events e
INNER JOIN eventtypes et ON et.eventtype = e.eventtype
   WHERE e.newgameflag='T'
GROUP BY e.eventtype,et.eventname;

retrosheet=#   select distinct e.eventtype as event_type,
retrosheet-#     et.eventname              as event_name,
retrosheet-#     count(e.eventtype)        as new_game_events
retrosheet-#     from events e
retrosheet-# inner join eventtypes et on et.eventtype = e.eventtype
retrosheet-#    where e.newgameflag='T'
retrosheet-# group by e.eventtype,et.eventname;

After a few CPU cycles ...

 event_type |  event_name   | new_game_events 
------------+---------------+-----------------
	  2 | Generic out   |           50022
	  3 | Strikeout     |           14247
	 13 | Foul error    |              53
	 14 | Walk          |            7378
	 16 | Hit by        |             540
	 17 | Interference  |              10
	 18 | Error         |            1163
	 20 | Single        |           16409
	 21 | Double        |            3828
	 22 | Triple        |             780
	 23 | Home run      |            1334
(11 rows)

Let's do a little sanity check

retrosheet=# select count(gameid) from events where newgameflag='T';
 count 
-------
 95764
(1 row)

Adding up the 11 event types, we get 95764. We can be reasonably sure that if you went to a game and saw it started with interference ... you've seen something rare. Now for the heck of it, let's find out what games those were and the Retrosheet text that describes it.

get-interference-to-start-game.sql
   SELECT  e.gameid          AS retrosheet_gameid,
           g.visitingteam    AS visitingteam,
           e.eventtext       AS retrosheet_eventtext,
           e.pitcher         AS pitcher,
           e.batter          AS batter,
           g.homeplateumpire AS homeplateumpire
      FROM events e
INNER JOIN games g ON e.gameid = g.gameid
     WHERE e.newgameflag='T'
       AND e.eventtype=17;

retrosheet=#    select  e.gameid          as retrosheet_gameid,
retrosheet-#            g.visitingteam    as visitingteam,
retrosheet-#            e.eventtext       as retrosheet_eventtext,
retrosheet-#            e.pitcher         as pitcher,
retrosheet-#            e.batter          as batter,
retrosheet-#            g.homeplateumpire as homeplateumpire
retrosheet-#       from events e
retrosheet-# inner join games g on e.gameid = g.gameid
retrosheet-#      where e.newgameflag='T'
retrosheet-#        and e.eventtype=17;
 retrosheet_gameid | visitingteam | retrosheet_eventtext | pitcher  |  batter  | homeplateumpire
-------------------+--------------+----------------------+----------+----------+-----------------
 SFN195806090      | CIN          | C/E2                 | antoj103 | tempj101 | delmv901
 PHI196309010      | SLN          | C/E2                 | shorc102 | javij101 | walsf901
 ATL196904120      | CIN          | C/E2                 | jarvp101 | rosep001 | venzt901
 HOU196904220      | CIN          | C/E2                 | wilsd102 | rosep001 | gormt101
 NYN196905070      | CIN          | C/E2.B-1             | gentg101 | rosep001 | barla901
 MON197006120      | HOU          | C/E2.B-1             | mcgid101 | torrh101 | steim901
 SFN197105100      | CIN          | C/E2                 | marij101 | rosep001 | craws901
 HOU198407130      | PHI          | C/E2                 | ryann001 | maddg001 | davib902
 PIT198609270      | NYN          | C/E2                 | kippb001 | wilsm001 | willc901
 COL200009250      | ARI          | C/E2                 | roseb002 | counc001 | kulpr901
(10 rows)


All the games were in the National League, five involved the Cincinnati Reds and FOUR of those games involved Pete Rose!

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