Nom de famille : Allan Roth
Election: January 28, 2010
Induction: le 19 juin 2010
Born (date, year, place): le 10 mai 1917 à Montréal (Québec)
Died (date, year, place): March 3, 1992 in Los Angeles, California
Position : Statitician for Brooklyn & LA Dodgers
“My father’s induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame is a great thrill for my mother, and a huge honour for our entire family, and we will be proud to participate in St. Marys” said Allan’s son Michael from his home in Los Angeles.
“We are well aware that baseball has a very long and rich history in Canada. My dad was baseball’s pre-eminent statistician, working with the Brooklyn and LA Dodgers, but he originally fell in love with baseball as a child in Montreal and enjoyed seeing the Royals when he could. As a young man, he was thrilled watching the exploits of a young infielder named Jackie Robinson, and my father joined the Dodgers organization in 1947, the very same year that Jackie broke the colour barrier. My father then went on to a 45-year career working in Major League Baseball, but it all started in Canada.”
Allan Roth, né à Montréal le 10 mai 1977, a eu une discussion avec Branch Rickey en 1944 sur l’importance de la moyenne de présence sur les buts comparativement à la moyenne au bâton.
“And, wouldn’t it help a manager to know, for example, that a certain batter hit .220 against right-handed pitchers and .300 against lefties?”, Roth asked.
Rickey became intrigued, and his hiring of Roth in 1947 initiated a trend that has made the personal computer an essential element of an MLB clubhouse’s paraphernalia.
Roth a été le statisticien des Dodgers, à Brooklyn et à Los Angeles, jusqu’à 1964, développant du coup la moyenne de points produits (moyenne au bâton avec coureurs en position de marquer). Il comptabilisait chaque lancer et complétait ses calculs, mental ou à l’aide d’une simple calculatrice, travaillant manuellement tout au long de sa carrière. Il a travaillé pour les réseaux NBC et ABC jusqu’en 1990, relayant des informations pertinentes aux descripteurs, comme Al Michaels.
“Long before there was Mary Poppins, there was Allan Roth,” said the legendary Vin Scully.
“If you had some question that came to you in the middle of a game, he would reach down into his bag and the next thing you knew, you’d have your answer. It was marvelous!”
Roth once said, “Baseball is a game of percentages; I try to find the actual percentage.”
He was featured in a 10-page story in Life Magazine in 1954, and became the editor of “Who’s Who in Baseball” from 1955-71.
“Allan Roth was as vital to Branch Rickey as Robin was to Batman,” said New York Times writer Alan Schwarz.
Encore aujourd’hui, un chapitre de Los Angeles de l’organisme SABR porte le nom d’Allan Roth.
Roth est décédé le 3 mars 1992 et a laissé dans le deuil sa conjointe Esther, son fils Michael et sa fille Andrea Western.
