A seemingly intrinsic part of the game of baseball is the keeping of statistics on the achievements of the players. Started by Henry Chadwick in the 19th century who devised the concept of batting average based on his experience of cricket. Commonly used statistics are explained here:
... author of the "Imitation of Christ," was born at Kempen[?], Germany (40 miles northwest of Cologne) in 1380 and died near Zwolle (52 miles east-north-east of Amsterdam) ...