In the weeks leading up to the annual tallying of Hall of Fame votes, two topics of conversation begin to intensify. One is whether or not a known, or suspected, user of performance enhancing drugs is worthy of selection. If you're like me, you've heard enough about that topic to last you for a while. The other conversation is a recalling of statistics. Reporters are quick to tell us how many 200-strike out seasons a pitcher accumulated, how many times a hitter led the league in batting average, and so on. Those who put in a little more research, will provide insightful context such as "in a decade dominated by hitting, Pitcher X struck out 200+ batters seven times" or "Player Z's batting average was 30 points higher than the league average for five years in a row". This listing of stats, and the accompanying analyses, is useful. It allows us to compare how players performed in relation to their contemporaries, and, to an extent, in relation to players of different eras. But we have to be careful with stats. They don't tell the full story.
