One fun stat that Bill James created was the Similarity Score, which compares the statistics of two players' seasons or careers, with a score of 1000 being a perfect match. You start with 1000 points and subtract for differences as follows (thanks to www.baseball-reference.com for the info):

One point for each difference of 20 games played.
One point for each difference of 75 at bats.
One point for each difference of 10 runs scored.
One point for each difference of 15 hits.
One point for each difference of 5 doubles.
One point for each difference of 4 triples.
One point for each difference of 2 home runs.
One point for each difference of 10 RBI.
One point for each difference of 25 walks.
One point for each difference of 150 strikeouts.
One point for each difference of 20 stolen bases.
One point for each difference of .001 in batting average.
One point for each difference of .002 in slugging percentage.

It's a simplistic comparison - it doesn't adjust at all for the overall offense of the league, or the park the player plays in, but it's fun. You can find some pretty interesting seasons this way. In 1969, two shortstops, Larry Brown and Freddie Patek, had nearly identical seasons:

That's a similarity score of 995. I decided to look at the starting infields of every team this century, and try to find the two infields with the most comparable statistics. This has absolutely no point, but it's fun.

Not surprisingly, the best match came from a team who had the same starting infield in consecutive years - the 1985 and 1986 Braves:

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	AVG	SLG
Bob Horner	130	483	61	129	25	3	27	89	50	57	1	.267	.499
Bob Horner	141	517	70	141	22	0	27	87	52	72	1	.273	.472
Glenn Hubbard	142	439	51	102	21	0	5	39	56	54	1	.232	.314
Glenn Hubbard	143	408	42	94	16	1	4	36	66	74	3	.230	.304
Ken Oberkfell	134	412	30	112	19	4	3	35	51	38	1	.272	.359
Ken Oberkfell	151	503	62	136	24	3	5	48	83	40	7	.270	.360
Rafael Ramirez	138	568	54	141	25	4	5	58	20	63	2	.248	.333
Rafael Ramirez	134	496	57	119	21	1	8	33	21	60	19	.240	.335

The four similarity scores average to 983. That's pretty amazing. The Braves couldn't have been too surprised with the production of those guys in 1986.

If you'd like a more recent example, here are the 1998 A's and the 1979 Orioles (similarity score: 976):

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	AVG	SLG
Jason Giambi	153	562	92	166	28	0	27	110	81	102	2	.295	.489
Eddie Murray	159	606	90	179	30	2	25	99	72	78	10	.295	.475
Scott Spiezio	114	406	54	105	19	1	9	50	44	56	1	.259	.377
Rich Dauer	142	479	63	123	20	0	9	61	36	36	0	.257	.355
Mike Blowers	129	409	56	97	24	2	11	71	39	116	1	.237	.386
Doug Decinces	120	422	67	97	27	1	16	61	54	68	5	.230	.412
Miguel Tejada	105	365	53	85	20	1	11	45	28	86	5	.233	.384
Kiko Garcia	126	417	54	103	15	9	5	24	32	87	11	.247	.362

The infield numbers may be similar, but that's where the similarity ends - the A's went 74-88 that season, while the Orioles went 102-57.

So that's today's lesson: Similarity Scores are cool - tell all your friends! Back to your regularly scheduled programming... <!-- Article Ends Here --!>