Pete Palmer

Peter Palmer

• Born 1938

Biographical Information

Pete Palmer is a mathematician by trade by is best known in baseball circles as one of the first proponents of the analytical approach to the game that would become known as sabermetrics. He developped a number of concepts that have become used throughout baseball such as OPS and linear weights. He is the co-author with John Thorn of The Hidden Game of Baseball, published in 1984, one of the most influential books published on baseball analysis. He did all of this as a sideline while holding a full-time job as a computer programmer and radar systems engineer for Raytheon Corporation.

Besides his work in the field of statistics, Palmer has performed significant historical research and was the co-editor of Total Baseball with John Thorn and David Pietrusza. He also worked with Gary Gillette on producing the 2004 edition of the Baseball Encyclopedia.

In 2010, Palmer was one of the first recipients of the Henry Chadwick Award.

Further reading

• David W. Smith: "Pete Palmer", in The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 39, Number 1 (Summer 2010), p. 128.

Related Sites

• SABR tribute page