David W. Smith (born March 17, 1948) is an American baseball historian and analyst. He is best known as the founder of

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

, a volunteer organization whose mission is to collect, digitize, and distribute play-by-play accounts from every game in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

history. Smith's work has been widely praised as a huge boon to baseball research and he has received a number of awards for his work, several from

SABR The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

Smith has also done original baseball research on topics such as: * ''Maury Wills and the Value of a Stolen Base'' * ''The 1951 National League Pennant Race'' * ''The Effect of Batting Order on Scoring'' * ''Why do Home Teams Score so Much in the First Inning?'' * ''The Myth of the Closer'' * ''Why Do Games Take so Long?'' Smith was a contributor to ''

Total Baseball ''Total Baseball'' (latest edition , first published 1989) is a baseball encyclopedia first compiled by John Thorn and Pete Palmer in 1989. The latest edition, published in 2004, is its eighth.David W. Vincent David William Vincent (July 26, 1949 – July 2, 2017) was an American baseball official scorer, statistician, and historian. He was called "The Sultan of Swats Stats" by ESPN and was often quoted by Major League Baseball, ESPN, Fox, ''USA Toda ...

and

Lyle Spatz Lyle may refer to: People Surname * Lyle (surname) Given name * Lyle Alzado (1949–1992), American NFL All-Pro football player * Lyle Beerbohm (born 1979), professional mixed martial arts fighter * Lyle Bennett (1903–2005), head coach of th ...

). That book received The Sporting News-SABR Baseball Research Award in 2001. Smith received the 2001

Society of American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

's "SABR Salute" and the 2005 Bob Davids Award. Smith also received SABR's 2012 Henry Chadwick Award. Smith received the Tony Salin Memorial Award from the Baseball Reliquary in 2008 and the (SABR) Doug Pappas Award (for best oral research presentation) in 2001 and 2016. In 1975, Smith joined the faculty of the biology department at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

, and retired as an emeritus professor in 2014. His specialty was microbiology, with an emphasis on ecology, genetics, and evolution. He was the director of the undergraduate biology program and the grievance officer of the Delaware chapter of the American Association of University Professors. He won the University's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1977, and was Faculty Senate President in 1983–1984.Minutes of University (of Delaware) Faculty Senate, May 2, 1983
/ref> Smith did his undergraduate work at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, received a master's degree from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, and earned his PhD from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

References

External links

Faculty page
at UD Department of Biology (2011)
Retrosheet

''Wall Street Journal'' profile
(April 24, 2002)

''UD Messenger'' 11:1 (2002) – on Smith's work with LA Dodgers

''UDaily'' (December 4, 2004)

�� publicity from publisher * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David 1948 births Living people Baseball statisticians American microbiologists University of Delaware faculty Place of birth missing (living people) University of California, San Diego alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni