Retrosheet


Data Files Available for Download

To keep things simple, Negro League data can be downloaded within a single zip file which contains all data relevant to the Negro Leagues. This file is approximately 18Mb large and can be downloaded here.

The centerpiece of Negro League data are a set of .csv files which summarize game-level data for all (5,255) Negro League games for which Retrosheet has compiled data. There are five such .csv files.


The columns are labeled and should be mostly self-explanatory. But, in case not, the columns are defined in the document context.txt which is included in the zip file (and can be read here).

The level of detail at which Negro League data can be determined is highly variable across games and the data "known" is highly uncertain in many cases. For example, for many games, we have no box score but may have a reference to the fact that a particular player had at least one hit in the game. To attempt to convey this uncertainty in our data, teams and players may be given up to three sets of statistical lines for each game within the data files which are available for download. These are identified within the .csv files by the variable 'stattype'.


All teams players will have lines with stattype 'value' regardless of how little information may be known. Data for which Retrosheet has no information will be blank. In most cases where we have some information, Retrosheet has attempted to make its best estimate of player statistics and has assigned these totals to the stattype 'value'. In cases where there is some uncertainty, additional lines with stattype 'lower' or 'upper' may be added.
As an example of 'upper' and 'lower' stattypes, we may know that a pitcher was knocked out of the game in the 5th inning and that the opposing team scored 4 runs in the 5th inning. In this case, the lower and upper bound for the pitcher's innings pitched would be 4 and 4.2, respectively, and the lower and upper bound for the pitcher's runs allowed would be 0 and 4 (plus whatever we know the pitcher allowed in his first four innings pitched).

In addition to these five files which aggregate all Negro League games, we also have compiled separate logs by team (subsets of teamstats.csv divided by team-season), by ballpark (subsets of gameinfo.csv) and by player (subsets of batting.csv, pitching.csv, and fielding.csv). For ballparks and players, these aggregate across all seasons.

In addition to these .csvs, Retrosheet has also compiled event files (.evx files) and box-score files (.ebx files) for games for which sufficient data is available. Games are compiled into a single file for each season for which we have compiled games of the relevant type. In the former case, event files are included both for games for which we have found play-by-play accounts as well as games which have been deduced. The latter are identified within the files via a comment at the start of the play-by-play portion of the file.

Finally, the zip file here includes roster files for all teams for whom Retrosheet has compiled rosters as well as our master files for people (biofile.csv), ballparks (ballparks.csv), and teams (teams.csv). These files include data for all people, teams, and sites across all Retrosheet games, not just Negro League games.

Download All Negro League Data (14 Mb)

Download All Retrosheet Data (241 Mb)

Back to Main Page for Negro League Baseball

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Retrosheet website last updated September 18, 2024.
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