Is the baseball statistic ERA pronounced “era” or “e-r-a”?
e-r-a In baseball statistics, earned run average (E-R-A) is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by multiplying the number of earned runs allowed by nine and dividing by the number of innings pitched. Runners reaching base on errors (even errors by pitchers) do not count toward E-R-A- if they later score. Henry Chadwick is credited with first devising the statistic, which caught on as a measure of pitching effectiveness after relief pitching came into vogue in the 1900s. Prior to the 1900s—and, in fact, for many years afterward— pitchers were routinely expected to pitch a complete game, and their won-loss record was considered sufficient in determining their effectiveness. After pitchers like James Otis Crandall and Charlie Hall made names for themselves as relief specialists, gauging a pitcher’s effectiveness became more difficult using the traditional method of tabulating wins and losses. The National League first kept official earn
