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Baseball statistics refers to a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the game of baseball.
Since the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and normally players act individually rather than performing in clusters, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and statistics. Statistics have been recorded since the game's earliest beginnings as a distinct sport in the middle of the nineteenth century, and as such are extensively available from leagues such as the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players and the Negro leagues, although the consistency to which these records have been kept and the standards with respect to which they were calculated (and their accuracy) has varied.
Since the National League (which along with the American League constitutes contemporary Major League Baseball) was founded in 1876, statistics in the most elite levels of professional baseball have been kept to a reasonably consistent standard which has continually evolved in tandem with advancement in available technology.
New advances in both statistical analysis and technology have driven teams and fans to evaluate players by new standards as the game progresses. With the advent of many of these methods, players can be compared across different time periods and run scoring environments.