About Retrosheet
Retrosheet was founded in 1989 for the purpose of computerizing play-by-play accounts of as many pre-1984 major league games as possible. Retrosheet's work has expanded considerably from its original inception while retaining the same core focus: major-league games.
Brian Murphy wrote an excellent article detailing the history of Retrosheet at MLB.com. This article is probably as thorough and more well-written than anything we could add. See here.
A bulleted list of the highlights of Retrosheet's history would include the following:
- 1994: Retrosheet held its first meeting in Arlington, Texas, during that year's SABR convention.
- 2001: Game logs, box scores, and player statistics were added to Retrosheet's website.
- 2003: Introduction of box-score event files for games without play-by-play data.
- 2011: Introduction of deduced game files for games without full play-by-play data.
- 2018: Retrosheet board was expanded from 5 to 7 members.
- 2020: Retrosheet expanded its work to include the Negro Leagues.
- 2022: Retrosheet founder Dave Smith resigned as President and was replaced by Tom Thress.
Retrosheet's organizational structure is outlined here.
Minutes of our 2023 Board meeting can be read here. The President's report adopted at that time can be read here.
More Information on Retrosheet and its History
Retrosheet is profoundly grateful to all of the countless volunteers who have helped us through the years. Sadly, several of Retrosheet's key contributors are no longer with us. A memorial page has been created to highlight the work of some of these people who helped to make Retrosheet the great organization and website that it is today.
For anyone interested, links to the old menu items, "About" and "Organization", have been preserved.
Many of the links here have not been updated in several years (more than a decade in some cases) and are not expected to be updated again. But, for the sake of history, they are preserved on the site.
Retrosheet website last updated April 28, 2024.
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Retrosheet is an all-volunteer organization and a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. To volunteer, please e-mail Tom Thress. To make a donation, you can visit here: Donation Page