This is an essay on style. It contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how to format and present article content within their area of interest. This information is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Shortcuts WP:BASESTYLEPL WP:BASEBALLSA/PL

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Baseball/Player style advice/Sample biography for an outline of a Major League Baseball player article. You can use ((subst:Wikipedia:WikiProject Baseball/Player style advice/Sample biography)) to include this text in an initial draft of a new player article.

Infobox

Values for a professional baseball player's infobox fields (also see the infobox's documentation):

• bats – Right, Left, Switch
• statXXlabel, statXXvalue: focus on Triple Crown statistics
  • For batters: list batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.
  • For pitchers: list win–loss record, earned run average, and strikeouts.
  • If there is another statistic that is representative of the player's career, then it can be included as well. Examples: Rickey Henderson's total stolen bases, Mariano Rivera's total saves.
• teams – for all post-integration era players who played in one of the following leagues, list only teams that a player has played for in these leagues: Major League Baseball, Nippon Professional Baseball, KBO League
• highlights – the following achievements have received consensus for inclusion:^[1]
  • season league leader / award winner for the following categories, prefixed with "AL" (for American League), "NL" (for National League), "PL" (for Pacific League), or "CL" (for Central League) as appropriate:
    • Most Valuable Player
    • Cy Young Award
    • Rolaids Relief Man
    • MLB Delivery Man of the Year Award
    • home run leader
    • batting average leader
    • RBI leader
    • ERA leader
    • strikeout leader
    • win leader
    • save leader
    • pitching/hitting triple crown
    • Silver Slugger Award
    • Gold Glove Award
    • Comeback Player of the Year
    • Rookie of the Year
    • Manager of the Year
  • career MLB leader in the following categories:
    • Career MLB home run leader
  • career league leader in the following categories:
    • Career AL/NL stolen base leader
  • perfect game
  • no-hitter
  • All-Star
  • League Championship Series MVP
  • World Series champion
  • World Series MVP
  • retired number

For leading the league in a statistical category, if the player has done so only in one league, prefix the achievement with "AL", "NL", "PL", or "CL" as appropriate. If the player has led both the AL and NL or PL and CL, do not prefix the achievement and list the total number of seasons led by the player across both leagues.

When a specific achievement was recorded in consecutive years, the years in which it was achieved should be listed as a range (for example, 2000–2005) and not enumerated individually (such as 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005).^[2]

Lead sentence

In accordance with Wikipedia's guidance on the lead paragraph for biographies, and to establish a player's key characteristics immediately, particularly for those unfamiliar with baseball, the first sentence or two should include the following information:^[3]

• Nationality
• Profession for which the person is notable, namely, "professional baseball player"
• For an active player: current playing position, team, and league.

For an example, see the sample biography. Additional guidance on what information should be placed in the lead paragraph is also included in the sample.