Wikipedia:WikiProject Baseball/Style advice

WikiProject Baseball style advice applies to articles within the scope of WikiProject Baseball. It represents the consensus view of editors interested in maintaining Wikipedia's articles about baseball. As the recommendations strike a balance between differing views, some may appear less than perfect. Nonetheless, please respect them, and feel free to discuss the style advice on the WikiProject Baseball discussion page.

Articles

Notability

Any topic meeting Wikipedia's general notability guideline (WP:GNG) is always notable. There are no baseball-specific notability criteria or guidelines; defer to WP:SPORTBASIC for guidance.

Reliable sources

See also: Wikipedia's guidelines on identifying reliable sources

Major League Baseball

• Official web site
• Baseball-Reference (but not the Baseball-Reference Bullpen, which is a user-maintained wiki)

Unreliable Sources

• baseballbiography.com: consensus agreement is that the source is unreliable, as it does not describe its editorial oversight and contains unsourced information

Copyright-free images

See also: Wikipedia's guidelines and procedures on using images

• Bowman baseball cards: use commons:Template:PD-US-not_renewed,_Bowman on Wikimedia Commons to identify Bowman cards prior to 1989 being in public domain
  • 1950s

General advice

Writing style

• half game: use ½ to represent half games in the standings
• RBIs: plural of RBI
• slash line, slashed: do not use these terms without explanation, as it is jargon that is not familiar to a general audience

Linking to other articles

In accordance with Wikipedia's principle of least astonishment, make sure readers know what to expect when they click on a link. The most obvious destination for a given hyperlinked phrase is preferred. However, where the immediately surrounding words or context limits the scope of the phrase, then an alternative may be sensible. Examples:

• In tables containing a list of annual results, such as the first table of league champions in List of National League pennant winners, as the scope of each row is limited to a single year, the team name in the "Team" column can link to the season article for that team. The table's legend should clearly identify the destination for the link in each column.

Note that each case must be evaluated on its own merits.

As a general rule, do not use {{baseball year}} or {{MLB year}} in prose when piped to only show a year:

• [...] collected over 200 hits eight times including four consecutive seasons from 1927 to 1930.

Limit their use to tables, infoboxes, navboxes, and similar uses, where it is clear from the context that the link is to a particular year in baseball or in the major leagues.

When in the context of the major leagues, use {{MLB year}} rather than {{baseball year}}. {{mlby}} and {{by}} may be used in place of the longer constructions.

Akin to the WP:YEARLINK guideline, "year articles ... should not be linked unless [it] has a significant connection to the subject of the linking article, beyond that of the date itself, so that the linking enhances the reader's understanding of the subject." For players, a specific team season article, e.g. [[1984 San Diego Padres season|1984]], is often more relevant.

Players

• Article naming conventions
• Player article style advice

Teams

• Article naming conventions:
  • For North American teams: follow the format <city name> <team nickname>. Exception: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
  • For season articles: follow the format <year> <team article name> season. Example: 1882 Cincinnati Red Stockings season
    • Note the {{Infobox baseball team season}} template relies on season articles using this format, so it can automatically link to the previous and next seasons for a team.
• Team article style advice
• Team abbreviations list
• MLB team season article advice

Navigational aids

• Category:Baseball
• list of article templates (including navigational boxes)
• list of project templates

See also

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style