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What Do the Numbers on a Baseball Card Mean?

New and longtime baseball card collectors are always learning how to understand the numbers on the back of their cards. New statistical categories are created seemingly every day in baseball, but some statistics remain consistent in their appearance on the back of player cards.

Card Identification
- Every card will have a number or some form of code in one of its corners that tells the collector what component of the set that card represents. These numbers and codes are helpful for collectors looking to amass full sets of cards when they are released.
Hitter Stats
- The numbers under G stand for games played, AB for at-bats, R for runs scored, H for hits, 2B for doubles, 3B for triples and HR for home runs.
Hitter Performance
- Some important batter stats that may be included are RBI for runs batted in, SB for stolen bases, and AVG or AVE for batting average.
Pitcher Stats
- The figures you see under W stand for wins, L for losses, G for appearances in games, GS for games started and ERA for earned run average.
Analyzing Pitcher Performance
- The most telling information that you may see on a pitcher's baseball card include SV for saves, IP for innings pitched, H for hits given up, BB for walks and K for strikeouts.

Sports Cards Collecting