FanGraphs Turns 20 Years Old Today!

FanGraphs turns 20 years old today!

As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’ve added some balloons to the site to mark the occasion. If you click on one, you’ll be presented with an article that’s been deemed a worthy piece of FanGraphs history by our current staff, FanGraphs alumni, and industry friends. (I hope you’ll add your favorites in the comments here.)

Beyond the balloons, 20 years seemed like an appropriate moment to reflect on how the site started, and how it has gotten to where it is today.

I started FanGraphs when I was 23 years old. I was working at AOL, and my job involved putting together powerpoint decks of dialup metric graphs for executives. I thought the dialup business’ days were numbered — somewhat ironic, since dialup seems to have lived on for almost exactly 20 more years.

Back then, I had been playing fantasy baseball for a few years and had recently been introduced to baseball analytics through the work of Ron Shandler’s BaseballHQ. I thought I could take a lot of what I had learned graphing dialup metrics at AOL and apply it to baseball stats to help people (mostly myself) with player performance validation.

I found a data provider in Baseball Info Solutions and started coding up the site in April 2005. FanGraphs launched with 10 graphs for batters and pitchers on August 15, 2005.

That was the beginning of a two-and-a-half year period where I worked on the site mainly by myself. There were a lot of industry friends who took an interest in FanGraphs and lent their suggestions and expertise, like Dave Studeman of The Hardball Times and Tom Tango, but it was primarily a solo endeavor. I left AOL in the summer of 2006 to pursue FanGraphs full-time. I lived at my parents’ house and worked out of my room. It was a somewhat lonely experience as the site struggled to gain traction, and I actually thought about quitting in 2007.

But in early 2008, I decided to try and find some writers for the site. In that first group of hires was Dave Cameron. Dave instantly transformed FanGraphs, giving it a much-needed voice, not to mention a lot of ideas about what we should do. I became an often eager implementer of those ideas, one of the most significant of which came that same year. In December 2008, in collaboration with Tom Tango and Sean Smith, we launched Win Values, which Dave unveiled in a seven-part series; we later changed the name to WAR.

Dave joined the site full-time in 2010, and from there, we continued to hire more full-time writers and editors, including Carson Cistulli, Eno Sarris, Jeff Sullivan, August Fagerstrom, Paul Swydan, Kiley McDaniel, Craig Edwards, Travis Sawchik and, much later, Jon Tayler and Kevin Goldstein. Each left their mark on the site, and over the years, they were complemented by an impressive array of contributing writers who are now scattered across baseball media, including Mike Petriello, Dayn Perry, R.J. Anderson, Patrick Dubuque, and many, many more.

In 2015, we hired Sean Dolinar, who has since become responsible (along with Keaton Arneson and now Jon Becker) for all of the user-facing parts of FanGraphs and most of our tech stack. From a site perspective, Sean’s work has been transformational, as he has worked to methodically overhaul FanGraphs from the jumble that was my decade-old code to a modern tech stack, with new features constantly being added. Sean is also the force behind our iOS and Android apps.

In 2018, FanGraphs faced a real inflection point when Dave decided to take a job with the San Diego Padres. A year later, Carson, who had assumed the managing editorship from Dave, left to join the Toronto Blue Jays. But fortunately for FanGraphs and for you, our readers, Meg Rowley took over as managing editor in 2019; this past year, she became editor-in-chief of FanGraphs. Meg’s eye for excellence and talent allowed us to transition rather seamlessly through what could have been a devastating time for FanGraphs. She has helped the site to navigate a number of unpredictable crises, from the pandemic to the lockout to the shift of our business model away from advertising and toward Membership. And she has expanded the scope of our editorial mission, broadening the definition of what counts as a FanGraphs piece, blending sabermetrics with the whimsy of NotGraphs.

In 2019, Jason Martinez agreed to bring RosterResource to FanGraphs. Jason’s speed and attention to detail has made FanGraphs a go-to source for depth charts and other roster analysis, with Jon Becker tackling the contract side of the equation. It’s hard to remember what FanGraphs looked like without RosterResource.

Of course, none of the work you’ve come to rely on would possible without our existing full-time editorial staff — in order of tenure, Jeff Zimmerman, David Laurila, Eric Longenhagen, Paul Sporer, Jay Jaffe, Dan Szymborski, Ben Clemens, Michael Baumann, Matt Martell, and Davy Andrews — and our wonderful contributors at both FanGraphs and RotoGraphs. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t offer special thanks to all of our projection providers in Jared Cross, Dash Davidson, Peter Rosenbloom, Derek Carty, Ariel Cohen, Dan Szymborski (again), and Jordan Rosenblum.

I’ve been very lucky to spend the last 20 years working alongside such smart and talented people, and I’ve made life-long friends in the process. The 23-year-old version of me could never have imagined that FanGraphs alums would now be scattered across many of the league’s front offices, or that our writers would be credentialed to cover the World Series, or that I would see our version of WAR cited on big league broadcasts. I started the site with the idea of figuring out how to be a better fantasy player, but over the last 20 years, that initial curiosity has grown into a much broader desire to understand baseball, both on and off the field. Along the way, I hope we’ve inspired our readers to think deeply, learn something new, and find community with a few like-minded nerds (even if we’re all gonna go dateless). Whether you’re looking for research or reporting, statistical tools or fantasy advice, hard-nosed analysis or a laugh, I think you can find it here, from prospects to big leaguers, and in leagues around the world.

I used to think that it would be difficult to replicate the early days of FanGraphs, and I wasn’t wrong. There’s no going back. But I honestly believe that right now, at this very moment, FanGraphs is in the best place it’s ever been.

Of course, we wouldn’t be anywhere without our Members and readers. I’m so thankful for everyone who has taken the time to read our work, peruse our stats, listen to one of our podcasts, or contribute to our continued success. Hopefully we’ve made baseball more enjoyable for you along the way.

Twenty years is a pretty long time in the world of internet media, but I’m hoping it’s just the start.