In 1913 Al Elias and his brother Walter established their Bureau of Statistics. Their first production was scorecards featuring the latest team and individual statistics, which they peddled in saloons and other haunts of baseball fans. But newspapers refused to consider the use of their stats until three years later, when Elias sold their first weekly compilation of batting and pitching averages to the New York Telegram. Three years later the brothers were the official statisticians for the NL and International League. Other minor leagues soon signed up. In 1937 they took over publication of the Little Red Book, and for many years published the official Green Book, the NL’s annual summary.
