Step 1: We choose the statistical fields we are interested in seeing. Since we want to know the lowest ERAs and the pitcher, we moved the player´s name field and ERA from the available fields on the left and moved them to the right (selected fields). We also decided we´d like to see the pitcher´s win-lost record and selected those fields as well by double-clicking on each field.

Step 2: We need to specify conditions, in this case for the years 2000 to 2004. This is done by selecting the field, typing in the value and clicking on the Add button to add to the list of conditions. We did this for each condition. Here, we also specified a minimum number of innings to qualify.

Step 3: Ordering. Here we want the pitchers´ ERA listed in ascending order (lowest to highest). Again, it was just a matter of selecting the field on which to order and moving it from the available to the selected list. Note that when selecting a field, the field is removed from the available list as you can select it only once.

Step 4: Grouping. While not needed for all queries, it is needed here because we want Baseball Oracle to add up all the numbers in each season for each player.

Step 5: Again, this step is not always necessary. All we did was to check the Rank box so that a ranking is displayed next to each pitcher and we limited the result only to the top 25 players meeting our conditions.

Step 6: We clicked on the Execute button and within a few seconds, we had our results displayed here. These can be printed or exported to a file. We can close this window and go back and change the conditions easily such as a different period, specify a certain team(s) or specify left-handed pitchers.