How Much Did Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption Cost Bob Gibson?

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Berri ◽  
Anthony C. Krautmann
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Free Agency ◽  
Baseball Players ◽  
Marginal Revenue Product ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Antitrust Laws ◽  
Major League ◽  
Hall Of Fame ◽  
Baseball Team ◽  
Revenue Product

Major League Baseball was granted an exemption to antitrust laws in 1922 by the Supreme Court. This exemption led to the creation of a monopsonistic labor market that prevented baseball players from fielding offers from other organizations once that player signed with any Major League Baseball team. Economic theory predicts that such a market would reduce a worker’s wage below a worker’s marginal revenue product. The question this study seeks to address is how much wage depression existed before the introduction of free agency in baseball in 1976. Specifically, we will examine the Hall-of-Fame career of Bob Gibson, a career that ended in 1975. Our examination will not only explore the standard approach economists have used to answer this question for more than forty years but also a simpler approach that gives a more realistic answer to the question.

Is offense worth more than defense and pitching? Marginal revenue product and revenue sharing in major league baseball

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Andrew Ehrlich ◽  
Joel M. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Revenue Sharing ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Marginal Revenue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marginal Revenue Product ◽  
Major League ◽  
Team Decision ◽  
Revenue Product

PurposeSports economists have consistently found that winning positively impacts team revenue fans prefer to allocate their entertainment dollars to winning teams. Previous research has also found that fans do not have a preference for how their team wins. However, this research ignores the significant variability in revenue that can exist between teams with similar attendance figures. The authors contribute to the literature by testing whether profit maximizing teams should pay different amounts for different types of production by estimating the marginal revenue product of a win due to offense, defense and pitching.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the 2010–2017 Major League Baseball seasons and an Ordinary Least Squares-Fixed Effects approach, the authors test whether a unit of offensive, defensive and pitching production generates differing amounts of team revenue both before and after revenue sharing. The authors then test if team Wins Above Replacement is a good approximation of actual wins while accounting for the previously observed nonlinear relationship between wins and revenue.FindingsThe authors found that marginal revenue product estimates in the postrevenue sharing model for mowar, pwar and dwar are nearly identical to each other. Further, after predicting prerevenue sharing, the authors find that fans have no preference for mowar, pwar or dwar play styles.Originality/valueThe findings illustrate that team decision-makers appear to be acting irrationally by paying more for offense than they do for defense. Thus, the findings suggest that team decision-makers should value defensive wins and pitching wins at the same rate as offensive wins on the free agent market.

Quantile Insights on Market Structure and Worker Salaries: The Case of Major League Baseball

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1066-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Fort ◽  
Young Hoon Lee ◽  
Taeyeon Oh
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Marginal Revenue ◽  
Total Revenue ◽  
Marginal Revenue Product ◽  
Major League ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Do So ◽  
Revenue Product

The vast majority of the empirical investigation of player marginal revenue product (MRP) and monopsony exploitation rates (MER) implicitly assumed that MRP is constant across the revenue distribution of teams. The few works that do attempt to capture the impact of revenue variation across teams do so via independent variable specification. We bring quantile estimation to bear that allows MRP to vary across the entire revenue distribution in Major League Baseball. Completely in keeping with economic common sense, MRP increases as total revenue rises (to higher and higher quantiles). As with past findings, there is interesting MER dispersion over the length of player tenure in the league and between star and mediocre players. Heretofore unexplored, we also find interesting dispersion in MRP and MER between larger revenue and smaller revenue markets. Our results suggest that independent variable specifications overstate MRP and MER for smaller revenue teams and understate the same for larger revenue team.

Salaries and Race in Professional Baseball: The Hispanic Component

1988 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilbert M. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Regression Coefficients ◽  
Professional Baseball ◽  
Free Agency ◽  
Baseball Players ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Major League ◽  
Relevant Variables ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
Race Ethnicity

This study replicated Christiano’s inquiry on race and salaries in major league baseball in 1987. However, instead of merely dichotomizing the independent variable into black and white, the data were trichotomized into white, black, and Hispanic categories. Unstandardized regression coefficients (after disaggregating the observations by race / ethnicity, position, and free agency status) revealed several instances of salary inequities but no systematic patterning. The conclusion: The salaries of baseball players varying in race / ethnicity were not consistently different even while holding other theoretically relevant variables constant.

scholarly journals Revenue Sharing and Player Salaries in Major League Baseball

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 831-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Richard Hill ◽  
Nicholas A. Jolly
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Revenue Sharing ◽  
Collective Bargaining Agreement ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Marginal Revenue ◽  
Marginal Revenue Product ◽  
Major League ◽  
Salary Distribution ◽  
Revenue Product

This article analyzes how changes made to the revenue sharing agreement in the 2007 Major League Baseball collective bargaining agreement influenced the salaries of position players and pitchers. The tax rates associated with revenue sharing decreased following ratification of the 2007 agreement. Theoretically, these changes should increase players’ marginal revenue product and, therefore, salaries. Results indicate that position players experienced an increase in salary following the 2007 agreement. Pitchers’ salaries also increased, but by a smaller amount. The effect of the 2007 agreement was different throughout the salary distribution for position players, but uniform throughout the distribution for pitchers.

scholarly journals Lower Extremity Biomechanics Predicts Major League Baseball Player Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 232596712110152
Author(s):  
Lucas G. Teske ◽  
Edward C. Beck ◽  
Garrett S. Bullock ◽  
Kristen F. Nicholson ◽  
Brian R. Waterman
Keyword(s):  
Lower Extremity ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Reaction Force ◽  
Regression Trees ◽  
Minimal Detectable Change ◽  
Vertical Force ◽  
Baseball Players ◽  
Major League ◽  
Lower Extremity Biomechanics ◽  
Statistical Metrics

Background: Although lower extremity biomechanics has been correlated with traditional metrics among baseball players, its association with advanced statistical metrics has not been evaluated. Purpose: To establish normative biomechanical parameters during the countermovement jump (CMJ) among Major League Baseball (MLB) players and evaluate the relationship between CMJ-developed algorithms and advanced statistical metrics. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: MLB players in 2 professional organizations performed the CMJ at the beginning of each baseball season from 2013 to 2017. We collected ground-reaction force data including the eccentric rate of force development (“load”), concentric vertical force (“explode”), and concentric vertical impulse (“drive”) as well as the Sparta Score. The advanced statistical metrics from each baseball season (eg, fielding independent pitching [FIP], weighted stolen base runs [wSB], and weighted on-base average) were also gathered for the study participants. The minimal detectable change (MDC) was calculated for each CMJ variable to establish normative parameters. Pearson coefficient analysis and regression trees were used to evaluate associations between CMJ data and advanced statistical metrics for the players. Results: A total of 151 pitchers and 138 batters were included in the final analysis. The MDC for “load,” “explode,” “drive,” and the Sparta Score was 10.3, 8.1, 8.7, and 4.6, respectively, and all demonstrated good reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.75). There was a weak but statistically significant correlation between the Sparta Score and wSB ( r = 0.23; P = .007); however, there were no significant correlations with any other advanced metrics. Regression trees demonstrated superior FIP with higher Sparta Scores in older pitchers compared with younger pitchers. Conclusion: There was a positive but weak correlation between the Sparta Score and base-stealing performance among professional baseball players. Additionally, older pitchers with a higher Sparta Score had statistically superior FIP compared with younger pitchers with a similar Sparta Score after adjusting for age.

scholarly journals A Comparison of Cardinal Gaze Speed between Major League Baseball Players, Amateur Prospects, and Non-athletes

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. e17-e28
Author(s):  
Karla Kubitz ◽  
Claire-Marie Roberts ◽  
Melissa Hunfalvay ◽  
Nicholas Murray
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Professional Baseball ◽  
Baseball Players ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Major League

PurposeSensorimotor variables have been shown to predict performance in professional baseball players. However, cardinal gaze speed in baseball players has received only limited attention. This study tested the hypothesis that the cardinal gaze speed in Major League Baseball (MLB) players would be faster than in amateur prospects and non-athletes. MethodSeventeen MLB athletes, 160 amateur prospects, and 128 non-athletes were tested using an eye-tracking test (i.e., the RightEye CGP test) designed to measure cardinal gaze speed. ResultsMLB players had significantly faster cardinal gaze speed than either amateur prospects or non-athletes. Moreover, there were significant differences in cardinal gaze speed across different directions. ConclusionsThis was the first study to examine the speed of gaze in the cardinal positions in an athletic context. The results highlight the significant difference in cardinal gaze speed between MLB players, amateur prospects, and non-athletes.

History-Dependent Mixed Strategies: Evidence From Major League Baseball

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-398
Author(s):  
Michael William Gmeiner
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Mixed Strategies ◽  
Baseball Players ◽  
Small Magnitude ◽  
Best Response ◽  
Major League

This article analyzes to what extent baseball players adjust mixed strategies depending on the history by which the batting count is realized, then tests if these adjustments are aligned with best-response play. Two situations are examined: (1) pitches preceded by a borderline ball or strike at which the batter did not swing and (2) batters taking a strike as opposed to swinging and missing. Adjustments in batter and pitcher strategy on the following pitch are identified as statistically significant, however, of small magnitude. Analysis considers the effects of these adjustments on the expected runs scored during the plate appearance.

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