Fifty Years of Dazzling, Dizzying Threads: Anniversary of Pittsburgh Pirates Debuting Double-Knits July 1970.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 63-67
Author(s):  
Ken Moon
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Uniform Design ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
Textile Technology ◽  
Major League ◽  
Artificial Surface ◽  
The Look ◽  
Three Rivers ◽  
Surface Fields

This article was originally accepted for presentation at the Baseball in Literature and Culture Conference at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas, in April 2020 (conference cancelled due to Covid-19 outbreak) and presented virtually (via Zoom) for the 37th Sports Literature Association Conference, Virtual Edition June 19, 2020. This article commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Pittsburgh Pirates, when debuting in Three Rivers Stadium fifty years ago July 16, 1970, making a fashion statement in their new uniforms that would change the look of the game as much as the multi-purpose stadiums and artificial surface fields Major Leaguers played on. Their white double-knit uniforms would spark a revolution in uniform design soon to be adopted by all the Major League teams within a couple years. Their uniform’s nylon-cotton blend fabric changed the look of Major League Baseball at a time when advancements in textile technology combined with a freer spirit in graphics experimentation allowed for bold—and sometimes wild—fashion designs not seen before in professional sports. Several books along with news and commercial web sites/sources are referenced to confirm information in the article.

scholarly journals Revenue Sharing in Major League Baseball: The Moments That Meant so Much

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane Rockerbie ◽  
Stephen Easton
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
Revenue Sharing ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Small Market ◽  
Major League ◽  
Sports Leagues ◽  
Professional Sports Leagues

Revenue sharing is a common league policy in professional sports leagues. Several motivations for revenue sharing have been explored in the literature, including supporting small market teams, affecting league parity, suppressing player salaries, and improving team profitability. We investigate a different motivation. Risk-averse team owners, through their commissioner, are able to increase their utility by using revenue sharing to affect higher order moments of the revenue distribution. In particular, it may reduce the variance and kurtosis, as well as affecting the skewness of the league distribution of team local revenues. We first determine the extent to which revenue sharing affects these moments in theory, then we quantify the effects on utility for Major League Baseball over the period 2002–2013. Our results suggest that revenue sharing produced significant utility gains at little cost, which enhanced the positive effects noted by other studies.

Damn Yankees and Relocations 1964 and 1965

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David George Surdam
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
National Football League ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Major League ◽  
Sports Leagues ◽  
Professional Sports Leagues

This chapter examines the issue of franchise relocation. Legislators had two main concerns throughout the series of hearings: to procure teams for their constituents while avoiding losing teams via relocation. The legislators' concerns were imbued with an element of reality, at least. Cities with multiple Major League Baseball (MLB) teams usually had one team that was struggling, and legislators held a different attitude to such teams relocating than they would with regard to later relocations of prosperous teams. This chapter first considers three options for acquiring a big-league team: purchase an existing team, hope for an expansion team in an established league, or enter a team into a new league. It then discusses the economics of franchise relocations, along with the early histories of franchise turnovers in professional sports leagues, including the National Football League (NFL) and its predecessor, the American Professional Football Association. It also looks at Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS) purchase of the New York Yankees during the 1964 season that sparked fears of an unfair alliance.

The Consequences (and Nonconsequences) of Ownership Change: The Case of Major League Baseball

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip L. Hersch ◽  
Jodi E. Pelkowski
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
General Manager ◽  
Major League ◽  
Sports Team ◽  
Ultimate Responsibility ◽  
Transition Change

Although ultimate responsibility for a professional sports team lies with the owner, little is known about the repercussions of having a new owner at the helm. This article investigates ownership change in Major League Baseball. Estimates indicate that new owners do not impact on-field success relative to teams with continuous ownership. A temporary 8% bump in player payrolls, however, is observed in the first few years of owner transition. Change in ownership increases the odds of general manager and manager dismissals and is also more likely to trigger modifications to team logos and player uniforms.

Risk-Averse Team Owners and Players’ Salaries in Major League Baseball

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony C. Krautmann
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Major League ◽  
Carry Over

This article looks at the role an owner’s attitude toward risk plays in his salary bids for free agents in Major League Baseball. We show that risk-averse owners will pay a premium for consistency on the field. Our empirical results are consistent with the hypothesis that a free agent’s contract terms are negatively related to the degree of variability in his performance. To the extent that our results carry over to all players, this suggests a heretofore unrecognized factor affecting the market for talent in professional sports.

A Whole Different Ball Game, 1968–81

2020 ◽  
pp. 181-207
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Schatz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ball Game ◽  
Major League ◽  
The U.S

In the 1970s President Richard M. Nixon and President Gerald Ford appointed John Dunlop and David Cole to new posts to try to handle the stagflation and wave of strikes that were plaguing the U.S. economy. Their attempts to implement corporatist-style solutions failed. Secretary of Labor Dunlop’s resignation in early 1976 marked a turning point in relations between unions and corporations in the United States. Yet rather than retiring, Labor Board vets began resolving conflicts in other sectors of the economy—beginning with Major League Baseball and other professional sports.

scholarly journals The Attendance Boost Is Over-Rated For Interleague Baseball, And The Big Mac Attack Is A Hit On The Road: All This And More From The Within-Season Demand Model For Major League Baseball

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Bruggink ◽  
Colin Roosma
Keyword(s):  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
Traditional Theory ◽  
Demand Model ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Sports Industry ◽  
The Road ◽  
Major League ◽  
Day Of The Week ◽  
On The Road

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">The theory of microeconomic demand is seldom estimated with a rich set of data, yet there is no shortage of statistics in professional sports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Using the sports industry enables economists to extend traditional theory of demand to include products that change daily (the visiting team) as well as the circumstances of their consumption (e.g., the day of the week).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>In fact the home games of professional sports are never identical from one game to the next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>This variation allows one to estimate the quantity response to each of a multitude of factors.</span></p>

Major League Baseball and Crime: Opportunity, Spatial Patterns, and Team Rivalry at St. Louis Cardinal Games

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 875-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Mares ◽  
Emily Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Financial Benefit ◽  
Sports Teams ◽  
Disorderly Conduct ◽  
Chicago Cubs ◽  
Major League ◽  
Baseball Team

Hosting professional sports teams is often seen as a financial benefit for cities. In the following analysis, we provide evidence that sports teams also carry costs. The analysis, the first examining a Major League Baseball team, finds significant increases in a variety of crimes during home game days of the St. Louis Cardinals. Adjusting for attendance and game length, this study finds that larcenies, motor vehicle thefts, minor assaults, disorderly conduct, and destruction of property increase in volume during game days. Increases concentrate especially around the immediate stadium area, but some are also observable in citywide levels of crime. Additionally, this study examines differences between the time of day a game is played and games played against its historic rival, the Chicago Cubs.

An Overview of the Hearings

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David George Surdam
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Major League Baseball ◽  
Professional Sports ◽  
World War ◽  
Congressional Hearings ◽  
Major League ◽  
Sports Leagues ◽  
Professional Sports Leagues

This chapter provides an overview of the hearings conducted by Congress in the wake of player unrest after World War II and growing demand for new baseball franchises. The Congressional hearings began in 1951, when Emanuel Celler (N.Y.), chair of the House Subcommittee on Anti-trust and Monopoly, initiated an inquiry into Major League Baseball (MLB). For the first hearings, Celler told reporters that the committee's purpose was to “help baseball against itself.” During the hearings, few of the legislators impressed with their savvy. Some did not appear to understand the testimony. On occasion a few made dubious comments. The hearings occasionally lapsed into farce. The chapter considers sports owners' reluctance to release their financial records as well as professional sports leagues' search for antitrust exemptions.

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