A Strange Sentence About Grand Slams
From today’s Times, an article by David Waldstein called “Mets’ Stretch Without a Slam? Gone. Gone“:
The Mets had gone 299 games and 280 plate appearances with the bases loaded since their last grand slam, while their opponents had hit 18 during that span. So when the opportunity arose in the fourth inning Tuesday night — with Jason Bay at the plate, no less — the chance of a Mets grand slam was slim.
Was the chance of a grand slam really so slim? Read More »
Quitting Time
No one wants to be called a quitter. And absolutely no one wants to be the guy who tells other people to quit … except maybe Stephen Dubner. Today on Marketplace, Dubner explains the virtues of quitting to Tess Vigeland, making the case that people don’t quit enough. Read More »
Dear Yankees: I Am a Bad-Luck Charm
Ever since writing a post last fall asking what Derek Jeter is worth to the Yankees, I’ve been sent a number of requests asking how to best forecast the date when Jeter would get his 3,000th hit so as to be present for that special game.
Sorry, but I put very little thought into this problem. Why? Mostly out of self-interest: for me, this problem wasn’t much of a problem. I live in New York so if I wanted to try to see that game, I’d just wait until Jeter got fairly close and then buy tickets for an upcoming game. I had no travel or other issues to work around. Read More »
Baseball’s Rainy Season
Major League Baseball is off to one of its wettest starts ever. The league came into this week having already postponed 26 games, which is 6 more than were washed out all of last season. According to Dailybaseballdata.com:
From 2006-2009, each season had from 33-38 rainouts. But 26 through mid-May puts us on a pace to wash out 100 games this year!
Today’s weather forecast and schedule looks to spell more rainouts. Read More »
What Do Blood and Baseball Have in Common? Bill James
We’re quite fond of Bill James in these parts. The baseball-stats guru and sabermetrics pioneer brought a level of scientific analysis to baseball that has changed the game. He’s appeared on this blog a number of times, including a Q&A in which he fielded your baseball questions. So you might be interested to know that James is now trying his hand at another field: crime writing. And he brings to it the same scientific zeal. Read More »
Yankees-Red Sox: Boston Rough Start Good News for Wall Street?
Should we all be Yankees fans? The S&P has averaged a double-digit annual gain every year following a Yankees’ championship. Not bad considering they’re won 27. Read More »
The “Baseball Economist” Answers Your Questions
We recently solicited your questions for “baseball economist” J.C. Bradbury, author of the new book Hot Stove Economics. His responses show great range. The most fascinating answer, in response to a question about the agent Scott Boras’s dominating performance: “I have a theory that Boras sells his own insurance to players by promising players a minimum salary in return for waiting for free agency. This way, players get insurance against injury, more income if they reach free agency in good health, and Boras gets a bigger cut.” Read More »
Bring Your Questions for “the Baseball Economist”
Diehard baseball fans know that the season doesn’t really end with the World Series. It just downshifts a bit, as J.C. Bradbury explains in his new book Hot Stove Economics: “The final out of the World Series marks the beginning of baseball’s second season, when teams court free agents and orchestrate trades with the hope of building a championship contender. The real and anticipated transactions generate excitement among fans who discuss the merit of moves in the arena informally known as the ‘hot stove league.’” Read More »
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