Smooth Patch Effect: Freddy Garcia Pitch Leads To New Physics Hypothesis
An April 29, 2011, a low split-finger fastball thrown by Yankees right-handed pitcher Freddy Garcia inspired a whole science study. read...
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Athletes Make The Best Employees – And Wrestlers The Best Of All
I wrestled in school. The advantage of being from a small town before cable television (there, anyway – cable television existed but you had to pay for the lines to get it to a small town) and with no TV reception at all was you find other stuff to do. And being in a small school means you’re going to make the team, whether you are any good or not. Sports teaches about life because...
read moreBaseball Blasphemy? Pitching Is Only 25 Percent Of Team Success
Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr., better known as Connie Mack, once said that pitching is 75 percent of baseball. He was speaking from experience, not data, and looks can be deceiving, as people who think a curve ball move two feet can attest, but science is about understanding the world according to data, and that includes baseball. The data say he is wrong, according to a new analysis...
read moreMajor League Baseball Umpires Are Racist, Says Economist
The highest paid player in baseball has the last name "Rodriguez" and 3 of the top 10 highest paid players in major league baseball are black - but major league umpires are racist, argues Johan Sulaeman, a financial economist at Southern Methodist University.They looked at 3.5 million pitches from 2004 to 2008 found that minority pitchers are so convinced white MLB umpires call strikes more...
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