Posted on 08/14/2007 6:51:36 AM PDT by Cat loving Texan
Study finds that umpires' and pitchers' race matters when calling balls and strikes.
By Danny Davis AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, August 14, 2007
First, one study claimed that basketball referees were racially biased. Now, a new study by a University of Texas professor says baseball umpires are guilty of discrimination, too.
Major-league umpires are more likely to give favorable calls to pitchers who share their same race or ethnicity, UT economics professor Daniel Hamermesh and his team found in the study of 2,120,166 pitches over three seasons.
The report comes three months after another scholarly study found racial bias among referees in the National Basketball Association in regards to calling fouls.
Hamermesh, author of "Economics Is Everywhere" and a specialist in the economics of labor demand and markets, and fellow researchers saw an opportunity to expand on the idea of bias in sports officiating. Whereas an NBA referee is not obligated to make a call on every play, home-plate umpires must make a judgment call on every pitch that isn't hit.
"Baseball provided us with an opportunity to refine our study and explore other avenues," said study contributor Christopher Parsons, an assistant professor of finance at McGill University in Montreal. "We were able to employ different levels of scrutiny and see if umpires were up to any funny business when making their calls."
For the survey, researchers collected data on every pitch from the 2004-06 seasons. Only pitches for which umpires had to make a judgment call were used in the study.
White umpires, who researchers said accounted for 87 percent of the league's umpires, were more likely to give a called strike to a white pitcher than to a pitcher who is Hispanic, African American or Asian.
White pitchers were granted a strike on 32.06 percent of the called pitches that white umpires viewed, as opposed to 31.47 percent for Hispanic pitchers and 30.61 percent for African American pitchers.
"The potential for racial/ethnic preferences to affect a game directly through called pitches alone is questionable," the study conceded but added that indirect effects of bias might be more pronounced. "If ... pitchers, hitters or managers alter their strategies because of the umpire's behavior, the potential for racial bias to affect the game is greatly expanded."
The study, which might not be published for another two years, concluded that when umpires know that they are being scrutinized, the evidence of racial bias tends to drop.
For instance, in the 11 ballparks that use the QuesTec system to track the location of every pitch and every umpire's call (such as Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros), the researchers found less racial bias.
Similar results were found based on attendance (more bias at lesser-attended games) and the importance of the pitch (less bias when the umpire's call would declare the batter out).
"This suggests that this behavior is subconscious and when you are being watched, you don't behave that way," said Hamermesh.
Major League Baseball's vice president of umpiring wasn't buying it.
Mike Port said that although he had only scanned the 33-page report, he has never heard of race being an issue with umpires. Port conceded that umpires aren't perfect but maintained that missed calls were more likely due to human error than subconscious discrimination.
"It's nothing that we've even pondered," Port said. "I grant that umpires do miss pitches, but I hope that doesn't set off the eureka factor for someone."
danieldavis@statesman.com
Yes, and teams who wear black uniforms play more agressively, blah, blah, blah...
“White pitchers were granted a strike on 32.06 percent of the called pitches that white umpires viewed, as opposed to 31.47 percent for Hispanic pitchers and 30.61 percent for African American pitchers.”
How do they know whites don’t have a different pitching style? Perhaps Hispanics try more difficult pitches?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I’ll take junk science for 400, Alex.
**** The report comes three months after another scholarly study found racial bias among referees in the National Basketball Association in regards to calling fouls. ****
Absolutely wrong and without base. The refs were paid to call games in a team’s favor.
perhaps the number differences are statistically insignificant.
Baseballs are white. Why isn’t something being done about this travesty?
Well yes they get paid, I meant to say bribed.
Try telling that to Bobby Cox...he’s been the victim of mostly white, anglo-saxon umps and tossed more times than a pizza at Dominos.
I love that they didn’t address the race of the batter. Why are the umpires only racist toward the pitchers?
This is meaningless. How do we know that those percentages don't line up with the actual frequency of strikes thrown?
I think you'd have to analyze this in a different way; take a subset of pitches that you can verify are actually strikes, and see how many are called differently.
I have two questions:
1.) Why would anybody spend money on a study like this?
2.) Where did the money come from?
“Try telling that to Bobby Cox...”
That’s because Bobby thinks only his pitchers are entitled to an extra 3” on either side of the plate, a concession he was very successful at obtaining throughout the 90’s.
I am beyond believing any more “studies” done in any country, much less this one.
Who the He?? Pays people to sit on their backsides and “study” crap like this?
They don’t produce a darm thing that is useful. It is one great big waste of time and money.
What’s worse: These “researchers” think they are contributing something to society!!!
Wait? There are white players in the NBA?
Throw strikes Babe ruth is dead.
The answer to #2 will give you the answer to #1.
I can’t help but wonder what motivated this guy to even think about studying this.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.