IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jospec/v18y2017i6p622-637.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structural Breaks in the Game

Author

Listed:
  • Peter A. Groothuis
  • Kurt W. Rotthoff
  • Mark C. Strazicich

Abstract

To search for eras in a sports league, we utilize time-series tests with structural breaks in Major League Baseball performance. Using data from 1871-2010, the mean and standard deviation of four different performance measures are examined. Throughout, rather than assume that a break point is known a priori, we identify breaks endogenously from the data. Perhaps most notable among our findings, we identify a deterministic trend in mean slugging percentage with breaks in 1921 and 1992. Interestingly, these years closely coincide with the early years of the free-swinging (Babe Ruth) era and the modern steroid era, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter A. Groothuis & Kurt W. Rotthoff & Mark C. Strazicich, 2017. "Structural Breaks in the Game," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(6), pages 622-637, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:18:y:2017:i:6:p:622-637
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002515593113
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1527002515593113
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1527002515593113?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    2. Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, 2004. "Structural changes during a century of the world’s most popular sport," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 13(2), pages 241-258, September.
    3. Young Lee & Rodney Fort, 2008. "Attendance and the Uncertainty-of-Outcome Hypothesis in Baseball," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 33(4), pages 281-295, December.
    4. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    5. Junsoo Lee & Mark C. Strazicich, 2013. "Minimum LM unit root test with one structural break," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2483-2492.
    6. Rodney Fort & Young Hoon Lee, 2007. "Structural Change, Competitive Balance, And The Rest Of The Major Leagues," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(3), pages 519-532, July.
    7. Young Hoon Lee & Rodney Fort, 2005. "Structural Change in MLB Competitive Balance: The Depression, Team Location, and Integration," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 43(1), pages 158-169, January.
    8. Young Hoon Lee & Rodney Fort, 2012. "Competitive Balance: Time Series Lessons from the E nglish P remier L eague," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 59(3), pages 266-282, July.
    9. Nieswiadomy Michael L. & Strazicich Mark C. & Clayton Stephen, 2012. "Was There a Structural Break in Barry Bonds's Bat?," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 8(3), pages 1-19, October.
    10. Prodan, Ruxandra, 2008. "Potential Pitfalls in Determining Multiple Structural Changes With an Application to Purchasing Power Parity," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 26, pages 50-65, January.
    11. Brian Mills & Rodney Fort, 2014. "League-Level Attendance And Outcome Uncertainty In U.S. Pro Sports Leagues," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 205-218, January.
    12. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 2003. "Computation and analysis of multiple structural change models," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(1), pages 1-22.
    13. Martin B. Schmidt & David J. Berri, 2004. "The Impact of Labor Strikes on Consumer Demand: An Application to Professional Sports," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 344-357, March.
    14. Junsoo Lee & Mark C. Strazicich, 2003. "Minimum Lagrange Multiplier Unit Root Test with Two Structural Breaks," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 1082-1089, November.
    15. Seung C.Ahn & Young H. Lee, 2014. "Major League Baseball Attendance: Long-term Analysis Using Factor Models," Working Papers 1402, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    16. Rodney Fort & Young Hoon Lee, 2006. "Stationarity and Major League Baseball Attendance Analysis," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 7(4), pages 408-415, November.
    17. Seung C. Ahn & Young H. Lee, 2014. "Major League Baseball Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(5), pages 451-477, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. McFall, Todd & Rotthoff, Kurt W., 2020. "Risk-taking dynamics in tournaments: Evidence from professional golf," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 378-394.
    2. Craig A. Depken & Peter A. Groothuis & Mark C. Strazicich, 2020. "Evolution Of Community Deterrence: Evidence From The National Hockey League," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 289-303, April.
    3. Brian M. Mills, 2017. "Policy Changes In Major League Baseball: Improved Agent Behavior And Ancillary Productivity Outcomes," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(2), pages 1104-1118, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Craig A. Depken & Peter A. Groothuis & Mark C. Strazicich, 2020. "Evolution Of Community Deterrence: Evidence From The National Hockey League," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 38(2), pages 289-303, April.
    2. Brian M. Mills & Steven Salaga, 2015. "Historical Time Series Perspectives on Competitive Balance in NCAA Division I Basketball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(6), pages 614-646, August.
    3. Brian M. Mills & Rodney Fort, 2018. "Team-Level Time Series Analysis in MLB, the NBA, and the NHL," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(7), pages 911-933, October.
    4. Craig A. Depken II & Peter A. Groothuis & Mark C. Strazicich, 2016. "The Rise and Fall of the Enforcer in the National Hockey League," Working Papers 16-12, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    5. Steven Salaga & Rodney Fort, 2017. "Structural Change in Competitive Balance in Big-Time College Football," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(1), pages 27-41, February.
    6. Young Hoon Lee, 2009. "The Impact of Postseason Restructuring on the Competitive Balance and Fan Demand in Major League Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(3), pages 219-235, June.
    7. Hayley Jang & Young Hoon Lee & Rodney Fort, 2019. "Winning In Professional Team Sports: Historical Moments," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(1), pages 103-120, January.
    8. Giorgio Canarella & Rangan Gupta & Stephen M. Miller & Stephen K. Pollard, 2019. "Unemployment rate hysteresis and the great recession: exploring the metropolitan evidence," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 61-79, January.
    9. Martin B. Schmidt, 2021. "On the evolution of athlete anthropometric measurements: racial integration, expansion, and steroids," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(6), pages 3419-3443, December.
    10. Anthony C. Krautmann & Young Hoon Lee & Kevin Quinn, 2011. "Playoff Uncertainty and Pennant Races," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(5), pages 495-514, October.
    11. Zakamulin, Valeriy & Hunnes, John A., 2021. "Stock earnings and bond yields in the US 1871–2017: The story of a changing relationship," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 182-197.
    12. Ahmed El Ghini & Youssef Saidi, 2017. "Return and volatility spillovers in the Moroccan stock market during the financial crisis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1481-1504, June.
    13. Rodney Fort & Young Hoon Lee, 2007. "Structural Change, Competitive Balance, And The Rest Of The Major Leagues," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 45(3), pages 519-532, July.
    14. Nieswiadomy Michael L. & Strazicich Mark C. & Clayton Stephen, 2012. "Was There a Structural Break in Barry Bonds's Bat?," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 8(3), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Young Lee & Rodney Fort, 2008. "Attendance and the Uncertainty-of-Outcome Hypothesis in Baseball," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 33(4), pages 281-295, December.
    16. Rodney Fort & Young Hoon Lee, 2006. "Stationarity and Major League Baseball Attendance Analysis," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 7(4), pages 408-415, November.
    17. Young Hoon Lee & Rodney Fort, 2012. "Competitive Balance: Time Series Lessons from the E nglish P remier L eague," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 59(3), pages 266-282, July.
    18. Wilton Bernardino & João B. Amaral & Nelson L. Paes & Raydonal Ospina & José L. Távora, 2022. "A statistical investigation of a stock valuation model," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(8), pages 1-25, August.
    19. Fort, Rodney & Maxcy, Joel & Diehl, Mark, 2016. "Uncertainty by regulation: Rottenberg׳s invariance principle," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 454-467.
    20. EL BOUHADI, Hamid & OUAHID, Driss, 2014. "Datation des changements structurels au sein d’une chronique : le cas des séries macroéconomiques marocaines [Dating structural changes in time series : the case of the Moroccan macroeconomic serie," MPRA Paper 68168, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:18:y:2017:i:6:p:622-637. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.