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The Cost of Discrimination: A Study of Major League Baseball

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  • Andrew Hanssen

Abstract

This article seeks to determine whether discriminators perform differently than nondiscriminators, whether that performance difference serves to inhibit discrimination, and, if so, how the process works. It investigates an area with abundant data on both the racial mix of participants and firm performance—major league baseball. A sizeable and statistically significant relationship between winning and the presence of black players in the starting lineup is found to hold for the early years of the 1950s and to decline, as expected, as the average number of black ballplayers on major league rosters increased. However, a puzzle emerges in the fact that a significantly slower rate of integration was pursued in the American League (AL) than in the National League (NL) despite there being nearly identical associations between black players and winning in each. The most likely solution to that puzzle is that fan preferences differed—each black player on an AL team appears to have reduced attendance by significantly more than he would have on a NL team. Examination also reveals that when substitute players are considered separately, the positive association between the number of blacks employed and winning is much weaker, whereas the negative association between black ballplayers and attendance is the same. Not coincidentally, black players made up a significantly smaller proportion of substitutes than they did of starters throughout the entire period.

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  • Andrew Hanssen, 1998. "The Cost of Discrimination: A Study of Major League Baseball," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(3), pages 603-627, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:64:y:1998:i:3:p:603-627
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.1998.tb00083.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Akihiko Kawaura & Sumner La Croix, 2016. "Integration Of North And South American Players In Japan'S Professional Baseball Leagues," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(3), pages 1107-1130, August.
    2. B. Jay Coleman & J. Michael DuMond & Allen K. Lynch, 2008. "An Examination of NBA MVP Voting Behavior," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(6), pages 606-627, December.
    3. F. Andrew Hanssen & James W. Meehan Jr, 2009. "Who Integrated Major League Baseball Faster," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(2), pages 141-154, April.
    4. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2009. "The Economics of Discrimination: Evidence from Basketball," NCER Working Paper Series 40, National Centre for Econometric Research.
    5. Paul M. Holmes & Robert F. Kane, 2023. "The Spread of Integration in Major League Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(3), pages 271-284, April.
    6. Amanda Olsen & Michael A. Leeds, 2024. "Integration and Team Performance in the NBA," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(2), pages 257-278, February.
    7. Todd M. Nesbit & Kerry A. King-Adzima, 2012. "Major League Baseball Attendance and the Role of Fantasy Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(5), pages 494-514, October.
    8. Akihiko Kawaura & Sumner La Croix, 2011. "Integration of North and South American Players in Japan's Professional Baseball Leagues Teams in Japan’s two professional baseball leagues began to add foreign players to their rosters in the early 1," Working Papers 2011-14, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    9. David Branham, 2008. "Taking Advantage of an Untapped Pool: Assessing the Success of African American Head Coaches in the National Football League," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 35(4), pages 129-146, December.
    10. Brunello, Giorgio & Yamamura, Eiji, 2023. "Desperately Seeking a Japanese Yokozuna," IZA Discussion Papers 16536, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2000. "The Sports Business as a Labor Market Laboratory," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 75-94, Summer.
    12. Brian L. Goff & Robert E. McCormick & Robert D. Tollison, 2002. "Racial Integration as an Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Sports Leagues," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 16-26, March.
    13. Philip L. Hersch, 2010. "Customer discrimination against black major league baseball pitchers reconsidered," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 205-208, January.
    14. Bryce Kanago & David George Surdam, 2020. "Intimidation, Discrimination, and Retaliation: Hit-by-Pitches during the Integration of Major League Baseball," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 48(1), pages 67-85, March.
    15. Berri, David J. & Schmidt, Martin B., 2002. "Instrumental versus bounded rationality: a comparison of Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 191-214.
    16. Jeffrey Chu & Saralees Nadarajah & Emmanuel Afuecheta & Stephen Chan & Ying Xu, 2014. "A statistical study of racism in English football," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2915-2937, September.
    17. Christopher J. Coyne & Justin P. Isaacs & Jeremy T. Schwartz, 2010. "Comment on Hanssen and Meehan, ‘‘Who Integrated Major League Baseball Faster Winning Teams or Losing Teams?’’," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(2), pages 227-231, April.
    18. F. Andrew Hanssen & James W. Meehan Jr & Thomas J. Miceli, 2016. "Explaining Changes in Organizational Form," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(6), pages 523-557, August.

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