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Pitch Call Discrimination in Major League Baseball: The Effect on the Observed Performance and the Salaries

Author

Listed:
  • Reio Tanji

    (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University)

Abstract

This paper identifies discrimination in the professional baseball league in the United States. We consider players, umpires, and team managers as employees, middle managers, and employers in general workplaces. Using huge pitch-bypitch tracking data of the Major League Baseball reveals that umpires from North America favor players with the same region when a pitcher from North America and a batter from other regions are facing. The impact of this is dramatic: players from other regions lose their chances to hit by the unfair pitch call, which values to loss of about $130,000 for in three years.

Suggested Citation

  • Reio Tanji, 2022. "Pitch Call Discrimination in Major League Baseball: The Effect on the Observed Performance and the Salaries," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 22-02, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:osk:wpaper:2202
    as

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    File URL: http://www2.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/econ_society/dp/2202.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    sports; discrimination; in-group bias; baseball;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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