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Race and Ethnicity Assessment in Baseball Card Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Rodney Fort

    (Washington State University)

  • Andrew Gill

    (California State University, Fullerton)

Abstract

There is a growing literature investigating fan discrimination revealed in markets for sports memorabilia. Such estimates miss the mark for two reasons. First, simply measuring race as a binary variable may be less insightful than an alternative measure. Second, although it is the race perceptions of market participants that matter, past studies rely exclusively on researcher race/ethnicity assessment. The authors provide an estimation framework using continuous, market participant reports of race/ethnicity. The results show that past race/ethnicity results in card markets suffer from errors in variables and that continuous, market participant reports of race/ethnicity provide (carefully defined) "better" estimation results. The authors find that race/ethnicity matters and in a way is consistent with a model of statistical discrimination by those baseball fans who trade in the card market. The discrimination is against Black and Hispanic hitters and Black pitchers but not against Hispanic pitchers.

Suggested Citation

  • Rodney Fort & Andrew Gill, 2000. "Race and Ethnicity Assessment in Baseball Card Markets," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 1(1), pages 21-38, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:1:y:2000:i:1:p:21-38
    DOI: 10.1177/152700250000100103
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Matthew C. Palmer & Randall H. King, 2006. "Has Salary Discrimination Really Disappeared From Major League Baseball?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 285-297, Spring.
    4. Scott Tainsky & Brian M. Mills & Jason A. Winfree, 2015. "Further Examination of Potential Discrimination Among MLB Umpires," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(4), pages 353-374, May.
    5. David J. Berri & Richard C. K. Burdekin & Christian Deutscher, 2022. "Nationality Effects on the Allocation of Playing Time in the Chinese Basketball Association: Xenophilia or Xenophobia?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(2), pages 156-174, February.
    6. Martin B. Schmidt, 2021. "The Competitive Returns To The Global Search For Talent: Professional Sports Markets And Foreigners," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 396-419, January.
    7. Thompson Thomas H & Sen Kabir C, 2011. "Valuing Nostalgia: The Case of the Topps 1957 Baseball Cards," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-16, May.
    8. David J. Berri & Christian Deutscher & Arturo Galletti, 2015. "Born in the USA: National Origin Effects on Time Allocation in US and Spanish Professional Basketball," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232(1), pages 41-50, May.
    9. Eric Primm & Nicole Leeper Piquero & Robert M. Regoli & Alex R. Piquero, 2010. "The Role of Race in Football Card Prices," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(1), pages 129-142, March.
    10. Rodney Paul & Andrew Weinbach & Justin Mattingly, 2018. "Tests of Racial Discrimination in a Simple Financial Market: Managers in Major League Baseball," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10, March.
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    12. L. J. Van Scyoc & N. J. Burnett, 2013. "How times have changed: racial discrimination in the market for sports memorabilia (baseball cards)," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(9), pages 875-878, June.

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