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Convergence and clustering in major league baseball: the haves and have nots?

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  • Martin Schmidt
  • David Berri

Abstract

There appear to be two distinct views on the level of competitive balance within Major League Baseball. One view, mostly associated with academics, is that competition is more equal today than it ever has been. The other view, mostly associated with the media and the industry, is that competition is far worse today. The present paper, borrowing from the literature on economic convergence, finds that both views are valid. More specifically, while competitive balance has continued to improve, the improvement has been such as to create distinct convergence clusters. A discussion of the composition of these clusters is offered in the text.

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  • Martin Schmidt & David Berri, 2004. "Convergence and clustering in major league baseball: the haves and have nots?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(18), pages 2007-2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:36:y:2004:i:18:p:2007-2014
    DOI: 10.1080/0003684042000261851
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    Cited by:

    1. Stimel Derek S, 2011. "Dependence Relationships between On Field Performance, Wins, and Payroll in Major League Baseball," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Jacob Andrew Loree, 2016. "Determinants of Baseball Success: An Econometric Approach," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 6(2), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Yamamura, Eiji & Shin, Inyong, 2008. "The influence of a leader and social interaction on attendance: The case of the Japanese professional baseball league, 1952-2003," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1412-1426, August.
    4. Zijun Wang, 2006. "Convergence of productivity: a comment," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 1101-1102, November.

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