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Simon Rottenberg and Baseball, Then and Now: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective

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  • Allen R. Sanderson
  • John J. Siegfried

Abstract

Fifty years ago this Journal published Simon Rottenberg's "The Baseball Players' Labor Market," the first professional journal article in sports economics. In this retrospective we review some of his insights and analyses with regard to competitive balance, constraints on payroll and freedoms to contract, revenue sharing, territorial rights, and the supply of talent. We also note subsequent industry developments Rottenberg could not have anticipated and identify where he was ahead of his time.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen R. Sanderson & John J. Siegfried, 2006. "Simon Rottenberg and Baseball, Then and Now: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(3), pages 594-623, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:114:y:2006:i:3:p:594-623
    DOI: 10.1086/503756
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. El-Hodiri, Mohamed & Quirk, James, 1971. "An Economic Model of a Professional Sports League," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(6), pages 1302-1319, Nov.-Dec..
    2. Gwartney, James & Haworth, Charles, 1974. "Employer Costs and Discrimination: The Case of Baseball," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 873-881, July/Aug..
    3. Simon Rottenberg, 2000. "Resource Allocation and Income Distribution in Professional Team Sports," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 1(1), pages 11-20, February.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Men‐Andri Benz & Leif Brandes & Egon Franck, 2009. "Do Soccer Associations Really Spend On A Good Thing? Empirical Evidence On Heterogeneity In The Consumer Response To Match Uncertainty Of Outcome," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(2), pages 216-235, April.
    3. Yvan J. Kelly, 2008. "Cost Reduction, Competitive Balance, and the Scheduling of Back-to-Back Games in the NBA," Working Papers 0810, International Association of Sports Economists;North American Association of Sports Economists.
    4. Fort, Rodney & Maxcy, Joel & Diehl, Mark, 2016. "Uncertainty by regulation: Rottenberg׳s invariance principle," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 454-467.
    5. Roger Noll, 2006. "Sports Economics at Fifty," Discussion Papers 06-011, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    6. 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.
    7. Philippe Cyrenne, 2013. "Player Salaries, Player Mobility and the Invariance Principle: Evidence from the National Hockey League," Departmental Working Papers 2013-04, The University of Winnipeg, Department of Economics.
    8. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2006. "The Economic Impact on the Dominican Republic of Baseball Player Exports to the USA," MPRA Paper 1672, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Shane Sanders & Justin Ehrlich & James Boudreau, 2017. "Cycles in Team Tennis and Other Paired-Element Contests," Games, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-14, June.
    10. 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 1950s, with the average number of foreign players p," Working Papers 2011-14, University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
    11. Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, 2025. "The Beautiful Dataset," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1363-1423, December.
    12. Yang-Ming Chang & Shane Sanders, 2009. "Pool Revenue Sharing, Team Investments, and Competitive Balance in Professional Sports A Theoretical Analysis," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 10(4), pages 409-428, August.
    13. Rodney Fort, 2015. "Managerial Objectives: A Retrospective on Utility Maximization in Pro Team Sports," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 75-89, February.
    14. Barth, Michael & Emrich, Eike & Daumann, Frank, 2017. "Evaluation of sporting success in Austria: An institutional economics analysis," Working Papers of the European Institute for Socioeconomics 20, European Institute for Socioeconomics (EIS), Saarbrücken.

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