Moneyball and the baseball players’ labor market

Holmes, P.M. and Simmons, R. and Berri, D.J. (2018) Moneyball and the baseball players’ labor market. International Journal of Sport Finance, 13 (2). pp. 141-155. ISSN 1558-6235

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Abstract

Michael Lewis’s best-selling book, Moneyball, demonstrated the efforts of Oakland A’s General Manager, Billy Beane, to create a successful baseball team in spite of its location in a small market. Previous studies have argued that the salary returns to the neglected skill of on base percentage (OBP) should rise once the Oakland A’s hitters demonstrated proficiency with this skill. Our key result is that after Moneyball was published in 2003, hitter salaries for free agents signing new contracts were not more closely related to OBP. Consistent with efficiency, we find no long-term change in valuation in OBP. In contrast, we do find evidence of a rise in salary returns to productivity in the form of bases per hit (“power hitting”) but this again is consistent with efficient market adjustment. In sum, it appears the labor market for hitters in baseball was efficient both before and after the appearance of Moneyball.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
International Journal of Sport Finance
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1403
Subjects:
?? business and international managementfinancemarketing ??
ID Code:
132295
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
28 Mar 2019 13:25
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 19:10