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STEROIDS AND HOME RUNS
Author(s) -
DE VANY ARTHUR
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2009.00257.x
Subject(s) - league , intermittency , economics , variance (accounting) , distribution (mathematics) , econometrics , mathematics , geography , accounting , mathematical analysis , physics , astronomy , meteorology , turbulence
There has been no change in Major League Baseball home run hitting for 45 yr, in spite of the new records. Players hit with no more power now than before. Records are the result of chance variations in at bats, home runs per hit, and other factors. The clustering of records is implied by the intermittency of the law of home runs. Home runs follow a stable Paretian distribution with infinite variance. The shape and scale of the distribution have not changed over the years. The greatest home run hitters are as rare as great scientists, artists, or composers. ( JEL A10, C02, C16, C52, L51)