2014 marks the 75th anniversary of the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). There are no statistical guidelines for a player to meet in order to be chosen. Rather, members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) who are qualified to vote will vote based on the candidates’ abilities, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the …
Before reading another excellent posting by one of my baseball and statistics students, here is an update on free agency signings and non-signings. As a Yankee fan, I can’t tell you how excited I am about the signing of Brian McCann, the 30 year old former Braves catcher. The 2013 Yankee catchers were near the …
Unless you have been in a cave for the last three weeks, the names Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin are very familiar to you. As a recap both Richie and Jonathan were starting linemen for the Miami Dolphins this year (in fact side-by-side linemen). Jonathan abruptly left the Dolphins and claimed he was a victim …
The blog below was written by Dr. Martin E. Cobern, a longtime friend of Dr. Stan, the Stats Man. Despite the fact that we support warring factions in the baseball wars, our friendship has lasted for over 40 years. When he is not blogging, Dr. Cobern is Vice-President, Research at APS Technology, Inc. in Wallingford, CT. I know …
Speaking of marathons, here is an interesting statistic about this year’s New York Marathon. Of the 50,740 runners who started the NYC Marathon, only 436 did not finish. The oldest finisher was 89 years old. How About that? Now, returning to baseball, I would like to offer my congratulations to the Red Sox organization and …
Of course, this title refers to the Boston Red Sox. The 1991 Minnesota Twins are the only other team to win a championship one year after finishing in last place. What a tremendous WS we have just witnessed! Yes, there were some strange endings to games like a game ending with a walk off obstruction …
It is 8 AM Sunday night and I am looking forward to Game 4. What an incredible ending to Game 3. As I stated on Facebook, I think it is clear that the home plate umpire made the right call in the ninth inning. Even though the obstruction was not intentional, the third baseman clearly …
As the 2013 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals begins, I felt it would be appropriate to discuss how the World Series started. Before 1903, many attempts were made by baseball to declare a champion between existing leagues. Leagues were made and disappeared throughout the 19th Century. In 1894, Pittsburgh’s owner …
In my July 23, 2013 blog posting, I made my predictions for the post-season. You can read this blog by going to my blog page and clicking on the month of July in the archives. Quoting from that blog I wrote, “These are my playoff predictions for 2013. First, the division winners are for the …
In 2012, the MLB changed its playoff format (thank you Bud Selig) to include two Wild Card teams in each league, with those clubs playing each other in a one-game playoff for the right to move on to the Division Series. Let’s turn the clock back to 2012. The two Wild Card AL teams were …