Abstract
During the first ten seasons of integrated Major League Baseball, black batters were hit by pitches about 86% more often per plate-appearance than white batters. However, on average black players during this period were superior players. To investigate to what extent the difference in hit-by-pitch can be explained by performance and characteristics other than race, we use a fractional logit model to estimate hit-by-pitch per plate appearance during a season. Our data are from Baseball-Reference.com. Controlling for differences in performance and other characteristics and including interaction terms with race, the difference falls to about 42%. A little over half the difference is explained by factors beyond race. The remaining difference might reflect different batting styles for early black batters. However, when observations where hit-by-pitch per plate appearance are in the top 2.5% of the sample are removed, black players were about 46% more likely to be hit. Plots of the marginal effects from a model using interactive terms show that the likelihood of a black player being hit rose relative to that of a white player as base-on-balls, singles, doubles, home runs, or stolen bases per plate appearance rose. Some pitchers may have exhibited animosity towards black players either by hitting them or taking less care to avoid hitting them. Our findings support previous research that better batters and batters who play for teams who score more runs are more likely to be hit by pitches. Because empirical evidence suggests pitchers might alter pitches to intimidate, discriminate, or retaliate, changes to existing rules could reduce the frequency of hits-by-pitch.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
For examples see Hanssen and Andersen (1999) for all-star voting, Hanssen (1998) for attendance, Groothuis and Hill (2008) for career length, Rimer (1996) for hiring of managers, Holmes (2011) for salaries, Nardinelli and Simon (1990) for memorabilia, Findlay and Reid (1997) for selection to the Hall of Fame, and Parsons et al. (2011) for umpiring.
Only one MLB player, Ray Chapman, died from being hit by a pitch. Some players had serious injuries including impaired vision that shortened their careers (Knapel 2012). A study by Camp et al. (2018) found that during the 2011–2015 seasons 17% of injuries caused by hits-by-pitch resulted in head or face injuries and 5% resulted in concussions.
We use the term “black” instead of “African-American,” because some of the black players were from the Caribbean or Latin America.
The predicted percentage of hits = \( 1/\Big(1+{e}^{-\left({\beta}_0+{\beta}_1{X}_1+{\beta}_2{X}_2+\dots +\kern0.5em {\beta}_n{X}_n\right)} \)). The partial derivative with respect to Xi equals \( {\beta}_{\mathrm{i}}{e}^{-\left({\beta}_0+{\beta}_1{X}_1+{\beta}_2{X}_2+\dots +\kern0.5em {\beta}_n{X}_n\right)}/\Big(1+{e}^{-\left({\beta}_0+{\beta}_1{X}_1+{\beta}_2{X}_2+\dots +{\beta}_n{X}_n\right)} \)).
In order of their highest value of hit-by-pitch in a season are Wayne Belardi, Minnie Miñoso, Solly Hemus, Sherm Lollar, Frank Robinson, Clint Courtney, Tommy Galviano, Andy Pafko, Nellie Fox, Sam Vico, Eddie Robinson, Eddie Yost, Jackie Robinson, Clarence Maddern, Bill Wilson, Fred Hatfield, Joe Garagiola, George Crowe, Al Smith, Billy Martin, Irv Noren, Tommy Brown, Rudy Regalado, Lou Boudreau, Bobby Del Greco, Walker Cooper, Whitey Kurowski, Toby Atwell, Andy Seminick, Joe Astroth, Gene Hearmanski, and Eddie Pellagrini.
References
Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. https://www.Baseball-Reference.com/ accessed August, 26th, 2019.
Bradbury, J. C., & Drinen, D. (2006). The designated hitter, moral hazard, and hit batters: New evidence from game-level data. Journal of Sports Economics, 7(3), 319–329.
Bradbury, J. C., & Drinen, D. J. (2007). Crime and punishment in Major League Baseball: The case of the designated hitter and hit batters. Economic Inquiry, 45(1), 131–144.
Camp, C. L., Wang, D., Sinatro, A. S., D’Angelo, J., Coleman, S. H., Dines, J. S., & Conte, S. (2018). Getting hit by pitch in professional baseball: Analysis of injury patterns, risk factors, concussions, and days missed for batters. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 46(8), 1997–2003.
Felder, A. (2015). Battering the batter. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/no-more-battering-the-batter/391991/
Findlay, D. W., & Reid, C. E. (1997). Voting behavior, discrimination and the National Baseball Hall of fame. Economic Inquiry, 35(3), 562–578.
Goff, B. L., Shugart, W. F. II, W. F., & Tollison, R. D. (1997). Batter up! Moral hazard and the effects of the designated hitter rule on hit batsmen. Economic Inquiry, July, 35(3), 555–561.
Goff, B. L., McCormick, R. E., & Tollison, R. D. (2002). Racial integration as an innovation: Empirical evidence from sports leagues. American Economic Review, 92(1), 16–26.
Groothuis, P. A., & Hill, J. R. (2008). Exit discrimination in major league baseball: 1990-2004. Southern economic journal. October, 75(2), 574–590.
Hanssen, A. (1998). The cost of discrimination: A study of major league baseball. Southern Economic Journal, January, 64(3), 603–627.
Hanssen, F. A., & Andersen, T. (1999). Has discrimination lessened over time? A test using baseball's all-star vote. Economic Inquiry, April, 37(2), 326.
Holmes, P. (2011). New evidence of salary discrimination in major league baseball. Labour Economics, June, 18(3), 320–331.
Knapel, R. (2012, August 20). MLB’s Worst hit-by-pitch moments ever. Bleacher Report https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1304213-mlbs-worst-hit-by-pitch-moments-ever
Leavengood, T. (2011). Clark Griffith: The old fox of Washington baseball. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland and Company.
Malloy, J. (2012). Frank Grant. In Nineteenth Century Stars, edited by Tiemann, R. L. and Rucker. Phoenix, AZ: The Society of American Baseball Research. Pp. 110-111.
McGowen, R. (1947a, May 12). Phils set back Brooks, 7–3, 5–4, before 40,952 Shibe Park fans (p. 28). New York Times.
McGowen, R. (1947b, May 18). Dodgers humbled by Pirates, 4-0. New York Times, S1.
Moffi, L., & Kronstadt, J. (1994). Crossing the line: Black major leaguers, 1947–1959. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland and Company.
Nardinelli, C., & Simon, C. (1990). Customer racial discrimination in the market for memorabilia: The case of baseball. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, August, 105(3), 575–595.
Parsons, C. A., Sulaeman, J., Yates, M. C., & Hamermesh, D. S. (2011). Strike three: Discrimination, incentives, and evaluation. American Economic Review, June, 101(4), 1410–1435.
Polner, M. (1982). Branch Rickey: A biography. New York: Atheneum.
Povich, S. (1961, March 8). Can negro win housing fight in spring camp? Sporting News, p., 10.
Rimer, E. (1996). Discrimination in major league baseball: Hiring standards for major league managers, 1975-1994. Journal of sport and social issues. May, 20(2), 118–133.
Rosengren, J. (2013). Hank Greenburg: The hero of heroes. New York: New American Library.
Smith, Wendell. (1947, May 24). The sports beat: Teammates’ attitude improving. Pittsburgh Courier, 14.
Swaine, R. (2012). Jackie Robinson. In The team that forever changed baseball and America; the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers, edited by Lyle Spatz (pp. 6–14). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press and Society for American Baseball Research.
Young, A. S. (1953). Great negro baseball stars: And how they made the major leagues. New York: AS Barnes.
Young, A. S. (1955). November. The Jackie Robinson era. Ebony, 154-55.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kanago, B., Surdam, D.G. Intimidation, Discrimination, and Retaliation: Hit-by-Pitches during the Integration of Major League Baseball. Atl Econ J 48, 67–85 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-020-09658-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-020-09658-2