Teaching Statistical Thinking Using the Baseball Hall of Fame

Abstract

Baseball is a natural context in which to learn about statistics. Our national pastime is replete with averages and percentages, counts and amounts, and totals of all kind. To the fan, these are not mere numbers, but condensed stories, instantly intelligible as the true literature of the game. Compared to more fluid sports such as football, basketball, hockey, and soccer, baseball especially lends itself to data collection: It is inherently sequential and discrete, with players taking turns at the plate and stopping at fixed places on the field. Such characteristics make baseball a superlative source of examples for teaching statistical principles. In 1999, I designed and taught a course on the Baseball Hall of Fame, titled “Baseball’s Highest Honor,” during winter study session at Williams College. Winter study is a month-long term during January, with courses on subjects not part of the traditional academic canon. Students take one course during the winter study period, with classes typically meeting for 5–10 hours per week. Class sizes are kept small to encourage discussion. The goal of my course was to use the Baseball Hall of Fame, particularly the process of voting for players to be enshrined, as a subject for teaching statistical and scientific principles. The course was not intended to teach students how to carry out statistical techniques, but rather to discuss what constitutes a good or bad statistical argument, and thus was in the spirit of a quantitative literacy course. Although the course was ostensibly about baseball, my underlying goal was to demonstrate the value of sound statistical and Teaching Statistical Thinking Using the Baseball Hall of Fame