League Baseball Research Articles

The Dynamic Interplay of Team Image and Cheerleader Involvement-the Impacts on Consumer Willingness to Purchase Tickets in Chinese Professional Baseball League

The Dynamic Interplay of Team Image and Cheerleader Involvement-the Impacts on Consumer Willingness to Purchase Tickets in Chinese Professional Baseball League

Employee assistance program for players in the Chinese Professional Baseball League

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) offer services that assist in the management of problems faced by employees. EAP can assist in addressing employee-related issues in various workplaces, including the problems faced by professional baseball players. The purpose of this study is to develop the framework for a suitable EAP for the players of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). This study chose the modified Delphi method to develop the EAP for players of the CPBL. The selection of members of the expert panel was based on their expertise in human resource management, counseling, EAP, and sports management, as well as retired professional baseball players. The two rounds of nine-week survey were conducted to collect the opinions of the panel experts. The results indicated that EAP for CPBL players fall into four categories: EAP about work, which can help players pursue their career development; EAP about health, which can help players maintain their physical and mental health; EAP about family life, which can help improve the quality of life of players and their families; and other EAP, which can be used to establish communication channels with the teams. There are a total of 40 EAP items developed in this study.

Examining Changes in Shoulder Strength, Lower Body Power, and Body Composition among Collegiate Baseball Players after Completion of a Summer Baseball League Season.

The strength of the shoulder musculature involved with internal rotation and arm extension plays an important role in the overhead throwing motion for baseball athletes, both for throwing-related performance and injury risk. The maintenance of shoulder strength is a high priority for baseball athletes throughout a season; however, little is known in regards to the expected changes in strength throughout a season. To examine pre-post changes in shoulder strength, lower body power, and body composition among collegiate baseball players after the completion of a summer baseball league season. Amateur baseball players (n = 12; age: 20.9 ± 1.0 years.; height: 181.6 ± 5.6 cm; body mass: 86.4 ± 11.1 kg; BMI: 26.0 ± 2.6 kg/m2) participated in the current study. Pre- and post-competitive season, the participants completed shoulder strength assessments and body composition and countermovement vertical jump (CMJ) tests. An upper-body isometric test (athletic shoulder [ASH] test) was used to evaluate shoulder strength for each arm. Each subject completed maximal isometric contractions for both the throwing and non-throwing arms at four separate angles of abduction (180°, 'I'; 135°, 'Y'; 90°, 'T'; and -180°, 'A') while lying in a prone position. For shoulder strength, the primary dependent variable of interest was a composite measure that represented the average of the forces produced across all four positions of the ASH test (I, Y, T, A). For the ASH test composite measure, there was a trend toward a significant arm-by-time interaction effect (p = 0.08), as shoulder strength decreased by 9.03% for the throwing arm (ES = 0.72; 95% CI = [-0.27, -0.01]), compared to only 2.03% for the non-throwing arm (ES = 0.15; 95% CI = [-0.16, 0.09]), over the course of the season. The main effects of time (p = 0.16) and arm (p = 0.58) were not significant for the ASH test composite measure. There was no relationship between lower body power and throwing arm strength at baseline (r = 0.20, p = 0.56), and only a non-significant weak relationship at post-test (r = 0.28, p = 0.41). Throughout a season, baseball players may experience reductions in shoulder strength of the throwing arm with minimal changes in shoulder strength in the non-throwing arm.

Sabermetrics by the sea: Evaluating college players with the Cape Cod Baseball League

From the dawn of the “Moneyball” system of searching for players with undervalued skills, an increasing proportion of players chosen in the Major League draft has come from the collegiate ranks, and while every professional team has an analytics department, the draft remains the last frontier for identifying and acquiring the best prospective players. Thus, it has become more important in recent years to evaluate college players properly, and while players’ statistics during the college season can vary wildly due to differing levels of competition, it is necessary to find a more objective metric for measuring college players’ skills. We propose that the most effective metric for doing so comes from observing players’ performances during the summer, when the variable of strength of schedule can be directly controlled, as players of the same skill level compete against each other. Our study focuses on the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), a prestigious summer league that attracts the most talented college players, from which many players are drafted into the Majors every year. Our reasons for choosing the CCBL are the aforementioned homogeneity of talent; the lack of effects of travel fatigue, as the teams all play in a concentrated geographical area; and the league’s built-in replacement level, as temporary players often fill roster spots for players who had been selected the previous autumn, but whose college teams have advanced to the College World Series or who play on a national team during part of the CCBL season. This replacement level is used to calculate a metric of Wins Above Replacement, which we call cWAR.1

Free Agent Migration in the Korean Professional Baseball League: To Move or Not to Move

Abstract: This study explores free agent transactions of the Korea Baseball Organization from 2000 to 2018. It examines whether player mobility patterns differ across free agent pitchers and hitters. The probability of free agent pitchers transferring increases with the pitching position of the starting or closer pitcher. The probability of transfer for a hitter is negatively associated with age and left-handedness. The inertia of staying with the current team increases when substantial signing bonuses are paid to the free agent pitcher. A strong contract year affects the hitter mobility model, with a higher probability of transfer and a greater contribution to team wins in the final year before free agency. The longer a free agent’s contract, the higher the probability of them moving. A huge increase in the annual salary one year before free agent eligibility hinders the movement of hitters, whereas financial compensation does not constrain pitchers’ move.

Arm Health in Elite Collegiate Summer League Baseball Players Assessed by the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Score.

Collegiate baseball players with professional aspirations often participate in summer leagues; foremost among them is the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). Injuries acquired during the collegiate baseball season can be carried into the CCBL season and vice versa. To assess the history of throwing arm injury and current functionality in midseason CCBL players. Cross-sectional study. Online questionnaire. A total of 123 CCBL players participated. Qualifying athletes were ≥18 years old and were rostered CCBL players with remaining collegiate eligibility. After collecting background information, we used the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic (KJOC) Shoulder and Elbow questionnaire to assess the history of throwing arm injury and current functionality. The maximum KJOC score is 100.0; higher scores correspond with greater functionality. The mean KJOC score was 86.6 ± 14.5 (n = 92); 24.5% (23/94) of players reported a prior diagnosis of throwing arm injury other than a strain or sprain. A total of 49 (49/96, 51.0%) players had undergone rehabilitation for a throwing arm injury, and 7 (7/96, 7.3%) had experienced a medical procedure. Players with no previous treatment (n = 41, mean KJOC score = 88.9 ± 19.0) more frequently demonstrated KJOC scores of ≥90 than players with such treatment (n = 55, 80.9 ± 17.1; P < .001). The 18 players with time-loss arm injury in the last year had lower mean KJOC scores (71.3 ± 20.0) than players with no injury or time loss (90.3 ± 9.8; P < .001). Similarly, players who reported current arm trouble (n = 15) had lower KJOC scores (71.6 ± 17.5) than players with healthy arms (89.5 ± 11.9; P < .001). The average KJOC score of the CCBL players was <90, with particularly low scores in athletes with prior arm injury and treatment.

Baseball Injury Prevention Through a Community Outreach Initiative.

Sports-related craniofacial injuries account for 10% to 42% of facial fractures in the US pediatric population, with the incidence of injury peaking at ages 6 to 7 and 12 to 14. The National Survey of Children's Health reported ~5.6 million children between the ages of 6 and 17 participated in baseball in 2021. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System reported 861,456 injuries resulting from baseball and 511,117 injuries resulting from softball in 2021, with ~500,000 of those injuries being to the face/head/neck. While participation in baseball and other youth sports has tremendous physical and mental health benefits, facial and other athletic injuries are concerning beyond the pain and disability caused by the incident itself. Severe injury can result in lost time from school as well as other social activities. Players and their families often experience financial strain as a result of physical trauma as well. The use of protective equipment has decreased the incidence of emergency department visits due to baseball-related trauma, especially mouthguards. However, adherence to using mouthguards is relatively low in baseball, with over 80% of players reporting not being told by a coach to wear mouthpieces. Youth from low-income areas often lack financial means to provide protective equipment and health insurance in the case of injury. The authors, along with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Miami Marlins RBI Program, created an outreach program by which over 400 mouthguards were given to players and caretakers at inner-city baseball and softball programs. Two community outreach events took place in South Florida. One event was held at a University of Miami Men's Baseball Game, and another was held on the opening day of the Miami Marlins RBI Program youth baseball league. In addition to handing out protective equipment and informational pamphlets, a question and answers session was held to discuss injury prevention. In conclusion, our community safety initiative created an interactive dialogue and message to hundreds of youth baseball players about the importance of protective gear to prevent injuries.

부산지역 사회인 야구리그의 경제적 파급효과 분석

The purpose of this study aims to identify the economic impact value of the community baseball club leagues, a representative daily sport in Busan, and present basic data for the development and revitalization of the leagues. A survey was conducted on 404 individual participants in the baseball leagues, and based on the valid data the production-inducing effects, value-added effects, and employment-inducing effects were identified using the index of 2015 input-output analysis. The results of this study are as follows. The production-inducing effect of the community baseball club leagues was about 33.46 billion won, the value-added effect was about 13.4 billion won, and the employment-inducing effect was 368.7 people/1 billion won. The economic ripple effect analysis data of the community baseball leagues in Busan presented in this study, is considered meaningful in revitalizing the local economy as well as local sports.

Marion Jackson’s Conflicted Sacrifice: The Atlanta Daily World’s Black Southern Sportswriter on the Tension between Integration and HBCU Sport

From 1947 to 1973, a Black Southern sportswriter named Marion Jackson grappled with the role of all-Black sporting organizations during the age of desegregation. As sports editor for the Atlanta Daily World, the United States’ largest Black daily newspaper, Jackson covered various parallel institutions that provided sporting opportunities for Black athletes, such as football at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Negro Baseball Leagues. Although Jackson initially ignored the potential for desegregation to undermine these institutions, by the 1960s he consistently argued that the benefits of integration would outweigh the loss of all-Black sport. Yet despite this decades-long struggle, Jackson and other Southern Black sportswriters remain understudied. Scholarship on the Black press has largely ignored this Southern contingent by focusing instead on the desegregation of major league baseball teams in the Northeast. Although these Northern sportswriters grappled with similar tensions as they debated the decline of the Negro Leagues, Southern journalists lived and wrote in the heart of Jim Crow segregation. For decades they covered all-Black sporting institutions and mourned their loss after desegregation. Marion Jackson, and his willingness to sacrifice all-Black sport for integration, provides a valuable starting point for the study of these significant journalists.

Creating a Successful League of Their Own: An Empirical Exploration of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was created during World War II, when many male major and minor league baseball players became soldiers. While the league achieved some success from various perspectives, the question remains: Was the AAGPBL able to create “a league of their own” with competitive balance comparable to the men’s leagues of Major League Baseball (MLB)? We analyzed performance team data to determine whether the league had competitive balance comparable to MLB-American League (MLB-AL) and MLB-National League (MLB-NL), on three measures of within-season, three measures of across-seasons, and one measure of inter-seasonal competitive balance, for the 12 seasons of the AAGPBL. The results showed that AAGPBL created a league with competitive balance comparable to both MLB-AL and MLB-NL on all seven measures.

Research on the Economic Impact of the NBA Business League

The NBA is the acronym for the National Basketball Association, and is also the four major professional sports organizations in the United States, including the baseball league, the football league, the hockey league and the basketball league, with the strongest leadership, the highest level of globalization and the greatest international influence. This paper explains the connection between basketball and the economy, such as the broadcasting of basketball games and how it drives the formation and growth of the market for related products such as sneakers and jerseys, as well as analyzing how the NBA is profitable and, using the NBA as a template, whether Chinese basketball needs to learn from foreign countries. Through a search and review of relevant literature, this paper identifies strategic suggestions that the CBA, as an emerging local Chinese basketball league, can draw from the development history of the NBA.

Risk Factors of Throwing Injuries Related to Pitching Mechanics in Young Baseball Players: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Risk factors for throwing injuries related to pitching mechanics are unknown. Insufficient pelvic rotation during pitching may be a risk factor for shoulder and elbow injury. This cohort study aimed to identify biomechanics risk factors for throwing injuries in young baseball players. We hypothesized that excessive mechanical load and motion errors would be risk factors for throwing injuries. Young baseball pitchers (aged 8-9 years) were recruited from regional baseball leagues between December 2016 and December 2019. Pitching measurements were performed before the start of each season and after the end of the last season in December 2019. The trunk tilt angular displacement, pelvic rotation angular displacement, and forearm rotation angle were calculated using a markerless motion capture system. We also measured elbow varus torque using an accelerometer. After the initial test session, each participant was followed-up for 3 years to determine the occurrence of throwing injuries. Players with throwing shoulder and elbow injuries were categorized into the throwing injury group, and those without shoulder and elbow pain for 3 years were categorized into the non-injured group. In this study, 97 baseball pitchers completed a 3-year follow-up. Among those participants, 66 (68.0%) had throwing injuries. A significant difference was observed between the throwing injury and non-injured groups, whereby the injured players had less pelvic rotation angular displacement. Insufficient pelvic rotation during pitching is a newly discovered risk factor related to throwing injuries.

From The Prairie Fields to the Glamor League: Women’s Softball in Canada and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

There has been much written about Canadians who played in the All-American Girls ProfessionalBaseball League (AAGPBL). Lost to the footnote of history perhaps, is why so many of the Canadian born play-ers were from the prairie provinces. Of the 53 women who played in the AAGPBL, centralized near Chicagobetween 1943 and 1954, 83% were from the prairie provinces which is statistically significant. This paper ex-plores the reasons why this is the case by looking at the direct link between Women’s Softball (with an emphasison the prairies) in Canada and the recruitment patterns of the AAGPBL. The aim of this research is to reveala little-known fact about the AAGPBL’s geographical composition as well as broaden the understanding of thehistory of Canadian women in baseball.

The Trailblazing Canadian Trio That Powered the Rockford Peaches Dynasty of 1948-50

The iconic Rockford Peaches were the most successful team in the history of the All-American GirlsProfessional Baseball League (AAGPBL). The Peaches won four playoff championships in the league’s 12-yearhistory − no other team won more than two titles. Sixty-eight Canadian women participated in the AAGPBL,and the Peaches benefited from a disproportionate share of players from north of the border. A talented trioof Canadians made pivotal contributions to Rockford’s three consecutive playoff championships from 1948 to1950: Left fielder Eleanor Callow, pitcher Helen Nicol Fox, and center fielder Dorothy “Dottie” Ferguson Key.Without these three exceptional athletes, Rockford’s dynasty would not have occurred.

시계열 분석을 통한 프로야구리그 경기력 예측

시계열 분석을 통한 프로야구리그 경기력 예측

시계열 분석을 통한 프로야구리그 경기력 예측

시계열 분석을 통한 프로야구리그 경기력 예측

Governing sports corruption in Taiwan’s professional baseball system: a “trust” perspective

This study examines why and how scandals and corruption exist in professional sports in a collectivist culture, both of which ideally impose strict regulations and tight controls. Taiwan’s professional baseball league, with its stumbling history full of match-fixing and gambling, provides rich material with which to investigate the underlying mechanism through which corruption is governed. This mechanism is also characterized by the absence of the quid pro quo relationship and efforts to lose games through match-fixing. This research utilizes a paradigm shift from Western theoretical traditions to Chinese cultural perspectives to explain sports corruption in a society. The concept of trust, which involves elements of relational social capital, is introduced and elaborated to explain the governance mechanism.

Opposite effects of Covid-19 infection on pitchers and batters: a retrospective study on Chinese Professional Baseball League players.

The influence of COVID-19 infection on elite athletes remains largely unknown, especially on baseball players. The goal of this study is to examine the actual performance of infected elite baseball players from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) from a sabermetric point of view. This was a retrospective observational cohort study. CPBL players who were infected with COVID-19 from April 27th to May 31st, 2022, were eligible for this study. The performance of study participants before and after COVID-19 infection was compared, and statistics from the batters and pitchers were analyzed separately. During the study interval, 56 players were infected with COVID-19, including 35 batters and 21 pitchers. After excluding injured players and players with inadequate playing opportunities, 23 batters and 12 pitchers were enrolled. For batters, there were no significant differences before and after COVID-19 infection. However, batters older than 28 years of age showed a decline in slugging percentage (0.372 vs. 0.292, P=0.049). Analysis of pitchers revealed significantly boosted fastball velocity after COVID-19 infection (142.10 km/h vs. 142.82 km/h, P=0.028) and improved strikeouts per nine innings (6.89 vs. 8.56, P=0.021). COVID-19 might have a potential influence on professional baseball players. For batters, veteran players more than 28 years of age were more likely to be negatively affected by COVID-19, whereas the effect of COVID-19 on pitchers was generally positive, with significantly improved fastball velocity and K/9 numbers.

The Disappearance of Krebs: Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” as a Critique of Whiteness

Abstract: Where previous scholars have read Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” as a story about post-World War I disillusionment and the concomitant crisis in masculinity, this article examines Hemingway’s use of raced masculinity. By pointing to Oklahoma, a location of racial violence; Kansas, a location of extended Klan influence; and the National Baseball League, a site of exclusively White corruption, Hemingway builds a submerged text focused on the dangers of White Supremacy and White Privilege. Hemingway then engages the trope of White Womanhood as a tool of raced masculinity. “Soldier’s Home” shows how a spectral presence of anti-Black violence shapes one white soldier’s reintegration.

델파이기법을 통한 한국야구 국가대표팀의 경쟁력강화 방안도출

The purpose of this study was to present factors that can strengthen the competitiveness of the Korean national baseball team through the Delphi technique. In this study, Delphi survey was conducted on players with experience in the Korean national baseball team, leaders(coaches, staffs, trainers) and players with experience in Korean professional baseball league, professional baseball field experts and physical education professors. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 people in the first Delphi survey and 15 people in the second Delphi survey. As a result of the analysis, a total of four top factors were derived, including “operation in international competitions”, “support for international games”, “selection and composition of the national team squad”, and “national team player management”. In addition, 21 sub-categories were finally selected to improve competitiveness for the Korean national baseball team, and their validity was verified. This study is meaningful in that the findings suggest practical strategies to improve the competitiveness of international competitions in Korean baseball.