Amateur baseball players: what are the relative merits of attending college versus going directly to the minor leagues?

Richardson, Tiffany

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/42402 Copy

Description

Title

Amateur baseball players: what are the relative merits of attending college versus going directly to the minor leagues?

Author(s)

Richardson, Tiffany

Issue Date

2013-02-03T19:37:28Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Humphreys, Brad R.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Barnett Morris, Lynn

Committee Member(s)

• Humphreys, Brad R.
• Rascher, Daniel
• Payne, Laura L.
• Strauser, David R.
• Raycraft, Michael

Department of Study

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Discipline

Recreation, Sport, and Tourism

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Major League Baseball (MLB)
• Human Capital Theory

Abstract

The effects of education and on-the-job training on the performance of professional baseball players was studied using a secondary dataset consisting of 112 players and five years of play at the Major League level, classified as hitters from the 1990 through 2000 seasons. The study revealed that higher education significantly shortened the time to reach the Major Leagues, while both education and on-the-job training did not significantly affect the offensive performance as measured by five commonly used measures: batting average (AVG) runs batted in (RBI), on base percentage (OBP), slugging (SLG), and on base + slugging (OPS). The results also demonstrated that a few offensive performance measures significantly affected career length in the major leagues, while other factors (age, education, team drafted, round drafted, performance statistics (AVG, OPS, and years in the minors) did not significantly affect the survival time in Major League Baseball. The findings suggested that the personnel in charge of player evaluation and MLB the general managers should fully explore a player's potential by multiple factors instead of using a generic strategy that is merely based on the generally accepted standard operating process rooted in the history of MLB.

Graduation Semester

2012-12

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/42402

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Tiffany Richardson

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