Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Increasing Competitive Balance in Major League Baseball

Review of Industrial Organization volume 12, pages 373–387 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper explores the changing competitive balance in Major League Baseball through the relative-entropy measure of information theory. It is shown that while competitive balance in both leagues has been on an upward path during the 20th century, the path has had numerous detours that resulted from some on-the-field and some off-the-field changes that Major League Baseball has undergone during the past 75 years. The most important detours occurred in the wake of the Black Sox scandal of 1919, Jackie Robinson's breaking the color barrier and the concurrent spread of television and erosion of the minor leagues, franchise moves and major league expansion, and free agency.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Adelson, Bruce, Rod Beaton, Bill Koenig, and Lisa Winston (1995) The Minor League Baseball Book. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, Michael, R. (1995) ‘Competitive Balance in Major League Baseball’, American Economist, 39, 46-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canes, Michael E. (1974) ‘The Social Benefits of Restrictions on Team Quality’, in Roger G. Noll, ed, Government and the Sports Business. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, Eliot (1988) ‘Trades and Free Agency’, in John Thorn and Pete Palmer, eds, Total Baseball. New York: Warner Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, George and William J. Moore (1981) ‘Externalities, Property Rights and the Allocation of Resources in Major League Baseball’, Economic Inquiry, 19, 77-95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Lance E. (1974) ‘Self-Regulation in Baseball, 1909-71’, in Roger G. Noll, ed, Government and the Sports Business. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Defendant's Closing Argument Brief, Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma v. NCAA, 468 U.S. 85 (1984) No. 83-271.

  • Dickson, Paul (1992) Baseball's Greatest Quotations. New York: Harper Perennial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fort, Rodney, and James Quirk (1995) ‘Cross-subsidization, Incentives, and Outcomes in Professional Team Sports Leagues’, Journal of Economic Literature, 33, 1265-1299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunt, Joseph W. Jr., and Kenneth A. Lewis (1976) ‘Dominance, Recontracting and the Reserve Clause in Major League Baseball’, American Economic Review, 66, 936-943.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hylan, Timothy R., Lage, Maureen J., and Michael Treglia (1996) ‘The Coase Theorem, FreeAgency, and Major League Baseball: A Panel Study of Pitcher Mobility from 1961 to 1992’, Southern Economic Journal, 62, 1029-1042.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, Bill (1986) The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: Villard Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, Glenn, Sherony, Keith, and Mike Haupert (1992) ‘A Test of the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis’, American Economist, 36, 81-84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neft, David S. and Richard M. Cohen (1988) The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball (8th Edition). New York: St. Martin's Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, Kevin (1984) Baseball's Greatest Insults. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quirk, James, and Mohamed El Hodiri (1974) ‘The Economic Theory of a Professional Sports League’, in Roger G. Noll, ed, Government and the Sports Business. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quirk, James, and Rodney D. Fort (1992) Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichler, Joseph L. (1988) The Baseball Encyclopedia (7th Edition).NewYork: Macmillan Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rottenberg, Simon (1956) ‘The Baseball Players' Labor Market’, Journal of Political Economy, 64, 242-258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully, GeraldW. (1989) The Business ofMajor League Baseball. Chicago: TheUniversity of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully, GeraldW. (1992) ‘Momentum in Sports’, in Gerald W. Scully, ed, Advances in the Economics of Sport, 1. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Theil, Henri (1967) Economics and Information Theory. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veeck, Bill (with Ed Linn) (1962) Veeck - As in Wreck. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Voigt, David Q. (1991) ‘Serfs versus Magnates: A Century of Labor Strife in Major League Baseball’, in Paul D. Staudohar and James A. Morgan, eds, The Business of Professional Sports. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, U.S.A.

    Ira Horowitz (Graduate Research Professor, Decision and Information Sciences)

Authors
  1. Ira Horowitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Horowitz, I. The Increasing Competitive Balance in Major League Baseball. Review of Industrial Organization 12, 373–387 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007799730191

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007799730191

search

Navigation