2004 MLB Wins Regression Essay -- essays research papers

On Wednesday, October 27th 2004, the Curse of the Bambino was finally lifted off the City of Boston and its long-suffering baseball fans (see Appendix A for more on the Curse). For the first time in 86 years, the Boston Red Sox were the world champions of baseball. There is no arguing that the 2004 Red Sox were a good team that played excellent baseball throughout the season. The team was led not by talent cultivated through the Red Sox’ farm system but by high-priced, free-agent acquisitions such as Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Keith Foulke, Curt Shilling and David Ortiz. The average age for a Red Sox team member was 31.1 years, the oldest team average in the league. Additionally, the cumulative payroll for the 2004 Red Sox was the second highest in Major League Baseball at $125,208,542 or $4,173,618 per player. The previous two statistics describe some of the off-field demographic makeup of the 2004 Red Sox. In additional to being a veteran and well-paid ball club, the Red Sox performed well on the field as well. The team batting average (number of hits divided by number of official at-bats) of the Red Sox was tied for the highest of the 30 Major Leagues teams at 0.282. In terms of pitching statistics, the Red Sox were in the top thi rd of earned run average (E.R.A.; the number of earned runs allowed per nine innings of play). Fielding average (number of successful fielding attempts divided by total number of fielding attempts) is the only major statistic where the Red Sox were significantly below the mean, ranking in the bottom quartile. I am interested in analyzing the Major League Baseball data from the 2004 season to determine the factors that best predict success (measured by the number of team wins). I am especially interested in analyzing the relationship between wins and payroll. I am most curious about this relationship because this relationship can be controlled by the ball club’s management. On-field performance is less controllable by the team’s management because it has a higher ‘human performance’ element. Furthermore, I will obtain the linear regression equations for the various variables and detailing the additional amount of wins for the marginal amount of the independent variable. In addition to analyzing the relationship between payroll and wins, I am also interested in analyzing the relationship between other major statistical categ... ...s out the level of payroll was not a significant variable for predicting the number of wins. Although the Boston Red Sox had a high payroll, I conclude that their success was much more related to their superior hitting and pitching during 2004 than to their high-payroll. Appendix A The Legend of the Curse In 1918 the Red Sox won their 5th World Series, the most by any club at that time. One of the stars of the Boston championship franchise was a young pitcher by the name of George Herman Ruth, aka The Babe or The Bambino. In 1920, however, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee needed money to finance his girlfriend's play, so he sold Babe Ruth's contract to Colonel Jacob Ruppert's New York Yankees for $100,000 (plus a loan collateralized by Fenway Park). Since then, the Yankees, who had never won a World Championship before acquiring Ruth, have gone on to win 26, and are arguably one of the greatest success stories in the history of sport. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have appeared in only four World Series since 1918, losing each one in game seven. Many consider Boston's performance after the departure of Babe Ruth to be attributable to "The Curse of the Bambino." 2004 MLB Wins Regression Essay -- essays research papers On Wednesday, October 27th 2004, the Curse of the Bambino was finally lifted off the City of Boston and its long-suffering baseball fans (see Appendix A for more on the Curse). For the first time in 86 years, the Boston Red Sox were the world champions of baseball. There is no arguing that the 2004 Red Sox were a good team that played excellent baseball throughout the season. The team was led not by talent cultivated through the Red Sox’ farm system but by high-priced, free-agent acquisitions such as Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Keith Foulke, Curt Shilling and David Ortiz. The average age for a Red Sox team member was 31.1 years, the oldest team average in the league. Additionally, the cumulative payroll for the 2004 Red Sox was the second highest in Major League Baseball at $125,208,542 or $4,173,618 per player. The previous two statistics describe some of the off-field demographic makeup of the 2004 Red Sox. In additional to being a veteran and well-paid ball club, the Red Sox performed well on the field as well. The team batting average (number of hits divided by number of official at-bats) of the Red Sox was tied for the highest of the 30 Major Leagues teams at 0.282. In terms of pitching statistics, the Red Sox were in the top thi rd of earned run average (E.R.A.; the number of earned runs allowed per nine innings of play). Fielding average (number of successful fielding attempts divided by total number of fielding attempts) is the only major statistic where the Red Sox were significantly below the mean, ranking in the bottom quartile. I am interested in analyzing the Major League Baseball data from the 2004 season to determine the factors that best predict success (measured by the number of team wins). I am especially interested in analyzing the relationship between wins and payroll. I am most curious about this relationship because this relationship can be controlled by the ball club’s management. On-field performance is less controllable by the team’s management because it has a higher ‘human performance’ element. Furthermore, I will obtain the linear regression equations for the various variables and detailing the additional amount of wins for the marginal amount of the independent variable. In addition to analyzing the relationship between payroll and wins, I am also interested in analyzing the relationship between other major statistical categ... ...s out the level of payroll was not a significant variable for predicting the number of wins. Although the Boston Red Sox had a high payroll, I conclude that their success was much more related to their superior hitting and pitching during 2004 than to their high-payroll. Appendix A The Legend of the Curse In 1918 the Red Sox won their 5th World Series, the most by any club at that time. One of the stars of the Boston championship franchise was a young pitcher by the name of George Herman Ruth, aka The Babe or The Bambino. In 1920, however, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee needed money to finance his girlfriend's play, so he sold Babe Ruth's contract to Colonel Jacob Ruppert's New York Yankees for $100,000 (plus a loan collateralized by Fenway Park). Since then, the Yankees, who had never won a World Championship before acquiring Ruth, have gone on to win 26, and are arguably one of the greatest success stories in the history of sport. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have appeared in only four World Series since 1918, losing each one in game seven. Many consider Boston's performance after the departure of Babe Ruth to be attributable to "The Curse of the Bambino."