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We estimate the superstar effects in Major League Baseball, focusing on a particularly unique international athlete, Shohei Ohtani, using a fixed effects panel regression with multiway clustering. Ohtani's scarce talent as both a pitcher and a hitter provides the potential to have outsized influence on demand at home (superstar effect) and away (superstar externality) games, providing new marketing opportunities for the league. We compare Ohtani's impact on attendance with other top pitchers, particularly after large attendance drops attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that his superstardom played a key role in bringing fans back to baseball games. Results revealed a large attendance externality, especially after the pandemic, that increased away attendance by up to 40% in 2021 specifically (and up to 20% overall). We propose that Ohtani provides an opportunity for Major League Baseball to leverage a recognizable face of baseball and leverage superstar value that was previously shown to be in decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, we conducted two studies to validate a multidimensional scale of fan engagement behavior. In Study 1, we generated survey items through a systematic review of the relevant literature, collected data from fans of professional baseball (n = 319) and soccer (n = 301), and provided evidence for the construct and concurrent validity of the scale composed of six dimensions. In Study 2, we reassessed construct validity in professional baseball (n = 582) and found that fan engagement behavior was represented by the proposed six dimensions with a final list of 21 items. Further, our predictive analysis throughout a season showed that fan engagement behavior fully mediated the relationship between predictor (team identification and awareness of fan engagement initiatives) and outcome variables (media viewing frequency, attendance frequency, and flourishing). The developed scale advances our understanding of fans' voluntary actions that are culturally embedded in spectator sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the medical condition and treatment of Babe Ruth, a renowned baseball player. Ruth experienced diverticulitis, a condition likely caused by his overeating. He underwent surgery to drain an abscess and recuperate from the illness. The procedure was performed by Dr. George D. Stewart, a respected surgeon who was also a poet. Ruth's recovery was successful, and he did not require additional treatment or surgery. The article also touches on Ruth's baseball career and his subsequent achievements following his recovery. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the forgotten lawyer-manager, John C. "Jack" Hendricks, who was one of only eight managers in the history of Major League Baseball to have a background in law. Despite not having a published biography and achieving his greatest success in the minor leagues, this article aims to give Hendricks the recognition he deserves. It provides a detailed account of Hendricks' early life, his career as a lawyer, his brief stint as a player in the major leagues, and his managerial career in both the major and minor leagues. The article concludes by highlighting Hendricks' diverse range of occupations and his unique position as a lawyer-manager in baseball history. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the history of baseball integration in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. While Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers is often seen as the most significant moment in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, there were other instances of racial integration in baseball at various professional levels and in different regions. Suffolk County had its own history of baseball integration, with teams like the Brookhaven Town Highway Nine breaking racial norms by including African American players. Ralph "Sammy" Bunn, a star Black pitcher, became the first known African American to play on a white Suffolk County baseball team. His story is seen as a significant moment in the community's baseball history. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides a profile of Pat Jordan, a former baseball player turned writer. It explores his baseball career, which fell short of expectations, and his subsequent success as a writer. The article also mentions his memoirs, particularly one that focuses on his relationship with renowned pitcher Tom Seaver. The author of the article meets with Pat Jordan to seek guidance on writing a biography and describes their meeting and Pat's home. The text details the author's experiences spending time with Pat and his wife Susie, including conversations about writing, Pat's novels, and the author's own writing project on Gene Locklear, a baseball player and artist. Pat offers feedback on the author's writing and encourages him to enhance his descriptions. The author reflects on his time with Pat and writes an article about him in Pat Jordan's distinctive style. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the impact of Ken Burns' documentary series "Baseball" on American culture and the author's personal connection to the game. The author reflects on the series' ability to explore various themes such as race, immigration, and labor through the lens of baseball. They also discuss how the series captures the timeless nature of the game and contrasts it with the modern trends in professional baseball, such as attempts to speed up the game and create a more entertainment-focused experience. The author concludes by emphasizing the importance of storytelling and personal memories in keeping the spirit of baseball alive. [Extracted from the article]

As video game production is becoming increasingly data-driven, player surveillance shapes the everyday realities of users and developers. Remote online tracking and the resulting optimization and governance of in-game activity subscribe to the Big Data methodology as a way of accounting for entire player populations. By design, player surveillance serves the interests of developers and publishers, who have exclusive access to this proprietary data. Yet, discursively, these parties attempt to present surveillance as a mutually beneficial endeavor aimed at improving video games. A part of this strategy is the video game industry's selective information disclosure, which I explore empirically on the example of telemetry infographics. Based on a thematic analysis of 200 infographics from 127 games, I show how publicly disseminated infographics contribute to the normalization of player surveillance by presenting it as a source of harmless trivia to be collected and shared by fans and the specialized press. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dwayne Brenna's novel, "Long Way Home," tells the story of the Appalachian All Stars, a barnstorming baseball team led by Preacher Allan Bentham during the Great Depression. The narrative is presented through the perspective of Tom "Spitball" McKague, who shares his thoughts on the team's journey and the characters they encounter. The book explores themes of redemption and atonement, set against the backdrop of the 1930s Depression Era. The story delves into the challenges faced by the characters, including poverty, discrimination, and personal regrets. Baseball fans will appreciate the detailed descriptions of the game, while all readers will find universal themes of hope and resilience in the face of adversity. [Extracted from the article]

Joe Posnanski's book, "Why We Love Baseball: A History in 50 Moments," offers readers a collection of events that reflect on their favorite memories of the game. The book includes personal reflections from players, fans, and celebrities, highlighting the diverse reasons why people love baseball. While the book does not provide an authoritative list of moments from Major League Baseball history, it offers a reminder that the moments and the people who made them are what make baseball special. Overall, the book serves as a celebration of the game and its enduring appeal. [Extracted from the article]

"The Wingmen: The Unlike, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams" by Adam Lazarus is a book that explores the friendship between two Marine jet fighter pilots, John Glenn and Ted Williams, during the Korean conflict. The book highlights their shared commitment to their country and their willingness to put aside personal interests for the dangerous jobs in the service. Lazarus humanizes the narrative by including personal accounts, diary entries, and interviews, showcasing the true character and vulnerabilities of these heroes. The book serves as a reminder that loyal friends and trustworthy wingmen do exist in a complicated world. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the experience of the co-editors of the journal NINE during their visit to Cooperstown, New York for a baseball symposium. They highlight the extensive work that goes into producing each issue of the journal and the overwhelming nature of the process. The editors also reflect on their time in Cooperstown, visiting the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and engaging in conversations with fellow researchers, writers, and fans. The article previews the content of the current issue of NINE, which includes poetry, contrasting viewpoints on the Ken Burns documentary series Baseball, personal narratives, and historical articles. The editors express their hope that readers will enjoy the issue. [Extracted from the article]

As social media advertising spending continues to rise, marketers' understanding of how to enhance the effectiveness of these ads must also continue to expand. Utilizing an online experiment and a field study, we test the effect of different formats of Facebook ads (image vs. video) on sports advertising effectiveness (e.g. clicks to purchase tickets). Specifically, this research compares the effect of image ads, video ads, and carousel ads for a Major League Baseball team on page engagement and clicks to purchase game tickets. Vividness and fit theory are both examined as explanations. Results showed that the image ads performed the best in terms of clicks for purchase because of perceived vividness. Interestingly, the video ads only worked best for generating engagement for the social media page itself. Implications for marketing practice and research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study delves into the psychological processes underlying sport fans' post-purchase innovativeness behaviour. This exploratory research aims to establish a theoretical framework that elucidates the formation of sport fans' word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviours, particularly emphasising the structural relationship between motivated consumer innovativeness and satisfaction in using AR live-streaming services. Design/methodology/approach: Utilising an online survey and convenience sampling, the study garnered a total of 243 usable responses from three online baseball fan communities in South Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to assess the psychometric properties of the constructs. Subsequently, a structural equation model was used to probe the influence of motivated consumer innovativeness on WOM, with a particular focus on the mediating role of satisfaction. Findings: Three dimensions of motivated sport fans innovativeness – functional, hedonic and cognitive – showed a positive association with WOM, partly mediated by satisfaction. In contrast, socially motivated sport fans innovativeness did not directly lead to WOM but influenced it solely through satisfaction. The full mediating role of satisfaction in the relationship between socially motivated fans innovativeness and WOM was found. Originality/value: This research stands out as one of the scant studies exploring motivated sport fans innovativeness in the context of AR live sport streaming. The findings not only corroborate but also augment the extant literature by empirically confirming that three dimensions of motivated fans innovativeness, coupled with satisfaction, are pivotal antecedents to WOM intention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of W. P. Kinsella's novel "Shoeless Joe" and its film adaptation, "Field of Dreams," on baseball fans and the perception of the sport. The author reflects on their personal experience of reading the book and watching the movie, which led them to develop a nostalgic view of baseball's past. They argue that this nostalgia, popularized by Kinsella's work, created a community of purist fans who idealized the game's history and resisted its evolution. The article also criticizes the rise of analytics in baseball and suggests that Kinsella's influence contributed to the sport becoming less like a live event and more like the execution of a blueprint. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines the relationship between Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson, two influential African American activists. It challenges the belief that Robinson condemned Robeson for his communist beliefs, providing historical context and dispelling misconceptions. The article emphasizes the accomplishments and challenges faced by both men, with Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball and participating in the civil rights movement, while Robeson gained international fame and became radicalized through experiences with racism and anti-imperialist movements. It also explores the impact of the Red Scare on Robeson's reputation and the backlash he faced for his political views. The article concludes with Robinson's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he carefully balanced the pressure to denounce Robeson while expressing loyalty to Black Americans. The article also discusses the contrasting responses of Robinson and Robeson to the HUAC hearings in 1949, with Robinson criticizing racial discrimination and defending Robeson's right to hold personal views, while Robeson held a press conference to respond to the backlash and criticized HUAC for insulting both him and Robinson. The article highlights the different treatment and legacies of the two men, with Robinson being celebrated as an American hero and Robeson facing severe consequences for his political beliefs. [Extracted from the article]

This article provides a historical account of Mexican American women's baseball teams in the Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. It emphasizes the challenges faced by these teams due to racial barriers and discrimination against Mexican immigrants at the time. The article also highlights the positive impact of baseball on the community, as well as the support from parents who saw it as an opportunity for their daughters to develop skills and advocate for social causes. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of researching and acknowledging the cultural significance of local baseball teams. [Extracted from the article]

In the late nineteenth century, baseball became enshrined as America's national sport. Across American culture, the game became imbued with a series of values and characteristics that seemed redolent of life in the Gilded Age and beyond. This article explores the ways in which this process played out in the pages of popular magazines directed at the children of the nation's elite. These neglected resources provide us with an extraordinary lens through which to chart both the changing place of the national game within the lives of American children and the changing meaning of baseball within the life of the nation. In poems, stories, illustrations, editorials and even reader's letters, children were newly acculturated into the sporting life in ways that had profound implications for wider questions of childhood, gender, race, class and national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholder frameworks document the nature of sport franchise owners' interactions with local residents, but there has been little attention on understanding why interactions develop a contentious or collaborative tenor. There has also been little emphasis on understanding whether and how interactions affect revenue-side outcomes. This paper uses the team identification literature to buttress the idea that owners are meaningful points of attachment for fans. It also uses consumer political ideology scholarship to explain that owners' ideologies—never more visible than today—are important predictors of consumption. The paper proposes and tests a series of hypotheses about the effect of owners' and residents' ideological divergence on attendance and spending. Similar ideologies between residents and long-tenured owners were associated with about $8–$10 more spending per fan per game, as well as 2,400–3,950 more fans per game. Implications for academics and practitioners are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major League Baseball's (MLB) unwritten rules and unspoken norms communicate the continuing role that white American cultural values have within the sport. Coded into the past and present, foreign-born players, especially those from Latin America, confront these norms as they arrive to MLB with a distinctly Caribbean tíguere style of play. MLB seeks to overcome these differences by promoting its young Latino superstars through the marketing campaign Let the Kids Play. However, all actors, from The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball to current players, must increase their cultural competency and uproot their essentialist viewpoints to understand that these players are not trying to show up their opponent, but are instead adhering to the style of play they themselves learned and know best. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Field of Magic, Baseball's Superstitions, Curses and Taboos" by John Cairney is a book that explores the superstitious beliefs and rituals of baseball players and fans. The book examines various categories such as rituals, fetishes, curses, and taboos, providing historical and present examples for each. It also discusses the impact of science on superstition in baseball, particularly in relation to performance-enhancing drugs. Overall, the book raises questions about the extent of superstition in baseball and its influence on the game. [Extracted from the article]

"Baseball at the Abyss: The Scandals of 1926, Babe Ruth, and the Unlikely Savior Who Rescued a Tarnished Game" by Dan Taylor is an interesting and well-written book that focuses on the alleged gambling scandal in 1919 involving Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, "Smoky Joe" Wood, and Dutch Leonard. The book also explores Babe Ruth's offseason exploits and his stellar performance during the 1927 season. While the title suggests that baseball was seriously threatened, the decline in attendance in 1927 was likely due to the dominance of the Yankees rather than the scandal. The book lacks references to important secondary sources, but it is still an entertaining read for those interested in learning more about the scandal and Ruth's contributions to the game. [Extracted from the article]

"Backyards to Ballparks: More Personal Baseball Stories from the Stand and Beyond" by Eric C. Gray is a collection of baseball anecdotes from people across the United States and around the world. The book categorizes the stories into chapters based on themes, such as family and baseball, and includes a variety of content, including personal memories, historical events, and poems. While the book is highly edited and lacks individual voices, it offers a diverse range of stories that highlight the impact of baseball on people's lives. It is recommended for baseball enthusiasts who are interested in connecting with others who share their passion for the sport. [Extracted from the article]

The project of this paper is to deliver a semantics for a broad subset of bare plural generics about racial kinds, a class which I will dub 'Type C generics.' Examples include 'Blacks are criminal' and 'Muslims are terrorists.' Type C generics have two interesting features. First, they link racial kinds with socially perspectival predicates (SPPs). SPPs lead interpreters to treat the relationship between kinds and predicates in generic constructions as nomic or non-accidental. Moreover, in computing their content, interpreters must make implicit reference to socially privileged perspectives which are treated as authoritative about whether a given object fits into the extension of the predicate. Such deference grants these authorities influence over both the conventional meaning of these terms and over the nature of the objects in the social ontology that these terms purport to describe, much the way a baseball umpire is authoritative over the meaning and metaphysics of 'strike'/strike. Second, terms like 'criminal' and 'terrorist' receive default racialized interpretations in which these terms conventionally token racial or ethnic identities. I show that neither of these features can be explained by Sarah-Jane Leslie's influential 'weak semantics' for generics, and show how my own 'socially perspectival semantics' fares better on both counts. Finally, I give an analysis of 'Blacks are criminal' which explores the semantic mechanisms that underlie default racialized interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosumption capital is underexplored within social media sites, especially within sports. This article explores how the Covid-19 disruptions were used to extract prosumption capital from Twitter. Adopting an economic sociology perspective to measure prosumption capital, 2.3 million tweets were analyzed across the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer sports properties. This article applies social network analysis measures, indegree, domain, and proximity prestige to measure prosumption capital and shows how media organizations and other public figures capitalized on the Covid-19 disruptions. It also shows how the structure and those capitalizing through prosumption on Twitter are similar across the sports properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational dissent is ubiquitous in task-oriented groups, including sports teams and leagues. Yet, how and to whom that dissent is voiced and the responses to dissent can vary extensively. This study investigates how professional athletes enact displaced dissent and how the public reacts via sentiment analysis of Trevor Bauer's YouTube channel. Findings identified 53 triggering agents that were consistent with those of subordinates in traditional workplaces. A novel triggering agent of external stakeholder management was also identified, which addressed Major League Baseball's focus and consideration for its public, their interest in baseball, and relationships with athletes. Bauer expressed his dissent via 94 messages, mainly featuring a combination of rhetorically effective strategies and emotional release. Sentiment analysis of commenters' 1,612 replies revealed rhetorically competent messages were either unassociated with or enhanced negative sentiment, but positive sentiment was created through entertainment (i.e. humor and pressure), inclusion (i.e. coalition building), and shared ideals (i.e. inspiration). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of minor league demand is scant relative to major leagues, particularly at the game level. This presents not only a contextual gap in the research, but also a conceptual one related to demand externalities. Minor League Baseball differs from major professional leagues in that gate revenue sharing is not a fixture in league policy, and talent investment decisions are made by the parent club. Nonetheless, it may be the case that a host club benefits from characteristics of its opponent. Econometric examination of over 31,000 minor league games across multiple leagues and seasons finds proximity to an opponent's major league parent team increases attendance. Although the authors find evidence of increased demand for a top prospect from the home club, the presence of visiting top prospects is not associated with changes in attendance, prompting the question as to whether effective marketing efforts in this regard would increase home club revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incredible strength and bravery of Jackie Robinson in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball is remembered and admired by many. However, the difficulty of his journey is often underestimated. As the Black Lives Matter movement has become more prominent, African-American faculty members at Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) face their own trials similar to Robinson's. The need for psychological safety in the workplace from their colleagues and organizational leadership has never been more critical. They experience isolation, alienation, and inequality as faculty and potential professionals in cybersecurity and technology fields. This paper explores those dynamics through the concept of Jackie Robinson's journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Inertial measurement units (IMUs) have accurately detected kinematic parameters during baseball batting. This study aimed to investigate differences in hip, upper torso, and hand kinematics between elite and sub-elite college baseball batters during the stride and swing batting phases. Methods: Six elite and six sub-elite college players participated in this study. Three IMUs were attached to the hip, upper torso, and back of the batting hand to detect the timing of stride and swing phases, peak hip horizontal acceleration, peak rotational angular velocity, and peak upper torso rotational angular velocity at the foot-off and foot-on of the front foot. During the swing phase, peak hip velocity, peak upper torso velocity, peak hand velocity, and the duration from the three different body position's peak rotational angular velocity to contact between the bat and the ball were collected. Kinematic differences between elite and sub-elite batters were assessed using Mann- Whitney U tests. Result: The stride phase was shorter in elite college batters than in sub-elite players (p < .01), while the swing phase was longer in elite players than in sub-elite batters (p < .01). The hip horizontal acceleration, hip angular velocity, and chest angular velocity at foot-on were lower in elite batters than in sub-elite batters (p < .01). However, hip, chest, and hand angular velocities during the swing phase were higher in elite batters than in sub-elite batters (p < .01). Moreover, a shorter duration between each body segment's peak velocity and contact between the bat and the ball was observed in elite batters than in sub-elite batters (p < .01). Conclusion: Elite and sub-elite college batters showed differences in timings, front foot-on, and kinematics of the hip, upper torso and hand during the swing phase. Specifically, a shorter stride phase and reduced hip and chest rotation at foot planting were found for elite batters compared to sub-elite batters. In contrast, elite batters prolonged the swing phase and developed higher hip, chest, and hand velocities closer to impact. This study's findings and applied method of IMU usage may contribute to performance assessment practices and improving batting skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]