First, this creepy picture:
(although, I think their attempt to link it to an article about salvaging amputated digits is a stretch).
And, you may be interested in reading a scholarly article about “The Etiology(*) of Public Support for the Designated Hitter Rule”. Snippets:
- Democrats tend to favor the DH
- No correlation with proximity to AL or NL teams
I haven't read the article yet myself, but I would think that the team you grew up with would have a lot to do with which side you were on, even if you no longer live near there. Having grown up with the Cardinals, I have a hard time even believing that some of these AL teams play in the majors. The Devil Rays?? But I guess that has more to do with who-plays-who.
I know we have some loyal baseball fans reading this blog, any opinions on the DH rule, or what the article says about it? Admittedly, most of you are NL fans, so responses may be pretty one-sided.
* etiology:
1. the cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition.
2. the investigation or attribution of the cause or reason for something, often expressed in terms of historical or mythical explanation.
Support for the DH rule is a disease? I think I like definition #1!
2 comments:
If you're not reading the article, here are a few more snippets:
- Batters are more likely to get hit-by-pitch with a DH rule. Probably not b/c the pitcher doesn't fear retribution, but b/c there are more power-hitters at the plate.
- Most non-majors teams use the DH, including the Alaska Baseball League. (D'oh!)
- I was prepared to blame them for not thinking through their hypotheses before designing their survey... but apparently they're using results from someone ELSE'S survey. They would really like to have data on respondents' favorite team, but the best they can do is STATE of residence.
- "4.6 percent of those uninterested in baseball believed that the world would end in 2000, compared to 1.5 percent of those who expressed at least some interest in the sport."
- "Membership in the Catholic church often correlates with beliefs which are socially conservative, but not so in other areas; controlling for this factor thus adds nuance to our measures of ideology."
- If you're a 44-year-old, ideologically moderate, non-black, non-Catholic, non-Latino male from a state with both AL and NL team... Republicans/Independents could go either way on the DH (50%), but Democrats favor it (70%).
- Every year of age decreases support for the DH rule by 1.3%. Presumably this doesn't mean you'll like it LESS as you get older, just that the older folks remember baseball BEFORE the DH (1973).
- Although they found that AL-state residents were likely to approve and NL-state residents to disapprove of the DH, the errors on both estimates were too great for the difference to be statistically significant. So they don't think it matters. But here's a snag on their method: Illinoisans should be 2x as likely to be fans of NL teams (Cubs + Cards, vs. White Sox).
- Women are almost 3x more likely to approve of the DH than men.
- Apparently the opposition to the DH rule isn't about opposition to changing the game. Partisans STRONGLY oppose interleague play, while independents (and catholics) don't mind it; AL folks definitely approve of it and NL folks disapprove by about the same amount. So they claim its about the EFFECT of the change, not the change itself.
- In case you're keeping track, those states with both AL and NL teams are: New York, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and California. There are only 3 cities that have both: New York, Chicago, and LA (the three largest).
Any thoughts?
What in the hell is that woman wearing? She looks like she had major abdominal surgery when she had the third hand grafted onto her shoulder.
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