“Born to Play Ball” The Relative Age Effect and Major League Baseball

Abstract

The records of 837 major league baseball players were examined in order to determine whether the Little League age eligibility criterion, based on the month of birth, affected participation rate at the professional level. The results indicated that major league players were more likely to have been born in the first months of the year, if that year corresponded to the one used for eligibility for Little League baseball (i.e., beginning in August and ending in July). A reanalysis of data presented in the literature (which suggested no effect) produced a similar result. These data are interpreted in terms of the relative age effect. That is, because of age cutoffs used in Little League baseball, some players gain a developmental advantage when competing against other youngsters who are considerably younger, although they are placed in the same age category for league play.

Talent in sports. Some reflections about the search for future champions

“…As demonstrated by Thompson, Barnsley, and Stebelsky (1991) and an impressive multitude of followers (e.g., Baker & Logan, 2007;Baxter-Jones, 1995), youngsters born early in the selection year are privileged as compared to those born later in the same year. Even though this effect resides in the flaws of organisational decisions, it appears to have detrimental effects on the prospects of young athletes to enter the famous hall of elite athletes.…”

Unequal Competition as an Impediment to Personal Development: A Review of the Relative Age Effect in Sport

“…This is surprising because several psychological theories are capable of explaining RAEs. For example, a Pygmalion effect (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968;Rosenthal, 1974) may be functioning (Barnsley et al, 1985;Thompson et al, 1991). Traditionally researched within the context of classroom achievement, the Pygmalion effect predicts that expectancies of student ability trigger a series of verbal and nonverbal interactions which inadvertently control the student's subsequent achievement behavior in what can be termed a self-fulfilling prophecy.…”

“…Most other sports, including baseball (Grondin & Koren, 2000;Thompson, Barnsley, & Stebelsky, 1991cf. Stanaway & Hines, 1995), cricket (Edwards, 1994), and tennis (Baxter-Jones, 1995;Dudink, 1994), show an RAE.…”

A eficiência do comportamento tático e a data de nascimento influenciam a performance tática de jogadores de futebol da categoria sub-11?

“…Generally, players born on the last months of the year have more chances to show a less advanced maturity state than those born on the beginning of the year [5][6] . Some studies demonstrate di erences on the players' physical capacities of those born in di erent periods of the year, since besides being larger and having higher body mass, older players present better results on velocity and agility tests 10,23 .…”

“…Another factor that seems to interfere on the soccer players' performance is the period of birth 5 , as players born on the rst months of the year are likely to show a better tactical performance than their peers born on the end of the year. According to T et al 4 , it was veri ed a positive association between the defensive tactical performance and the players born on the rst semester of the year.…”