Hitter “Protection” and Other Baseball Myths

We at The Daily Fungo are nothing if not well-read.

Rarely do I check my online subscription to The Wall Street Journal, but today I did — and I’m glad. I found this interesting piece titled “A New Study Shows How Baseball Myths Can Hurt the Game.”

With pitchers and catchers reporting to the grapefruit and cactus leagues this week, it’s time for baseball fans to dust off the equipment they, too, need for the 2007 season. I am referring, of course, to calculators, statistics, economics and multiple regression analysis, which calculates how much one factor (such as market size) contributes to some outcome (team wins).

In the hands of Prof. Bradbury, of Kennesaw State University, Georgia, these techniques lead to counterintuitive results sure to spark a bar fight or two. His coming book “The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed,” takes aim at all sorts of baseball lore to separate fact from myth.

It’s short but interesting.