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Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major league seasons to explore whether racial discrimination factored into umpires’ decisions to call a pitch a strike or a ball.

Just as discrimination in the labor market can affect disparities in wages, promotion and performance evaluation, the researchers said, possible discrimination by umpires could affect the outcome of games and careers.

During a typical baseball game, umpires call about 75 pitches for each team (they call about 400,000 pitches over the whole season—this figure excludes foul balls), so an umpire’s evaluation heavily influences pitcher productivity and performance.

The researchers found if a pitcher is of the same race or ethnicity as the home plate umpire, more strikes are called and his team’s chance of winning is improved.

The power to evaluate players’ performances disproportionately belonged chiefly to white umpires, while negative calls particularly impacted minority pitchers, Hamermesh said.

But, this behavior diminishes when the umpire’s calls are more closely scrutinized—for example at ballparks with electronic monitoring systems, in full count situation where there are 3 balls or 2 strikes, or at well-attended games.

This is one of those dirty little secrets that really makes you think.

- Barry Bonds slams number 756 to take the number 1 spot.  If he was not such a sour-puss I would make a whole post about this since it is such an amazing accomplishment but he just deserves this little blurb.

-Mike Minter, the Carolina Panthers’ career leader in games started and tackles, blames his achy knees in announcing his retirement Tuesday after 10 seasons with the team.

-Yao Ming marries his long-term girlfriend at a swanky hotel in his hometown of Shanghai. Yao, the Houston Rockets’ star center, tied the knot with Ye Li, a 6-foot-2 player on the Chinese women’s basketball team in a ceremony at the Shangri-La Hotel.

-Dissapointment in the big TO, David Beckham missed his scheduled Major League Soccer debut, failing to dress for the Los Angeles Galaxy’s game at Toronto FC on Sunday night.

The Chicago Bears enter the 2007 preseason with a host of problems, just one year removed from an NFC championship. Their star linebacker, Lance Briggs, is expected to hold out. One of their top defensive linemen, Tank Johnson, was cut after an embarrassing offseason. And there are a host of questions about quarterback Rex Grossman.  Things are just not looking to bright for the season ahead.

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