Category Archives: Sports

NORTHWESTERN VERSUS NOTRE DAME.

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Philip

NORTHWESTERN VERSUS NOTRE DAME. Northwestern played Notre Dame in football last Saturday for the first time in 19 years. The games have meaning for me in part because the Northwestern/ Notre Dame game of 1948 is one of my earlier … Continue reading →

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USING BASEBALL ANALOGIES TO PROVIDE A YARDSTICK FOR COMPARING PROBABLITIES.

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Philip

USING BASEBALL ANALOGIES TO PROVIDE A YARDSTICK FOR COMPARING PROBABILITIES. I argued here that people are by now accustomed to using probabilities rather than words in understanding weather forecasts. When I was growing up, weather forecasts avoided numbers and only … Continue reading →

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IMAGINING AN AT BAT AS A COIN FLIP.

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Philip

IMAGINING AN AT BAT AS A COIN FLIP. Nick finished his explanation of small samples by imagining at bats in the playoffs as coin flips. He took as an example Jayson Werth, who had one hit in 20 at bats … Continue reading →

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THE PLAYOFFS AS AN EXAMPLE OF SMALL SAMPLES.

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Philip

THE PLAYOFFS AS AN EXAMPLE OF SMALL SAMPLES. It takes 162 games to determine the teams that make the major league baseball playoffs. The World Series is a maximum of 7 games. Nick had a good analysis of how the … Continue reading →

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MISSING A PITCH CALL BY A FOOT.

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Philip

MISSING A PITCH CALL BY A FOOT. This article by Jason Epstein identifies the worst ball and strike call by an umpire in the 2014 regular season. The pitch was a strike one to Elvis Andrus in August which was … Continue reading →

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THE STRIKE ZONE 60 YEARS AGO.

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Philip

THE STRIKE ZONE 60 YEARS AGO. Kids, you will notice that the most dramatic thing about the image image of Ted Williams is the change in today’s strike zone from what it was when Williams was playing. The top four … Continue reading →

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TED WILLIAMS ON HOW LOW PITCHES ARE HARDER TO HIT.

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Philip

TED WILLIAMS ON HOW LOW PITCHES ARE HARDER TO HIT. When I was a boy I was very conscious of an image of Ted Williams at bat with an image of his strike zone superimposed. The image came from his … Continue reading →

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CAMERAS LOWERED THE STRIKE ZONE.

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Philip

CAMERAS LOWERED THE STRIKE ZONE. Derek Thompson points out that cameras not only led to more strikes but also lowered the strike zones. He writes: “Pitches between 18 and 30 inches above the plate, which are technically in the strike … Continue reading →

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HAS MAKING THE STRIKE ZONE MORE CONSISTENT RUINED BASEBALL?

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Philip

HAS MAKING THE STRIKE ZONE MORE CONSISTENT RUINED BASEBALL? The most important change in baseball this season has been the continued decline in offense. End of the season assessments of the baseball season advance a variety of explanations. Derek Thompson … Continue reading →

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RECORDS AND RULES FOR WOBBLES.

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Philip

RECORDS AND RULES FOR WOBBLES. This article from the walkapedia web site (which is devoted to identifying and walking the world’s 100 best walks) gives the history of the late 19th century craze of competitive walks for the period from … Continue reading →

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