THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

The .500 OBP in your company softball league is clearly a result of the lack of relevance of the catcher in a company softball league (they just throw the ball back) and thus reduces it to a simple 1:1 batter vs pitcher matchup, which brings you back to .500.  See, it all works.

Actually, I read Phil’s review the other day and got enough of a chuckle.  Didn’t feel the need to read the actual study.

I thought I would read the entire article. I read the abstract and have no inclination to read any further. Here is the abstract:

New Growth Theory is the science of research, knowledge, and designs. The foundation of New Growth Theory is that technological change, improvement in the instructions for mixing resources, lies at the heart of growth and improvement. Designs are the instructions that turn resources into useful things. The combination of professional baseball history and professional football history teaches us that growth in the National Football League (NFL) springs from better designs such as the Green Bay Packers’ power sweep and the San Francisco 49ers’ rhythm passing. This paper demonstrates that although football design architectures differ, the outcome of all useful designs is identical: The creation of the same non-rival 2-to-1 edge that the pitcher and catcher (the battery) continuously enjoy over a hitter in baseball. This paper’s main conclusions are that, at maximum efficiency, NFL coaching research accounts for more than 25% of the team’s efficiency and superior human capital engaged in production (playing) accounts for less than 15% of efficiency. In other words, research and play design contributes more to an NFL team’s efficiency than play-making contributes. An NFL growth rate is equal to the productivity of a coaching staff’s research and represents a directional vector. If an NFL team’s growth rate is greater than 100%, it is likely the team is getting better continuously. Such an improving NFL team will generate increasing returns and enjoy an absolute competitive edge over competitors whose research productivity is less than or equal to 100%. Super Bowl results demonstrate that an NFL team that can sustain such growth and avoid turnovers is virtually unbeatable.

I thought at first that perhaps this was indeed a hoax as someone in the comments section of the above link suggested.

I don’t think it is.  It is apparently written by a lawyer who also has submitted the following patent application:

http://www.freshpatents.com/Trading-system-and-method-for-institutional-athletic-and-education-programs-dt20080619ptan20080147535.php?type=description

All I can say is, “OK...”

With all due respect to this guy, I am not sending him any clients in need of an attorney.

It is crazy that the JQAS published this without (apparently) any vetting…