THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

I think a 2nd base bias may exist as well.  In baseball history there have been a ton of great but underappreciated 2nd basemen (Bobby Grich, Lou Whitaker come to mind, and I would even include Robbie Alomar and Craig Biggio in this category). 

Who are the most celebrated 2nd basemen in history?  Jackie Robinson, Joe Morgan and Rod Carew?  After that there’s a big dropoff.  Rogers Hornsby was incredible and I rarely hear his name mentioned with Ruth, Cobb, Gehrig, Mays, Williams etc.

I’ve been thinking about writing something similar about the relative lack of recognition utley gets.

First, though, without getting into my own (not fully-formed) thoughts on the complexities of race, media, and perception—Tango, remember that one exceptional case isn’t any more a refutation of your hypotheses of media bias any more than one case would be a confirmation of it. Be careful, or MGL is going to be all over you for taking one instance of performance as “true talent.”

With Utley specifically, I wonder if he isn’t overshadowed by Howard’s HRs and RBI. Also, Rollins isa great quote (wonderful player, too)

More generally, I think that 2B might be the most under-appreciated position by “the media.”

JAmes K has it---most overlooked position, and Hornsby most overlooked Top 20 position player, with Grich, Alomar, Whitaker others also undervalued.

I think there is a race bias, but there are obviously a lot of other biases as well, plus a lot of noise.  So of course there will be exceptions to the race bias rule, if it exists.  One of the biases is to undervalue defense, at least as measured by the advanced metrics.  A large part of Utley’s value is his defense, isn’t it?

Utley seems to be a quiet guy. I have never seen him on a commercial or even a PSA (public service announcement) on TV.  I see Howard on them all the time, and Rollins has been on PSA’s, I think.

Lots of things go into the media’s and public’s perception of a player other than actual talent/value.  You can probably find examples and exceptions to every one of the biases or potential biases.

So yes, Utley is just an anecdote, although he is probably a good example of some other non-race bias (good defense, second baseman, non-exposed in the public and media venues, etc.) .

I think that Rollins and Howard are the dominant players in Philly for 2 reasons.  They have great personalities, find their way on TV shows and comedy sketches, and video games.  If you have the personality and you’re a flashy player, the media will flock towards you.

And second, there has been talk for a while about the black player fading out of the American baseball landscape.  Well, Rollins and Howard are two great examples of successful black athletes who chose baseball over football and basketball.  That story will write itself over many many times, especially if they keep playing well enough to get the respect.  Unfortunately for Utley, he is overshadowed by these guys. 

The only time Chase got some face time was his World Series Parade speech.  Im not quite sure that was the best for his reputation either.

http://meoutsidethebox.wordpress.com/

It’s hard to argue this is a positional issue when Pedroia won the AL MVP last year, as a white second baseman. (though he is little! which means he plays twice as hard as the big boys!!!!!!!)

I always try to ascribe racial issues as the last possible reason for things.  I’m not sure why, but I guess I like to think by now we’re over all that nonsense.  But in the instance of the overachiever/underachiever/hustler/natural, I think you’re correct Tango.

But I also think you’re onto something with regards to other biases.  It appears that voters’ and fans’ biases in favor of BA, HR, and RBI and against OBP and UZR, are stronger than their racial biases.  Which, in my eyes, is a pretty darn good thing.

Mike,

Good point, but also keep in mind that out of all positions 2nd basemen have won the fewest MVP Awards.

In Little League, the worst player was usually put at either 2nd base or maybe a corner OF spot.  Even today, on company or beer league softball teams, it seems like the 22 year-old unathletic girl or 60 year-old boss get put at 2nd base to “hide” them. I wonder if this has any bearing on perception of the position.

I think many baseball fans distinguish between two types of players: 1) those who are athletically gifted and 2) those who succeed despite (they believe) having more limited athletic ability, due to intelligence, discipline, effort (i.e. “character").  And, in general, they identify with and admire the latter group more.  I think it’s because baseball fans like to imagine themselves playing, and find it easier to identify with players who are not imposing physical specimens.  My sense is that fans of other sports don’t do this nearly as much—great athletes in basketball or football are admired as such—but that may just be my perception. 

Now, mostly this is just nonsense.  You simply don’t make it to MLB without great physical gifts.  But you don’t have to be 270 lbs or 6’-6”, so this is less obvious in MLB than in the NBA or NFL, which allows baseball fans their fantasy that anyone can play professional baseball with the right character.  (The odd part of this fantasy is that the fan’s own failure to make it as a professional ballplayer must then be a failure of character rather than bad genes.  I’d rather blame the genes!)

I think there has definitely been a racial element to this dichotomy over the years. I’m confident a search of sports articles would find that “hustle” has been used far more to describe white players than black, while “athletic” (often a back-handed compliment from baseball fans) is the reverse.  And a lot of that is simple racial bias, I believe.  But it was also probably true, at least in the 60s thru 80s, that many of the most obviously athletic players were black—guys like Raines, Henderson, Winfield.  I’d guess that if you identified MLB players who also excelled in track, football, and/or basketball, that pool of players would be disproportionately black. 

I think the athletic/hustler dichotomy is more than just veiled racial bias, but also entwined with it, and I’m not sure how you could tease the two apart.

James/7: 2B in MLB ALSO has the worst players, overall, on average.  (They are also paid less.) Though, it’s nothing compared to the lower levels.

Guy/8: love the insight here:
“The odd part of this fantasy is that the fan’s own failure to make it as a professional ballplayer must then be a failure of character rather than bad genes.  I’d rather blame the genes!”

I have not read the comments very carefully, but when it comes to MVP awards, 2B men have not done well at all in total or in shares. Go to

http://cybermetric.blogspot.com/2009/02/mvp-awards-and-award-shares-by-position.html

(foot planted squarely in mouth.)

Um, did some of the comments here (including my own) imply that Utley is overshadowed because some of his teammates are more “articulate?”

For their careers, Utley is almost as good a hitter as Howard, .392 woba vs. .395.  Maybe he’d get more recognition if he were a huge slow guy stuck at an easy position.

Utley doesn’t have the HR totals, so chicks don’t dig him. Also some of his value comes from his stellar defense, which never gets as much play in the MSM.

He’s a great player, and deserves the MVP at least once if he continues to produce at this level.

Yeah, I think the media probably has a much bigger bias in favor of traditional baseball stats and against sabermetric ones, than any racial bias.

Maybe it looks like they are favoring ‘hustling white guys’ when they are actually favoring those that baseball scouts like over those that sabermetricians like.

If we were to come up with the overachieving/hustle representative for each team, would ALL 30 of them be white?

"If we were to come up with the overachieving/hustle representative for each team, would ALL 30 of them be white?”

They might if you simply let people choose, using their own biases and pre-conceived notions about what a hustling/overachieving player looks like.

I couldn’t possibly choose one from each team without thinking, “Should I choose/not choose him because he is white/black,” so that would be a very circular experiment…

Nah, given that he’s played all of his career for the Yankees, Derek Jeter’s profile and reputation for “clutchy-hustle” far outstrips genuine contributions (which, irritatingly, are quite brilliant even without the insufferable hagiography).

The PR ass-kissing that Jeter has to put up with should see him comfortably on this list with the David Eckstein’s and Willie Bloomquists despite his only being half-white.

Does Jeter count as white?  I get confused. 

I think the way that the media made over and drooled over guys like Ozzie, Griffey, Jeter, Gwynn, Puckett, and others makes it difficult to claim a strong, overreaching racial bias. And the media can’t get enough of hispanic players like Pujols and Manny and Pedro, etc. Now will an “angry-urban black man” like Bonds get more negative attention than a guy like Giambi?  Sure, but there are many other factors regarding their personalities and histories that contributed to their perceptions. Does some racial bias exist? Of course, but I think it is pretty subtle to non-existant for a majority of writers, etc.  I do agree that “hustle” has been attributed more to whites than blacks.  “Why” is another issue.

I definitely agree that the positional difference bias and the homerun/RBI/lack of understanding real value bias is far, far greater than the racial bias and most writers have it.  This is clearly why Utley is so vastly underrated while Rollins and Howard are so overrated.

Another idea - it seems like most of the white guys who get the “scrappy” label are pretty small in stature.  Maybe it is more of a size thing that a race thing.  Are white players in the MLB significantly shorter than the black players?

#20:  I was thinking a similar thought, which led me to wonder if the bias is being attributed correctly, if it exists.  Are GM/scouts more likely to take a chance on a smaller, less athletic player if he’s white?  I don’t think that’s out of the question.  Who are some “gritty” black players that deserve that title?

"If we were to come up with the overachieving/hustle representative for each team, would ALL 30 of them be white?”

Chone Figgins is the only non-Caucasian I can think of, unless you also count Jeter

James/7 - Not sure what type of Little League you played in, but this was definitely not the case growing up. The strongest overall players were at short, second, pitcher, first base, center field, and catcher (yes, first - because between the ages of 7-16, just having someone competent enough to catch a ball thrown to them is so very valuable). I can never remember a team I was on that “hid” a guy at second.

Matthew/19 - You make good points, but what about when it comes to negative attention? Is Milton Bradley a bigger jerk than Jeff Kent? It’s probably pretty close, but the media would have you believe the difference between the two is much larger than it actually is.

JD: the strong players played SS, 3B, LF, CF.  I don’t see how 2B could be stronger than 3B… that throw is hugely long, and there are not that many LHH among the young.  Indeed 1B was better than 2B, because of the need to catch the ball.  So, 2B and RF are the “hiding” positions.

Black ink.  Utley is a quiet guy with minimal black ink at an un-sexy position.  He doesn’t have the best power on his team, he doesn’t have the best speed on his team, he’s not otherwise flashy, and he plays a position where college shortstops and third basemen generally go to die.  So if Utley is black, then David Wright must be doubly so.

Plus, this is Philadelphia we’re talking about.

FJM, of course, has already covered this in response to an article by some Cohn’s back in the day.

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2008/04/stand-back-and-watch-pros-blog.html

The important conclusion:
“
Gamer list:

Ripken
Jeter
Ellis
Rowand
Hunter
Swisher
Byrnes
Tulowitzki

Or, in other words:

White
Half-white
White
White
Black
White
White
White

Non-gamers:

Bonds
Zito
Ramirez
Chavez
Beltran
Jones
Martinez
Ortiz

Or:

Black
White
Latino
Latino (Born in San Diego, but hey, a last name that ends in -ez!)
Latino
Afro-Caribbean (I think? Born in the Netherlands Antilles. Not white.)
Latino
Latino

Hmm. Also, shit, dogz. That non-gamer team, when they were healthy and not as old, would really have kicked the living tar out of the gamer team.”

I played second base in little league. I can assure you I was below-average in all facets of the game.