Full House (2007)
“I have not yet proposed an explanation. I have proposed that 0.400 hitting be reconceptualized as an inextricable segment in a full house of variation—as the right tail of the bell curve of batting averages— and not as a self-contained entity whose disappearance must record the degeneration of batting in some form or other.In this different model and picture, 0.400 hitting disappears as a consequence of shrinking variation around a stable mean batting average. The shrinkage is so exceptionless,... so apparently lawlike in its regularity, that we must be discerning something general about the behavior of systems through time.Why should such a shrinkage of variation record the worsening of anything? The final and explanatory step in my argument must proceed beyond the statistical analysis of batting averages. We must consider both the nature of baseball as a system, and some general properties of systems that enjoy long persistence with no major changes in procedures and behaviors. I therefore devote this section to reasons for celebrating the loss of 0.400 hitting as a mark of better baseball.Two arguments, and supporting data, convince me that shrinkage of variation (with consequent disappearance of 0.400 hitting) must be measuring a general improvement of play.MoreLess
Read book Full House for free
Write Review:
Guest
Read Also
9 / 10
User Reviews: