Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0006-0570-9408

Graduation Year

2024

Date of Submission

12-2023

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

Reader 1

Richard Burdekin

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Rights Information

© 2023 Aidan S. Booth

Abstract

This thesis investigates the impact of international baseball players on MLB organizations. The paper uses the Sean Lahman Database focusing on team-wide statistics including performance metrics, winning percentage, and attendance. Using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression model, the paper examines the effect of share of foreign-born players on team success, attendance, revenue, and valuation. The dataset controls for a number of variables throughout these regressions including payroll, population, stadium capacity, number of all stars on each team, and the number of competing professional sports teams in the metropolitan area in order to isolate the effect of foreign-born players on the various outcome variables. The study finds that a higher share of foreign-born players is associated with a lower team ERA, thus increasing team winning percentage. Additionally, an interesting dichotomy is seen in the attendance and team revenue regressions as a higher share of foreign-born players is associated with decreased fan attendance despite increasing annual revenue. Finally, the paper concludes that upon further research it is suggested to include other elements such as salary, fan-base demographics, and other factors as this list of left out information can lead to omitted variable bias. Longitudinal studies investigating the effect of foreign players in other professional baseball leagues over a longer period of time is also suggested.

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