Doug's Business of Baseball Articles
(Unless otherwise credited, all first appeared in the SABR Business of Baseball Committee newsletter)

Feature Articles:

 Date  Subject
 April 2004   Fixing the Fan Cost Index (Baseball Prospectus)
 September 2003   Predicting the Playoffs (Baseball Prospectus)
 July 2003   On the Mendoza Line (Baseball Prospectus)
 March 2003   The 2003 Veterans Committee Vote
 February 2003   Where Does the Money Go? (Baseball Prospectus)
 January 2003   The Midsummer Classic (Baseball Prospectus)
 Fall 2002  Inside the Major League Rules
 Fall 2002  Payroll vs. Performance, 2002
 Fall 2002  Review of 2002 Member Survey
 Summer 2002  Summary of New Collective Bargaining Agreement
 Summer 2002  MLB in Congress, 2001-02
 Summer 2002  Only Four GMs in Hall of Fame (ESPN.com)
 Winter 2002  MLB's Latest Unconvincing Financial Disclosures
 Fall 2001  Contraction Follies
 Fall 2001  The Secret of Bud Selig's Success
 Fall 2001  Results of 1st Annual Bud Selig Predictions Contest
 Fall 2001  The Last Lame Duck Season
 Fall 2001  Origin of the Name "World Series"
 Fall 2000  Senate "Competitive Balance" Hearings
 Summer 2000  Report on the "Blue Ribbon Panel" Report
 Fall 1999  Shoeless Joe Jackson
 Summer 1999  Umpire resignations
 Fall 1998  Text of Curt Flood Act, limiting antitrust exemption
 Summer 1998  30 Years of Collective Bargaining Agreements
(handout from 1998 SABR convention presentation)
 Spring 1998  J.D. Drew
 Summer 1997  Restructuring proposals
 Spring 1997  Ticket prices and attendance, 1994-96
 Fall 1996  Labor meltdown, part II
 Fall 1996  Recent judicial proceedings
 Fall 1996  "70 Nights in a Ball Park" (1958)
 Summer 1996  Retired players seek pension, licensing money
 Summer 1996  Marge Schott suspension
 Summer 1996  Tentative labor agreement
 Fall 1995  New TV contracts
 Fall 1995  75th anniversary of the Commissioner's Office
 Summer 1995  30% Revenue Sharing Proposal
(text of talk at 1995 SABR convention)
 Spring 1995  Misattributed text in Total Baseball


News Updates:
Summaries of recent Business of Baseball developments. Omitted issues had no news updates; developments for that period are covered in the next issue.


 2003  Fall  Summer  Spring  
 2002  Fall  Summer  Spring  
 2001  Fall  Summer  Spring  Winter
 2000  Fall  Summer  Spring  Winter
 1999  Fall  Summer  Spring  
 1998  Fall  Summer  Spring  Winter
 1997  Fall  Summer  Spring  
 1996  Fall  Summer  Spring  Winter
 1995  Fall  Summer    


Historic Data and Chronologies:


 Date  Subject
 Fall 1999  NL payrolls and salaries, 1957-63
 Summer 1999  Chronology of expansion and relocation
 Spring 1998  List of long-term holdouts
 Fall 1997  Terms of major league expansions
 Summer 1997  Chronology of national baseball broadcasting contracts
 Spring 1997  Chronology of proposals for interleague play
 Summer 1996  MacPhail Report of 1946
 Summer 1995  1934-1937 salaries
 Summer 1995  Length of games
 Summer 1995  Broadcasters, 1945 and 1970


Looking Back:
Highlights from 100/75/50/25 years ago.

 Spring 2003   1878-1903-1928-1953-1978
 Spring 2002   1877-1902-1927-1952-1977
 Spring 2001   1876-1901-1926-1951-1976
 Spring 2000   1900-1925-1950-1975
 Spring 1999   1899-1924-1949-1974
 Winter 1998   1898-1923-1948-1973
 Winter 1997   1897-1922-1947-1972


Quotes and Documents:
Illuminating and/or humorous glimpses of Major League Baseball's past. Owners and writers have been complaining about "overpaid players" since when?

 Date  Subject
 Fall 2000  Messersmith decision
 Fall 1999  1916: National Commission bans non-reserve contracts
 Spring 1999  Umpire conditions in 1908
 Winter 1999  1949: MLB lobbying Congress for antitrust exemption
 Fall 1998  1945: Owners seek to control Happy Chandler
 Summer 1998  1890: National League subsidizes a friendly paper
 Winter 1998  1916 and 1956: need for major league salary caps
 Fall 1996  1920s and 1930s: salary arbitration, salary reductions and Jake Powell
 Summer 1996  Salaries too high and players don't need unions
 Winter 1996  Great Moments in Prognostication
 Summer 1995  The Way Things Used to Be
 Spring 1995  The Greedy Players of a Century Ago


Miscellaneous: Sabermetrics and Humor:
Stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else: sabermetric analysis and April Fool's Day jokes. The latter should be self-explanatory; the former is mostly a decade or so old, but I believe the concepts remain valid.

 Date  Subject
 April Fool's Day 2004  Bud Selig Fan Club Weblog
 April Fool's Day 2004   Yankees Stadium Dilemma
 April Fool's Day 2003   Selig Yes, Zimbalist No
 June 1993  Tinkering Ever with Chance


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