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I've looked for that James study and can't find it, if you can I'd like to read it
I knew that it appeared in one of seven publications, '82-'88 Abstracts and they constitute about 1500 unindexed pages. I have the books but wasn't willing to conduct a search that might take hours...but....the internet is a wonderful thing. Someone has compiled an index of all of Bill James writings: Works of Bill James
and zip zap...I found it. It appears in the 1983 Abstract on page 156 in James comments on Keith Hernandez in the player rankings section. (I would not have thought to look there.) It had been while watching Keith Hernandez getting two hits and two walks in the seventh game of the '82 World Series, which was played on his birthday, and recalling some of the Royals also having star performances on birthdays, that got James to wondering if there was a "birthday effect."
So, he made up a list of all the players from the 1982 season who had birthdays between April and the end of the season, and compiled the stats recorded on their birthdays. He found that the birthday boys hit .350 in April, .375 in May, .419 in June, .286 in July, .299 in August and .302 in September. Collectively they slugged .565. James concluded that there was no need to construct any comparable charts for non birthday performances since no group of players hits the collective .337 that the birthday men had produced.
Then he ran a study for pitchers and found that on their birthdays, they were a collective 20-8.
James concluded with "If you're a gambler, it might not be a bad idea to keep a list of pitchers birthdays."
If Chad Billingsley isn't traded before his contract extension kicks into gear in 2013, he will have bucked a trend.
No homegrown Dodger has stayed in Los Angeles after becoming eligible for free agency since Darren Dreifort (1994-2004) and Eric Karros (1991-2002). Before them, you'd have to go back to the members of the 1988 World Series team, such as Orel Hershiser. Everyone else that came up from the farm since that time was either traded or left to roam the streets of MLB to find their riches elsewhere.
3 consecutive shut outs for the Dodgers' pitching staff
6-0 vs the Mets
1-0 vs the Padres
and today's game where the first 32 Dodger hitters failed to get a hit, but the final 2 doubled and singled with 2 outs to score the lone run of the game.
The Dodgers picked up Juan Rivera from the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday and designated Marcus Thames for assignment.
Fire Colletti now!!!
LA is out of the playoff hunt, 11 games behind in the division. No reason to add $2.5 million in salary to try and win a few extra games.
Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos is much smarter than Ned. I fear to find out what kind of talent AA was able to extract from the Dodger system in exchange for a worthless player.
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