Sorry Michael --
I wrote too fast in this second last paragraph:
> James also did another form of that study, showing
> performance value based on when a player "got the
> big contract." It might be related to the age study,
> maybe not. Applies a lot more to pitchers, who are
> more age resistant.
I meant that James did a study on the performance of players AFTER a fat
contract.
Did it reduce their performance?
Since they tended to get the fat contract after peak performance age 27,
that could skew the stat analysis based simply on awarding of "too much
money."
But, with pitchers (who are not as age susceptible because theirs is a
more cerebral job), there was some evidence that the fat contract year
did not tend to result in the big performance year. In other words, the
big reward might attract the player but did not actually then get the
same performance.
(My guess is that other things did, shortly thereafter -- sports ego,
media pressure to focus, etc.)
One wonders how similar that is to the silly wages paid to CEOs and
actual company performance...
Ken.
--
Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to
be common.
-- Satchel Paige
