Comment on “A Business Analysis of Asian Baseball Leagues”

• Author: Eiji Yamamura
• Date: 01 January 2016
• Published date: 01 January 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/aepr.12123

Comment on “A Business Analysis of Asian

Baseball Leagues”

Eiji YAMAMURA†

Seinan Gakuin University

JEL codes: Z20, L83

Jang and Lee (2016) provide an intriguing and original perspective to compare the devel-

opment process of professional baseball leagues among three different countries; the

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the Korean Baseball League Organization (KBO),

and Major League Baseball (MLB). Here, my comments cover three points to develop

and deepen the arguments for future research: (i) the influence of socioeconomic struc-

ture on team performance; (ii) the possibility of the emergence of twin-peaks in the

winning percentage distribution; and (iii) the possibility of a U-shape form of competi-

tive balance (CB).

First, Korea consists of nine provinces, and it seems generally known that the Korean

society is rooted in the original identity in each region. As reported in existing research

(e.g. Yamamura,2012; Kahaneet al., 2013), the social and cultural homogeneity of sports

team players contributes to improving performance. Accordingly, players of the team

share the regional identity, which possibly improves teamwork and then team perfor-

mance. The territorial draft system, which allows a team to select local talents, had been

used from the start of the KBO in 1982 (Korea Herald, 2013). Some teams exploited the

system to improve team performance. An example is Haitai Tigers and its hometown,

which is located in Jeolla Province. Tigers’ players mainly came from Jeolla Province,

which leads to homogeneity within the team and high degree of solidarity. Tigers made

the best use of solidarity to construct its dynasty by winning the championships eight

times during the period 1986–1997. However,the league abolished the territorial draft in

2008.1Further, as a consequence of economic development, geographical labor mobility

among regions is thought to have been promoted. Then, it is plausible that team mem-

bership becomes more heterogeneous, influencing the team performance. Such a transi-

tion of the labor market seems to influence the CB in KBO. In 2014, KBO revived the old

territorial system. It would be worthwhile to examine the effect of the system and team

homogeneity on team performance.2

Second, as is illustrated in Jang and Lee’s (2016) figure 2, a twin-peaks form tends to

emerge in the winning percentage distribution of MLB, especially in the period of 2000–

2014. MLB teams are thought to be divided into two groups: a group with a high-

winning ratio and a group with a low-winning ratio. At least, it is unclear whether team

performance converges for MLB. On the other hand, such phenomenon cannot be

†Correspondence: Eiji Yamamura, Department of Economics, Seinan Gakuin University, 6-2-92

Sawaraku Fukuoka, 814-8511 Fukuoka, Japan. Email: yamaei@seinan-gu.ac.jp

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doi: 10.1111/aepr.12123 Asian Economic Policy Review (2016) 11, 115–116

© 2016 Japan Center for Economic Research 115