PAGE 6 — THE DECREE — OCTOBER 7,1994
Baseball strike scores in economics class
By MARCO BUSCAGLIA
Now it’s official. For the first
time since 1904, there will be no
World Series.
Roger Maris’ homerun record
is safe, Tony Gwynn must put
aside his quest for the game’s first
.400 batting average since that of
Ted Williams, and the Cleveland
Indians have to forego their
chance at a berth in post-season
play, potentially their first since
1954.
But even though Major League
Baseball’s strike-plagued season
was canceled Sept. 14, talk of the
National Pastime is still alive
among students at colleges across
the country.
If fact, they’re debating the
strike more than ever — and it’s
not on local sports talk radio sta
tions or in the dorms. Instead, it’s *
in economics classrooms, where
professional sports is more than
part of the conversation before
class begins; it’s the main sub
ject.
Increasingly, advanced eco
nomics classes that focus on pro
fessional sports have sprouted up
across the nation, and this year,
the baseball strike is the number-
one topic.
For most, a 300-level econom
ics class is the stuff of theoretical
nightmares. Even Professor Bill
Baird, who teaches the subject at
the College of Wooster, admits
that the material can be pretty
mundane. But for students in his
Economics 390 class, “The Eco
nomics of Professional Team
Sports,” the subject matter is any
thing but boring.
“We can take a theory that stu
dents often believe is arcane and
show them that it can be used to
help them understand things that
they are interested in,” Baird says.
“The attention level in the class
is high even though we’ve been
discussing some pretty heavy eco
nomic theory. The topic is defi
nitely something that they’re cu
rious about.”
That curiosity stems from a
common interest, says Joe
Grubesic, one of Baird’s students.
“You look at the whole thing
from a different perspective when
you’re a student of economics in-
stead of just a fan and vice versa,”
says Grubesic, a 21-year-old jun
ior. “I’ve always been a big fol
lower of sports, and this class
helps me see some issues in a
completely different way.”
Michael Leeds is teaching an
economics course on professional
qK>rts for the first time this fall at
Temple UniversiQ' in Philadel-
ured it was a good way for stu
dents to make a connection to the
often-difficult material.
“I’m always preaching that
economics can be used to explain
a lot more than the production of
widgets,” Leeds says. “I think it’s
important to try to use economic
theories in as many different set
tings as possible.”
Leeds says he has often used
professional sports owners and
players as examples for his theo
ries in other classes, so his Eco
nomic of Sports course provides
the perfect forum for a wide vari
ety of practical applications.
“The students in the class are
probably able to grasp on to a lot
of the concepts more quickly than
those in other classes just because
of the examples,” Leed says. “The
participation in class is definitely
higher than normal.”
Smith College in
Northampton, Mass., offers a 300-
level class on the economics of
professional sports as well, fo
cusing on anti-trust exemptions,
regulations, salary levels and
structures, management, the ef
fects of mass media, and the rela
tionship of professional sports to
college athletics.
For the past four years, Carl
Brehm has taught the “Econom
ics of Sports” at Kenyon College
in Gambier, Ohio. Kenyon alter
nated the course between spring
and fall semesters each year to
allow those most interested in
Brehm’s class — student athletes
— the opportunity to take it.
“The class is a good way of
trying to funnel some economic
theory to students who aren’t nor
mally receptive to it,” Brehm
says, adding that 75 percent of
his students participate in the
school’s athletics program.
“It does take awhile, though,
for the class to realize that we
aren’t going to be discussing bat
ting averages,” he said.
Although the economics of
sports classes were proposed long
before the baseball strike, both
Baird and Leeds agree that the
labor dispute has made their
courses that much more relevant.
“Pedagogically, the strike has
been great, but emotionally,” says
Leeds, a lifelong Yankees fan,
“it’s been hell.”
“We will not lack for material
this year, that’s for sure,” Baird
says. “The baseball strike is a per
fect example of the economic
problems in sports today, and
hockey players and football play
ers are talking about striking for
the same reason.”
phia. He says he proposed the
class because,'like‘ Baitd; be ^ ‘
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