quote:
Can any of you suggest any authoritative texts he can review?
Not motivated enough to run to the library but I did a google search using the search phrase --- comparison of "Dead Ball Era" and "live ball era" baseball ---
I didn't read all the articles after the search but here was one that had one interesting tidbit:
http://www.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070526&content...08&oid=36018&vkey=31quote:
I want to briefly put Pedro's ability in perspective because I think a lot of baseball fans have a very short memory about these things. ERA+ is a stat that adjusts a pitcher's earned-run average for park effects and the quality of the batters he faces, among other things. Unlike the traditional ERA stat, it allows for the comparison of pitcher's across baseball's history, from the dead ball era to the live ball era to the juiced player era, and it is also scaled so that the better a pitcher is, the higher his ERA+. The stat is set up so that the Major League average is around 100, and if you scour pitching stats at baseball-reference.com, you'll be surprised by just how many pitchers fall within two or three points of the average.
I had never heard of the ERA+ stat until I read this article. Perhaps, with a decent search phrase he can find leads that will lead him to more primary sources. The Internet per se is not considered a primary source btw so be careful about citing from any source that may pop up in a search. The Internet can be useful however to hone in on legitimate primary sources in a rapid manner. Hope that helps
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