ECONOMIC DISCRIMINATION IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: MARGINAL REVENUE PRODUCTS OF MAJORITY AND MINORITY GROUP MEMBERS

The concept of marginal revenue product, a mainstay in economic analyses, composed the major dependent in this inquiry. Race/ethnicity was the primary independent variable and the relationship between race/ethnicity and marginal revenue products was examined. Using a variety of descriptive and inferential statistics, it was discovered that there was no evidence that baseball players' racial/ethnic background was related to “exploitation” nor were there statistically significant differences in the marginal revenue products generated by players of different races/ethnic backgrounds. When years of service were trichotomized into less than 2 years, 2 to 5 years, and 6 and more years, an inverse relationship between years of service and exploitation was discovered. Specifically, considering baseball players in the aggregate, the greatest exploitation occurred among those with less than 2 years of experience, the least exploitation existed among those with the most years of service, and the 2 to 5 years of service category experienced exploitation levels between the more and less experienced groups.