Account
Unofficial MLB Census Shares Interesting Data About the League
May 19, 2014
Baseball is a game of numbers, but the unofficial Major League Baseball census provides fans with numbers that you don't see when glancing through statistics.
Andrew Powell-Morse of Best Tickets—with the help of Mykel Kovar—put together a census that breaks down just about any category that a fan might care about. From salaries to the combined average height and weight of teams, all of the data is in one spot.
There is a lot of interesting data there, and below are some of the more interesting graphics.
Check out a breakdown of how much each position makes on average:
MLB teams pay a lot of money for the positions that are expected to provide power in the lineup, such as first base and designated hitter. As valuable as pitching is, relief pitchers—outside of the top back-of-the-bullpen relievers—are the lowest-paid group of players in the league.
This graphic shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone:
Some of the early years of a baseball player's career are determined by arbitration, so the salaries remain relatively low. Once they play out their first contract, which is usually over by their late 20s, they get paid handsomely. Players get paid in the prime of their careers, so there is extra motivation to put up numbers early on.
Here's a look at two of the most interesting categories:
For whatever reason, the National League owns the top of the weight graphic while the American League is down at the bottom. Some may expect it to be the other way around considering the NL does not use the designated hitter.
Like football, baseball players come from the big states:
There is a little bit of a different look to the data when looking at the data closely:
For more data, check out Best Tickets.