BI223 SCIENCE AND BASEBALL

Prof. Herb Wilson Office:113 Arey Email: whwilson@colby.edu Office phone: x5739 Office Hours: M 3:00-4:00 T 2:00-3:00 and by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION

Baseball is an important part of the fabric of the United States. The French writer Jacques Barzun wrote in 1954, “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” While acknowledging that baseball contributes fundamentally to American

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history and sociology, we will focus on the scientific aspects of baseball in this course. Baseball is rich in statistics that can be profitably studied and analyzed. Physiology, biomechanics, animal behavior, evolution, and physics can all be studied using baseball. In essence, we will view baseball through the lenses of a number of scientific disciplines. This class fulfills the Natural Sciences (non-laboratory) Distribution Requirement.

COURSE WEBSITE

web.colby.edu/baseball

COURSE GOALS

v To increase the understanding and appreciation of the game of baseball v To learn basic principles of statistics and probability v To learn basic principles of evolution, animal behavior, biomechanics and solid

physics v To appreciate the strength of evidence-based scientific approaches to understanding

the natural world as well as baseball v To acquire some proficiency in the programming language, R

REQUIRED TEXTS Asinof, Eliot. 1963. Eight Men Out. Owl Books, New York. Bissinger, Buzz. 2006. Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak and Joy in the Mind of

a Manager. Mariner Books, New York. Harbach, Chad. 2011. The Art of Fielding. Little, Brown. New York. Lewis, Michael. 2003. Moneyball. W. W. Norton, New York. Sawchick, T. 2015. Big Data Baseball. Flatiron Books. New York. Turbow, Jason and Michael Duca. 2010. The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing, &

Bench-clearing Brawls. Anchor Books, New York. COURSE REQUIREMENTS First hour exam 15% Second hour exam 15% Discussion participation 12% Talk based on independent research project 12% Statistics problem sets and blog posts 20% Final exam 26%

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ATTENDANCE I expect students to attend all classes. Students are responsible for any work missed. Failure to attend class may result in a warning to the Dean of Students office as well as penalties to your grade. Chronic absenteeism will result in dismissal from the course. Absences may be excused and extensions granted for the following reasons: critical emergencies (to be verified by the Dean of Students), athletic or other extracurricular trips (to be verified by the team coach or faculty sponsor), illness (to be verified by Health Services of the Dean of Students office) or other circumstances discussed with me in advance. For the full college policy on attendance, please refer to the Colby College Student Handbook. Texting is not permitted during class; your grade will be penalized. SPECIAL NEEDS If you know of anything that might affect your participation in this class, please contact me so that we can find a suitable approach for your situation. If you require special consideration because of a learning difference or disability, please confer with me as soon as possible. PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC HONESTY Distilled to its essence, plagiarism is stealing. I have a zero-tolerance policy of plagiarism. Failure to attribute sources in your independent project exposes you to a charge of plagiarism. Faculty are required to report incidents of plagiarism in our classes. The charge of plagiarism will appear on your permanent Colby record and you run the risk of an F on the paper or in the course. Please check with me or use the resources of the Writing Center to make sure you understand your obligations to credit your sources.

PARTICIPATION

You should come to the Wednesday discussions prepared to talk. Your contributions to class discussions are particularly important. You should be willing to take risks, to express a different perspective, and to try out new ideas. Don’t let your voice go unheard.

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROJECT AND TALK

Each student will be required to conduct an independent research project. The project can be based on any aspect of baseball of interest as long as an original hypothesis is proposed and tested. The results of the project will be presented as an oral PowerPoint presentation during the last two weeks of class. The talk will be given in the pecha kucha style (a timed PowerPoint presentation involving 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds). You can Google “pecha kucha” to see examples of this efficient speaking style.

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CRITICAL DATES RELATED TO THE RESEARCH PROJECT

Mar 17 Paragraph describing the topic of your independent research project Apr 15 1-2 page summary of the current findings of your research project

RUBRIC FOR GRADING DISCUSSION PARTICIPATION EXCELLENT (5 points), Evidence that reading has been done completely and evidence of significant preparation for class discussion, including formulation of independent ideas, outside research, efforts toward comprehensive analysis, and attention to in-class themes. Characterized by active, constructive, and thoughtful participation in class discussion, including a willingness to take intellectual risks, initiate discussion leadership, and take responsibility for one's own learning. VERY GOOD (4 points), Evidence that reading has been done completely and evidence of some preparation for class discussion. Characterized by generally attentive attitude and some thoughtful and constructive participation in the day's discussion. GOOD (3 points), Evidence that the reading has been done completely, but without effort at analysis or independent comprehension. Characterized by passive or occasional participation in class discussion. MARGINAL (2 points), Evidence that part of the reading has been done or that the reading has been done poorly-or, participation that is not constructive or is disrespectful of others. Poor reading includes not looking up unfamiliar words or completing the additional preparation exercises. Arriving to class late, ringing cell phones, text messaging will result in an automatic MARGINAL grade. UNACCEPTABLE (1 point), Evidence that the reading has not been done. Evidence of partial reading, combined with participation that is not constructive or is disrespectful of others. Extreme tardiness, being asked to stop whispering, passing notes, or the like is UNACCEPTABLE.

ABSENT (0 points).

[Rubric modified from original developed by Professor Tilar Mazzeo]

Discussion grades are assigned for each Thursday discussion. Keep in mind that good discussion does not always mean being right or always having the answer; it can also mean asking good questions, taking a risk with an idea, or helping us to work through an issue as a group.

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SYLLABUS

Note: This syllabus is subject to change! We will cover all of the topics listed but the pace of coverage of topics may change. Some topics may demand more discussion; others may require less. The exam dates will not change.

Date Topic Feb 4 Introduction Feb 9 Film: The Private Life of Plants; Introduction to R Feb 10 R Laboratory: Graphics (ggplot2) Feb 11 Discussion: The Baseball Codes, pp. 1-171 Feb 16 Recorded lecture: Deception and deceit in animals; Linear regressions using R Feb 17 R Laboratory: Using dplyr in R; RMarkdown documents Feb 18 Discussion: The Baseball Codes, pp. 172-257; Superstition papers (download

from course website) Feb 23 Recorded lecture: Racism; Negro Leagues film; Pythagorean predictions Feb 24 R Laboratory: Lahman database; Combining dplyr and ggplot2 Feb 25 Discussion: Eight Men Out Mar 1 Recorded lecture: Evolution; Randomness and streaks Mar 2 R Laboratory: Batter evaluations Mar 3 Discussion: Creationism paper (download from course website) Mar 8 Recorded lecture: Population genetics; Discussion of Gould paper (download

from course website); BABIP Mar 9 R Laboratory: Batting and multiple regression Mar 10 Discussion: Moneyball Mar 15 Recorded lecture: Physiology; PED discussion; Evaluating speed vs. age Mar 16 R Laboratory: Career arcs Mar 17 Exam Mar 22 Spring Break Mar 23 Spring Break Mar 24 Spring Break Mar 29 Recorded lecture: Psychology; Base-out states Mar 30 R Laboratory: Eras of baseball Mar 31 Discussion: 3 Nights in August Apr 5 Recorded lecture: Meteorology; Coors Field; Log5 predictions Apr 6 R Laboratory: Evidence of PED use from Lahman database Apr 7 Discussion: Big Data Baseball, pp. 1-111

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Apr 12 Recorded lecture: Physics I; Effect of DH on run scoring Apr 13 R Laboratory: Evaluating pitching Apr 14 Discussion: Big Data Baseball, pp. 112-233 Apr 19 Recorded lecture: Physics II; Ball park factors Apr 20 R Laboratory: Comparing day versus night games Apr 21 Exam Apr 26 Class presentations I Apr 27 R Laboratory: Home field advantage; Travel effects Apr 29 Discussion: The Art of Fielding [Note Friday class] May 3 Class presentations III May 4 R Laboratory: Pitch F/X May 5 Class presentations IV