Every ‘old school’ photographer has his dark room or studio where beautiful pictures come to light. Similarly, every statistical analyst has his dungeon where the truth, or some form of it, is revealed from behind the numbers. So I went into my dungeon to examine Dale Steyn’s and Curtly Ambrose’s careers from a new perspective – a comparative era analysis. I wanted to see how well both players did in their own eras and possibly explore how well they would do in each other’s era. The reason I chose this method lies in its similarity to how most analysts come to the conclusion that Viv Richards is the greatest One Day International (ODI) batsman of all time. They look deeply at the circumstances in Viv’s era and how much better he was compared …show more content…
Steyn is 47% better than the average bowler in this parameter. In Steyn’s era, pace bowlers had a strike rate of 61.5 balls per wicket while Steyn is 41.7. This corresponds to Steyn being 47% better in this parameter. In Steyn’s era, economy rates of pace bowlers are 3.24 while Steyn’s economy rate is 3.24. Hence, Steyn is no better than the pace bowlers of his era in this parameter, which corresponds to 0% better. So on average, Steyn has been 31% better than the average bowlers of his generation. Remember Ambrose was only 27% better than his …show more content…
Many will agree objectively though that Ambrose’s era was more bowler-friendly than Steyn’s era. So many circumstances are heavily in favour of the batsmen now in Steyn’s era. The rule changes, field size, the number of bouncers that can be bowled per over, flatter pitches and technological advancements in the batsman’s bat, etc have all put bowlers in Steyn’s era at a disadvantage. However, how would each bowler do in the other’s era? AMBROSE IN STEYN’S ERA Ambrose had a career bowling average of 20.99, strike rate of 54.5 and an economy rate of 2.30 in his era. Hypothetically, if Ambrose played in Steyn’s era his bowling average would be 23.43, strike rate 53.4 and an economy of 2.63 based on how Ambrose distinguished himself from his peers in his own era. These numbers are excellent yet comparable to Steyn’s in this era: bowling average 22.56, strike rate 41.7 and economy of 3.24. Both Ambrose’s and the era’s traits are retained by this projection. STEYN IN AMBROSE’S
batters away with his powerful pitch. He had a good couple of years but then got into a big slump – he
In the August 30, 1905 edition of Detroit’s Free Press, the sportswriters ran a small blurb announcing the arrival of a Detroit Tigers rookie, Ty Cobb. They stated, “Cobb left the South Atlantic League with a batting average of .328. He will not pile up anything like that in this league, and he doesn’t expect to” (Allen 177). Their prediction ironically rung true. Cobb hit better than their projected .328 batting average twenty times in his twenty four seasons (McCallum 217). Tyrus Raymond Cobb’s prolific career leads many fans and historians to believe that he deserves the title of greatest hitter of all time. However, some critics would argue that Ted Williams warrants this distinction. Unfortunately for Williams and his fans, the hitting prowess of Williams falls short of Cobb’s. While Williams arguably displayed a great hitting ability, Cobb remains the better batsman.
The relationship between cricket and politics is clearly delineated in South Asia from 1880 to 2005 through the easing of the stress between totally different caste members, although the stress mitigated wasn't forever from a religious aspect between the Pakistanis, Indians, and also the British. The various issues that arose in South Asia was largely class or caste systems (Docs 2, 3, 4), rivalry (Docs 1, 6, 10), and religious tensions (Docs 5, 7, 8, 9) against the various countries and cricket groups. Throughout its interaction with Indian politics from 1880 to 2005, cricket has served as both a unifying force between totally different political groups and also has divided political groups in periods of power struggle and political variations, as well as making sturdy bonds between countries.
Roger Clemens is arguably one of the greatest pitchers ever in Major League Baseball history. Clemens has built an astounding and exciting career filled with impressive statistics that may rarely be duplicated. His career extends from the early 1980’s into the new millennium, and continues today. During this stretch, nicknamed “The Rocket”, he won more Cy Young awards, seven, than any other pitcher in MLB history. The Cy Young award is given annually to the League’s best pitcher. In 2003 he won the 300th game of his career. He is only one of four MLB pitchers in all time to pass the 4,000 strikeout mark.
Baseball statistics are meant to be a representation of a player’s talent. Since baseball’s inception around the mid-19th century, statistics have been used to interpret the talent level of any given player, however, the statistics that have been traditionally used to define talent are often times misleading. At a fundamental level, baseball, like any game, is about winning. To win games, teams have to score runs; to score runs, players have to get on base any way they can. All the while, the pitcher and the defense are supposed to prevent runs from scoring. As simplistic as this view sounds, the statistics being used to evaluate individual players were extremely flawed. In an attempt to develop more specific, objective forms of statistical analysis, the idea of Sabermetrics was born. Bill James, a man who never played or coached professional baseball, is often credited as a pioneer in the field and for coining the name as homage to the Society of American Baseball Research, or SABR. Eventually, the use of Sabermetrics became widespread in the Major Leagues, the first team being the Oakland Athletics, as depicted in Moneyball. Bill James and other baseball statisticians have developed various methods of evaluating a player performance that allow for a more objective view of the game, broadly defined as Sabermetrics.
For this rhetorical analysis paper I chose one of my favorite, and most famous, sports speeches of all time, Lou Gehrig’s farewell to baseball address. Lou Gehrig was a famous baseball player in the 1920’s and 30’s. Lou didn’t really need to use a attention getting introduction, he was well known and loved by so many that people piled into Yankee Stadium to watch and listen to him give this speech. Although he didn’t need an attention getter, he began his speech with one of the greatest baseball quotes of all time, “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” (Gehrig, 1939) Every single time I hear or read that opening line it sends chills down my spine and stops me for a moment to reflect on everything that is going on in my own life.
of a run lower than Chicago’s. Even though the Reds were a great team, they were by no means a
Primary Audience Outcome: I the want the audience to understand why there should be no controversy on who is the best basketball player ever.
Claim: The early years of baseball has changed dramatically over the years that have gone by.
...ws. July 1, 1996: 38+. Sports. Eleanor Goldstein. Vol. 5. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1996. Art. 13.
Tygiel, Jules. 2001; 2000. Past time: Baseball as history. Oxford England; New York: Oxford University Press.
This game of a stick and ball has captivated the United States during good and bad times. In either time most of us today can remember stories of players from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. These are legendary figures in the sport of baseball that have are celebrated as hero’s and in scandal, i...
Menke, Frank G. The Encyclopedia of Sports. South Brunswick and New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1987. Print.
Many people may not know that baseball and cricket both originated in England. Cricket was always the favorite sport out of the two up until the