Hot Hands, Draft Hype, and DiMaggio's Streak: Debunking America's Favorite Sports Myths [Paperback]

In sports there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Joe DiMaggios fifty-six-game hitting streak was magical. The three-point shot is an essential part of NBA basketball. Babe Ruth shouldnt have attempted to steal second base in the ninth inning of the 1926 World Series. Scientist and researcher Sheldon Hirsch has taken a decidedly unorthodox approach to sports history. He looks at myths, legends, conventional wisdom, shibboleths, and firm convictions of all kinds that sports lovers hold to be true, and demonstrates how analysis of facts and figures disproves what traditionand sportswriterswould have us believe. Divided into three parts, on baseball, basketball, and football, Hot Hands, Draft Hype, and DiMaggios Streak contains enough clear-sightedness and shocking conclusions to delight any sports lover.

SHELDON HIRSCH grew up in New York and wrestled at Amherst College. He is a kidney doctor and a self-professed sports geek. He lives in Chicago (but still roots for the Yankees). He is the coauthor of The Beauty of Short Hops.

Introduction PART I: BASEBALL Myths DiMaggios Hitting Streak Is Overrated More Ado about Zero Its So Easy to Find a Goat Are Todays Players Better Athletes Than Ever? Misunderstandings Media Misses Baseballs Exaggerated Demise Too Much Tommy John in Baseball Causation versus Luck Analytics Evaluating Baseball Statistics Reevaluating Players from a Modern Perspective Additional Modern Insights Modern Statistics: Different Perspectives The Future of Baseball Analytics PART II: BASKETBALL Answering Basketballs Critics Prodigies, AAU Ball, and One and Done College Coaches: Saints or Sinners? More Problems with the College Game? Problems with the NBA? Myths and Misunderstandings The Narrow Thinking about Wins and Losses LeBron Jamess Odyssey More Media Hysteria: The Chris Paul Affair Danny Ferry Deserves Praise, Not Exile Do Hot Hands Exist? The LarlS¨