Racial Discrimination in Major League Baseball: Can it Exist When Productivity is Crystal Clear?

Minority workers in many industries have dealt with wage and hiring discrimination. In Major League Baseball, it is typically assumed that fair hiring practices are used and that fair wages are offered due to the intense negotiation process involved with each player contract. However, past research shows that both wage and hiring discrimination has been present during some recent time periods. With most industries, racial discrimination is difficult to measure due to the implicit bias in the productivity variables. However, in baseball, productivity can be easily measured with offensive and defensive performance statistics, which are determined completely independent of race. This paper attempts to use a human capital theory based regression and chi-squared analysis to determine whether or not racial wage and hiring discrimination is present among outfielders in Major League Baseball. The key findings are that offensive production and games played are the determinants of salary, while race is not and that racial hiring discrimination is not present for the data used