Historical trends in height, weight, and body mass: data from U.S. Major League Baseball players, 1869-1983

Physical size associations to offensive performance among major league leaders

Minimal work has studied physical size effects on statistical performance among Major League players. In this study, longitudinal, bivariate, and regression analyses studied the impact of physical size on offensive baseball statistics within a homogeneous talent sample of Major League batting leaders. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from heights and weights that were publicly available to form a statistical database of 4,360 offense leaders from 1950 to 2010. Repeated-measures analysis of variances examined differences in anthropometrics and baseball statistics between each decade from 1950 to 2010. Bivariate correlation and linear regression analyses evaluated BMI as an independent variable of influence, where all tests applied an a priori significance level (p ≤ 0.05). After 1980, offensive performance increased (p ≤ 0.05) concurrent to body mass and BMI growth (p < 0.001). During the 1960s, only batting average and on-base plus slugging percentages were found statistically decreased (p ≤ 0.05). All baseball statistics were positively correlated and predicted by BMI (p < 0.001). Consideration to covariant factors is required in data interpretation, yet nonetheless, our results showed physical size (BMI) to positively influence Major League offensive statistics. Over the 60-year period, greater body weight-to-height proportions owed to improved competitive performance, which suggests greater emphasis on hypertrophic stimuli in training and nutrition, as well as selection of larger professional baseball prospects.

Height and subjective well-being in Italy

Using an Italian survey, we investigate the effect of height on individual happiness. We find that a large part of the effect of height on well-being is driven by a positive correlation between height and economic and health conditions. However, for young men the effect of height on happiness persists even after controlling for these variables, implying that height is associated with some psycho-social direct effects on well-being. Consistent with this hypothesis, we find that men care not only about their own height but also about the height of others in their reference group. Well-being is greater for individuals who are taller than other men in their reference group. Results are robust to different definitions of reference group and controlling for a number of other reference group characteristics.

The relationship between physical work and the height premium: finnish evidence

This paper examines the role of physical strength in the determination of the height wage premium by using the "Health 2000 in Finland" data that contain both self-reported information on the physical strenuousness of work, and information on muscle mass from medical examinations. The results suggest that there are generally no distinct differences in the height premium between four different work strain categories. We also find that muscle mass is positively associated with wages per se. The premium is both statistically and economically more significant for men than for women. In terms of occupational sorting, we observe that the shortest men do physically very demanding work and the tallest do sedentary work, even after controlling for the influences of age and education.

Height and body mass index values of nineteenth-century New York legislators

Previous studies of mid-nineteenth-century American BMI values have used data created by military academies and penitentiaries. This paper uses an alternative data set, constructed from legislative documents in which the heights and weights of New York State legislators were recorded. The results reveal that middle- to upper-middle class Americans maintained BMI values closer to the modern standard than did students and prisoners. The average BMI value among this group was 24 and their height-weight combinations did not greatly diverge from historical mortality risk optima.