Tyler Cowen posts the abstract of an interesting new paper on violence in the NHL. This post reminded me of a brief paper idea I had recently and was encouraged to pursue further. The question at hand was, why do fights clear the bench in baseball but not necessarily other sports? Let’s assume the above anomaly is true, my claim is that fights in baseball typically involve the most highly valued asset of the team – high paid pitcher v. high paid batter. In this clearing the benches to involve the whole team in the fight has two rational motivations. 1) Drawing the fight into a full out brawl saves face in front of fans and the opposing team while protecting those highly valued assets. The individual fight may subside in the chaos of the brawl but no one appears to have backed down. 2) Playing the next game without the high valued player may mean a potential loss, better to involve the whole team and take some other form of dispersed penalty.
Anyone know where to hunt down good data on baseball fights or fights in other sports: hockey, basketball, rugby, etc???

As many of you have by now already heard the bad news is that the dear Sudha Shenoy, hostorian, scholar and all around wonderful person has passed away from a bout with cancer. She will be sorely missed. In reading several obits (1, 2, 3, and 4) I began to think of my favorite things Sudha:
1. Her annoyance that legal history and any institutional economics of the law are excessively Amero-centric.
2. Her annoyance that economists don’t know squat about history.
3. Her willingness to put “I, pencil” to shame with thorough production histories.
4. Her memories of hanging out with Murray and Joey, and her willingness to share them.
5. Her eagerness to meet with students and offer reading suggestions.
BTW. Bo Diddley will also be missed.