JIM ALBERT
Bowling Green State University
January, 1998
Mike Schmidt was one the great homerun hitters in major league baseball. Schmidt's hitting performance was notable for its consistency over a span of 14 years. The issue of consistency is investigated by exploring a dataset which lists the date for each homerun Schmidt hit during his career. This exploration suggests that the homerun ability of this hitter did vary within a given season. To see if the observed patterns correspond to real effects, simulated homerun data is produced assuming a coin tossing model with a constant probability of success. By comparison of Schmidt's data with this simulation distribution, it is seen that Schmidt's homerun hitting behavior does exhibit some inconsistency. These patterns show how Schmidt matured as a baseball hitter over his career.