FIGURE 12.1 Hot and Bothered Professional pitchers have very good aim, so when they hit batters with the baseball, it’s usually no accident. Data from nearly 60,000 major league baseball games shows that, as the temperature on the field increases, so does the likelihood that a pitcher will hit a batter. This effect becomes even stronger when members of the pitcher’s own team have recently been hit by pitches, suggesting that the pitcher is seeking revenge. (Data from Larrick et al., 2011.)
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Larrick, R. p., Timmerman, T. A., Carton, A. M., & Abrevaya, J., sychologicalp Science, 22(4), pp. 423–428, Copyright © 2011 by Sage publications. Reprinted bypermission of Sage publications.