RESEARCH QUARTERLY

Tables I and II (rows 3, 4, and 5) reveal the chronological ages
at which: (1) 96 major league baseball players were the batting cham-
pions (best-hitters) of their respective leagues, (2) 88 pitchers led their
respective leagues at pitching, and (3) 63 players were league cham-
pions at base-stealing. Since there are more major league players at
ages 25 to 29 inclusive than of any other five-year interval, one would
naturally expect that this age group would contribute the most league
champions. Table II reveals that this expectation is fulfilled. It will
be noted from Table II that the age differences for the three kinds of
championship performance are relatively slight and perhaps not statis-
tically significant. With more data available future investigators will
be able to determine for these separate performances whether or not
significant age differences exist.

PROFESSIONAL PUGILISTS

The names of the champion boxers of the world and the years. dur-
ing which they won or retained their titles were procured from Menke.
The birth dates of the pugilists were found in Romano’s Post Boxing
Record.* Figure 3 presents data for 133 world champions (of all weight
classifications) who held their various boxing championships for a total
of 448 years or fractions of years. Although in Figure 3 the peak of the
age curve occurs at age 26, study of the data reveals that the age of
maximum success varies somewhat for the different weight classifi-
cations.

Except when they are competing for the heavyweight championship,
boxing contestants must meet certain specified weight requirements.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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L20
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Ficure 3. Chronological ages at which
133 boxers won or retained 448 world
championship titles—all weight classi-
fications.

FicureE 4. Chronological ages at which
317 national tennis championships (Eng-
lish, American, and French) were either
first won or retained.