Baseball umps show racial bias

Umpires may be playing favourites on the field, according to a new study co-authored by McGill researchers. Their research shows umpires monitoring Major League Baseball games are more likely to make calls in favour of the pitcher if they share the same race or ethnic background. More than two million pitches over three seasons of MLB games were analyzed during the study by Christopher Parsons, an assistant professor of finance at McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management. His colleagues at the University of Texas and Auburn University co-authored the study.