At what point are half the players on a team deceased? If the total number of players (let's call it variable n) is odd, it'd be when the number of deceased players is equal to (n + 1 / 2). If you have an even number of players, it's when the number of deceased players is (n / 2). I looked at the years that were multiples of ten between 1910 and 1960 to see which players marked the halfway point of the players being deceased for each of them, and also how long it took to occur. For a couple from 1960, they didn't even reach that level till earlier this year. I also looked at how it compared to the average age of the team to see how strong the correlation was.
| 1910 | Name | Death Date | Years | Avg Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburg | Howie Camnitz | 3/2/1960 | 50 | 28.3 |
| Philadelphia (AL) | Jack Coombs | 4/15/1957 | 47 | 27.6 |
| Cincinnati | Frank Roth | 3/27/1955 | 45 | 26.2 |
| Cleveland | Heinie Berger | 2/10/1954 | 44 | 28.2 |
| Boston (AL) | Bunny Madden | 1/20/1954 | 44 | 25.5 |
| Chicago (AL) | Fred Payne | 1/16/1954 | 44 | 27.1 |
| Brooklyn | Rube Dessau | 5/6/1952 | 42 | 25.9 |
| New York (NL) | Doc Crandall | 8/17/1951 | 41 | 25.7 |
| Washington | Doc Ralston | 8/29/1950 | 40 | 27.9 |
| Boston (NL) | Jim Riley | 3/25/1949 | 39 | 26.5 |
| Detroit | Marv Peasley | 12/27/1948 | 38 | 27.8 |
| New York (AL) | Walter Blair | 8/20/1948 | 38 | 27.4 |
| St. Louis (NL) | Rebel Oakes | 3/1/1948 | 38 | 26.4 |
| Chicago (NL) | Mordecai Brown | 2/14/1948 | 38 | 29.0 |
| St. Louis (AL) | Hub Northen | 10/1/1947 | 37 | 28.2 |
| Philadelphia (NL) | Kitty Bransfield | 5/1/1947 | 37 | 29.0 |
| MLB AVG | 41.4 | 27.3 |
r = -0.18
| 1920 | Name | Death Date | Years | Avg Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | Billy Southworth | 11/15/1969 | 49 | 27.6 |
| Philadelphia (AL) | Chick Galloway | 11/7/1969 | 49 | 24.7 |
| New York (AL) | Rip Collins | 5/27/1968 | 48 | 27.8 |
| Cleveland | Ray Caldwell | 8/17/1967 | 47 | 29.3 |
| Brooklyn | Doug Baird | 6/13/1967 | 47 | 30.1 |
| Chicago (NL) | Hippo Vaughn | 5/29/1966 | 46 | 29.3 |
| Philadelphia (NL) | Gene Paulette | 2/8/1966 | 46 | 28.9 |
| Washington | Bill Hollahan | 11/27/1965 | 45 | 27.2 |
| Cincinnati | Jimmy Ring | 7/6/1965 | 45 | 29.1 |
| Boston (AL) | Wally Schang | 3/6/1965 | 45 | 28.1 |
| Detroit | Oscar Stanage | 11/11/1964 | 44 | 28.9 |
| St. Louis (AL) | Roy Sanders | 7/8/1963 | 43 | 28.5 |
| Chicago (AL) | Dickey Kerr | 5/4/1963 | 43 | 29.4 |
| Boston (NL) | Ray Powell | 10/16/1962 | 42 | 27.9 |
| St. Louis (NL) | Burt Shotton | 7/29/1962 | 42 | 26.4 |
| New York (NL) | Frank Snyder | 1/5/1962 | 42 | 26.9 |
| MLB AVG | 45.2 | 28.1 |
r = -0.06
| 1930 | Name | Death Date | Years | Avg Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York (NL) | Hughie Critz | 1/10/1980 | 50 | 27.2 |
| Cleveland | Milt Shoffner | 1/19/1978 | 48 | 27.3 |
| Boston (NL) | Lance Richbourg | 9/10/1975 | 45 | 29.6 |
| Cincinnati | Marty Callaghan | 6/23/1975 | 45 | 29.6 |
| New York (AL) | Ownie Carroll | 6/8/1975 | 45 | 27.0 |
| Detroit | Jimmy Shevlin | 10/30/1974 | 44 | 26.7 |
| Pittsburgh | Steve Swetonic | 4/22/1974 | 44 | 26.7 |
| Chicago (AL) | Bennie Tate | 10/27/1973 | 43 | 27.4 |
| St. Louis (NL) | Frankie Frisch | 3/12/1973 | 43 | 29.6 |
| Chicago (NL) | Danny Taylor | 10/11/1972 | 42 | 29.4 |
| Boston (AL) | Charlie Berry | 9/6/1972 | 42 | 28.6 |
| St. Louis (AL) | General Crowder | 4/3/1972 | 42 | 28.7 |
| Brooklyn | Ray Phelps | 7/7/1971 | 41 | 28.9 |
| Philadelphia (NL) | Tripp Sigman | 3/8/1971 | 41 | 27.1 |
| Washington | Bobby Burke | 2/8/1971 | 41 | 29.1 |
| Philadelphia (AL) | Pinky Higgins | 3/21/1969 | 39 | 28.7 |
| MLB AVG | 43.4 | 28.2 |
r = -0.35
| 1940 | Name | Death Date | Years | Avg Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston (NL) | Hank Majeski | 8/9/1991 | 51 | 26.3 |
| Philadelphia (AL) | Wally Moses | 10/10/1990 | 50 | 26.9 |
| New York (NL) | Mickey Witek | 8/24/1990 | 50 | 28.7 |
| Philadelphia (NL) | Neb Stewart | 6/8/1990 | 50 | 27.4 |
| St. Louis (NL) | Creepy Crespi | 3/1/1990 | 50 | 27.1 |
| New York (AL) | Lefty Gomez | 2/17/1989 | 49 | 28.1 |
| Chicago (NL) | Zeke Bonura | 3/9/1987 | 47 | 28.9 |
| Cincinnati | Vince DiMaggio | 10/3/1986 | 46 | 28.8 |
| Detroit | Hank Greenberg | 9/4/1986 | 46 | 29.4 |
| St. Louis (AL) | George Susce | 2/25/1986 | 46 | 28.2 |
| Washington | Sam West | 11/23/1985 | 45 | 26.8 |
| Boston (AL) | Joe Glenn | 5/6/1985 | 45 | 28.1 |
| Cleveland | Hank Helf | 10/27/1984 | 44 | 26.7 |
| Brooklyn | Gus Mancuso | 10/26/1984 | 44 | 28.4 |
| Chicago (AL) | Joe Kuhel | 2/26/1984 | 44 | 29.4 |
| Pittsburgh | Ed Leip | 11/24/1983 | 43 | 27.6 |
| MLB AVG | 46.9 | 27.9 |
r = -0.31
| 1950 | Name | Death Date | Years | Avg Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Sandy Consuegra | 11/16/2005 | 55 | 28.6 |
| St. Louis (AL) | Ribs Raney | 7/7/2003 | 53 | 25.5 |
| New York (AL) | Joe Ostrowski | 1/3/2003 | 53 | 29.2 |
| Chicago (NL) | Harry Chiti | 1/31/2002 | 52 | 27.5 |
| Boston (AL) | Bob Gillespie | 11/4/2001 | 51 | 29.8 |
| New York (NL) | Bill Rigney | 2/20/2001 | 51 | 27.0 |
| St. Louis (NL) | Tom Poholsky | 1/6/2001 | 51 | 29.1 |
| Boston (NL) | Willard Marshall | 11/5/2000 | 50 | 29.2 |
| Chicago (AL) | John Perkovich | 9/16/2000 | 50 | 28.4 |
| Philadelphia (NL) | Ken Heintzelman | 8/14/2000 | 50 | 26.5 |
| Brooklyn | Pee Wee Reese | 8/14/1999 | 49 | 27.5 |
| Cleveland | Early Wynn | 4/4/1999 | 49 | 29.2 |
| Philadelphia (AL) | Ben Guintini | 12/2/1998 | 48 | 31.2 |
| Detroit | Hal Newhouser | 11/10/1998 | 48 | 28.2 |
| Pittsburgh | Stan Rojek | 7/9/1997 | 47 | 28.6 |
| Cincinnati | Bobby Adams | 2/13/1997 | 47 | 27.5 |
| MLB AVG | 50.3 | 28.3 |
r = -0.19
| 1960 | Name | Death Date | Years | Avg Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland | Tito Francona | 2/13/2018 | 58 | 28.2 |
| Los Angeles | Wally Moon | 2/9/2018 | 58 | 27.7 |
| Detroit | Chico Fernandez | 6/11/2016 | 56 | 28.6 |
| San Francisco | Jim Davenport | 2/18/2016 | 56 | 26.8 |
| Kansas City | Ken Johnson | 11/21/2015 | 55 | 28.3 |
| St. Louis | Ray Sadecki | 11/17/2014 | 54 | 28.6 |
| Philadelphia | Al Dark | 11/13/2014 | 54 | 26.1 |
| Chicago (AL) | Gene Freese | 6/19/2013 | 53 | 30.8 |
| Milwaukee | Stan Lopata | 6/15/2013 | 53 | 30.0 |
| Boston | Tom Borland | 3/2/2013 | 53 | 29.0 |
| Chicago (NL) | Ed Bouchee | 1/23/2013 | 53 | 28.1 |
| Washington | Don Mincher | 3/4/2012 | 52 | 27.4 |
| New York | Andy Carey | 12/15/2011 | 51 | 28.1 |
| Pittsburgh | Gino Cimoli | 2/12/2011 | 51 | 28.6 |
| Baltimore | Al Pilarcik | 9/20/2010 | 50 | 27.8 |
| Cincinnati | Whitey Lockman | 3/17/2009 | 49 | 27.3 |
| MLB AVG | 53.5 | 28.2 |
r = -0.05
The r variable, for anyone unaware, shows the strength of correlation. A negative number, as we see in each of these cases, shows that the higher the number of years until a team reaches the halfway point, the younger the average age of the team is. That's consistent with what we'd expect, but as we can see, the correlation isn't particularly strong in any of these cases. There's no higher than a 35% correlation in any instance, and in some cases it's close to zero.
I'm also not sure why from 1920 to 1930 the average number of years till a team reached the halfway point actually dropped. You'd think we'd see a steady rise, considering the increases in life expectancy over time.
I suppose I'll have to compile the data for more years than just these, to see if we can spot any trends, because six different years isn't exactly the largest sample size. We'll see what comes of that. To be continued? Maybe?
