America’s Most Loyal Baseball Fans: No Cubbies and No Red Sox... The Texas Rangers?

[iortiz]

Watching the last night game vs CUBS, was unavoidable notice how many CUBS' fans were around there, in fact, i don't remember in the recent past (2 years) that quantity of Visitors' jerseys and caps as i saw yesterday on TV in Fenway Park (Possibly 60-40 mix), so i made a little research of who could be the most Loyal Baseball Fans in America and Forbes ranks the fans' loyalty using a methodology; here the Story:

 

Chicago Cubs fans are legendary for loving their team no matter what the scoreboard says, or how many consecutive days the home team trails the division leader. Kids who can’t get tickets wait for home run balls on Sheffield Avenue. And regardless of how many beers the bleacher bums consume, no one forgets the words to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

 

Cubs fans are some of the most loyal in baseball.

 

But they’re no Texas Rangers fans, who flock to the Arlington ballpark through last place finishes and playoff runs alike. The Ranger faithful don’t care if the team trades away its best players or spends $252 million to sign an MVP-caliber batter like Alex Rodriguez. No team’s attendance is less tied to its on the field performance than the Rangers’, and nowhere else in the country do fans peel off at a slower rate when the club has thin years.

 

Methodology.

 

Data for winning percentage and attendance are from Stats Inc. and are based on official Major League Baseball figures. Ticket data are average prices paid for tickets each year and are from Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index. Using multiple regression analysis to determine how closely related winning percentage was to fan attendance, we controlled for the fluctuation of ticket prices and the boost in attendance as the result of having a new stadium, based on league-wide trends for teams that built new ball parks between 1991 and 2007.

 

The Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays were not considered due to a shortage of data and the statistical anomalies stemming from those being either new franchises, relocated franchises or a team that folded.

 

Our final rankings were a combination of two factors: How closely related fan attendance patterns were to winning percentage, after compensating for controls. We used what statisticians would note as the P > |t| value and checked for the mathematical confidence of that assessment; as well as the slope of the line as it went from zero wins to 162 possible wins. The sharper the slope broke downward for every point the team lost, and the faster it broke upward for every win, the less loyal fans were deemed to be. Results were controlled for the upswing in league-wide attendance and overall attendance patterns around the strike of 1994-1995.

 

The top five:

 

1. Texas Rangers

2. Boston Red Sox

3. Atlanta Braves

4. Chicago Cubs

5. Pittsburgh Pirates

 

The bottom five:

 

1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

2. Detroit Tigers

3. Oakland A’s

4. Minnesota Twins

5. Philadelphia Phillies

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-forbesloyalfans081208

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

The Pirates?

[boston22407]

this is bs,i watch a bunch of pirates games and they are more people at the highschool baseball game then there is at the buc's games

[iortiz]

this is bs' date='i watch a bunch of pirates games and they are more people at the highschool baseball game then there is at the buc's games[/quote']

 

those are the numbers my friend, surprised?, me too... out there are another articles talking about this, but with no methodology or good bases at all, so... anything else that we could say, is reduced to a perception and subjective criteria.

[yeszir]

I'm sorry but after seeing the crap that's been posted here this season, there's no way red sox fans are #2. Maybe it was true 5 or 10 years ago but things have changed.

[La Munson]

this is bs' date='i watch a bunch of pirates games and they are more people at the highschool baseball game then there is at the buc's games[/quote']

 

They not be much now other than Andrew Mccutchen, but don't forget how good the Pirates teams used to be that took the field. Even in the 90s they had three consecutive close NLCS losses.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

They not be much now other than Andrew Mccutchen' date=' but don't forget how good the Pirates teams used to be that took the field. Even in the 90s they had three consecutive close NLCS losses.[/quote']

 

If you're going to go by that logic than the Blue Jays should be in the top 5. I'm not to good in my baseball history I'll admit but I'm sure they won 2 WS back to back. Roberto Clemente was cool and all but I don't see how they are top 5 worthy.

[Palodios]

If you're going to go by that logic than the Blue Jays should be in the top 5. I'm not to good in my baseball history I'll admit but I'm sure they won 2 WS back to back. Roberto Clemente was cool and all but I don't see how they are top 5 worthy.

 

The article talks about how winning influences attendance since the early 90s. Have the Pirates done any winning since the early 90s? It skews the data.