Why do so many pro baseball players have August birthdays?

[RShack]

The Boys of Late Summer.

Sorry if this was posted already... if it was, I didn't see it...

[MurphDogg]

As soon as I saw the title of the thread I knew what this article was about... Growing up, I always wished I had an August birthday so I could be the oldest player on my youth league team and get a chance to hit a little higher in the order or pitch... Not because I thought I would make the Majors or anything but because the best kids were always the oldest, and I, having a birthday earlier in the summer was among the youngest. If I was nine months older it would stand to reason that I would have been a better player...

[olehippi]

The Boys of Late Summer.

Sorry if this was posted already... if it was, I didn't see it...

Well....November nights can sometimes be pretty boring ya' know.....

[Frobby]

Makes sense to me. If you look at the Orioles' prospects, the overwhelming majority are born in the last 4-5 months of the year.

[GeorgiaBird]

Interesting. But one problem (and I am just pointing this out, not really arguing with the story) is that there is a false underlying assumption that there is an equal number of births in every month. In reality that number is seasonal, with overall birthrates highest in late summer. So that could and likely does account for at least part of the variance.

Bottom line there could be something to what the author is saying, but it is likely at lot more complicated than the August rule.

EDIT: I don't have time to look up a real data set, but a quick google search with at least some idea of what I am talking about. If August and September have the most births, they have the highest number of candidates for the baseball jobs. Interesting subject regardless.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Science/story?id=945911

Summertime Mystery: More Born, Fewer Die in August

More U.S. Births Occur in August and September Than Any Other Months -- and Fewer People Die