Astrology- could there be something to it?

[alfred russel]

Are those cutoff dates consistent across different sports and different regions/countries? I'd assume they aren't.

I dont know for sure.  The baseball cut off is the one used by Little League across the world - at least by anyone who wants to participate in the Little League World Championships held in the US each year.

I imagine people may do basketball differently since there is no like an international baseball little league.

In Hockey the early birth date is very telling.  If you look up the players on the Canadian national teams each year you will find they are, with few exceptions, born in the first few months of the year - as noted on Outliers.

I read an article about this a while back, and the author stated that if you look at baseball players, this is true except it breaks down for hall of fame caliber players. His interpretation was that some players are so gifted that this doesn't matter, however, for the marginal major league players the advantages in coaching and playing time throughout little league/high school can be decisive.

I probably read this on slate, salon, or cnn so it is probably BS.

[alfred russel]

I've also read of cases where sports oriented parents are holding back their kids a year or two so that they have that extra maturity to dominate their "peer" group.

[CountDeMoney]

I've also read of cases where sports oriented parents are holding back their kids a year or two so that they have that extra maturity to dominate their "peer" group.

Imagine that.

[crazy canuck]

I've also read of cases where sports oriented parents are holding back their kids a year or two so that they have that extra maturity to dominate their "peer" group.

That doesnt work so well because sports are now setting cut offs by month and year.  So to all those kids held back an actual year are SOL.  I know a couple kids like that.  If they want to play in official leagues they now need to play up a year...

[crazy canuck]

I read an article about this a while back, and the author stated that if you look at baseball players, this is true except it breaks down for hall of fame caliber players. His interpretation was that some players are so gifted that this doesn't matter, however, for the marginal major league players the advantages in coaching and playing time throughout little league/high school can be decisive.

I probably read this on slate, salon, or cnn so it is probably BS.

I think there is something to this. There are always going to be kids that are exceptional despite their relative age and they will get all the opportunities that come with being an elite althlete.   For all the rest who have to make it the hard way having physical advantage over others would help get to that level.