Who Is The Best Player In Major League Baseball?

Created by 7th Grade Math Teachers

MacKinnon Middle School

Wharton, NJ

Adapted from:

Best Weather

Sample Math Webquest 1

http://www.wfu.edu/~mccoy/NCTM99/weather.html

We all have a favorite team and player. But what makes your favorite player better than mine? You must determine what makes one athlete better than the rest. Select six major league baseball players from any team. After researching data from your players create and display charts and graphs and present your final decision. Be prepared to convince your classmates that your baseball player is “best”.

Task

• Your first task is to define what makes the “best” baseball player. Write an opinionated paragraph to explain your THOROUGH reasoning. (1/2 pg)

• Next select six major league baseball players from any team. These are the players you will be researching to discover which one is the “best”.

• Then you will collect data from sports websites about each player.

• Finally, you will use this information to select the “best” player in the major league. You will present your conclusions in poster format.

Process1. Determine what makes a major league baseball player

better than another.2. Select six major league baseball players that you think

could be the “best” player in major league baseball. Be sure to note what team each player is currently playing on.

3. Go to various online major league baseball sites to obtain at least four statistics about each player. Be sure to print a copy of what you find.

4. Represent this data in at least three different types of graphs and one table. You may do one graph on Excel.

5. Determine the mean, median, and mode from at least one statistic you collected.

6. Decide which player is the “best” in the major league. 7. Present your conclusions in poster format along with

one paragraph explaining your conclusion.

EvaluationBat Boy(7)

Minor League (8)

Major League(9)

Babe Ruth(10)

Explanation of “best” player

(2)

Less than four statistics areListed

Four statistics are listed

Four statistics are listed to determine who is the bestplayer with an explanation as totheir importance

All major league plus

extra data has beenincluded that is helpful with the attached decision.

Player Selection

(1)

Less than sixplayers areselected

Six players are selected without team information

Six players areselected with teaminformation

All major league plus

pictures and sites of

interest are included

Data

(3)

Data is displayed in

only one form

Data is displayed using only 2

chartsand a table.

Data is displayed using 3 charts and atable

All major league plus

data is displayed in an

alternate form

Contains mean, median, mode, and range.

DataInterpretation

(2)

Best player isselected

Bat boy plus three

substantiated facts determinedyour data

Minor league plusfour substantiated facts

Major League plus additional information was gathered to assist with player

selection

Presentation

(2)

Hard Copy Bat boy plus poster

Minor league plus one

graph generated on excel

Major league plus

Resources• http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/stats/

index.jsp - Major league baseball official site. Information can be located by searching by player.

• http://www.baseball-reference.com/ - Information can be located by searching by team then locating each player.

• http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/statistics - ESPN’s official site.

• http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx - graph construction site

• Your textbook – A useful tool to help you with your graphs