2007/02/01 by Ernest L. Abel, Michael Krüger · 10 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · Medicine · #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research #Longevity #Demography #Psychology #League #Gerontology #Medicine #Sociology
paper · doi:10.2466/pms.104.1.179-182
published in Perceptual and Motor Skills 104(1), 179-182 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2007/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
The longevities of deceased major league baseball players who died prior to 1950 (N=3835) and whose initials formed acronyms, words, or names with "positive" or "negative" affect, as rated a priori by two judges, were compared with those for a group of neutral controls matched for birth year and career length, using the Berkeley standardized mortality tables. Players (n=11) with positive initials, e.g., A.C.E., lived a mean of 13 years longer than players (n=30) with negative initials, e.g., D.E.D., or players with neutral initials (n=864). These results corroborated a previous study and suggest positive name symbols are associated with increased longevity in this sample.