Pitcher Nolan Ryan holds the record for the longest Major League Baseball career, having played for 27 years. And it’s true that, aside from golf, baseball players have some of the longest careers of any professional sports. But it also turns out that baseball cards not only showcase batting averages and RBIs, they also effectively predict longevity. Really.
That is the word of scientists reported in Psychological Science this week. Apparently when researchers Ernest Abel and Michael Kruger from Wayne State University examined the 1952 Baseball Register photos of 230 Major League Baseball players who started playing before 1950, they found the span of their smile accurately predicted their life span. The players were rated as to “no smile” if they stared blankly at the camera, “partial smile” if the muscles around their mouths were only slightly raised and “full smile” if they had a wide grin, both cheeks raised, which is also known as a Duchenne smile.
The researchers found that the wide-grinning players were half as likely to die in any year compared to non-smilers. As of June, 2009, the players who were deadpan for the cameras lived an average of 72.9 years, those with slight smiles died at age 75 and those with the most beaming smiles lived the longest — 79.9 years. Of the 230 players, 46 players were still alive. The scientists also did a follow-up study to see whether attractiveness correlated with longevity and found that good looks did not add significantly to life span. In any case, far fewer individuals had full smiles — 23 — than partial (64) or no smiles (63).
“To the extent that smile intensity reflects an underlying emotional disposition, the results of this study are congruent with those of other studies demonstrating that emotions have a positive relationship with mental health, physical health and longevity,” the study said. So smile, you’ll live longer.
Photos by bsteve76 via Flickr.