As every ballplayer preparing for Opening Day knows, the game of baseball revolves around home. Pitchers try to throw the ball over home plate. Batters try to hit home runs.
Runners try to make it home safely.
And fans root, root, root for the home team. Apparently, baseball's preoccupation with home is no accident. A research study by Denver University psychologist Howard Markman shows that the average divorce rate in cities that have a major league baseball team is 28 percent lower than in cities that lack a major league franchise. Perhaps the easiest way to answer this question is to think not of baseball, but of another warm weather accompaniment - bathing suits. Strangely enough, the divorce rate of any place in the continental United States can be reliably predicted by knowing the number of days out of the year that women there can wear swimsuits.