A new study shows that among Japanese professional baseball players those with wider faces had a higher rate of home runs.

In men, having a wider or broader face (high width-to-height ratio) is thought to be influenced by levels of testosterone at puberty. A high width-to-height ratio has previously been linked to hand grip strength, the drive to achieve, and competitiveness.

A team of researchers In London, England looked at whether men with broader faces would prove to be better baseball players. In their study of 81 Japanese professional sluggers they found that those with wider faces had a higher rate of home runs across two consecutive seasons. Their work was recently published in Biology Letters. 

Previous studies looking into the connection between facial width-to-height ratio and sports performance have found a relationship but only in Caucasians. This new finding in an Asian population suggests that the effect of facial width may cross cultural and ethnic boundaries.