Part 4 of 4 “Science, like any other human aspiration, is liable to self-deception. If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories.” Karl Popper (philosopher) During World War […]
BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF BASEBALL…TRUST THE SCIENCE
Part 3 of 4 “Science is the key to our future, and if you don’t believe in science, then you’re holding everybody back.” Bill Nye (the science guy) One of the most notable modern baseball scientists is Baltimore Orioles assistant general manager for analytics, Sig Mejdal. His background includes working at NASA as a biomathematician […]
BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF BASEBALL…ORIGINS OF GAME SCIENCE
Part 2 of 4 “Baseball people generally are allergic to new ideas. We are slow to change.” Branch Rickey From the beginning it could be said that numbers are in baseball’s DNA. The importance of numbers in evaluating men playing the game has always been present. After all, measuring talent is the difference in winning […]
BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF BASEBALL…TROUBLE WITH THE (TECHNOCRACY) CURVE
Part 1 of 4 “In time, the game will be brought down almost to a mathematical calculation of results from given causes.” Henry Chadwick 1868 When examining baseball, one finds the flow of the game to be of precision and calculation. After all, baseball is played on a diamond shaped surface with 90-foot spacing […]
THE 7-PLAYER BASEBALL REVOLUTION
“There will always be people who are ahead of the curve, and people who are behind the curve. But knowledge moves the curve.” Bill James As a kid growing up in small town Texas, endless summer was my dream built around organized and sandlot baseball. The elixir of cut grass, chalked lines, and wood bats […]