There were three things that jumped out at me from the sidelines. First, I love insider baseball stories, but this weekend, I found something new: Smart, current/former players mixing their knowledge of the game with their analytics intelligence. I could listen to John Baker, Brian Bannister and David Aardsma talk baseball all day. Baker and Bannister bantered about in-game adjustments from a catcher and pitcher's point of view, respectively. Baker also extolled the virtues of managing the mental aspect of the game from handling persnickety pitchers to working with young players in the minors, helping them learn to fail. Baker and Aardsma also teamed up to play the straight men with the Effectively Wild guys on their live podcast. Someone needs to look at Baker as a field coach/manager. His game knowledge and temperament would make him a great general.
As I scanned the audience, I couldn't help but notice there were three general categories of people packed into the auditorium; fans, like me, who are interested in the game statistics and theories; inside baseball people from various MLB organizations or other businesses making a living off of grown men hitting a ball with a stick; and young people looking to learn either for the love of the game or to break into the business, or both! With all the reports of the baseball demographic aging, what I found encouraging is the energetic, young baseball insiders who seem to be finding a new way to amuse themselves and attract a like-minded, youthful audience. Sam Miller and Ben Lindbergh, through their book "The Only Rule Is It Has to Work" and their successful Effectively Wild podcast, are the current faces (or voices!) of this phenomenon.Lastly, with all of the data available, there are many people diving into the numbers and formulas that define Sabermetrics, but nobody does it better than Dr. Alan Nathan. His presentation digging into the question of juiced baseballs was presented in simple, layman terms that gently hid the complexity of the physics and data behind the analysis. And, for pure enjoyment, there was Dr. Chris Geary's review of selfies with his son tightly wound into detailed medical examinations of the shoulder and knee injuries impacting the current Red Sox. He, once again, kept the geeks entertained without any numbers.
What a great way to spend two hot summer days. Looking forward to what Chuck and Dan come up with for next year's event!
