While at the
Baseball-Reference blog, I was directed to
Stathead, where I clicked a link to
Baseball Prospectus, which suggested I go to
Sunday Magazine, where I discovered a post about an article from the New York Times Sunday Magazine of April 30, 1911:
How "Scientific Baseball" Has Changed the Game: Quick Thinking, Clever Guessing, Faultless Team Work and Intelligent Signaling Necessary for a Pennant Winner To-day — Teams Made Up of Specialists.
... The modern game has developed quick thinkers and resourceful players such as the pioneers of the game never dreamed of. There are few of what were known as "good all-around" players nowadays. The inside game has developed teams made up of baseball specialists. They excel in one position, are trained with that object in view, and are never called on to play in any other position.
Find out what the nerds back in 1911 were doing to ruin the grand old game.
Great stuff. "Perspective" should work like rat poison on all gasbags, but, alas, they seem to be immune.
ReplyDeleteThis was so much fun to read---thanks for posting it! First, I was surprised that 1)the NYTimes had a Sunday magazine 100 years ago and 2) that all those "tricky" plays were around---squeeze plays, pitch outs, hit and run, etc. I guess I thought those were "modern" inventions. And I guess spitballs were legal since they explicitly mention the "damp" pitch! Imagine what the author would say today about the use of statistics!!
ReplyDeleteI am sure the nerds trying to ruin the game then were also over forty years of age.
ReplyDeleteThat was a fun read!
ReplyDelete