Technology in Sports
September 1, 2011
I couldn’t resist sharing this article about how technology is affecting the way baseball is played.
Here’s a key passage:
“I think this is truly the second great renaissance in baseball,” says Joe Maddon, a visionary kind of guy whose embrace of technology, info and outside-the-box thinking has made him, for all intents and purposes, the Steve Jobs of managers.
The first great renaissance, Maddon says, arrived with Branch Rickey in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, back when Rickey was pioneering the use of (gasp) farm systems and (shudder) statistics.
And the second great renaissance? That’s been taking place, almost imperceptibly, over the last decade — but to a greater degree, just over the last year or two or three. . . . Think about it:
. . .
• All of a sudden, while you were busy doing your laundry or drafting your fantasy team or something, the world was quietly being invaded by an army of sabermetric wizards, capable of computing Justin Verlander‘s road FIP against sub-.500 teams in games in which he throws more than 20 percent curveballs — and actually understanding the significance of that.
