Latest / Foul Territory / Legendary author Jane Leavy on new book “Make Me Commissioner” + @Brookeknowsball creates new stats

Transcript

Legendary author Jane Leavy on new book “Make Me Commissioner” + @Brookeknowsball creates new stats · Foul Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Legendary author Jane Levy is here. She has written biographies
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: on Babe Ruth, Sandy Kofax, Mickey Mantle, and this next
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: one that just came out is called Make Me Commissioner.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I know what's wrong with baseball and how to fix it.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Jane. Great to have you on. I love the book
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: cover there. What do you got?
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: How are you?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I'm good? How are you? You got a prop for us?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: A little show and tell I do.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: I do have a little prop for you. Let's see
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: you see it?
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: Ooh?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I like that.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: They put it on the wrong part of the ball.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: It's like you want to change the game, Jane.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: So yeah, that's true, change the game. So you're absolutely right,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: we'll start commissioner.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Yep, you got the baseball like that right, it's in
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: a new spot.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: And then what's your first move as commissioner?
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: All kids tend and under get in free.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Whoo.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: I got no problem with that, thank you. It's a
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: good one. Why not?
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: Why not? I mean because they're going to stick around
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: for life.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Exactly. And if grandpa or your grandma or mom or
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: dad or whoever brings you, you're gonna they're gonna buy
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you a coke and they're gonna buy you a hot
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: dog and a cotton candy and a cap at a minimum.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: So I had an economist run these numbers using the
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Cubs numbers from twenty twenty three. If they did that
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: for kids five through twelve, even more kids than I
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: was figuring, it would have cost the Cubs all of
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: four million dollars that year. And as you well know,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: they also paid Jason Hayward twenty one million dollars that
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: year to play for the Dodgers. So I think they
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: can manage us.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Why don't they do it? Why don't they do it?
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Everything has been monetized in baseball, absolutely everything, and I
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: think that alienates a lot of fans. I mean, besides which,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: a lot of people cannot pay eighteen dollars for a beer,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: right I You know, it gets the how do you think?
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: How do you start to think out of the box
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: when you've thought in the box for so long? This guy,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: the same economist, told me that there's something called path dependence,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: which is an idea in economics which means once you
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: start down a path, you know, you just keep doing
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: it even when you know what's wrong, because you're scared
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: to change. Like in the when GM and all the
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: car manufacturers in the seventies, when the Japanese started making
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: small cars with great mileage, what did the US manufacturers do?
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: They kept doing what they were doing. And baseball has
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: just kept doing what it was doing until it instituted
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: the new rules in twenty twenty three, which took forever
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: for them to do because people were so traumatized by
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the DH.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: I have a follow to this, So on the money side,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I'm with you, but I could see baseball's answer as well.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: NFL doesn't like kids in free, NBA doesn't like kids
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: in free, NHL doesn't like kids in free for the year,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: So why would we do that? Why do we have
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to do that? So what do you think the answer
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: back to that would be? And do you think that
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: baseball still believes that it is the top dog in
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: terms of sports out there and that they should be
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: either leading the pack or at least doing what other
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: leagues are doing, like the NFL.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Have you looked at the upper decks in most regular
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: season games lately? They're empty, vast swaths of empty seats.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: You tell me that it's better to leave them empty
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: and pan them and say, oh, nobody's going to the game,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: then to fill them up with kids, right. I fundamentally
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: believe that baseball has a problem of too much inventory
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: and too many games. Now, they're not going to change
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: the number of games unless they do the Rob Manfred's reconfiguration,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: which might force them to come back down, and if
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: they had more franchises still, but in the meantime, they
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: have the seats empty. I asked Mike Rizzo about this
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: before the Nationals decided to let go of him, and
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: he said, fill it up, fill it up. And then
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: he paused and he said, of course it doesn't include
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: parking in alcohol, right, So I said, no, no parking
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: in alcohol.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: But what's going to change it? How is it going
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: to change? Is it your book? Is it the fact
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: that every owner you put them in a lineup and
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: they all look the same, so they all think the
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: same and they're all the same, just like bl blah
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: blah blah blah blah blah. Uh, they're taking away minor
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: league baseball. So small town America doesn't even know what
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: baseball looks like now unless you buy a cable for
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: your regional sports network that's blacked out. What is going
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: to be the main what's going to be the biggest
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: change that will make an overarching change to make baseball
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: America's pastime again. Me, okay, besides your book.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: Ground well grounds, Well, uh, honestly, I think you know
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: they they've bragged in the last two years about increase
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: in UH seats sold and in a decrease in the
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: age of them. They've made some inroads. I don't think
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: it's realistic to think baseball is going to be the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: American the national pastime again the way it was. Nobody
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: can have exclusive domain in a media world where seasons
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: of overlap and broadcasts overlap. I mean, the NBA goes
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: till June, right, so h and NFL sorry, exhibition games
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: starting in August. Baseball used to have the season to themselves,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: and it's not going to happen again. So get used
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: to that, don't expect it again, and start trying to
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: do other things. Jim Cott, who I'm sure you guys know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: he actually advocates shortening the season to Memorial Day to
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Labor Day, really reducing the number of games, giving baseball
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: purchase on a segment of time when they really could dominate.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: I'm not ready to go there with that yet. He's also,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: you know, up for seven inning games, which I'm not
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: up for either. But the numbers of fans have increased
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: in twenty you know, when the rules came into twenty
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: twenty three, they got a bump of ten ten percent higher.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Last year it was one percent higher. That's a nice number,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: but you know what it costs to have a kid
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: play baseball these days. It's more expensive to play baseball
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: than it is to participate in any other sport now,
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: so they need to start making baseball accessible. I think
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: cutting the minor leagues, I agree with you completely was
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: a disaster. How are small market teams supposed to compete
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: When you cut yourself off from grassroots talent and grassroots fans,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: you're basically saying you're not important to me. And they
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: need to make fans feel important again.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: Jane, you mentioned the access and all that, but hasn't
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: this been a Major League Baseball problem forever? Like they
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: don't give access to their players. I know when I
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: go do a game, I'm going to do a game tomorrow.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: I walk in the locker and there's not one player
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: in there. They know the exact time the media is
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: in there and they all run and high, so you
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: can't talk to ever talk to the players. It's hard
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: to find coaches. I'm lucky because I work at Fox.
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: We get fifteen minutes at the manager. But if even
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: when I walk on the field to try to grab
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: some guys, not everybody takes VP or not, so you
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: don't get to talk to people. And then the fans
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: don't get to hear from the stars, and they don't
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: get to hear not forget the stars, from the twenty
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: six guy that's on the roster, who you know might
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: be the favorite of some kid who saw him come
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: to the one game and get a hit. How does
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: major League Baseball changes. I'm a big proponent and listen
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: as a player, the media was the media. I knew
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: they had a job to do. I would take my
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: questions and move on. But there has to be Is
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: there a way. I know it has to be collectively bargained,
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: But for five minutes three to three oh five, everybody
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: has to be in their locker for five minutes, guys,
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: because they always schedule their meetings. If you look now,
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: the meetings are always scheduled right when the media is
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: in the room. How do we change this?
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: I think you're right. I think it has to be
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: in the next CBA, which, as we all know, because
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Rob Manford went to spring training and announced there's going
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: to be a lockout on December second, twenty twenty six.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: It has to be negotiated. Players need to understand that
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: the estrangement between the players and their fans is a
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: profound issue. You want to know what this is. Stands
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: are empty. That's why the stands are empty, because nobody
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: feels a connection. And partly that's also because analytics have
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: conspired against the great individual feats that used to be
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: a reason to come to the ballpark. I talked to
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: David Roberts just this weekend about again about the Clayton
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Kershaw perfect game. When they take Clayton Kershaw out after
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: seven perfect innings. The guy is the best left handed
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: pitcher of his generation, who's done everything else. But you
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: know the rule is he's got to come out right,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: so he comes out. I understand why Davey did what
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: he did, but what if the headline the next day
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: was not Clayton Kershaw removed from a perfect game, but
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: instead this guy who hadn't pitched since maybe October first,
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: he couldn't pitch in the playoffs in twenty twenty one,
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: you know, comes out and throws a perfect game. That's
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: a reason to go to the ballpark. And if analytics
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: keeps subverting the accomplishments that you know individuals can make,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: you know, it gives you no reason to come. Do
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: I want to go see? You know, a parade of
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: relief pictures I've never heard of who will be gone
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: in a week anyway, because they'll tell her their ucl
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: and somebody else will come and take their place. No,
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: I really don't want to see that. Five point two
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: innings per start is just not a lot of fun
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: to watch anyway.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Hey, if you're a card collector or you're looking to collect, buy, sell, trade,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: Arena clubs the spot I'm going to tell you why
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: because the old process AJA was very clunky. By a box,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: rip the pack, tons of comments, send it in for grading,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: and then finally you get everything back. This is weeks
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: and weeks and you can start to try and sell
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: the card. We have eliminated that with Arena club or
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: they have. I act like I'm part of it, but
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: in really one step.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: Arena's your one stop shop for everything. You get a card,
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: you open a slab pack, the card is there. It's great.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: It spins around. Cooley shows you three D the front,
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: the back, you can look at the corners, you can
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: look at everything. And then you get a decision. Do
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: I want to keep it? Do I want to sell it?
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: Do I want to trade it? Gives you an instant offer.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: You can buy it back and re rip another slab
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: pack and try for someone else, or you can keep
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: it and hope the value goes up and sell it
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: a later date. It is truly the best spot to
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: get cards.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Twenty percent off your first slab pack or card purchase
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: can be had right now at arenaclub dot com. Slash
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: foul and use code foul.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: What's the coolest idea anybody gave you in writing this book, which,
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: by the way, we have the same literary agents.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: I know we do. Mister Black, mister David Black. He's
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: a terror, isn't he?
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: He's delicious.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: The craziest idea Johnny Gome said, buy Little Leak. Major
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: League Baseball should buy Little League, which maybe isn't as
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: crazy as it sounds. You know, the fundamentals I say
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: it are lacking today. What if you could get former
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: players to come out and teach clinics at Little League,
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: or manage clinics, or or run the league for God's sake,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: and actually show kids why and how it could be fun.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Major League Baseball, compared to football, has done a lousy
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: job of scaling the game down to a little kid's size.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: You know, the football they have little, tiny little fields
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: and tiny little footballs to play with. You know, they
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: haven't made it user friendly for six year olds. Yeah,
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: there's t ball, but you know, even they know that's
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: not real. So they have to find a way to
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: show the joy. And if players don't want to share that,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: then it's not going to get better. I totally agree.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: But my crazy idea what you got.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Prease the pitching staff to fifteen. Have a healthy scratch
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: list like in the NHL. You put your starter from
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: yesterday who's not going to pitch the next day on
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: this healthy scratch list, and your two most beat up,
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: overused relievers give them a blow, as they like to
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: say in the sports section, and bring two other guys.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Make it a fluid so that you have a sort
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: of a rolling pitching staff. But you have fifteen altogether,
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: the money you're gonna save on Tommy John surgeries will
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: pay their salaries. But you only have eleven to use
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: in each game, and that will force managers to start
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: to use pitchers and develop pitchers who go if not
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: the distance at least more than a token distance.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Well, wouldn't they have more optionality if they add that
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: it's the bullpen game or no.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: No, they will no, because it's you start the game.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Each game you designate which eleven pitchers are available that day.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Manager gets to decide that or the general manager whoever's
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: pulling the strings. But you get to rest some guys,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: You get to give them a blow as you guys know,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: you know, going max heave to get ready to pitch
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: and then not get called in is also you know
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: that those pitches count? Don't you call them dry humps?
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: I think yes, yes, you know. Steve Howe gave way
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: back in the day, gave Buck Showalter hell for that.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: So in James MLB, you don't pitch two days in
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: a row, and you don't warm up in the bullpen
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: like that two days in a row. You can't root
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: for guys who aren't there, and when every time you
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: lose another important starting pitcher around whom a team is
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: supposedly built, there's less reason to root. Why do you
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: want to go see? Oh, I don't know who's the
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: worst spot starter I've seen last year. I can't think
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: of who that might be because there have been so many
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: of them. But give guys a chance to heal, give
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: them a chance to be actual pitchers whose ligaments don't
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: tear like cheap Christmas wrapping paper, which is what's happening.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: There's been sixty more guys added to the list of
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Tommy john or recoverers this season, and ten more who've
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: had internal braces, and I think there were two more
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: just last night. I mean, you've got a plague here,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: and it's attacking the essence. It's not just attacking the
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: health of a particular guy in a particular arm. It's
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: attacking the health of the game because it's removing a
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: reason to root, a reason to go out to the ballpark.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: When's the last time he went out to see a match?
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Maybe and bump butter. I mean, you know, eleven times
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: between two thousand and twenty thirteen. I think you know
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: that was a reason to go to the ballpark.
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: There's been a few good matchups, but in general, there's
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: not a lot of it. And this would definitely help
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: with health because guys wouldn't be as text. But I'm
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: gonna disagree with you because if you want to see
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: this kind of baseball, go down to the DR because
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: that's exactly how It's exactly how they do their innings
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: and how they build their rosters. And I've seen triple
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: barrels down in the DR where they have two lefties
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: warming up and a righty and alrighty getting hot too,
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: so because they're gonna throw, and then the next day
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: they're not on the active roster. They don't have to
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: travel to Lese, they don't have to travel to Escohido.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: So it's it's one of those things that anytime you
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: give teams more pitcher, they're gonna burn him out even
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: more so I think the health would help, but we
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: can't give him more pictures. Sorry, Jane, I don't agree
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: with you on that one.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: Then how do you protect the arms? What would you
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: do if you can't use more than eleven in a game,
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: you're going to have to use them in a very
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: different way. That resembles how you staffed a game years ago.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: You're going to make a starting pitcher who can go
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: a distance. I was fascinated because I'm talking to Davy
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: about Davy Roberts, about Kershaw and rich Hill and the
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: games he pulled him out of, the perfect games he
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: pulled him out of. And then it was the next
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: night that he let Yamamoto go all the way to
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: the night And of course it ended badly for the
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: Dodgers and Yamamoto, but that game was great for baseball.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, that was fabulous for baseball. And Davy said
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: the next day I wanted to it for him. I
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: wanted it bad And we need more of that.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we got to follow storylines. I'm with you, all right,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So one more from the book and then for the rest,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: we're not giving it away.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: You gotta go grab a copy. I'm all in on this.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: We talk about league issues all the time, and don't
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: hold back one of the few independent platforms out there
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: show Wise that can do this. But my question for
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: you is you got to spend some time with Morgan
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Sword right, who works at the League office. You had
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: some combos with him, So what was that like? And
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the reason I asked about him specifically, is that here
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: through the grapevine that he might be the next commissioner
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of baseball. So what are we getting ourselves into. I've
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: spent a little bit of time with him as well.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I know he's super into numbers and analytics, But what
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: was your experience like?
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: I think I saw some of his heart and some
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: of his the humanist in him, and that really was
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: maybe the most hopeful thing I saw, because if I'm
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: not commissioner, I think maybe he should be. He talked
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: about living in an age where the idea that you
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: can know everything has become a kind of mania. Why
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: do we need to know everything? Why do we have
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: to presume that we can figure down to figure out
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: to ninety nine point nine percent who's the best person
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: to send up to bat. I think that's a fallacy.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: I think that kind of control, particularly in baseball, where
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: so many things are at play in any given moment,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: is a bad way to go. Analytics can tell you
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: what's going to happen nine times out of ten, or
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: what has happened nine times out of ten. It cannot
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: tell you what will happen in that tenth moment, whether
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: there'll be midges, on the mound in Cleveland, or sunlight
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: in Willie Davis's eyes at Chavez Ravine, or RAJ Davis,
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: who hit all of twelve home runs in twenty sixteen,
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: is going to come hit a home run in Cleveland
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: and tie Game seven of the World Series. That's what
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: makes baseball great, and that's what makes it. You can't
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: completely game it. Joe Torre said, they're trying to make
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: an imperfect game perfect, and I resent it. Well, I agree,
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: I resent it too, And I also think it's a
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: false god. I don't think it makes for interest, and
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's doable.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: I'm with you, I'm with you. Well, I'm excited to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: get more in. Uh make me commissioner. I know what's
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: wrong with baseball and how to fix it out now
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the great Jane Levy joining us.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the time. This was great.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Bad hair day. I'm really sorry. I well, thank you, great, well,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: thank you very well.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: We'll get our we'll get our expert aerk Kratz.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Oh crats. Yeah, you look good.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: There's somebody who really can do the ball thing with
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: the beard. Other guys they just look old.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: So well, Jane, you nailed it.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us. It was great
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: to talk to you.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me talk to you again.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Hey, here we go.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Brooke Lozinski joining us right now on FT making her
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: debut here. You can follow her at Brook Noseball and
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Nice and Simple here. How do we know Brooke, Well,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: we see her video explainers on Instagram about some stats
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: that we're going to get into. So first off, Brook,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: great to have you on and thanks for putting together
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: some cool content.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: How you doing, I'm doing great.
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: You guys just saw me jamming out to that little
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: segue music in between.
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me on. I'm super excited.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Of course, that's what we do at the beginning of
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: every show.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: All right, So let's get into some stats because I
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: want to enlighten krats and ajs. So can we start
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: with your video on v slug what that is and
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to help explain to them why it is a better
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: determining fact actor of who's actually making an impact in games.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: V slug was created essentially as a way to segue
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: ourself into VopS right now. Ops it mixes on base
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: ability and slugging, but VopS, it says, sure, that's fine,
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: but who's actually hitting the ball and producing runs? So
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: it uses v slug volume slugging to reward players who
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: consistently hit rather than just walk. So the actual stat
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: itself is for volume slugging is slugging times hits divided
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: by games. And the point was just basically to suggest
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: that one Sodo, for instance, should be more aggressive at
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: the plate. And honestly, wild enough, since v slug video
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: came out, I think we've seen the best version of him.
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: But you know, causation doesn't necesarissarily mean correlation right there.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: So watching your video, how you doing? Okay? So, but
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: who who in that list when when they came when
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: they come up with that stat what would surprise you,
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: because that's something that we have talked about all the time.
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: I'm sure Joey Vado would be on the same on
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: the same list, like sometimes you have to go outside
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: of your zone, which is the best zone discipline of
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: anybody in the big leagues and get that RBI. But
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: who is who is somebody that surprises you that? WHOA, Yeah,
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: there's there's some value in that.
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I really have an affinity towards Boboshit.
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: I think that he's really aggressive with his approach, and
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: that's kind of why this stat I'm not gonna say
• 23:40
  Speaker 6: it was made for him specifically, but it's made to
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: promote players like him that are more aggressive at the plate,
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: and we take their volume into account in addition to
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: their slugging percentage.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Hey, Brook, I remember in the video you talked about
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: someone in the nineties who would have really enjoyed a stat.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: I think I've got it. Do you want to say
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the name? I think AJ might like the name.
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: Yeah, of course, that would be Jeff Bagwell ring any bells,
• 24:14
  Speaker 6: Carlo Stilgato perhaps.
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: Who should be in the Hall of Fame. Also, yeah, exactly.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: So essentially, with like the SAT, like vslug to give
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: you a little bit more context into it. So with OPS,
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: we're seeing it treating walks and hits almost equally nowadays,
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: and it's great for showing overall offensive efficiency. I'm not
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: going to discount that whatsoever, but I think what can
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: happen is it can overrate passive hitters who draw a
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: lot of walks. So with v OPS, it's, as I mentioned,
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: that's built on v slug. This SAT in that video,
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: and it's measuring how slugging volume a player can actually
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: produce per game. So we're putting more weights on hits,
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: which I think is the hardest thing to do in baseball,
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: operating players who look similar in ops by who's showing
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: or by showing who's a real run producer?
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Brook I think I also remember Albert Bell Got Some Love?
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Was it in that video? Yeah?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: In the nineties, Albert Bell was mentioned too, right as
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: somebody that would do damage but then also would make
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: sure that he's not wasting away pitches that are close
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: enough in a situation where he was relied on to
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: drive in a run.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: So does Albert Bell play into this as well?
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean definitely.
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: And I think what I always appreciated about Albert Bell
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: is that he's a baptaball hitter.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: He was an extra bit.
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: Monster and like the kind that you want batting third
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: to drive runners in.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, So I want to take us to the next
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: stad here, impact slugging percentage.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: What do you have for a saw on that one?
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 26:02
  Speaker 6: So impact slugging percentage, I would say, is like your
• 26:06
  Speaker 6: modern RBI stat. It's basically says not all total bases
• 26:12
  Speaker 6: are created equal and The problem with standard slugging that
• 26:15
  Speaker 6: we're seeing is that traditional slugging percentage only counts the
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: batter's own bases. So like a solo home run is
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: weighted equally as a grand slam.
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: But you and I both know, of course that that's
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: not the same.
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: A solo home run you have four total bases, whereas
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: a grand slam is only accounted for for total bases,
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: even though you're really driving in ten. So it's ignoring
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: the actual impact of the swing on the game. And
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: what impact slugging does differently is that it counts not
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: only the batter's total bases, but also the advancement of
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: runners already on base. I could go into examples and everything,
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: but just to kind of give you an overview of
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: what that is trying to convey.
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: Then you want a bunch of fast guys hitting in
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: front of you, is what it seems like, because then
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: if you hit a single and they go first to third,
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: it adds. You know, you get a bunch of slow
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: guys in front of you and they don't score on
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: that double. You're like, dude, you're you're costing me in
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: my in my new stats.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: Exactly, and I, oh, sorry.
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: No, No, I was gonna say, this seems like a
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: way to measure clutch, and people say, you can't measure clutch,
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: but this seems like a good stat. Do not necessarily
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: measure up, but at least it goes in the right track.
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: Yes, And for instance, like we see Otany a lot
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: in the leadoff position, but I this stat basically says
• 27:36
  Speaker 6: he might be better in your three hole position because
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: you have a thirty to we'll just say a thirty
• 27:43
  Speaker 6: percent chance of him having a runner on base, and
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: so those home runs that we all know that he's
• 27:49
  Speaker 6: so great at it has more value if he's in
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: a three hole as opposed to the leadoff.
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: How much do you think numbers like this could help
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: a player in free agency because a lot of what
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: numbers are, especially in arbitration. AJ went through arbitration. They
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: sit there and they go, well, actually, you weren't very
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: good at this, and you could say, well, actually, these numbers,
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: these numbers. It may not help an arbitration because that's
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: normally just home run RBI and games played. But how
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: much more is this going to get into our vernacular
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: because now on scoreboards we only see the ops at
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: some stadiums. It used to always just be batting average. Yeah.
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: Absolutely, I think it could definitely help players like bo
• 28:33
  Speaker 6: as I mentioned, And it also takes us back to
• 28:36
  Speaker 6: an older approach, you know, like players from the nineties.
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: And I think this basically gives players another arsenal to
• 28:46
  Speaker 6: show their value or showcase their value, whereas right now
• 28:49
  Speaker 6: we're currently just focusing, like what you said on ops,
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: this allows us to show how that they how they
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: can better a team as a whole. How they're looking
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: at more of like that old school approach to baseball.
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: And it's a modern way to make these classics stuff,
• 29:04
  Speaker 6: to make classic stats relevant.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: Again.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Well, Brook, this is really good stuff and you can
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: check out more of these videos to get explanations on
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the stats that we're discussing here at brook nos Ball
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: on Instagram. I see the page right now, Jerry Seinfeld said,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Jerry Seinfeld follows you a big Mets fan, so I'm
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: sure that's pretty cool. And he's into some of the
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: stats A're throwing out there.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: How did you come up with this stuff?
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: And you know, when you look at the modern game
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: right now, clearly you're smart, right You're coming up with
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a stat we always say, hey, we got to come
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: up with other stats, and you've actually got it and
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: done the work. So when you were looking at the
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: stats that were being valued, now, you know, it's interesting
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: to hear someone who's obviously young and a big fan
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: of the sports say, yeah, I like some of the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: advanced stats, but I think we should create some others
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: to make sure we're valuing what is actually important, which
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: is winning games.
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: Well, first of all, thank you, that's a huge compliment,
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: especially coming from this team right here, And when Jerry Seinfeld.
• 30:08
  Speaker 5: Followed, I almost fell out of my chair.
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: That shows me that I was going in the right direction,
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: it seems, and I think it definitely came from his
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: Mets fandom.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: But I think modern stats got out of control.
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: Especially if you're a new fan approaching baseball, it gets
• 30:26
  Speaker 6: very confusing, It gets a little bit muddled, and you're
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: not really sure what's going on.
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: So this is essentially a way to shed light on.
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: Classic concepts where you can't make new fans understand old
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: school arguments. It's the way that I like to explain
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: it in simple terms, is because I keep saying I
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: like more of a traditional baseball approach. However, it's like
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: your parents saying, well, back in my day, you don't
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: really want to hear that. So instead myself and I
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: actually I do have a production partner that helps me,
• 30:56
  Speaker 6: and honestly, I think his brain is far more analytical
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: than mine, and I get a lot of education from him,
• 31:03
  Speaker 6: and we work on these stats together to essentially create
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: something that can talk to your modern analytical fan but
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: bring them back to more of that old school approach.
• 31:14
  Speaker 6: So it's just like a revised old school mentality to
• 31:16
  Speaker 6: the game.
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: Of all the videos that you put out, what's the
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: best reaction that you've gotten from the videos?
• 31:24
  Speaker 6: I think it kind of depends on what your fandom
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: is for baseball. So if you are more of this
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: analytical fan, then by far, of course it's been vislug impacts,
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: lugging WIP. But the thing that I think had more
• 31:39
  Speaker 6: of a broader response, and to me it was very touching,
• 31:43
  Speaker 6: was the Tyler Skaggs.
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: Video that I did.
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: I got deeply emotional responses that left people were saying
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: that they were left in tears. And for those that
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: may not have seen the video, it's essentially the story
• 31:56
  Speaker 6: of the game that followed his passing and it was
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: a game that's nearly impossible. His mother was throwing perfect
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: ceremonial for perfect ceremonial. First pitch Mike Trout. Mike Trout
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: got a first inning homer, the no hitter that Angels pitched.
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: It is kind of it's kind of funny because I
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: think sometimes real life is stranger than fiction, and this
• 32:19
  Speaker 6: was definitely one of those times. And the responses that
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: I was getting, both from you know, DM's comments, et cetera,
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: was it deeply resonated with people and was very profound
• 32:29
  Speaker 6: to witness.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: That is a good way to put it.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: If there was a movie and they were like and
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: in the game they honored him, there was a no hitter,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: people would be like, Ah, that's that's made up, that's fake,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: that doesn't actually happen. And it really did happen. That's
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: very cool. Well, Brooke, thanks for stopping by. We'd love
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: to have you back sometime. Love what you're doing, uh
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: and glad that we discovered your content.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Keep doing your thing. Thanks for joining us.
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: Thank you guys so much. It's been a pleasure and
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: honor to be here, and I have to speak with
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: you all again soon.