The creation of the first Sabermetric application that charts the BBWAA awards - all of them, outside of Manager of the Year) - in one spot, on a daily basis. Two new categories are being created; Defensive Player of the Year (“The Ozzie Smith”) as well as the FANGRAPHS RELIEVER OF THE YEAR, which utilizes SHUTDOWN/MELTDOWN as the primary metric. I can’t stress enough that this is simply an experiment, a statistical test kitchen, a space to question freely, make mistakes and bring forth something definitive, while ultimately drawing more old-school fans to Sabermetrics that wouldn’t normally play around with it.
...If 2012 isn’t the year WAR (“Wins Above Replacement”) goes mainstream, then 2013 will certainly enjoy that distinction and will alter the conversation of baseball statisitcs and awards. It’s been in the works on a niche level for a few decades now, from the personal desk of Bill James and the birth of Sabermetrics, the dawn of Rotesserie/Fantasy Baseball & Rob Neyer’s legendary ESPN column, to the 21st century bust-out of wonderful sites like David Appelman’s Fangraphs and Sean Forman’s Baseball-Reference.com, which reads as an encyclopedia of every baseball “counting stat” imaginable. Tom Tango,Mitchel Lichtman and Andrew Dolphin created The Book, which moved the statistical dialogue forward and Baseball Between the Numbers, published in 2005 and edited by Jonah Keri, answers in essay form nearly every question you may have wondered about the National Pastime if you really thought about it.
• Do Players Perform Better in Contract Years? It’s in there.
• Do high salaries lead to higher ticket prices? It’s in there.
• Is there such a thing as a AAAA-player? It’s in there.
• Are new stadiums a good deal for municipalities? Derek Jeter’s gold glove? Why can’t Billy Beane get to the World Series? In there, in there and in there, too.
...I’m speaking to you, the overly-nostalgic one trapped in that time machine of your own device, stubbornly insisting “The Wind Cries Mary” on vinyl trumps CDs, iTunes or Spotify; passing on Trader Joe’s Organic Popcorn for the old-school Jiffy Pop experience over the stove; proudly accepting designation as the last quasi-responsible father in America who keeps TANG in the pantry. I still love my sluggers driving in 100 ribbies. Still want my starters winning 20. Still love quality clutch hitting from scrappy underachievers.
All that said…it’s time we joined the rest of the group, people. Let’s evolve together.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. Bhaakon Posted: August 27, 2012 at 09:02 PM (#4219654)I'll pass on Jiffy pop, thanks, but I can't be the only one who finds Trader Joe's food to be hugely overrated.
The Consumer Reports blind-taste testers seem to like some Trader Joe's stuff, fwiw
granting that they are unable to properly deduct for trendiness, many would say
Well, that's odd. Didn't you once write a cookbook for TJ's?
Trader Joe's doesn't make food, they buy it and put their own label on it. They sell a cider beer that tastes almost exactly like Woodchuck, for instance -- and coincidentally is brewed in the same town as Woodchuck. By coincidentally I mean it says "BOTTLED BY AMERICAN HARD CIDER CO." right on the label.
Most of what you buy in Trader Joe's is name brand food in different labels. The mac and cheese is probably Annie's, from what I can tell. The canned pasta comes from Full Circle, I think. It's just cheaper than buying the name brand equivalents. In most senses it's very similar to Aldi's, which shouldn't be surprising since they're both owned by the same family (the founder of Aldi's in Germany split the company in half when he died so each of his sons would have a company to run; one of them gets to use the Aldi's trade name in the US and the other operates under Trader Joe's.)
Never tried Aldi's, incidentally, until recently. I've been very picky in what I'm willing to buy from there, but so far, so good.
As for "BOTTLED BY AMERICAN HARD CIDER CO." - I thought their vendor agreements precluded that from being on the label?
10: Have you tried Wegman's? That's the grocer of choice for my DC buddies.
HT is big time overrated, IMO.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main