- It’s amazing that people can do something really well for a long time, but learn nothing about that thing they’re doing. If you watch baseball at all, especially the big stage of the playoffs, you realize that managers, all of whom have played the game and been around it for decades, know very little about strategy. How is that possible? Even someone intelligent like Joe Girardi, who was a catcher and holds a graduate degree from Northwestern, makes one suspect decision after another. I know that a good carpenter isn’t necessarily a good architect, but it’s still kind of stunning. The Baltimore Orioles weren’t a surprise success this year only because Buck Showalter is the rare gifted strategist in the dugout, but it certainly was an advantage.
- Many fans and many sportswriters are worse, even some who are otherwise intelligent people. I’ve heard countless in both camps constantly knock advanced baseball statistics supporting Mike Trout over Miguel Cabrera for American League MVP. But it doesn’t take a degree in math to know that Trout is the MVP nor to knock down the ridiculous arguments against him. But the stubborn streak of ignorance around sports persists regardless.
- I think most people understand this, but one last time: Ticket prices aren’t high because player salaries are high. Player salaries don’t dictate ticket prices; ticket prices dictate player salaries. Team owners charge whatever they believe the market will bear (sometimes they’re wrong), and they would charge the same amount even if players were making tiny salaries. Because baseball players have the strongest union in the country, they share in the profits. The free-market system is also for workers, not just owners.