Q&A with SABR Deadball Stars book editor David Jones

jon abbey

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Jul 15, 2005
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This is a good friend of mine so maybe a little biased, but I thought this interview was really fascinating. He is a longtime message board poster/blogger (not here unfortunately) so he shines in this written Q and A format. He was the chair of the SABR Deadball Era Committee before he had to leave to go to Africa as part of his Ph. D (in African history).

https://sabr.org/journal/article/qa-with-deadball-stars-editor-david-jones/
 

terrynever

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Aug 25, 2005
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pawtucket
Jon, your friend is a treasure. I will read all of this when there are no games to watch but my initial thought after a quick perusal is that the argument he presents about strategy certainly ties in to the modern feeling that baseball has been reduced to three true outcomes when it was so much more in Ty Cobb’s era. And when Babe Ruth changed the game, Cobb was the first to denounce this all-or-nothing approach to hitting. And here we are, 100 years later, questioning a game where pitching by committee is mitigating offense, and neutralizing defense.