It seems like every time you turn on a baseball game or listen to the radio, the announcers, analysts, or baseball personalities are talking about statistics. Stats, stats, stats! Well all I hear is blah, blah, blah! Most of the people who use and talk about these stats don’t really even know what they mean or why they’re important. Well maybe that’s because these worshipped statistics aren’t really important at all.
Statistics are becoming way overused in the game of baseball. The old school of thought, about players and teams having life, energy, excitement, hunches, and being a single, fun-loving unit is disappearing Now it’s all about how good Joe Shmo’s BABIP is (what the heck is BABIP? I don’t even know, but apparently its a statistic) or a team’s WX (win expectancy). I see these stats and wonder: when would any of these stats actually matter to someone involved in the game? And you guessed it, they don’t. They don’t matter. Is a manager really going to look at his win expectancy (WX) during a game and go “oh no, this statistic favors the other team, we aren’t going to win today” because of a stupid stat? of course not! baseball is about fun, energy, and playing for your teammates, not sabermetrics and petty statistics.
A good amount of baseball analysts nowadays think they’re all that because they can read a player’s numbers off of a piece of paper and think they know all. None of a player’s intangible attributes seem to matter to these guys, most analysts are all about the stats. Maybe the player hit that homerun because of something non-statistical: he got pumped up by a handshake with a teammate, or said a prayer before his at bat, or wore his lucky batting gloves causing a placebo effect, or who knows what. Think about it from a player’s point of view. If you were about to step up to the plate, would you be thinking “gee, I think I’m going to get a hit, considering that I have a .299 batting average against right handed pitchers in the month of august”? Of course not! It sounds ridiculous, but these are the kinds of statistics that analysts come up with, when in reality a player’ s performance is often completely circumstantial, not based on some mathematical trend or statistical analysis. I guarantee you that most players about to bat would not thinking about stats, but rather, about how maybe they have a runner on third, and are going to win the game! About the adoring fans cheering in support!
Okay, so maybe not every player goes that deep in his thoughts before every at bat, but you get the picture. The players aren’t that interested in stats, they’re interested in playing the game.
Unless, of course, that player is one of a growing number of players like former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes. Unfortunately, stats are changing some players’ mindsets to be geared toward stats rather than the more important aspects of the game. What happened to being a team player, having fun, and being in it for the love of the game? What happened to the bigger values that players learn from baseball like respect and discipline?
Now don’t get me wrong, Jose Reyes is a great ballplayer, but statistics caused him to make a controversial decision that denied the spirit of baseball. He was trying to win the title for best batting average for the season (which is a statistic in baseball), so to secure his statistic, during one of the season’s final games, he bunted for a single in the first inning and then SAT OUT the rest of the game! He wasn’t there in the game for his teammates, for his organization, or anyone. He wasn’t playing to have fun, he played that one at-bat, but for what? Some number in a record book?
Now compare that situation to a parallel one from all-time great Ted Williams, whose prime years were in the 1940’s and 50’s. Ted had the option to sit out of a double-header (two games in one day) and it would ensure that he won the batting average title. His manager insisted that Ted should sit out to secure his batting average, to which Ted famously responded, “If I can’t hit .400 all the way, I don’t deserve it.” He didn’t sit out for some statistic. And oh, in case you were wondering, Mr. Williams got six hits including a homerun in that doubleheader.
The spirit that Ted Williams had is the kind of attitude and approach that baseball needs more of. I’m simply suggesting that we try to focus on the relevant, non numerical aspects of baseball. The baseball community needs to start to look at what is truly important and what REALLY causes players to perform how they do--the intangible side of the game. Statistics cause misinformation, as people overlook circumstantial factors that play into a player’s or a team’s performance and they start to base their opinions solely off of numbers. Even so, stats are overused in and around America’s greatest pastime. Some players, too, are focusing on statistical accomplishments rather than the greater goal of team victory. These petty numbers, statistics, whatever you want to call them (I call them annoyances), they mean nothing to anyone who truly knows what baseball is all about. So stop looking at those obscure statistics, grab a hotdog and a big ol’ quart of soda, and go enjoy yourself a good ol’ ‘Merican ballgame. Maybe you’ll pick up on some of the intangibles that really define baseball.
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