SABR Digital Library: Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and Their Profession

Can He Play? A Look At Baseball Scouts And Their Profession
Edited by Jim Sandoval and Bill Nowlin
Publication Date: December 22, 2011

ISBN (e-book): 978-1-933599-25-0, $9.99
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-933599-23-6, $19.95
8.5” x 11”, 200 pages, 100 photos

They dig through tons of coal to find a single diamond. They spend countless hours traveling miles and miles on lonely back roads and way too much time in hotels. Their front offices expect them to constantly provide player reports and updates. So much of their time is spent away from family and friends, missing birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Their best friend is Rand McNally. Always asking the question, “CAN HE PLAY?” Such is the life of a professional scout.

CAN HE PLAY? collects the contributions of 26 members of the Society for American Baseball Research on the subject of scouts, including biographies and historical essays. The book touches on more than a century of scouts and scouting with a focus on the men (and the occasional woman) who have taken on the task of scouring the world for the best ballplayers available. In CAN HE PLAY? we meet the “King of Weeds,” a Ph.D. we call “Baseball’s Renaissance Man,” a husband-and-wife team, pioneering Latin scouts, and a Japanese-American interned during World War II who became a successful scout—and many, many more.

For those interested in learning more about scouts and scouting, and helping contribute to our understanding and appreciation of the profession, please consider joining SABR and the Scouts Committee.

SABR members, get this e-book for FREE!

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Below: Find biographies and essays from Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and Their Profession:

Biographies


Essays


Contributors include Ron Anderson, Dave Baldwin, Rory Costello, Rob Edelman, Timothy M. Gay, Fred Glueckstein, Irwin Herlihy, Damon Iannelli, Ben Jedlovec, David King, John Klima, Dwayne Kling, Jim Kreuz, Craig Lammers, Len Levin, Dan Levitt, Lee Lowenfish, Neal Mackertich, Brian McKenna, Bill Nowlin, John Odell, Jim Sandoval, Bob Sawyer, Shawn Selby, and Ron Smiley.

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