Cameron: The incredible Hall of Fame scouting database
From Dave Cameron at FanGraphs on May 8, 2013:
Over the weekend, the Baseball Hall of Fame opened its newest exhibit, Diamond Mines, which was created to honor scouts and the history of scouting in baseball. I’m sure the exhibit itself is pretty neat, and if you’re planning on a trip to Cooperstown, you now have something else to look forward to.
But even if you’re not going to Cooperstown, this exhibit is fantastic, because in addition to the physical museum presence, they created an online searchable deposit of historical scouting reports. And it is awesome.
For instance, I searched for Mike Piazza, since the story goes that he was drafted — in the 62nd round, no less — solely as a favor from Tommy LaSorda to Piazza’s father, who was friendly with the Dodgers manager. I figured they might not have any scouting reports on Piazza, since he wasn’t a top prospect and apparently wasn’t heavily scouted. Except, to my surprise, the Hall does have a scouting report on Piazza, from Brad Kohler, who saw Piazza two years before he was drafted, and it is actually pretty optimistic.
Read the full article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/link-the-incredible-hall-of-fame-scouting-database/
Originally published: May 8, 2013. Last Updated: May 8, 2013.