Mains: Dusty Baker’s outdated reputation
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on November 3, 2017:
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay “Self-Reliance” he wrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” It’s often presented without the phrase after the comma, which is okay. Sometimes people drop the word foolish, which is not okay. Let’s stick with the shortened “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
There’s nothing wrong with doing something consistently, if it makes sense. It’s when the consistency becomes foolish that one displays a little mind. Mowing the lawn every week during the summer is consistent and not foolish. Mowing it in the winter is consistent and foolish.
What made me think of this, as you might guess, is Dusty Baker.
Read the full article here (subscription required): https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/34589/flu-like-symptoms-dusty-bakers-dated-reputation/
Originally published: November 7, 2017. Last Updated: November 7, 2017.