Meisel: How Cleveland’s front office has built a sustainable winner

From SABR member Zack Meisel at The Athletic on October 2, 2018:

In the summer of 2002,​ a Mets​ marketing intern named​ Mike Chernoff​ chauffeured a player to​ an​ autograph​​ signing at a Sports Authority store.

On the way back to Shea Stadium, as they approached a fire station in the heart of New York City, the player instructed Chernoff to pull over. They exited the car, walked into the building and thanked the firefighters for their service, a gesture greatly appreciated by those in the department.

Few days were so eye-opening for the intern, who still had a year’s worth of college credits to accrue before he obtained his economics degree. Chernoff helped hand out bobbleheads at the ballpark gates on game days. When he interned with the Indians a year later, he accepted minor-league pitch charts via fax and transferred every handwritten pitch result, one by one, into the team’s database.

“You felt like you were just pressing the button a thousand times, over and over and over again,” Chernoff told The Athletic.

Read the full article here (subscription required): https://theathletic.com/541614/2018/10/02/how-the-inner-workings-of-the-indians-front-office-have-helped-build-a-sustainable-winner-in-cleveland/



Originally published: October 4, 2018. Last Updated: October 4, 2018.