Wulf: Scout’s honor at Baseball Hall of Fame
From SABR member Steve Wulf at ESPN.com on May 1, 2013:
They took a beating in “Moneyball.” In the post-WAR era of BABIP and DIPS and PECOTA, they’re thought of as DOA, dinosaurs whose days of roaming the earth are numbered. Maybe if they looked more like Amy Adams. … Nah, that was only one of the troubles with reality in “Trouble With The Curve.”
But if you really think about it, what would baseball be without baseball scouts? Behind every Hall of Famer was someone who first saw his greatness and spread the word. For each of the 750 major league players, there’s a bird dog who’s sharing in his dream and probably looking for another. The more than 5,000 minor leaguers hoping to make the bigs can claim at least one person who packed a stopwatch, radar gun and instincts, who drove, rode or flew (coach) too many miles to count, who sat or stood in the cold, heat or rain to watch him play or pitch on a dusty sandlot or a nondescript high school field or a campo surrounded by poverty.
No, scouts don’t get nearly the credit they deserve. But starting May 4 in Cooperstown, N.Y., they will get some much-needed recognition when the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opens an exhibit entitled “Diamond Mines,” underwritten in part by the Scout of the Year Foundation.
Read the full article here: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9228875/scouts-exhibit-baseball-hof
Related link: SABR scouts database will highlight new “Diamond Mines” exhibit at Hall of Fame
Originally published: May 1, 2013. Last Updated: May 1, 2013.