Salon's Kaufman accuses Kindred of 'ignorance'

Thank you, 21. Thank you, cran. Thank you, others.

They still call it the Hall of Fame, right? It's not the Hall of Stats or the Hall of SABRmetrics or the Hall of VORP, right?

 

I understand he was known as Prince Kaufman until the death of the previous monarch of Assmunchland.

He's also in line to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Douchebaggery.

 

What pisses me off about the column is that it gives other sabermetricians who are able to make their points without coming off like douchebags a bad name, and also gives everyone else a chance to get in their licks.

"VORP!"

"DIPS!"

"STATHEADS!"

"SLIDE-RUUULLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

And Ragu, it's Greg Maddux. He's not related to former major-leaguer Garry Maddox.

 

VORP you, Doc.

 

It's not my fault you don't have enough Win Shares to work at the Plain-Dealer, Ace.

 

Stats hurt, Doc.

 

Greg "Maddox," says the guy making fun of all the idiot nerds with their calculators and stats.

Once upon a time, I'm sure someone was made fun of for the new fangled "batting average" stat. Baseball is a game of numbers, made so because 1. There's a large sample size with 162 games each year, so the numbers mean something and 2. Because the events in a game are easily isolated.

And "who cares?" Oh, I don't know. Scouts. Opposing teams. His pitching coach.

Making fun of the pursuit of further knowledge - whether it's politics, sports or business - just rubs me the wrong way.

You can make fun of something like "DIPS" all you want, but it helps organizations judge whether someone's performance was a fluke or not. So, of course, do scouts. You use the information as checks and balances against one another.

Why is that so threatening?

 

I have nothing against those stats and I imagine they are valuable for scouts, coaches, GMs, players and even sports writers.

But the blog was presented poorly and the Hall of Fame is a poor example for the application of esoteric stats.

And cracking wise on folks for not buying into saber rattling is not the best way to win converts.

Maybe -- I don't know -- apply some of those categories yourself and show why someone should or shouldn't be considered?

That might be too much work, though.

 

Rob Neyer is good enough for me. And as of a month ago, he's good enough for the BBWAA.

I'm not a sabermetrician, though, so please don't misunderstand me. I don't read BP or Baseball America. I do believe that on-base percentage is a more valuable tool than batting average, that pitching wins are perhaps the most overrated stat in baseball, and that runs and RBIs are way too dependent upon teammates. But that's not really sabermetrics.

I just loathe when people who I believe are smart rail against something different, mostly out of stubbornness.

 

it's all subjective. i think the guy who penned this column is a piece of shit who writes for a meaningless web site. that's subjective, too.

let the pissant blather on and on, but just remember why we first came to read his line of crap: he insulted a writer whose body of work we all respect. i'm guessing the next time we read his shit it will take place under the same circumstances.

the guy is crap and will continue to be crap tomorrow.

 

BA isn't a sabermetric publication. It mostly draws on old school scouting.