Who is Henry Chadwick?

Baseball’s Opening Day is a big deal for many. Today’s game is quite different from its beginning. In some iterations of the early game, a player could be “out” if hit by a thrown ball while off base. To develop the game, rules needed to be standardized allowing for leagues and championships. Louis Menand (2019) notes the first box score for a baseball game appeared in 1845 and the statistics haven’t changed all that much since then. 

But a major change is how potential players are assessed. There were two approaches. One is “scouting,” where scouts observe players, get to know them, and use their intuition based on past evaluations to decide if a player will succeed. The other is “scoring,” now done by sabermetricians, who analyze numbers and stats to compare players and assess their value. Scouts rely on on their heart , while scorers depend on their head.

Baseball appears to have more statistics than other sports, and the focus on data seems excessive. We see strategic choices based on numbers. While that makes sense, I also appreciate the value of instinct, more art than science. Henry Chadwick had the viewpoint of a Scorer and noted the emphasis on stats and warned that the game might be reduced to mere math: "In time, the game will be brought down almost to a mathematical calculation of results from given causes." This was in 1868.

The key skill in the Age of the Heart is to know when to be more of a Scout or more of a Scorer. Both are important, but taking into account and figuring out when to use the head or the heart is more important.