Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 20, 2007
Talking to Bill

The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal sits down with Bill James:

After a lifetime of studying the game, Mr. James reckons he still has plenty to learn. The internationalization of the game is one source of new wisdom, he says. "One of the great things about the Cubans and the Japanese is that they develop their own traditions and a lot of the things we think they know they don't necessarily buy into. Incorporating those other traditions is a source of wealth for baseball, and if we're smart, we'll do more of it."

Ichiro Suzuki, the Seattle Mariners centerfielder and perennial hits leader, is one example. "He's a great player while violating 48 rules about how everybody is taught to hit," Mr. James says. Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, the wily Cuban-born New York Mets pitcher, is another case in point. "We have a set pitching pattern, and then you get a guy like El Duque doing everything wrong and he beats you. It's a wonderful object lesson for all of us."


Posted by David Pinto at 06:56 PM | Interviews | TrackBack (0)
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