The Cubs Way/The Plan

[Famous Mortimer]

I do think it's curious that "news" has turned into puff pieces now. I imagine there's a list of pre-approved questions and so on, good to know that all those 60 Minutes people with journalism degrees are doing such sterling work.

[pioneer98]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

[ghostrunner]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

This. Though that was true long before Twitter.

I think the concept of BFIB originated with non-Cardinal players, didn't it? Asking where visiting players liked to go play? Not counting Cardinals marketing efforts, because of course they're going to say that.

[dmarx114]

Cubs after 31 games:

2017: 16-15
2016: 25-6

Cards were like 8 games back on this date last year. I expect the Cubs to eventually separate themselves from the division, but it's nice to have the Cards hanging right with them through almost 20% of the season.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

If that was the case with "The Cardinal Way," they comically missed the point. "The Cardinal Way" is a literally a book on baseball. Like, when to bunt, where to play the infield, etc.

[pioneer98]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

If that was the case with "The Cardinal Way," they comically missed the point. "The Cardinal Way" is a literally a book on baseball. Like, when to bunt, where to play the infield, etc.

When I've heard announcers wax on about "The Cardinal Way" they have never once mentioned a book.

It's usually mentioned when talking about someone like Hazelbaker, who comes up from the minors red hot... they are trying to say something about how "ready" the Cards' minor league system makes players for MLB or something like that.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

If that was the case with "The Cardinal Way," they comically missed the point. "The Cardinal Way" is a literally a book on baseball. Like, when to bunt, where to play the infield, etc.

When I've heard announcers wax on about "The Cardinal Way" they have never once mentioned a book.

It's usually mentioned when talking about someone like Hazelbaker, who comes up from the minors red hot... they are trying to say something about how "ready" the Cards' minor league system makes players for MLB or something like that.

Then they are being irresponsible. Hazelbaker et al. learn how to play in the minors because of a handbook made by George Kissell: "The Cardinal Way."

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball ... f5ac2.html

[lukethedrifter]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

If that was the case with "The Cardinal Way," they comically missed the point. "The Cardinal Way" is a literally a book on baseball. Like, when to bunt, where to play the infield, etc.

When I've heard announcers wax on about "The Cardinal Way" they have never once mentioned a book.

It's usually mentioned when talking about someone like Hazelbaker, who comes up from the minors red hot... they are trying to say something about how "ready" the Cards' minor league system makes players for MLB or something like that.

Then they are being irresponsible. Hazelbaker et al. learn how to play in the minors because of a handbook made by George Kissell: "The Cardinal Way."

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball ... f5ac2.html

Hazelbaker was 28, 29 by time he was in the org. Kissell's book had nada to do with development.

[stlouie_lipp]

I'm in the middle of reading Verducci's book that talks about this at length. Character is probably the wrong word to use, because it's not talking about having a moral high ground or only having boy scouts on your team. The idea was that some human/subjective attributes(ability to deal with failure, being helpful to your teammates, etc) had become undervalued now that every front office is SABR-savvy. One of the examples the book talks about is being sure Rizzo was going to be a leader on the team after he charged the Cincinnati dugout(and Chapman himself, ironically enough) a few years back, which is not a good guy or 'high character' thing to do. Another talks favorably about Schwarber cussing up a storm when Theo interviewed him pre-draft and mentioning that they weren't sold on him as a catcher. There's obviously a lot of hindsight involved and there's plenty of room for that emphasis to be wrong or over-inflated, but they aren't saying that they're prioritizing better human beings.

Since you have to fit everything into a tweet these days, your paragraph above gets boiled down to "their character".

FWIW the same exact thing happened with "The Cardinals Way" or even "BFIB". It started with some small, nuanced point someone was trying to make, which was very likely a valid point. Very quickly all nuance was lost and it became "they think they're better'n everyone else".

If that was the case with "The Cardinal Way," they comically missed the point. "The Cardinal Way" is a literally a book on baseball. Like, when to bunt, where to play the infield, etc.

Has Matheny read it?

[TGantz]

The Cardinal Way is about doing the little things right, epitome being David Eckstein, as an organizational philosophy. The Hazelbakers, Harts, and J-Rods of the world made it become popular. Year after year, the Cardinals catch lightning in a bottle with a player that wasn't supposed to be any good, and the rest of the league has taken notice over time. Articles from places like Dead spin tweaked it into the self righteous attitude angle, and it became a self fulfilling prophecy.

Regardless of the origins of "The Cardinal Way", it has gotten much bigger than Kissell's book about fundamentals. Now it encapsulates a self righteous Christian clubhouse (I don't believe it is that way, but some do), arrogant fans who think they are smarter than the rest of the league, and also a little bit about Cardinals always being a contender because good fundamentals (Kissell).

It doesn't help that the team hasn't been fundamentally sound for a year or two now, yet people still use the phrase.