With baseball season in full swing, it's time to remember how geeks and technology have changed the game of baseball. Over the past three decades, the Internet, medical advances and the globalization of media has fundamentally changed the way fans consume and how baseball players play a pastime of America. Here is an overview of some of the ways technology has taken baseball, and some ideas on how some new technologies continue to affect baseball is presented .
Baseball , technology , and fans
A . video
From the beginning, video games have tried to replicate baseball. In 1971, Don Daglow at Pomona College , wrote '' baseball. '' In the 1980s , Atari and Mattel also launched baseball games . In 1983 , Mattel released Intellivision World Series '' . '' For the first time , players of the World Series, '''' could use multiple camera angles to show the action . A player can see the mass of a " center field " of the modified apparatus see fit riders corner and see a camera defensive plays behind the plate . '' World Series '' batazos also integrated into the interface.
In 1988, the baseball video game made another leap , when Electronic Arts (EA) has released Earl Weaver Baseball '''' , which adds a real baseball manager provided managed by the artificial intelligence. The importance of '''' Earl Weaver Baseball was recognized by Computer Gaming World in 1996 when Earl Weaver Baseball named '' 25 '' on its list of 150 best games of all time. This was the second highest ranking for any sports game in the period 1981-1996 after FPS Football Sport.
Nintendo also homered in 1988 when he launched '' RBI Baseball. RBI '' was the first video game to be approved by the Association of Major League Baseball players . The game features real players and major league ready , and not surprisingly was a big hit with gamers .
Twenty years after the first game of baseball , '' Tony La Russa Baseball '' appeared on shelves across the country . The game made significant progress in the game of baseball. First, '''' La Russa circular included a ball that seemed cursor where the ball would land , and increased or decreased in size depending on the height of the ball . If the wind move the cursor location to reflect the change in direction of the ball. Ball hit cursor introduced real and pop- ups for baseball games batazos computer , eliminating the last segment of the sport that has never been accurately simulated . Second, '''' La Russa allows users to create their own projects and leagues , all with access to detailed player statistics. Third, '''' La Russa was the first baseball game to provide accurate statistics for each individual pitcher against batter each individual, real data managers widely used in the canoe. Unlike many sports celebrities just lent their name games, Tony La Russa spent long sessions over a period of several years of work for the artificial intelligence of the game as accurate as possible .
Quality baseball games continued to grow since '' La Russa . '' Development '' EA '' of '' MVP Baseball MLB The Show Sony '' text was based on the simulation of evolution '' ' Out of the Park Baseball Park '' , and growth and gaming systems ( from Genesis to Xbox360 ) transformed the depth and reality of baseball games. Even the players themselves admit that they use to prepare for games. According to an article written by FHM 2004 Winner AL Cy Young Johan Santana (April 2006 pg 113 . ) Article, "I can see affected by each player and statistically you do not like the ball areas. Also I can get an idea of when you want to hit fastballs and when you can not expect a change in motion . would not say that I would take a man in a game of real life in the same way , but it gives you ideas on how to approach some hitters . "
Two . Internet Fantasy Baseball
I hate ( girlfriends, wives) or love (almost all fans of baseball ) , fantasy baseball has become so popular that the sport itself . After adjustment for statistical addicts painfully calculated and manage everything themselves , the expansion of the Internet has allowed millions of fans to participate in leagues with friends and other fans across the country . This might not affect the sport itself is not it ? False. Fantasy Baseball has a huge impact on fan interest . Does your team give up mid- season, or are in a rebuilding year , you can not see? This is great . You can always track your fantasy team and you can continue to watch the games with his players through the MLB Baseball Package cable. Major League Baseball is a product, and anything that allows your customers to constantly read , write and speak ( and promotion) of your product in a passionate way becomes important.
Fantasy Baseball is not without technology becomes popular. Computers and the Internet has opened this sporting revolution. The advent of powerful computers and the Internet have revolutionized fantasy baseball , allowing scoring to be fully computer and leagues to develop their own system of notation, often based on less popular statistics. Thus , fantasy baseball has become a kind of baseball simulation time , and allowed many fans to develop a deeper understanding of how the real world works Thurs
According to a recent article in Fortune , "the man of the American obsession with sports is nothing new , but try this on for size : More than half of fantasy sports enthusiasts spend more than one hour a day just thinking about their computers. "Fantasy Baseball is an industry of billions of dollars. '''' However, as the RIAA and MPAA , Major League Baseball puts clamps fantastic technology that has led the revival of professional baseball after the 1996 strike . MLB decided to restructure radically the way business licenses fantasy games running on the Web. holders of official licenses will now probably be limited to a Big Three of ESPN , CBS Sportsline and Yahoo! (some reports add AOL and News and sports ) . " mom and pop" stores that helped usher in the phenomenon of fantasy baseball existence to be severely limited by the license agreement. Only information will be allowed to serve 5,000 customers each. All other using statistical baseball run small fantasy leagues have to choose between scale back its operations , closing the store , or receive visits from lawyers MLB .
Three . Media created by the user
Before the Internet , the media establishment is reserved for professionals . Newspapers, radio, television, specialty and sports magazines like Sports Illustrated had a virtual domain in the dissemination of news and sports information .
Sports media user first occurred with the advent of radio Sport Talk. An extension of talk radio , which has existed since the 1940s, radio programs of sport began in the 1980s . Today, there are over 30 major radio stations of sports commentary throughout the country . Available radio entertainment fans a platform to express their grievances , thoughts and analysis of sports. However, instead of just ranting to friends and family, sports radio programs gave fans the opportunity to submit their ideas to a potentially large audience.
Want a voice, sports enthusiasts use technology to disseminate their ideas via the Internet. The first of these technologies was messageboard sports communities. While sports messageboards never reached mainstream popularity, having a strong web presence . A quick way to " messageboards baseball " search on Google returns over 8.5 million visits.
Internet messageboards also represented the first petri dish for media created by the user. This feeling is well illustrated by a scandal that took place at the beginning of the 2000 season. Bobby Valentine , the manager of the New York Mets , gave a lecture at the Wharton Business School - a conversation "off - the- record ." But "off - the- record " is a term applies only to journalists. While the '' Daily ( newspaper Penn School ) '' Pennsylvania , made a quick mention of the discourse , a student - assistant was much further. Brad Rosenberg, brad34 using the username , discharged into a message board and said Mets Bobby V criticized some players and managers . The media ran with it ; then general manager Steve Phillips flew to Pittsburgh to powwow with Valentine ; and little scandal was in the works .
Today, the phenomenon began in the forums has been extended to blogs. In the past two years , blogs have exploded. Everyone ( grandmothers children ) start their own blogs , and not surprisingly , the number of these blogs talk about sport. Blogs allow people with a community sport program and potentially infinite radius around the world. A powerful combination. Today , there are about http://sportsblogs.org/sports.php?subject=Blogs 1158 baseball blogs floating around the Internet .
April. Satellite TV
Baseball Games beam satellites around the world, supplying the world of baseball. While the first satellite TV signals are transmitted at the beginning of 1960, receiving widespread consumer television began in the 1980s. For the first time , geography does not limit the dissemination of moving images. The power of the television without frontiers translates into new opportunities for Major League Baseball.
In the 1990s , baseball games late and could possibly be relatively inexpensive transmission worldwide . This allowed the majors to reach markets in the trade and labor, especially in Japan . No satellite TV, Seattle Mariners probably happened in MVP outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, the Yankees would have happened in All- Star Hideki Matsui . Satellite television has helped transform regional icons like Ichiro and Matsui global phenomenon.
Today , if you take a trip to Japan , you can see Hideki Matsui at bat emits aa bar in Tokyo , subway, or even on the side of a building . SAT baseball aid remains on the fly.
Baseball players and Technology
May Improving surgery
Before 1974 , if you were a pitcher and arrives to break the ligament collaterl UNLaR the "peaks ol elbow should negotiate in hat and suit and tie . Dr. Frank Jobe has changed the fate of hundreds of future professional bowlers when Dodgers pitcher Tommy John was asked to " do something" after being diagnosed with an injury to his career in jeopardy. The procedure, which is now known as the famous " Tommy John surgery " is to have the ligament replaced by a tendon in the body (often from the forearm , thigh or foot ) also elbow. Today , retirement is not the only effect that the success rate of this operation is estimated at 85 % - 90 %. The recovery time has been reduced to about a year for pitchers , and half a year for big hitters . In fact, pitchers often throw back some
Extra MPH on the fastball . Just think , without this procedure, Mariano Rivera, the star of the New York Yankees almost would not have been able to achieve all these playoff victories and four World Series titles lately ! Yankees fans
Everywhere I owe a big thank you to Dr. Frank Jobe .
6 . Eye Enhancemants
Many professional athletes have gone through a laser eye surgery LASIK been called. LASIK , an acronym for in situ keratomileusis laser-assisted , is a form of refractive laser eye surgery procedure eye by ophthalmologists intended for correcting vision . Because baseball players rely heavily on to pick up a 95 MPH fastball whistling his noggin , it makes sense that LASIK was so important. Jeff Bagwell , Jeff Cirillo , Jeff Conine , Jose Cruz Jr., Wally Joyner , Greg Maddux , Mark Redman, and Larry Walker reports have improved the vision of 20/15 or better. The popular medical personnel LASIK led the Minnesota Twins diligently to educate their players about the benefits and risks of LASIK surgery.
Similarly, a contact lens designed by Bausch and Lomb and marketed by Nike has been done to help the hitters. The lenses are red and filter certain nuances that allow you to see the seams on a fastball . The faster the dough can follow the ball leaves the pitcher's hand , the faster they can react . Is this different from steroids ?
7 . Questec
Questec is a digital media company known for its controversial referee Information System ( UIS) which is used by Major League Baseball in order to provide information and evaluation of major league umpires . The company, based in Deer Park, New York , has been engaged primarily in television and graphic repeating throughout history. In 2001, however, the company has signed a 5 year contract with Major League Baseball to use its technology " terrain-following " as a way to examine the performance of referees at the plate during baseball games .
The system UIS consists of 4 placed at strategic locations around a baseball stadium that is inserted into a computer network cameras and record the locations of sites along the course of a game. Generates software CD that referees and their senior commanders can examine and learn. These CDs include video fields , as well as graphical representations of their locations further comments on the accuracy of the arbitrators.
The controversy on the arbitrator information system emerged in the years to come , referees and players expressed concern about the accuracy of the system , on the one hand , and the partial and potentially biased coverage of major matches championship on the other . The company has installed cameras and computers in only 10 of the 30 stages of the league. Referees filed a formal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board ( NLRB ) to get rid of technology; Meanwhile, a more practical approach was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling . Schilling used a stick to break one of Questec field cameras, an act that resulted in a fine for the former MVP of the World Series.
8 . statistical Analysis
In recent years, several teams around the majors have changed their approach to the management of your organization. Traditionally , players are evaluated by scouts who use statistics that have existed for centuries, as RBI , batting average , and how fast a pitcher can throw . The " Moneyball " school of thought (the name of a book by Michael M. Lewis, published in 2003 the CEO of the Major League Baseball team Oakland Athletics , Billy Beane ) believed that this method is subjective and wrong. Now general managers assess their players directly from their laptops, shredding all kinds of questions that focus on the ability to not save output (hey , this is the general basis of the game , right?) . So who can write better ballteam , a machine with Windows XP ( with Service Pack 2 , of course - and all without firing Minnie Mendoza) or a browser that has seen millions of entries in baseball over the past 30 years?
9 . steroids
We can not have an article without mentioning baseball S- Word now can we ? Steroids are an invention of modern medicine. German scientists first developed anabolic steroids in the 1940s , learning to produce testosterone in a lab environment.
Now , two journalists from the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a book detailing steroid use by Barry Bonds, called '' shadow '' game , going into the details behind it chemically bonds to provide strengthen your body . Obligations have used every conceivable means of the use of steroids , including pills , liquids, creams and injections ( for himself and coach ) . Methods obviously worked (even if there was no evidence of displacement) because Obligations (now 41 years) inflated considerably over the last 8 years and the appearance of hitting home runs at an unprecedented rate .
The more that comes out of these players over 1995-2004 will be known forever as the " steroids era . " We do not know exactly who took steroids during this time, but everyone certainly treatment of statistics in the last decade with skepticism. Now that MLB has finally begun to test the players to go to some desperate for extra touch test technologies that can not be detected players? its ironic though . Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa practically saved the sport after the 1994 strike to captivate fans with his hunting 1998 for the home run record Roger Maris 61 . Now , after numerous congressional hearings and a lot of " no comment" are completely tarnished reputation due to the alleged use of steroids. However, they may have saved baseball.
Baseball and future technology
10 . User controlled diffusion
This week, Rupert Murdoch , speaking of the Honourable Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, said: " A new generation of media consumers has risen demanding content delivered when they want, how they want , and much as they want . "What does this mean for baseball?
Baseball demand will continue to grow. Wait a minute! Not because I can get baseball demand? I can or I can send all matches with MLB.TV. buy the MLB package on cable This is true, but we are talking about the future here, and the sport to the letter that grow in the coming decades.
Do not be surprised if MLB takes the example of the video game and begins to give consumers control over how they see a baseball game. Imagine this: you put a ball game and the remote control is given the opportunity to choose the camera angle you want to see the game. Want to watch the game from the standpoint of collectors, click the remote control and can be what looks like a big league look cursor . Want to see a play from the perspective of a gardener ? It's your choice , you can control how you want to see the game.
They will also have the opportunity to elect a speaker. Think Joe Morgan should be fired ? Why are forced to listen to your show? Instead , fans will have the opportunity to choose from a wide range of speakers. Want funny advertisers? Click. Speakers you want a house? Want to hear the game in Russian? Click. It's your call .
Do not be surprised if many of these speakers are not employed by a professional sports team . Instead , these speakers can be your neighbor , your friend or even your grandmother. The continued growth of podcasting and the inevitable maturation of the distribution channels of podcasting, it will be easy for anyone to try his luck as a professional speaker.
11 . Information Gameplay market forecast
Markets aggregate information in an attempt to information and it seems that the best tool for humans to predict future events. Based on the ideas of Friedrich Hayek, different professions and different organizations have started to use market information to help make better decisions . For example, the Iowa Electronic Markets, and WahlStreet have Tradesports predict elections better than polls results. Google also uses information markets predict release dates of products , opening new offices, and many other things of strategic importance to Google.
How an information market works ? Total market decisions of individuals and translate these decisions in a consensus that the probability of a future event occurs information. For example , Google , the company issues shares of 146 events in 43 different fields ( not required to pay to play ) . As a market, Google employees buy and sell these shares to achieve a market price - the consensus decision . Google looks at market prices when deciding to make an important decision.
The same tool that has helped transform Google one of the most powerful companies in the world will eventually be used by professional teams to make important decisions baseball baseball. Baseball teams use these markets to decide when to promote your point of view from AAA to the majors, whether or not they must negotiate their former star for a youngster .
Just as baseball statistics transformed the functioning of baseball teams in 1990 and 2000, information markets will transform the way organizations operate baseball in the future.
Robert Lefkowitz works in a law firm as a profession , but in his spare time, is a sports columnist for [ http://www.armchairgm.com ] . ArmchairGM is a sports blog , wiki, a resource that anyone can edit . Anyone can write news, blogs , encyclopedia articles , player profiles , etc. on any topic related to the sport and will be posted to countless readers.
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