Monday, January 07, 2008

Grittiness, quantified

With a hat tip to BoofBonser26, here's a study that "tangibilizes the intangible" and quantifies all-time player grittiness. Notables in the top-10 include Craig Biggio, Jason Kendall, Brett Butler, Chuck Knoblach, and Omar Vizquel. Flat-out brilliant work.
Posted by at 8:41 PM
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9 comments:

  1. Ummm, if Pete Rose is not #1 there is something wrong with the list. You don't mention him as a notable so I fear he is not even in the top 10 which makes ZERO SENSE. "I'd walk through fire to play baseball"--P. ROse.
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  2. Sorry I completely bothced that quote.

    "I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." -- Pete Rose.

    Seriously how can anyone be grittier than Charlie Hustle?
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  3. I just looked at his list and hypotehisis. A total friggin joke, it deserves absolutely NO ATTENTION. Yea, Larry Bowa is grittier than Pete Rose. LOL!
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  4. That article is very tongue in cheek.

    So to me, at least, the fact that he carries it out to the extent that he does--not to mention comes up with a list that actually does resemble something like our perceptions of grittiness--is laugh out loud funny. :)
    -j
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  5. It is funny that he mentions "dirt on a uniform" as the key indicator for grittiness, and from watching Pete Rose head first dives can anyone argue that he may have had one of the dirtiest uniforms in all of baseball during his era? I think this is an intriguing stat that could be useful, it just doesn't look like he is analyzing the correct data in the proper proportions.

    Pete Rose is Grittiness Personified!
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  6. If 'dirt on uniform' is any measure, Ryan Freel should have been mentioned. He had his own "Ryan Freel Dirty Uniform" promotion night.
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  7. Taylor-- I agree... Grit is Ryan Freel's #1 asset. That's what made him a major leaguer more than anything else.
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  8. @Aaron: Are you seriously upset at this list? I'm fairly certain the whole set up is, as Justin said, tongue-in-cheek. Try giving Fire Joe Morgan a read for a while and I think you'll understand the joke a little better.

    @Justin: I think his list matches our perceptions because his formula was built to emphasize players like Biggio and Eckstein, etc. Though it is quite funny that you can pick out those specific stats that people overemphasize for a certain set of players (HBP, SF, SH) and show how those players truly do personify those attributes. It is a rather ingenious effort.
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  9. @Justin: I think his list matches our perceptions because his formula was built to emphasize players like Biggio and Eckstein, etc. Though it is quite funny that you can pick out those specific stats that people overemphasize for a certain set of players (HBP, SF, SH) and show how those players truly do personify those attributes. It is a rather ingenious effort.

    Oh, definitely. It's a brilliant junk stat. Great example of how you can develop a statistic that can show virtually anything you want it to show. :)
    -j
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